- Super cool Swedish brand POC have just released
a brand new helmet.
It's called the Ventral.
It is aerodynamic, it still has those massive vents,
and it is designed for us roadies.
It is a super cool piece of kit.
I'm sure you're going to want to take a closer look.
So let's get unboxing.
(serene techno music)
And there it is, the Ventral.
Brand new, but unmistakably in the POC design stable.
Now you might well have seen these about already,
because the EF Education First Drapac Cannondale boys
have been using these since their release.
They are actually already in the shops as well.
However, this being a GCN unboxing,
we've got three of these to give away.
Imagine that, a brand new,
just released top of the range helmet,
delivered straight to your door.
That's pretty cool, isn't it?
I'll give you more details on how to enter,
a little bit later on in this video.
Firstly, though, I would like to talk to you
a little bit about the performance side of this helmet.
Now, hopefully, fingers crossed, touch wood,
you don't regularly use the safety features of your helmet,
and that means that the other performance features
of the helmet are really important too.
First up then, what about the big promise,
which is its aerodynamics.
I mean POC do already have an aero version of their Octal,
that looks massively different to this new Ventral.
That one has a small single vent at the front,
and the rest of the shell is pretty much enclosed.
Now you would imagine it shares lots of the principles
of many time trial helmets in that it creates
a smooth surface for the air to flow nicely over.
This one, though, when you first look at it,
is more vent than helmet.
So how does it work?
It's actually very clever, if you ask me.
POC have used extensive computational fluid dynamic modelling
to come up with a design that allows the air
to go straight through the helmet, rather than over the top.
Now, of course, your head is far smaller
than the helmet that goes on top of it,
and so if the air only passes over your head,
and not over the entire helmet,
the theory is that it should be less drag.
The key to this design, though, is what happens to the air
once it enters these huge vents at the front,
because behind each of these vents is a channel,
and that allows the air to pass straight through the helmet
and then exit out these huge exhaust vents at the rear.
POC say that this narrowing of the air
causes what's called the Venturi effect.
Now if you're not really up on your physics, like me,
I should explain that this is the principle
that air speed increases as volume decreases.
And you'd also imagine that that extra air speed
is also pretty good for the ventilation of this helmet.
Most air does pass directly through this helmet,
but at different yaw angles,
when the wind starts to come from the side,
this closed part of the helmet here does mean
that the wind goes over the top,
rather than being caught and disturbed by extra vents here.
What happens at the rear at the helmet,
though, is also quite crucial.
You see, minimising pressure at the front
is just one small part of the aerodynamic jigsaw.
Because the air that is exiting at the back
is creating turbulence, and that turbulence
is literally pulling you back as you ride.
However, POC have very carefully designed
the back of the helmet to minimise this.
Firstly, we've got these huge exhaust ports,
which I talked about earlier.
That means that the air that does go inside the helmet
can be released at the back with the minimum disturbance.
Also, the air that flows over the surface of the helmet
is allowed to be released in a very controlled manner
here at the rear, where it also meets the air inside.
It's quite a complicated picture.
Aerodynamics always is, far more than you'd think.
But POC claim that this saves 1.5% over their Octal.
Now in terms of cooling,
we've already talked about the large vents at the front
and POC claim that the only other difference
to their feathery Octal is the extra chimney effect you get
from these two vents which are located on the top.
Now, another really cool feature is the sunglasses garage.
So POC have put two pieces of grippy fabric here, and here,
which will grip the arms of your shades,
should you ever feel the need to stow them
somewhere other than your face.
Something else I like about this helmet are the straps,
which sounds slightly strange, I know,
but particularly these bits.
These sit right against your face, nice and snug,
which is great from an aerodynamic point of view,
but they're also fully adjustable.
The Ventral is available in three colours.
We have the white which we have been focusing on so far.
It is also available in uranium matte black,
which I think is my personal favourite.
But also, as you can see over here, we have AVIP orange.
AVIP stand for attention visibility interaction protection,
and it's, essentially, another safety feature.
POC firmly believe that bright fluoro colours like this
not only allow car drivers to see you earlier,
but also to decide exactly what you are.
In fact, they have conducted some research into this,
and they found that in most situations,
this specific fluoro orange colour
is more visible than any other.
And whilst I've got this in my hand,
let's continue on with the safety subject.
Safety, of course, being paramount
to all helmet manufacturers.
But for POC, it literally is
at the heart of everything they do.
They were the first to integrate the MIPS system
into their helmets, but they've now gone one step further
and designed their very own fully integrated system,
which they have called SPIN.
Now this is designed to reduce
the rotational forces upon impact in a crash
because recent research has shown that these types of forces
are particularly harmful to the brain.
The SPIN system is located inside the helmet pads here.
Now at first glance, it doesn't look any different
to a normal helmet pad, but when you feel it,
you can feel there's a difference.
And that is because there's a silicone bladder
inside the foam here, which allows it to deform.
POC have also really beefed up
the rear of the helmet to further improve safety.
From their own analysis, they felt that it's this part
of the helmet which can take the brunt of the impact
in many cycling accidents.
In fact, when Cy was over in Stockholm
at their factory a couple of weeks ago,
he saw a couple of quite famous examples.
Despite the beefing up of the rear of the helmet, though,
it still retains its smooth outer surface,
which is really important as well.
Because this is not just from an aesthetical point of view,
but also the fact that a smooth surface
encourages it to slide more if you do have an accident,
and that further reduces the rotational forces
you're experiencing if you do have a crash.
Right, I am sure you are dying to find out
how you get your hands on one of these three helmets.
All we need to do is go below this video,
and click on a description which we have a link to there.
Right, good luck to all of you.
If you've enjoyed this video,
give us a thumbs up just down below.
And if you've yet to see Cy's POC factory tour,
all you need to do is click over there.