- Woohoo, more juicy unboxing!
More lovely bike tech to look at,
and more opportunities to win it.
Five more opportunities, in fact, this week.
Now, we're gonna be looking at helmets.
We've got the Scott Cadence Plus Aero road helmet
and we've also got the Scott Centric Plus,
super-ventilated light-weight road helmet.
Although, actually, as we're gonna find out,
there is quite a bit of crossover between the two.
So, pigeon-hole these at your peril.
Now, you will be familiar, I'm sure,
with the fact that Scott make helmets, for no other reason,
potentially, than the Orica-Scott men and women use these,
and win bike races in fact, week in, week out.
But Scott has actually been making helmets
for over 30 years.
I'm particularly fond, in fact, of their
1993 cross-country mountain bike helmet,
but, it's not just been limited to bikes.
They also make snow sport helmets
and even motocross helmets, as well.
That's quite a lot of helmet know-how,
you would think.
Right, let's start with...
...this one.
The Cadence Plus.
So, this is the, whooo, super-aerodynamic one.
Now, Scott teamed up with the renowned
aero-dynamicist and engineer Richard Kelso
from the University of Adelaide to help
take the performance of this helmet up a notch
from their previous one which was called the Vanish.
Now, Kelso would be a good guy to know, it would seem,
'cause the University of Adelaide had
a wind tunnel on campus, and I'm also told
that they can knock up a mean prototype very quickly.
Now, when you add in the fact that he's
already got close links with the aforementioned
Orica-Scott team, sounds like a good partnership,
doesn't it.
So, generally you'd expect to see a reduction
in aero-dynamic drag and also a reduction in cooling
of your helmet.
So, effectively, the more aero your lid,
the hotter your head is gonna get.
Except, in this case, the Cadence Plus,
Scott have actually aimed for the Holy Grail
of achieving both, and in Kelso's own words,
they have achieved super-low drag and great cooling.
And they have the data to back it up.
You want data, we've got data.
So, this is apparently about a second quicker over
a 40 kilometre time trial than its next fastest competitor.
But, the cooling is 1.1% better than actually
having no helmet at all.
Yeah, a bare head.
Now, it might be that you're not all that bothered
about cooling.
Perhaps you live in England, for example,
but if that's the case, then Scott supplied the helmet
with these aero plugs.
So, they're little bits of plastic and foam,
and you can use them to actually block up the vents
at the front, and in doing so,
there we go,
check it out.
In doing so, if you block up all five,
you actually make the helmet five seconds faster
over that 40 kilometre time trial we
were just talking about.
And they weigh just 25 grammes,
which doesn't add much to an already light-weight,
290 gramme helmet.
OK, then what about this one, this Centric Plus?
Still aero-optimized, you remember,
but even better ventilation.
Look at that.
Ooooo.
If this one, the Cadence Plus, is 1.1% cooler
than a bare head, this one is actually twice as cool
as that one, which sounds really quite cool, indeed.
How do they know that?
Well, Scott take a heated head form, so it's basically
like a fake head with a heater in it,
and they stick 36 temperature sensors all over it,
and then they pop it in a mini wind tunnel
with a controlled wind of 40 kilometres per hour,
and then effectively measure how hot it gets.
That's how you measure it.
And, I did say it was aero-optimized, this is a full
12 seconds faster over that 40 kilometre time trial
than its predecessor, which was the Vanish Evo,
and then, if you'd like a head-to-head comparison,
if you'll excuse the pun, between these two helmets,
this one gives away about two watts at 40 kilometres an hour
over than one there.
Now, a cool head is definitely a comfortable head,
but that's not all you need.
We've all worn uncomfortable helmets in the past, I'm sure,
so, to make sure that these fit,
Scott actually turned to established medical research
to create the very impression map of a head,
so, it take into account areas of peak blood flow
and high nerve density.
And then, they actually use that information
to inform their fit strategy.
Basically, what it means is that they can tailor
exactly which points of the helmet contact your head,
and make sure that they're at the most comfortable points.
So, I think particular attention has been paid
to the cradle here, and also the back there
on this which is their Halo Fit System.
So, that's the top-of-the-range one
and it's on both of these helmets.
They also can be adjusted with just one hand.
Now aero, cool, and comfortable are all well and good,
but, let's face it, we're wearing helmets
for safety reasons here.
Now you can't say, for legal reasons,
that one helmet is safer than another,
only that it either does or does not
meet the established safety standards set for it.
But, Scott say that they actually test these
beyond the safety standards, which is really good to know,
and they also use the MIPS System inside,
as they have done, in fact, since 2011,
which probably makes them one of the early adopters,
I guess, of that technology.
If you're not familiar with it, then it stands for
Multi-directional Impact Protection System.
And basically its designed to reduce rotational violence
in a crash, so, effectively, you would rarely see
a square impact in the event of a bike accident.
You are more likely to see some kind of rotational force
in there, as well, and the MIPS system
is designed to reduce that.
So that hat MIPS layers doesn't impact
ventilation properties at all, though,
Scott have actually modified it under close scrutiny
from MIPS themselves, to enhance breathability
and improve cooling,
and it outperforms the standards MIPS line,
apparently, by 16%.
Well, by anyone's standards, then,
these do sound like two really impressive helmets.
And although I appreciate that style is subjective,
I mean some people don't like black socks with white shoes,
and indeed choose to ride with their cycling cap
peaked down, I actually think that these are two
very good-looking helmets, indeed.
Right, then.
You want a shot at winning one of these.
As I said, we've not just got two to give away,
we've actually got five and you could choose
which one you would like to win.
To do so, just click on the link in the description
beneath this video to go through to the competition,
and then just follow the instructions.
In the meantime, though, before going there,
do make sure you subscribe to GCN.
It's completely free, just click on the globe,
and it means you won't miss another juicy unboxing.
And then, if you're off to some more content,
I tell you what, click down there to see Matt
go for a bike ride with Orica-Scott's fast man Caleb Ewan.
That's a great video, or you need to click
just down there for an Orica-Scott team bus tour.