Tech review - February 8, 2004

Bell's Ghisallo helmet
Photo ©: Paul Mirtschin/CN

Bell Ghisallo: sleek & comfortable

Bell's Ghisallo is the company's top-of-the line helmet for road cyclists. It has everything you'd expect: 16 big vents to let the air in; sculpted channels on the interior to guide it over your head; an adjustable device to grab the back of your head for stability (an occipital cradle for jargon purists) and a decently low weight. This is the helmet worn by Tyler Hamilton and CSC in 2003, and even though pros are now forced to wear helmets, none of them are going to ride in lids that aren't at least pretty darn good.

I'm lucky. Medium helmets from Bell and sister company Giro fit me as though they're custom-made. I'm pretty sure that you could dip the top of my head in plaster of Paris, make a mould (and a big mess), shape a helmet to fit and it wouldn't be any better than an out-of-the-box Ghisallo. An immediate plus point, albeit a very personal one.

Plenty of vents Photo ©: Paul Mirtschin/CN

The tension adjuster Photo ©: Paul Mirtschin/CN

From the side Photo ©: Paul Mirtschin/CN

Adjusting the tension in the occipital cradle is easy, just turn the dial till it's snug. Strap adjustment is a shade more fiddly, but no worse than any other helmet.

On the road... Well, I'm not going to claim 'you don't notice it's there'. You'd have to be daft to fail to realize you have a lump of Styrofoam on your head, but the Ghisallo is very comfortable and very unobtrusive, with enough thin but firm foam at the contact points that it sits very softly on your head.

It's also well-ventilated. Attempting to keep up with a much fitter friend on a warm summer afternoon saw me sweating, but there was enough airflow through the Ghisallo's vents to evaporate away almost all of it. The dreaded bucket-of-sweat-in-the-eyes syndrome was happily absent.

One feature I missed, compared to my regular helmets, was a peak. I split my riding between road and mountain biking, but the trails are where I'm coming from and peaked helmets are therefore a standard item. It may not be quite the road 'look' but a peak is darn handy for keeping the early morning and late evening sun out of your eyes, and that's when I do most of my road riding. An optional peak would be very welcome.

That niggle aside, this is a very good helmet: well-ventilated, comfortable and easy to set up. Recommended.

Recommended retail price: US$99 (50th anniversary version with case: $125)
Weight: 310g (size M)
Pro: Comfortable, well-ventilated, easy to adjust.
Con: A peak would be a nice addition.
More information: Bell's website
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