POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet

Review by Erin Trail

In the world of cycling and triathlon, the biggest bang for your buck in terms of aero gains are aero helmets. Meaning, ratio of money invested to time saved is a pretty solid one.  But aero helmets usually come at a cost.  Typically, they don’t offer any ventilation, and on hot days, oooooof, they can cook your noggin.  The aero benefit versus heat calculus is one that I often struggle with.  I’m trying to be on the pointy end of triathlon racing, but I also very much do not like that feeling I get when my head overheats (as was the case at Ironman St George 70.3 in 2021).  When temperatures get above 85 degrees, I usually have to choose a conventional bike helmet over the aero helmet because I don’t want to cook.

I was at an Outdoor Marketing event last February and I saw the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet and knew immediately that I wanted to try it out.  The main reason: aero gains with ventilation.

Features

• Lightweight design while providing excellent crash protection
• Large ventilation inlets at the front of the helmet
• Internal airflow channels allowing air to move across your head inside the helmet
• Clarity lens technology to optimize visibility
• A 2-position lens system, allowing the rider to adjust how close the visor fits on the helmet, which enhances air flow and reduces fogging.  The lens is also removable
• The helmet’s sharp and distinct trailing edge pushes air away from the shoulders to ensure air moves in the best possible direction.
• Dial adjustment at the rear of the helmet

Fit and Function

I’ve worn the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet on a variety of training rides and in an Olympic distance triathlon.

I have found that this helmet runs on the small side.  I ordered up a size to a medium and found that it fits me well.

Getting the helmet on is a bit trickier than other aero helmets and normal helmets that I own.  I need to pull the straps out/away as I put the helmet on, to ensure that sides clear my ears and doesn’t get tangled in my hair.  The fit adjustment dial is also a little tricky.  I think the placement is different from my other helmets, and it just takes me a few seconds to find the dial and twist it into a proper fit.  These are really minor issues, but if seconds matter, you should definitely practice getting the helmet on for a smooth transition.

Once the helmet is on, it was great.  I prefer aero helmets with shorter tails, and the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet definitely meets that criteria. I did not notice any restricted movements or awkwardness once the helmet was on and I was riding.

The visor offers a wide range of vision and excellent lens clarity. There’s a little rubber channel along the lower edge of the visor by your nose, which helps protect the bridge of your nose from the abrupt edge of the lens.  I super appreciate that this rubber piece is permanently adhered to the visor.  Another brand doesn’t do this and I always end up searching the transition grass for this tiny – but critical – piece of my helmet.

I appreciate the size of this helmet.  I’m currently testing 2 aero helmets.  For my local Olympic distance triathlon, I was trying to decide which helmet I wanted to race in. I ended up choosing the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet because that helmet fit into my transition backpack.  The other helmet was too large (it has a tail) and I didn’t want to deal with a piece of kit that didn’t fit neatly into my backpack.

The ventilation in the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet is definitely improved from a standard aero helmet that doesn’t have air vents.  The inside of the helmet is almost hollow – there’s a lot of space between your head and the shell of the helmet.  All of this space is for air movement and ventilation.  Air enters in through the three ventilation holes above the visor in the front of the helmet, moves across your head, and out the back, which has a spacious exit hole. The result is a noticeable breeze inside the helmet.

The other unique ventilation feature is the visor.  The visor of the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet pops out 10 mm forward, leaving a small, but impactful gap between the helmet and the top of the visor. When the visor is popped out, I got even more airflow and cooling, which I loved.

The visor is a bit finnicky.  It’s magnetic and also has arms that keep in in place.  One big bump in the road or brushing your hand on your nose causes the visor to pop back into place on the helmet.  The magnets are strong and I’m still practicing how to pop the visor out while I’m riding my bike. The magnets also pop back into a place with a loud “thwack” that is a bit startling.  But also reassuring as I wasn’t at all worried about the visor dislodging from the helmet as I rode.  I think for hot races where I’ll want the extra ventilation, I’ll need to somehow tweak the visor system to force it to stay open.  It takes a bit of work to move the visor forward (strong magnets), which means I’ll be smudging the lens with my fingers as I wrangle the visor into the open position.  A nice feature for the future would be the ability to lock the visor into the open position.  For now, smartly placed electrical tape will have to do.

The visor of the POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet is also detachable – with a bit of work.  The lens arms are pretty thin plastic and it takes a bit of courage and muscle to detach the lens from the helmet.  From a practical standpoint, I very rarely need to remove my visor.  There’s absolutely no way I could remove this one while riding, so removing it would really only be to thoroughly clean the lens when I’m off the bike.

Closing Thoughts

The POC Procen Road Cycling Helmet is an aero helmet with exceptional ventilation, making this a really appealing race helmet for road cyclists and triathletes. The helmet is offered in 2 colors (black and white)

Erin Trail