Matte Black Helmets - Too Hot?
 

I crashed last year and the helmet did save my life. Was knocked out for about 48 hours and a CAT scan showed that my brain had been bruised to the point of bleeding.


I have a large head (7 5/8ths) and had to find a XL helmet. Bell says they make one but I have never seen it for sale. Ended up with a GIRO savant. Did not want to buy a black helmet as I thought the color would build heat faster on sunny days.


There must be someone else here who wears a black helmet. Do you feel the color makes is warmer in wearing than some other color? I am a fair weather rider and it will be a couple of months before I will use it.


incidentally, the crack in the foam was the circumference of a grapefruit and toward the lower edge. I bought into three concepts; 1. don't use a helmet that has been involved in a crash, 2. the MIPS standard makes sense and may have lessened my impact had the outer shell shifted more to where my melon was. and 3. the price of helmet will always be less than the co-pay at an emergency room.

There's a lot of rigid foam insulation between the shell and your head, so I rather doubt the color makes any difference whatsoever.

And your three concepts I heartily endorse! Glad you've recovered.

IMO all helmets should be white or a very light color, so they stay cool.

I agree with Hokiedad.

I believe that black bike helmets are no hotter than any other color. I do have some helmets that I "modified" and covered with black carbon fiber vinyl (although for disclosure I did improve the ventilation in those).

Black helmets are fine

My previous helmet was red and white, my current helmet is black. There's absolutely no difference in temperature related to the color. The black helmet is vented better than the red and white, so it's actually cooler.

Helmets should be black so they go with any outfit. Only half-kidding.

DAMN! I hope that didn't leave any lasting damage.

I've been wearing black helmets for years with no noticeable heat issues. The main heat-related issue on a helmet is the venting, not the color. This is me after a 140-mile day with temps around 90F and high-humidity.

Attachment 553492

Thank you all that have answered honestly. Should have thought about the foam as insulation from the heat. I did want a green safety color of helmet due to visibility but could not find one in my size


Yes I do become obsessively worried about little things.

How?

I prefer a white helmet mainly for visibility of drivers.

But I honestly think there are much bigger factors to affect temperature than the color or matte/glossy enough to be felt.

That wasn't a great test, and not a good comparison for cycling. Cycling helmets have lots of vents, moto helmets do not. But a bigger issue, they tested with the helmets stationary, but when riding (with or without a motor) you're in motion and the wind will remove a lot of heat.

With a sharp knife and a dollop of apathetic creativity.

Go black. You cant wear white after Labor Day.

+1

I was wearing a dark gray helmet during the summer and it was hot. I stopped by a local bike shop and purchased a white Giro and could not believe how much cooler it was compared to the less expensive gray helmet. It's also possible that Giro makes a better helmet but in my opinion, the color had a lot do with temperature. It's the reason people were white colors and not black in 100 degree temperature.

However, I did purchase my first black one this winter, a Bern helmet. This will be for winter riding only and not summer.

Some say drivers tend to drive more aggressively around you if they think you are an experienced cyclist wearing a helmet, so maybe black helmet helps (provided you wear hi viz clothing) :rolleyes:

If helmets did not have vents at all, then I suspect it might matter some what color the helmet was, but since even the most basic helmet has some basic ventilation, and more advanced designs have a great deal more... color of helmet = non-issue.

Less expensive buys less effective-venting.

I wear white on my skin (see my pic above with white sleeves); however, the black shell of the helmet is not on the skin... there's a inch or two of polystyrene between the shell and my skin. Polystyrene is the same material used to make insulated coolers - it's not going to transfer the heat from the black shell to your scalp.

The only time a black helmet is going to be hotter is when you're not moving, and if you're not moving, take off the helmet.

I have not had a problem with black helmets being hotter, ventilation is way more important there.

The only thing I worry about is visibility, which has been mentioned above.

I have both a white helmet and a black helmet. With short rides on sunny days, there doesn't seem to be much difference between the two. On longer rides in the summer I noticed that my forehead sweats more when wearing the black helmet compared to the white on equivalent rides. I have since use the white helmet for summer riding, and the black helmet for the other seasons.