HJC Atara Aero Helmet Review: Lightweight, Cool Pick for Brompton Riders

Gear · Published 7/28/2023 ·

I used to wear a Thousand? — one of those urban-style helmets. It’s a really pretty, cute-looking helmet, but it had a few downsides. For one, it’s heavy. And thanks to a design that gives zero thought to airflow, it gets way too hot. So I decided to buy an aero? helmet, and I started searching around — beginning with all the imported brands. That said, when the quality’s the same, I tend to prefer buying a domestic brand. Not that I apply that to everything, mind you. HJC is a brand whose helmets I used to wear back when I rode motorcycles, and I only recently found out they make bike helmets too. So I worked my way down from the top-tier models and went with the one that gave me the best bang for the buck.

The design is pretty nice. Since my bike is green, I picked a color in the same family. I mostly ride at night, so a brighter color would be more visible and therefore safer — but I still wanted everything to match.

There are vents punched right through it, front and back, so it looks built to let the heat inside the helmet escape easily. And when I actually wear it, even the heat I feel building up is just different from the urban helmet. It feels far cooler.

It weighs in the 200-gram range — really light and comfortable. And maybe it’s just in my head?, but it fits my head perfectly and feels great. I picked it figuring a domestic brand would probably be better than a foreign one, and either way, it’s comfortable. I’ve got an average head shape, and it’s not exactly small. My circumference is about 58, and I bought the medium.

Here’s the side profile. When riding, most people lean their head down a bit, and this thing is built to catch air at the front and channel it out the back. There’s definitely less heat buildup. Once fall — the real riding season — rolls around, I’m expecting it to feel even cooler.

Urban-style helmets are nice too, but in summer an aero helmet feels pretty much essential. Brompton riders, too — these bikes go better than you’d think, so plenty of folks ride for an hour or more at a stretch. When it comes to the helmet, at least, I think there’s nothing wrong with choosing performance over style.

Thanks for reading.

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