MET Sine Thesis Road Helmet £180

At a glance At a glance If you can cope with the price tag this is a superb helmet designed to keep you exceptionally cool

Tested by
Matt Swaine, tester for The Bike List

Value

Performance

As a pathological skinflint I have been wearing this helmet for the last two months totally oblivious to the price tag it commands. So please picture me now with jaw suitably slackened, head twitching like a dim-witted Wimbledon spectator between the helmet in one hand and pricing information in the other. But actually, thinking about it... it kind of makes sense.

The first thing you notice with the Sine Thesis is the superb air-conditioning that it provides. The channels in the top of the helmet are designed to direct cool air across your head and inside, Met's design team have aimed to minimise the points of contact with your head, by using gel pads to lift the helmet allowing air to freely circulate. There's even a wide exit exhaust at the rear to make sure that the helmet doesn't hinder your aerodynamics.

The main structure of the lid is built around an Integrated Composite Exoskeleton (ICE) which is exceptionally light at around 250g for a medium sized model. It is this structure that allows the precise flow of cooling air and on the road it has proved to be very impressive. In fact, it's so good there have even been days over the last few summer months when I've thought about sliding a buff underneath to keep a bit of insulation.

I'm going to be using this on a sportive ride in France in a few weeks, where overheating is a real risk and I'm in no doubt that this is going to be a great help.

You're able to get a very precise fit with this lid and that along with the Kevlar strap makes for excellent riding comfort. So good you're likely to forget you're wearing it...

The gel tabs inside the helmet are designed to minimise sweat and direct any nuisance droplets away from your eyes. These are all secured with small pads of Velcro and this could be an issue, as last week I lost the front set of padding (finally found covered with fluff at the bottom of my commuting rucksack) and spent four days developing friction sores as the bare Velcro grated against my forehead.

The Sine Thesis comes with a 3-year warranty and, although I haven't put it through the ultimate test, as a reformed-bike helmet sceptic I have felt far more comfortable and secure wearing this helmet than any other I've used in the past. It may cost more than my second-hand folding bike, but there is no doubt this an excellent, top-end choice for serious road bikers.

Buy from www.wiggle.co.uk

MET says:

With the new SINE Thesis, MET is going beyond the established rules and affirms its pure technological supremacy. The new helmet for the Cofidis and Liquigas pro teams.

We have worked hard to further evolve and improve our best road helmet. We've gone to the core of the very concept of bicycle road helmet, questioning and scrutinizing it in every detail, striving to avoid prejudices of convention. The result is the most advanced bicycle helmet ever conceived. Featuring three revolutionary concepts:

ICE Lite™ Composite Exoskeleton, integrated into the In-Molding process, allowing structural performance beyond established standards. With deflectors allowing an "acceleration"of the ventilation.
GEL O2™ New generation of "morpho gel" pads, allowing the head to stay cool, thanks to the natural capacity of the gel to stay cool when in contact with the head, to dispel the sweat and perfectly fit the shape of the skull.
HCS 20™ Internal geometry concept that minimizes at only 20% the head contact with the internal cavity of the helmet, allowing the head to "breathe", even when riding at low speed or at complete stop.