Lazer Century + LED

Lazer's Century helmet is a well-designed and comfortable lid that's available with MIPS for an extra £20. The Twist Cap certainly works, although the implementation isn't quite perfect, and the integrated light is a useful bit of extra visibility after dark.

• Pros: Comfortable, good head coverage, MIPS option
• Cons: Twist Cap didn't quite fit snug, LED not very bright

'By integrating all knowledge and user requirements into one concept, the Century offers a new benchmark that requires no priorities for either protection, comfort, aerodynamics or visibility', Lazer says about this helmet. 'The Century offers it all!' it continues, suggesting the rest of the range might now be obsolete. Okay, I'm being facetious. But the Century is designed to appeal to a wide range of riders and be both a ventilated lid and an aero one. That's thanks to the Twist Cap.

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Simply put, this is a plastic plate on the front of the lid. Turned one way it closes the front vents for more aero-ness...

 ...and turned the other it opens them for better ventilation: 11% more in fact, stat fans.

Or you can just take it off completely for maximum air flow.

It's attached with two magnets which don't seem the most powerful, but I've not lost the plate so they're doing their job thus far. And you can certainly tell the difference in the amount of air that's coming through the helmet. Whether closing off the vents has a meaningful effect on your drag I couldn't really say. It's probably only going to be a couple of watts at normal riding speeds if it does; the difference between a full aero lid and a standard helmet is seldom far into double figures even at peloton speeds.

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The Twist Cap didn't quite fit snug. I thought it was because it was a bit big, and tried sanding the ends to shave a millimetre off them, but that didn't help. It's more that it doesn't sit flush against the helmet when it's in place. It was a bit annoying, but not a deal breaker.

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The Century is a pretty comfy helmet. It certainly covers more of your head than many road helmets, and the cradle pulls down a long way to give it a secure feel on the head. I found that the front of the helmet sat a little bit low on my forehead and was in my field of vision more than I'm used to, but overall it was nice to wear. It's CE/CPSC/AS certified (see here for a run-down of standards) and you can get it with a rotational-injury-mitigating MIPS liner for an extra £20. I didn't run headlong into any walls during testing so I don't have any direct experience of its protective qualities but it's well certified, available with MIPS and offers good head coverage, so I'd say that overall it's better than average.

There's a bit of extra visibility built in, in the shape of an LED unit that fits into a recess inside the Century and shines through a clear window in the rear vent.

It's certainly not going to blind you, and it's a bit of a pain to pick it out to recharge it, but it adds a bit of visibility high up after dark so it's a useful thing to have and the battery lasts a decent long time. If that's not enough visibility for you, you can have the helmet in fluorescent yellow, as well as five standard colours.

Overall, the Century is a good helmet in the middle of Lazer's range. The Twist Cap is probably going to appeal more as a way to regulate the airflow than as an aero feature, and it does that pretty well. The fit is good, the £20 MIPS upgrade probably money well spent over this standard version. The styling is relatively neutral and I didn't feel self-conscious wearing it on the commute or on fast rides. The added LED is a bonus and you'll probably find a colour to match your kit. It didn't do enough to make itself my helmet of choice (that's a Lazer too, a Z1) but it's certainly one to try.

Verdict

Good quality mid-market lid with some neat features