HJC Furion 2.0 Road Cycling Helmet

The HJC Furion 2.0 Semi-Aero Helmet is a 'semi-aero' road helmet that has a degree of ventilation. HJC's Selfit system is great, providing a secure mechanism to keep the helmet snug to the head without feeling too tight. It looks and feels pretty aerodynamic – though that's something we objectively test – and is also very light. If it's great ventilation you're after though, you're best of checking out the best cyling helmets of 2022 instead.

Front on, the helmet looks pretty aggressive, with a dome shape and straight edges that extend from the vents. Each vent is supposedly placed optimally for 'air penetration and improved air cooling capabilities', but when I rode in the 30 degree heat in August, it really wasn't doing anything to keep me cool – I even took to pouring bottles of water over my head.

Comfort is plentiful with the Furion 2.0 despite its lack of foam padding; it just sits in the right place, at least on me. The strap is pretty soft, if not as luxurious as the leather one found in the similar Kask Protone Icon.

I tested a medium, and with the circumference of my head at 56cm, the 55-59cm felt like it had plenty of stretch left in the Selfit securing mechanism. The sizing seems just right.

Honestly, this Selfit mechanism is genius, and I don't know why it hasn't been used before. It keeps the helmet constantly sat on your head correctly without any loose wobble, but also you don't feel like it is trying to tear your scalp off.

The foam has internal reinforcement to stop it disintegrating under impact, but there's no MIPS or similar system to mitigate rotational forces.

Aero claims

HJC loves to flex that it has its own wind tunnel for aero testing, but unfortunately road.cc's own wind tunnel is offline (the first bolt is missing and we can't find the rest of it), so we can only semi-quantify the semi-aero claims. By which I mean it definitely makes you look fast.

Weight

At 218g, it's light considering it is a semi-aero helmet. You often see Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl's Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenepoel opt for the ventilated S-Works Prevail II for the more mountainous races of the World Tour calendar, and that's 228g. So clearly, this is up to racing on the hilliest of days.

Value

While it certainly isn't at the cheap end of the market, the Furion 2.0 isn't unreasonable at £180 in comparison with other semi-aero lids.

The Limar Air Speed, for example, is just a penny less, and HJC's own Ibex 2.0 is £220. Specialized's latest Evade (the Evade 3) has been redesigned for better ventilation, but that's £275 whilst also being around 50g heavier according to our testing scales than the Furion 2.0.

Closer to the price of the Furion 2.0 we have the Giant Pursuit at £189.99... or at least, it was that much when we reviewed it, but Giant no longer lists it on its UK site so it's suffered none of the recent price rises. It's still available in many shops, however, and frequently heavily discounted.

The Pursuit has a similar vent pattern to the HJC and gets MIPS, but also a rather ghastly look, which may explain its slow disappearance. Note it's fully 110g heavier; our one weighed 328g, which may explain why Liam looked so sad posing in it for the Giant Pursuit test pictures.

Overall

The HJC Furion 2.0 is a super comfortable helmet that adjusts to your head no matter what you're wearing, and while we can't seriously test the windcheating claims it definitely feels pretty aero... semi-aero, you might say. Unfortunately on the hottest days it's really only semi-ventilated too, but for more usual UK weather this a good, light and very comfy option.

Verdict

Very comfy with an excellent retention system and impressively low weight, though cooling is average