Limar Air Atlas helmet

The Limar Air Atlas helmet is cool and comfortable despite its enveloping feel – it's not the type to perch up there like a stovepipe hat – and claims some impressive aero benefits. It's a fair bit heavier than claimed, though, and the sizing seems off.

If the Limar's look, weight or price aren't doing it for you, check out our guide to the best lightweight road cycling helmets for more options.

While 'My head is 56cm around' might sound like some sort of pickup line – one of mine, anyway – it's been true for, oooh, years now. So the 54-58cm size medium Air Atlas should have been just right, as it is with practically every helmet. Unfortunately, it would only just go on my head at full slack, and I was forced up to the 57-62cm size large.

This now fits me perfectly, but as it's the largest available, those of you with genuinely big skulls may start running out of room. I'd expect to juggle sizes if my measurement was on the cusp, but I'm right in the middle of the claimed range. Basically, these come up small.

One knock-on effect is that it's heavier too, and it wasn't particularly light to start with. At 303g it's 43g heavier than Limar's claim of 260g in size large; in reality, even the medium weighed more than that on our scales, at 270g.

This aside, the Air Atlas is comfy and well ventilated, and certainly not heavy enough to cause any real issues.

The padding is extensive and works very well, and the dial-adjusted cradle is easily tweaked to sit comfortably – the rear slides up or down on a ratchet so you can get it sitting just where you want.

The straps are also easy to adjust so they sit neatly under your ears, and you even get a padded cover on the webbing under your chin. Like the pads, it's removable for washing.

The buckle is Fidlock's clever sliding magnetic one, which I personally like a lot – it's secure and easy to use.

Overall, you can see why it weighs a bit more than some lids, as it looks and feels built to be substantial rather than the wispiest thing ever. The shock-absorbing EPS foam is thick, the outer shell extends right under the brim and back up inside to protect it, and the various plastic parts on the webbing are chunky. There's also that striking hard-plastic vent on the back.

Despite a large, ventless central section, this cools well thanks to deep channels and 17 vents flowing air right through. Limar says the central four are Naca vents, a low-drag design found on planes and fast cars, but those typically start narrow and broaden to create counter-rotating vortices. The vents here start wide; whether that still works, we can't say.

Limar also says that rear vent effectively pulls warm air from the helmet via the venturi effect; this is where a restriction forces air to speed up, which means its pressure drops, which in turn pulls in more air. Again, we can't test whether it works here, but I can say this helmet never got particularly hot even on some very humid rides.

Limar says that, overall, the aero aspects make it quicker than its own Air Speed model; at 40kph, the Atlas saves you 0.7 watts in comparison, apparently. Once more I can't say if it does or not, but I can say it proves the Limar Air Speed needs a new name.

Value

At £219.99 this is at the expensive end of the market, especially considering the lack of any rotational impact damping system such as Mips. Limar does a Mips version, for the record, but that's £35 more. Curiously, the claimed weights are the same as for this version.

The Trek Velocis MIPS Road Bike Helmet is £10 more at £229.99, but it's much lighter at 235g, very well ventilated, comfortable, and obviously has MIPS. George reviewed it in July and thought it was excellent.

> All you need to know about Mips

The Ekoi AR14 Star Ltd Chrome Gold is more expensive again – the one Stu tested was £257.74, but also much lighter (228g) and oh-so-shiny (the Star Ltd Chrome Blue is currently £335.36). To be fair, the Air Atlas comes in an impressive array of colours itself (10 options), though if you're not bothered about shiny, the regular, non-limited Ekois are around £100 cheaper.

Something like the Rudy Project Egos Helmet will get you comfort, good venting and low weight for a fair bit less as well: the Egos is £189.99, and our medium weighed 255g.

Overall

This is a tough, luxurious helmet with a quality feel to it, and if you believe the aero numbers it'll make you fast, too. All we can say about airflow is that it cools well, despite its bulk. It's just a shame the numbers for size and weight seem so off.

Verdict

Sturdily impressive quality while cool and comfy on the bike, but heavier and smaller than claimed