Helmets to choose every day: a guide
POC’s road cycling helmets balance protection and performance, and any can serve as an excellent everyday choice depending on your priorities. The Amidal offers a refined, streamlined form with integrated visibility; the Ventral Air Mips provides supreme cooling for the hottest days; and the Omne Air Mips delivers versatile, all-round performance. The right choice depends on your primary riding needs.
Choosing a helmet for road or gravel riding involves more than just selecting a size and colour. It’s an exercise in matching a piece of technical equipment to your specific needs, your local climate, and your personal definition of performance. At POC, we understand there is no single 'best' helmet. Instead, we engineer solutions to specific problems identified through research and rider feedback. This problem-first approach means each helmet in our range has a distinct character and purpose.
This guide explores three of our core road helmets, each an excellent choice for everyday riding: the newly developed Amidal, the exceptionally ventilated Ventral Air Mips, and the versatile Omne Air Mips. Each works well across a broad range of scenarios but excels in its specific strong point, offering a different answer to what helmet you should choose when you ride every day.
A Refined Form: The Amidal
The Amidal represents a new and refined approach to road helmet development, created for cyclists who want proven performance and protection presented in a new form. It energises a rider's experience, whether on early urban mornings or long, winding rural roads. It offers a streamlined, sophisticated silhouette, balancing a sleek appearance with functional aerodynamics and ventilation. This performance has been validated through CFD testing to ensure it works effectively across a range of speeds.
Notable features include its distinctive, reinforced rear exhaust ports; a structural element normally hidden, here made visible as a core part of the design, fundamental to both airflow and stability. The Amidal integrates visibility as a core part of its design philosophy, with a dedicated mount for a custom rear light created in partnership with Knog.
The Amidal pairs a polycarbonate shell with an optimised EPS liner and includes Mips Air Node for rotational impact protection. Its 360-degree fit system distributes pressure evenly for comfort on long rides. Weighing 310g (EN 1078, size medium), it offers an elegant form, integrated safety thinking, and proven performance for the modern road and gravel rider.
The Versatile All-Rounder: Omne Air Mips
The Omne Air Mips is designed with versatility at its core. It is engineered to be as capable on a daily commute as it is on a long weekend club ride, offering a balance of comfort, ventilation and protection. Developed with our Whole Helmet Concept™, every component works in harmony to provide reliable, all-round performance.
Its design borrows from our performance-focused helmets, with ventilation channels inspired by the Ventral series to deliver effective comfort. An optimised-density EPS liner features thicker core protection zones to provide well-rounded protection.
Weighing 330g for a medium size, it features Mips Air Node for rotational impact protection, a 360° adjustment system for a secure fit, and a convenient eye garage for storing sunglasses. The Omne Air Mips has long been a go-to choice for the rider who needs one helmet to cover all bases, providing a dependable foundation for any kind of road or gravel journey.
The Ventilation Benchmark: Ventral Air Mips
For riders whose everyday includes hot climates or long mountain climbs, ventilation moves from a comfort feature to a performance-critical one. On a sustained effort under a summer sun, effective cooling is vital. The Ventral Air Mips is engineered for these moments, designed to deliver coolness like never before. Its precise ventilation ports and deep internal channels control air intake and release at both low and high speeds, creating a supreme cooling effect across the entire head.
Developed through extensive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) testing, the Ventral Air Mips also enhances a rider’s aerodynamic profile by minimising drag. A distinct 22° trailing edge at the rear of the helmet helps reduce turbulence. At 230g (CE, size medium), it is exceptionally lightweight, supported by a fully wrapped unibody shell that enhances structural integrity. This focus on cooling and low weight makes it a staple for professional riders and anyone seeking a performance edge.
How to Choose: Core Differences and Rider Profiles
Deciding between the Amidal, Ventral Air Mips, and Omne Air Mips comes down to prioritising what matters most on your everyday rides. All three are excellent choices, developed with our Whole Helmet Concept™ and featuring Mips rotational impact protection. They work well across a broad range of scenarios, but their distinct specialities will guide your decision.
For the rider whose everyday riding is highly varied, the Omne Air Mips is an exceptional choice. Its strength lies in its balance. It provides reliable ventilation and a secure, comfortable fit, making it a dependable partner for any road or light gravel ride.
If your everyday rides are defined by heat, mountains and a search for every possible performance advantage, the Ventral Air Mips is engineered for you. It prioritises cooling and low weight above all else. Its ventilation provides a tangible benefit during intense efforts and in hot weather, while its CFD-tested aerodynamic profile appeals to the performance-focused cyclist. Choose the Ventral Air Mips if maximal airflow and minimal weight are your primary concerns.
The Amidal is an outstanding everyday choice for the cyclist who appreciates a refined aesthetic blended with innovative features. As our newest helmet, it encapsulates our latest thinking on balancing performance, protection and form. While it is a capable performance helmet with CFD-tested ventilation, its identity is shaped by its streamlined silhouette and integrated visibility. The bespoke Knog light mount makes it an excellent choice for riders who often find themselves on the road in low-light conditions, from dawn patrols to city commutes. The Amidal is for the rider who wants proven protection and performance presented in a new, elegant package.
The final choice of an everyday helmet is a personal one. It reflects your priorities as a rider, whether that is the refined form and integrated visibility of the Amidal, the supreme cooling of the Ventral Air Mips, or the versatile capability of the Omne Air Mips. All three make for an excellent everyday choice, representing different expressions of our mission to protect lives and reduce the consequences of accidents, and all are engineered to support you on every ride.
Yes, all three helmets—the Amidal, Ventral Air Mips, and Omne Air Mips—are equipped with Mips Air Node. This rotational impact protection system from Mips is designed to reduce harmful forces that might otherwise be transmitted to the head during an angled impact.
All POC helmets are engineered to meet and exceed global safety certifications for their intended use. The choice between these three models is not about selecting a safer helmet but about choosing the features that best suit your riding style. Each one features an optimised EPS liner and Mips technology for protection. Your decision should be guided by factors like ventilation needs, weight preference, and specific features like the Amidal's integrated light mount.
The Amidal was designed with a dedicated mount for a custom light developed with Knog. This makes visibility an integrated element of the helmet, rather than an afterthought. The light fits seamlessly into the helmet’s profile, maintaining its aerodynamic properties and balance. For riders who train early in the morning, commute in traffic, or simply value being seen, this integration provides a clean and highly functional solution.