KASK VALEGRO

Review

In the 2017 Tour de France, Team Sky wore the soon-to-be-released KASK VALEGRO, a helmet that they co-designed. The rider’s first-hand expertise in the toughest races gave KASK the ideas for their design. What was produced was a 36 vent, lightweight helmet. Since then KASK has added another ventilation hole and perfected this amazing helmet.

Safety

Safety is the reason why we wear helmets so it’s the most important factor here. Cost, weight, ventilation, looks are all next in line of importance. The difficulty with creating a helmet is getting all these elements to align as one to create the perfect lid. Where this helmet lets all the other elements down is safety. The Multi-Directional Impact Protection System (MIPS) would be an excellent safety addition to the helmet but then what would happen to the weight, the production costs, the retail price, the ventilation and possibly the shape?

Virginia Tech, the independent testers of all types of sporting helmets, have a very detailed testing method and algorithm to calculate the safety of a helmet during impact. The VALEGRO is the only KASK helmet they tested and unfortunately, it didn’t rate as well as the other brands. It still received a positive 3 stars out of 5 but from the 50 road bike helmets listed on their website, VALEGRO was down the list in 47th place. KASK continues to question the safety enhancements like MIPS but until the VALEGRO receives a WG11 stamp, like the KASK MOJITO3, we can only go by what the independent testers have scored.

Value

Generally, you can expect that the best helmets are the most expensive but it’s not always the case. The VALEGRO is pricey at around $US230 – $US275 but that’s not to say it’s not good value. This is a wind tunnel tested, beautifully designed helmet that was made in conjunction with expert riders so KASK needs to recoup its costs. Compared to KASK’s PROTONE helmet, the VALEGRO is better valued at around $US75 less.

Weight

At the top of every rider’s list of demands for a helmet is less weight. At an incredibly low 180g for a size small, the VALEGRO meets that demand. The weight-conscious hill climbers who don’t want to be burdened by a heavy lid will certainly be drawn to this helmet. 180g is the same weight as the POC Ventral Lite and there are not many quality helmets that are this light.

Ventilation & Comfort

Whether you’re riding to work or climbing a hill on a hot day, the dissipation of heat is vital for a comfortable ride. KASK’s engineers have wind tunnel tested the VALEGRO and improved it to get the best results in airflow and heat dissipation. KASK says that the helmet has advanced thermo-cooling performance. With 37 ventilation holes, there’s a lot of space for the heat to escape.

Appearance

How a helmet looks can be the main reason you buy a helmet. Forget about performance. Fortunately, the VALEGRO looks great and performs well. I wouldn’t say it looks super cool like an HJC IBEX or a Louise Garneau Course or even an Oakley ARO3 but it’s not far off. However, what I did find was that it looked better off of my head than it did on. That’s due to the big gap between the top of my cycling sunglasses and the front edge of the VALEGRO, exposing a lot of my forehead.

I feel like the helmet was designed for riders to wear a cap underneath because of the room KASK made available for the peak of the cap to stick out. This is fine in winter because a lot of cold air flows through those 37 ventilation holes and the caps can add to the cool factor of this helmet. In summer though, it can look like it’s sitting high.