Budget priced helmet uses Lazer’s crumple zone tech
(Image credit: Lazer)
Lazer says that the new Cerro KinetiCore helmet is good for both road and gravel riding. It includes a small visor that’s designed to help protect you from everything from the sun's rays to mud and rain.
The best gravel bike helmets include a few gravel-specific designs, but most riders just use a road bike helmet. Apart from the visor, Lazer has included a few other features designed to make the Cerro KinetiCore suitable for gravel bike use.
Firstly, it's included an eyewear docking station and the Cerro KinetiCore closes with a magnetic buckle, making it easy to get on and off. There’s also a small visor and a bug net to help keep wasps and their friends out of your hair.
A small peak adds extra protection (Image credit: Lazer)
KinetiCore is Lazer’s solution to improve the protection offered by helmets, particularly in the rotational impacts that helmet makers now commonly address by using MIPS.
Whereas MIPS adds an inner layer to the helmet that can slide relative to the outer in an impact, KinetiCore builds crumple zones into the helmet shell. In an impact, these can deform to absorb some of the impact energy; in a more serious impact, they will break off from the rest of the shell, which Lazer says increases the protection offered.
MIPS dominates the independent helmet impact protection tests carried out by the Virginia Tech helmet lab. That’s mainly because of the prevalence of helmets incorporating MIPS in manufacturers’ current ranges though.
The Lazer Cerro KinetiCore's bug net helps keep wasps at bay (Image credit: Lazer)
There is a sprinkling of Lazer KinetiCore helmets in Virginia Tech’s helmet safety rankings, all of which score either 5*, the best ranking, or 4*, although the Lazer Cerro KinetiCore is still not shown in the publicly published rankings.
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Another advantage of KinetiCore cited by Lazer is that there’s less material in the helmet, making it lighter and improving ventilation, as well as using fewer raw materials.
The Lazer Cerro KinetiCore helmet has a claimed weight of 270g. It’s available in three sizes (S/M/L) and six colours and priced at $99.99 / €99.99.
Paul has been on two wheels since he was in his teens and he's spent much of the time since writing about bikes and the associated tech. He's a road cyclist at heart but his adventurous curiosity means Paul has been riding gravel since well before it was cool, adapting his cyclo-cross bike to ride all-day off-road epics and putting road kit to the ultimate test along the way. Paul has contributed to Cyclingnews' tech coverage for a few years, helping to maintain the freshness of our buying guides and deals content, as well as writing a number of our voucher code pages.
