Garneau Héros RTR helmet review

We test the Héros RTR helmet from Canadian brand Louis Garneau

Cycling Weekly Verdict

A good quality aero helmet with some nice features and a really comfortable, easy to adjust fit.

Reasons to buy
  • +

    Deep fit

  • +

    Easy to adjust on the fly

  • +

    Comfortable and well padded

  • +

    Reflectives on sides and rear

  • +

Reasons to avoid
  • -

    Not super-light

You can trust Cycling Weekly. Our team of experts put in hard miles testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Canadian brand Louis Garneau makes a wide range of cycling kit including clothing and helmets, with the Héros being a newly-introduced aero design. Like many aero helmets, it’s got quite a large shell with wide vents – 22 of them in its case. There’s a longitudinal rib structure, with the lateral ribs being wide and shallow to present a low profile to the wind and direct airflow onto the rider’s head.

The fluoro yellow shell wraps around the bottom of the helmet to help protect the polystyrene body from knocks. And at the rear and sides, the two grey ribs are reflective to add some extra night-time visibility. If you don’t fancy a yellow bonce, the Héros is available in black, white or red too. There’s also a MIPS version available for an extra £20, designed to give additional protection in a crash.

Grey ribs at rear sides add night time reflectivity

Grey ribs at rear sides add night time reflectivity

It’s a deep helmet and I’ve found it a comfortable fit on my large head, although the wide brim is noticeable when riding more head-down. There’s enough X-static antibacterial padding to keep things comfortable over the brow and keep some sweat out of the eyes though.

>>> Proviz launches super-reflective helmet

Garneau’s adjustment system consists of an annular wheel at the back. This contains two adjusters, one for the in-out fit and one to raise or lower the retainer, so that the cradle’s fit can be easily adjusted in both directions on the fly.

Watch: Helmet buyer's guide

When I first set out in the Héros I found that the side retainers were interfering with my sunglasses’ side arms behind my ears. This turned out to be because I hadn’t quite dialled the cradle in closely enough. Having done this, the fit felt really secure while still comfortable.

It’s not the lightest helmet out there, with the size large tipping the scale at a smidgen under 300g. But the Héros makes up for this with a deep design, aero features and a really secure feel.

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Paul Norman

Paul started writing for Cycling Weekly in 2015, covering cycling tech, new bikes and product testing. Since then, he’s reviewed hundreds of bikes and thousands of other pieces of cycling equipment for the magazine and the Cycling Weekly website.

He’s been cycling for a lot longer than that though and his travels by bike have taken him all around Europe and to California. He’s been riding gravel since before gravel bikes existed too, riding a cyclocross bike through the Chilterns and along the South Downs.