Met Rivale 2021 Helmet

Luke Howard November 10, 2020November 10, 2020

Met have recently released its new updated 2021 Met Rivale Helmet designed to bring you more safety and better comfort.

If you want to be convinced that this helmet is good enough from a performance perspective alone, look no further than the fact that this was the helmet worn by this years 2020 Tour de France Champion Tadej Pogačar and the rest of the UAE Emirates Team at the tour.

We had the opportunity to test them out and here is our review on the helmet.

A Closer Look

From the outside the Rivale keeps its patently bold exterior design, however, inside the helmet there is a wide range of new features that include MIPS safety technology (a brain protection system — engineered to add protection to helmets) – more detail on that later.

When wearing the helmet it fits nicely and we found it to be incredibly comfortable. Once strapped you will barely notice the helmet whilst out riding. Due to the soft padding lining the helmet there is no rubbing or irritation on the skin and this helps keep the helmet solidly in place. The internal padding also helps with the absorption of sweat.

To help with aerodynamics, MET have used air-light straps that are 15 percent lighter and more aerodynamic than a standard strap

The Rivale comes in a range of colours (7) to choose from and as an added bonus every MET helmet comes with a free from defects guarantee for two years.

Vents

Its 18 ventilation ports were enough to keep us nice and cool even when putting out efforts on a climb. Having this many ports also made the placement of sunglasses above the helmet nice and easy.

What is MIPS?

MIPS is a key new feature with the helmet. Developed by leading brain surgeons and scientists MIPS reduces the rotational forces on the brain caused by angled impacts to the head if you were to fall off your bike. MIPS is engineered to add at least 10% extra safety to the standard construction of helmets in case of certain impacts.

Injury statistics show that when you fall and hit your head, it’s most common to fall at an angle, compared to a linear fall.

All in all a great added segment.