Rudy Venture Insurgent Biking Helmet Overview

A lot of my youthful biking compatriots don’t acknowledge the Rudy Venture identify, however again within the Nineteen Nineties, it was distinguished within the professional biking scene. The Italian model had an plain model, defending the eyes and heads of legendary cyclists like five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault.

Rudy Venture is alive and nicely immediately, and its new Insurgent helmet landed on my doorstep simply because the temperatures started to rise. The Insurgent has a basic look; it’s not an aero helmet, but it surely additionally didn’t look tremendous ventilated.

I used to be cautious of coaching with it because the highs hit the higher 90s, however for my part, the helmet had a basic Italian model that I couldn’t resist. So, I wore it on gravel and highway rides all through the remainder of the summer season.

In brief, the Rudy Venture Insurgent bike helmet hits all of the marks. It suits and ventilates nicely, it’s gentle, and my biking buddies and I agree that it appears to be like nice. Rudy Venture even graces it with recycled supplies. The one draw back is the MSRP of $350.

Rudy Venture Insurgent Specs

The Rudy Venture Insurgent’s supplies checklist is just like that of lots of immediately’s top-of-the-line highway helmets. Its polycarbonate shell has carbon fiber panels, that are stated to offer structural reinforcement, permitting much less expanded polystyrene (EPS) padding. This helps the Insurgent attain its verified weight of 322 g in a measurement L.

The polystyrene energy-absorbing foam has a standard-looking consolation liner, however the front-facing part has a web, which Rudy Venture positioned to cease bugs. The inside is deeply channeled for airflow.

Though there isn’t a devoted construction to particularly mitigate rotational impacts, like a MIPS liner or gel pads, the model states that the Insurgent passes rigorous rotational influence testing. It meets each CPSC 12.03 and CE/EN 1078 requirements and was awarded Virginia Tech’s highest security ranking.

The shell, consolation liner, and straps all comprise recycled supplies.

The Rudy Venture Insurgent straps shut with a magnetic FidLock buckle, and the helmet has eyewear storage ports.

Rudy Venture provides the Insurgent in two sizes, small/medium and enormous, and matte white and matte black colorways.

Rudy Venture Insurgent Match and Operate

Match

I’ve an elongated oval head, and the Rudy Venture Insurgent match completely. The helmet had a “deep” match, that means I felt like my head went manner into it; it wasn’t simply sitting on high of my head. For a helmet that appears “customary” in form, it had nice protection alongside the edges and again of my head.

The circumferential retention system had a large vertical adjustment vary. With it within the lowest place, the helmet had a fair deeper becoming really feel. I didn’t should run very a lot rigidity on the dial in any respect, because the deep match saved the helmet steady even on the roughest gravel terrain.

I don’t recall as soon as in the course of the 3 months of testing after I needed to reposition the helmet. It’s nearly ordinary, particularly when sporting bigger, fuller-coverage biking glasses; helmets typically bump the highest of the frames.

The strap divider may be very extensive; it’s the widest I’ve seen in bicycle helmets. But it surely felt comfy. At first, I believed the bigger floor space on the facet of my face would hassle me, but it surely unfold rigidity, and I didn’t discover it whereas using.

The chin strap closes with a magnetic Fidock buckle. That is my private desire, however I’m not a fan of Fidlock on any of my helmets. I spend an excessive amount of time figuring them out after a long time of normal helmet buckles. It’s only a perform of my age.

The deep and safe match saved the helmet so steady that it seemed that it was lighter than its 322g weight.

Air flow

This side of the Rudy Venture Insurgent was probably the most stunning. Sure, the helmet is roofed with loads of vents, and the channeling inside seemed promising. But it surely has a “basic” look that doesn’t scream “airflow” as many trendy super-ventilated fashions do.

However straight away, even at slower speeds, I may really feel the air transfer throughout my scalp and out the again. With temperatures hovering close to 100 at instances and the humidity always excessive, I used to be pleasantly shocked that the Insurgent was the very best ventilating helmet I’d examined up to now this yr. It’s a notch beneath the Specialised S-Works Prevail 3, however third place in air flow is a great distance again.

Total Consolation

The Rudy Venture’s nice and deep match, stability, admirable weight, and glorious air flow made it some of the comfy helmets in my in depth quiver. Many helmets hit one or two of those standards with excessive marks, but it surely’s uncommon that one registers excessive in all of them, and Rudy Venture did that for me with its Insurgent.

I believe it may need flowed much more air if the bug web had been eliminated, however I didn’t really feel the necessity. And I’ve been stung by wasps flying into my lid twice, so there’s that.

Sturdiness and Nitpicks

The polycarbonate and carbon-paneled shell on the Insurgent coated all the pieces all the way down to the decrease fringe of the polystyrene liner, which is reassuring to a man who’s at all times by the way dinging helmets. The shell additionally offers the helmet a really strong really feel within the palms.

Some shells are skinny and indifferent from the polystyrene in locations, which permits it to crumple quickly if pressed. Not so with the Rudy Venture Insurgent; the shell and EPS liner have been strong and felt like a single construction.

One other space the place some helmets can really feel fragile is the connection level of the circumferential retention system. Some feel and look like stick-on afterthoughts, however not so on the Insurgent. The attachment factors are embedded securely with substantial anchors within the EPS liner.

Lastly, biking helmets nearly at all times use Velcro stick-on tabs to safe the consolation liner, and the half that’s supposed to remain on the EPS liner will typically come off. This was additionally the case with the Insurgent, as a handful of the tabs got here off the EPS with the liner. However as soon as I secured them one time within the right place, these tabs remained in place by way of a number of padding elimination cycles. With the quantity of sweat I used to be producing, I needed to wash this liner typically.

My solely different nitpick, apart from personally not being a fan of Fidlocks for helmets, was that the bug web interfered with some sun shades when stowed within the devoted ports. Some ear stems received hung up within the web. And perhaps some people would need coloration selections past white and black.

Conclusions on the Rudy Venture Insurgent Bike Helmet

For cyclists with oval head shapes in search of a helmet for highway and gravel, the Rudy Venture Insurgent sits excessive within the pecking order. It doesn’t have a weak level so far as match and efficiency.

And based on those that noticed the Insurgent, it’s a handsome helmet. It doesn’t have the now-bland aero look, and it has basic strains that harken to the times of leather-based helmets, which, by all means, have been fairly ineffective however cool nonetheless.

The one huge stumbling block was the value. At $350, it’s one of many priciest helmets I’d examined to this point that wasn’t a full-on aero highway race mannequin.

However past that price ticket, the Rudy Venture Insurgent is nearly devoid of any negatives. And that’s from somebody who’s leery of biking product releases achieved solely to supply one thing new.