Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab tests the safety of bicycle helmets using a proprietary methodology, rating 228 helmets to date.
Virginia Tech’s tests are carried out with funding support from the US-based Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and are more comprehensive than the standard tests all helmets must pass before they are put on sale.
As well as straight-on impacts, Virginia Tech's tests include an assessment of oblique impacts and points of impact on the side of the helmet.
Virginia Tech assigns a score to each helmet based on its tests, with a lower score being better. It also gives each helmet a star rating out of five.
The full list of the 228 helmets tested can be filtered by the style of helmet and whether helmets are certified for use in other sports such as snow sports or skateboarding, as well as for cycling.
The 10 safest mountain bike helmets as rated by Virginia Tech
- Bluegrass Jetro
- Specialized Tactic 4 MIPS
- Sweet Protection Trailblazer MIPS
- Fox Dropframe Pro (2020 version and 2023 update)
- Sweet Protection Bushwhacker 2VI MIPS
- Bontrager Rally MIPS
- Fox Crossframe Pro
- Specialized Ambush 2
- Bluegrass Rogue Core MIPS
- Troy Lee Designs A2 MIPS Decoy
Read our pick of the best mountain bike helmets we’ve reviewed.
The 10 safest road cycling helmets as rated by Virginia Tech
- Giro Aries Spherical
- Sweet Protection Falconer 2VI MIPS
- Specialized Prevail 3
- Sweet Protection Falconer Aero 2VI MIPS
- Giant Rev Comp MIPS
- Lazer G1 (Genesis) MIPS
- Trek Velocis MIPS
- Specialized Chamonix 3
- Lazer Tonic MIPS
- Lazer Century MIPS
Read our pick of the best road bike helmets and our favourites.
Ten safest urban helmets as rated by Virginia Tech
Virgina Tech also testsd helmets designed for ebike riders or which have passed the additional, tougher Dutch NTA-8776 ebike helmet standard.
Electric bikes are a popular option for commuters, but their average speeds are higher than pedal-only cycles and they usually weigh more. Both lead to greater impact energy in a crash, so the NTA-8776 standard mandates more rigorous testing than the standard safety tests.
- Specialized Mode
- Lazer Anverz NTA MIPS
- Abus Pedelec 2.0 MIPS
- Bern Major MIPS
- Sweet Protection Promuter MIPS
- Airnoggin Head Trauma Protection System
- Lazer Cruizer MIPS
- Bern Union MIPS
- Thousand Chapter MIPS
- Bern Hudson
Read our pick of the best commuter bike helmets for more.
Virginia Tech ratings are highly regarded within the industry
A high rating in Virginia Tech's testing has become a badge of honour and a significant marketing tool for helmet makers.
The profile given to the results of its tests has resulted in most helmet makers now submitting at least some helmets for testing.
Some brands, such as Specialized, have dived in wholesale and you'll see a rating for most of their helmets – other brands have been more circumspect.
But even those such as Kask and Rudy Project, which have preferred to let their internal testing do the talking, have now had at least some of their helmets tested by Virginia Tech.
It's worth noting that even brands that have had their helmets tested aren't relying on Virginia Tech's ratings – they all perform a battery of their own tests to measure their helmets' safety.
Giro, for instance, says; "We appreciate Virginia Tech’s efforts to help riders make informed choices with an independent rating system based on their unique testing.
"We welcome Virginia Tech's quantitative approach to providing consumers with additional information beyond the certification all our helmets meet or exceed.”
How does Virginia Tech test its helmets?
Virginia Tech’s testing uses a standardised methodology. This was developed in 2018 and has been used in all its testing since then.
The Virginia Tech test attaches the helmet to a headform on a drop tower. This is the standard tool used to test the safety of bike helmets.
It drops the helmet down a slider and lands it on a steel anvil. Virginia Tech covers this with coarse sandpaper, which it says helps simulate real-life road conditions.
Tests are carried out at two different impact speeds and in six positions on the helmet, including on the rim.
The method tests oblique impacts as well as those taken head-on. Each test is repeated twice, for a total of 24 tests on each helmet.
Accelerometers are positioned inside the headform on which the helmet is mounted to measure the linear and rotational forces acting on impact.
A formula is then used to convert this data into an overall score and a star rating, with a lower score being better.
Virginia Tech says its testing is more complete than standard tests, which do not include impacts on the rim, even though this is often where contact will occur in a crash.
MIPS helmets still dominate the rankings, but there are alternatives
The majority of cycling helmets across all disciplines now include additional features to protect the head, over the standard expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam shell.
Helmets that use one of the variants of the MIPS sliding plane protection system dominate the top of the rankings, although this may reflect the fact that the majority of cycling helmets now include MIPS.
MIPS is designed to help dissipate energy in oblique impacts so that less impact force is transferred to the rider. Many bike crashes involve oblique impacts to the head and Virginia Tech’s testing suggests that extra protection from this type of crash is an important feature.
There are more alternatives to MIPS than a few years ago though. Lazer's KinetiCore system includes crumple zones in the EPS shell and foregoes MIPS. The 6D ATB-2T MTB helmet also has its own ODS impact protection system.
Meanwhile, the Airnoggin urban helmet is inflatable, allowing you to fold it down when not in use, but it is still five-star rated by Virginia Tech.
Some helmet makers, such as Kask, largely forego MIPS, preferring to test their helmets to the WG11 rotational impact test standard.
Kask claims that the headform used in the WG11 test better reflects what happens in real-life crashes than the standard headforms used in most testing.
The majority of tested helmets rank highly
Another takeaway is just how many helmets are highly ranked by Virginia Tech.
Its methodology includes a formula to assign a star rating, so it’s not just an arbitrary number.
Of the 228 helmets tested, 137 were rated five stars – that’s 60 per cent. A further 55 – or 24 per cent – were rated four stars.
This means, overall, 84 per cent of the helmets tested achieved Virginia Tech’s recommended level of five- or four-star protection.
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get a helmet that will protect you well either. Virginia Tech quotes a price of just $65 for the fifth-rated road helmet, the Giant Rev Comp MIPS, and there are highly-ranked MTB and urban helmets that cost less than $100 too.
