Kask Elemento helmet review

Designed in collaboration with the WorldTour INEOS Grenadiers Cycling Team, the Elemento aero road helmet takes inspiration from Kask’s current Protone Icon (which is 40g / 1.4oz lighter).

Worth noting, especially in the context of this aero road helmets test, is that Kask includes its own Utopia Y in an ‘Aero’ category, whereas the Elemento sits under their MTB, Road, and Gravel genres. 

Comfort and ventilation

I’m a massive fan of the original Kask Protone and have used it for years, and the Elemento shares some of that helmet’s versatility and comfort.

The differences come in the Elemento’s array of new helmet tech on display, including the ‘Fluid Carbon 12’ composite technopolymer material in the helmet’s body that reduces the thickness of the EPS foam being utilised.

In lieu of conventional padding, there’s also a Multipod beehive material positioned internally at the top of the helmet, with these deep pads keeping the helmet away from the skull to improve internal airflow.

And the Elemento is very well vented for an aero road helmet, making this one of the lids from our recent group test, along with the Giro Eclipse Spherical, that I’d take to the summertime mountains.

Weight, fit and features

The weight of 277g / 9.8oz on our scales for a medium (52-58cm) nudges it towards the higher end of this test, which is surprising given the Elemento’s more sizeable ventilation channels, but that weight does include the Multipod system and it was barely noticeable over the circa-275g / 9.7oz competition.

I like the retention dial but, for that very costly price of $400 / £335, I would’ve liked to see Kask’s luxurious leather chinstrap of old, while the basic buckle was also tricky to connect at speed, especially with cold post-swim hands.

I also would’ve wanted a sunglasses port for the price.

The Elemento, as we’ve come to expect from Kask, is a great-looking lid, whether that’s in the Oxford Blue on test here, or the five other colourways.

The sizing ranges from a small (50-56) to a medium (52-58cm) and large (59-62).

Safety

There’s no MIPS here but the Elemento has gone through Kask’s WG-11 Rotational Impart Test (also used by Rudy Project in this test).

This is a European body that acknowledges that the MIPS concept is valid, yet it disagrees with how helmets with MIPS are tested (largely down to the head form used).

Either way, in terms of the testing by the Virginia Tech institute, the Elemento scored a five-star rating to sit 78th out of 233 helmets as of June 2024.

This may well be the result of the isotropic ‘Multipod’ material that sits between helmet and head to reportedly allow better management of rotational impact energy.

Aero performance

Compared to some of the helmets on test, this doesn’t feel like the most aerodynamically aggressive design due to its number of sizeable ventilation channels and broader shape.

This lesser aero focus played out in 220’s wind-tunnel tests at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub with The Bike Tailor.

Its performance over our baseline Decathlon helmet at a 7.5° yaw angle was just 3.4secs faster over a 40km / 25mi bike leg at 30km/h / 19mph, while it actually lost 5secs of time when riding at 40km/h / 25mph with the rider on tri-bars.

This placed it towards the bottom of the helmets we tested, although that could be down to the Elemento being one of the more vented helmets here.

Kask Elemento helmet specs

Price:	$400 / £335
Weight:	277g / 9.8oz (medium)
MIPS?	No
Vents:	14