Mavic Comete Ultimate helmet review

The Mavic Comete Ultimate is the latest helmet from Mavic, and comes with aero credentials. Mavic has tested these in the wind tunnel and says that the new helmet will save you 3 watts and 14 seconds per hour at 40kph relative to its Cosmic Pro helmet.

Despite the Mavic Comete Ultimate having a quite enclosed side-on profile, there’s good ventilation, even when riding through the 2018 summer heat wave. From the front, the ribs straddling the broad vents look quite flat sided, rather than letting the air through. This seems to result in greater airflow being directed over the head for increased cooling.

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There’s a wide rear vent and side slots towards the rear, which also seem to help with airflow. The rear vent has a reinforcing carbon fibre fin across it, which Mavic says has allowed it to increase the aperture.

Mavic says that its EPS-4D construction method improves impact protection by 30 per cent relative to a standard helmet. In some helmets, the outer shell wraps over the polystyrene core at the bottom edge, helping to protect it from wear. This isn’t the case with the Mavic Comete Ultimate helmet though and I did find that I’d acquired a few dents and gouges in it while testing. It’s usually cosmetic, but a serious drop might damage the helmet.

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Padding inside the helmet comprises a series of small memory foam pads in the apex of the helmet and a front foam fabric band, which is also backed by a strip of memory foam. The memory foam adds extra compressibility and results in a more comfortable fit than standard padding.

The memory foam pads in the top of the helmet are angled so as to direct air from the front vent over the head too. Despite being minimal, I found that they relieved pressure well. Mavic has put a lot of research into its helmets’ padding, which is described in this post (opens in new tab).

Another nice feature is the addition of small, grippy rubber pads to the front side vents. If you want to slide your sunglasses into the helmet when you’re climbing, these mean that there’s almost zero chance that they won’t stay put. It’s a simple extra that I’ve not seen in other helmets.

Rather than the usual flat straps, which can flap against the side of the head and rub against the ears, the side straps of the Mavic Comete Ultimate are cylindrical. It means that they’re more comfortable and less likely to get twisted or in the way of your sunnies. They move freely through the rear anchor, so that they even up easily on either side of the head. They’re attached to a flat chin strap, to help distribute pressure well.

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The Mavic Comete Ultimate is available with or without MIPS. Mavic claims a weight of 210g for the medium helmet. As I take a size large, that goes up to a still-lightweight 250g, although MIPS would add 10-20 g to that.