{"id":584085,"date":"2026-04-04T02:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584085\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T02:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:23:19","slug":"best-upgrade-for-cyclists-over-50-who-want-more-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/584085\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Upgrade for Cyclists Over 50 Who Want More Efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated4 min read<\/p>\n

I\u2019m 53, and like a lot of you, I\u2019m not riding the same way I did 10 or 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

I still like going fast\u2014that hasn\u2019t changed \u2014 but I\u2019m becoming more interested in getting the most out of the effort I have. Over the course of a long ride, or a few days in a row on the bike, small inefficiencies have a way of adding up. You don\u2019t always notice them right away, but you feel them by the end.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s led me to pay more attention to the things that give something back without asking more from me. There\u2019s one upgrade in particular that does exactly that. It doesn\u2019t require more fitness, more suffering, or even more thought. You just use it, and it works quietly in the background every time you ride.<\/p>\n

An aero helmet.<\/p>\n

\"Bicycle<\/p>\n

Matt Phillips<\/p>\n

For years, I didn\u2019t think they were worth it. Early aero road helmets promised free speed, but they came with real compromises\u2014they were heavy, ran hot, sometimes uncomfortable, and, let\u2019s face it, ugly.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s changed.<\/p>\n

Modern aero helmets are light, well-ventilated, and genuinely comfortable for long rides. I\u2019ve been riding in Giro\u2019s Eclipse Pro<\/a>, and it feels like a great high-end road helmet that just happens to be aero. It\u2019s only a few grams heavier than Giro\u2019s Aries, and on the road, I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m giving anything up. Giro says the difference is meaningful: according to Michael Parker, lead design engineer at Giro, the Eclipse Pro is about 20 percent more aerodynamically efficient than the Aries under the same conditions.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m wearing a helmet every ride anyway, so why not choose the one that saves a few watts and provides some free speed?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a less-discussed benefit that shows up every time you ride: aero helmets are quieter. Less drag means less wind noise, which not only makes the ride more pleasant but can also improve your awareness of what\u2019s happening around you.<\/p>\n

\"Cyclist<\/p>\n

trevor raab<\/p>\n

While quieter riding is a nice side benefit, the real point of aero helmets is saved watts. Brands, of course, lean hard on the numbers. Trek says its Ballista saves about 10 watts compared to a traditional road helmet in controlled testing. But here\u2019s the catch: most of those claims are built around speeds of 45 kph (28 mph) and up, which is useful for comparison but not especially representative of how most of us ride most of the time. These days, that\u2019s a speed I\u2019m more likely to see on a descent than on flat ground, so I asked a more relevant question: what does the benefit look like closer to 30 to 35 kph (18 to 22 mph)?<\/p>\n

The answer is smaller, but still meaningful. As Tim Kellagher, aftermarket product marketing manager at Trek Bicycle, told me, even if riders only see a few watts of improvement at those speeds, they\u2019re also on the bike longer, which means the savings still add up over the course of a ride.<\/p>\n

Whitman Kwok, founder of KAV, pointed me in a similar direction. Based on the company\u2019s wind tunnel and on-road testing, KAV estimates that aero helmets save roughly 1.5 to 3 watts at 30 to 35 kph (18 to 22 mph). On paper, that\u2019s easy to dismiss. But over the span of a long ride, it starts to look more meaningful\u2014not just as speed gained, but as energy saved. Kwok put it in practical terms: over a six-hour ride, even a small reduction in drag can add up to enough saved energy to matter late, when the ride starts asking harder questions.<\/p>\n

\"Bicycle<\/p>\n

trevor raab<\/p>\n

That\u2019s really the point. At whatever speed you ride, you\u2019re wasting a little less energy, and at this point, that matters. We don\u2019t recover as we used to, and fatigue builds more quickly over long rides or consecutive days. I\u2019m not trying to prove anything anymore\u2014I just want to ride well and finish with something left in the tank, and feel good enough to ride again tomorrow. An aero helmet fits that perfectly. It doesn\u2019t change how we ride or ask us to push any harder; it simply gives a little back, trimming away effort you\u2019d otherwise lose to the wind. Same speed, slightly less work.<\/p>\n

There are caveats, of course. Real-world aero gains depend on position, wind angle, whether you\u2019re riding solo or in a group, and a long list of other variables. As Kellagher told me, there are \u201ca couple dozen more caveats\u201d if you want to be fully scientific about it. But the larger point holds. You\u2019re wearing a helmet anyway, and modern aero helmets have gotten good enough that the old tradeoffs are mostly gone.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not dramatic, but it is real. And at this stage, that\u2019s exactly the kind of upgrade that makes the most sense\u2014one that gives something back without asking anything in return.<\/p>\n

Member Exclusive: Check Out Our Top Cycling Stories\"Chevron\"Chevron\"Headshot<\/p>\n

A gear editor for his entire career, Matt\u2019s journey to becoming a leading cycling tech journalist started in 1995, and he\u2019s been at it ever since; likely riding more cycling equipment than anyone on the planet along the way. Previous to his time with Bicycling, Matt worked in bike shops as a service manager, mechanic, and sales person. Based in Durango, Colorado, he enjoys riding and testing any and all kinds of bikes, so you\u2019re just as likely to see him on a road bike dressed in Lycra at a Tuesday night worlds ride as you are to find him dressed in a full face helmet and pads riding a bike park on an enduro bike. He doesn\u2019t race often, but he\u2019s game for anything; having entered road races, criteriums, trials competitions, dual slalom, downhill races, enduros, stage races, short track, time trials, and gran fondos. Next up on his to-do list: a multi day bikepacking trip, and an e-bike race.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 min read I\u2019m 53, and like a lot of you, I\u2019m not riding the same way I…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":584086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[285995,64,63,285996,784,85,195133],"class_list":{"0":"post-584085","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-aerodynamic-helmets","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-bike-helmets","12":"tag-cycling","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-supes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=584085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/584085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/584086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=584085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=584085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=584085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}