POC Cytal helmet review: brilliant all-round performance with a top safety rating 

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The Cytal is a premium all-rounder helmet from POC that’s suitable for everything from road and gravel riding to commuting and even cross-country mountain biking. 

With the brand’s unmistakable signature styling and angular appearance, it's touted as “the ultimate choice for any rider looking for safety and ventilation at any speed”.  

The Cytal delivers on that bold proclamation, proving to be a top performer in testing. Offering a comfortable fit and excellent ventilation that’s backed by a commendable safety rating, it's become my new benchmark helmet alongside the Kask Valegro. 

• The best road bike helmets 2026, from entry-level to high-end, as tested by BikeRadar
  

POC Cytal helmet performance 

I’ve been testing the Cytal for a year on both road and gravel, with conditions encompassing Baltic -2ºC temperatures through to searing 38ºC heat.  

It’s been my helmet of choice for three ultra-endurance races – Across Andes, Race Around Rwanda and Basajaun – with Race Around Rwanda the longest of those at 1,000km with in excess of 19,000m elevation.  

Starting with the helmet’s appearance, I admire POC’s distinctive design with the gaping vents at the front and the purposefully stealthy rear. Aesthetics are subjective, but I think it looks the part when riding both on and off-road – and the fact you can buy it in a whole range of colours is a bonus.   

The fit is excellent – it’s best suited to fairly wide, oval-shaped heads like mine, where it offers plenty of coverage. I found the 360º fit system easy to use, offering audible clicks when tightening, and it’s quick to loosen too.  

The straps have proven comfortable, even in hot conditions, and I particularly like the smart keeper with silicone dots that almost effortlessly glides along the straps when making an adjustment. They’re not as luxurious as the leather straps Kask uses on its helmets, but it’d be fair to say they degrade over time.    

If there’s a flaw, I wish the cranial support had slightly more vertical adjustment range. While the Cytal is more generous in this regard than the Specialized S-Works Prevail 3, for example, having greater coverage would give me more peace of mind – this is an aspect the Kask Valegro remains the benchmark for.   

On the scales, my size-large Cytal helmet (certified to EN 1078, which tends to weigh less than CPSC 1203 and AS/NZS 2063 standards) weighs 297g, 3g less than claimed.  

That’s lighter than a size-large Specialized S-Works Prevail 3, which I weighed in at 305g, but heavier than a size-large Kask Valegro, which comes in at a feathery 255g.  

However, a size-large Cytal Lite trumps the Valegro by weighing in at a seriously light 215g. 

POC has really sweated the details on balancing helmet safety, aerodynamics and ventilation.  

Starting with aerodynamics, the helmet uses the Venturi effect to channel air in and compress it, which improves both the cooling effect and aerodynamics. The integrated wing plays a crucial role here, which POC says supports structural stability and helps improve airflow. 

Ventilation-wise, the Cytal has five large channels at the front to guide air through the helmet. Five smaller vents sit behind the integrated wing, with two larger ones at the side, and a further five at the pointy-looking rear.  

The Cytal balances aerodynamics and ventilation very well on the road and trails. I could feel air being channelled from the front to back whenever there was a wind gust and the padding is nice and comfortable.  

I particularly appreciated the Cytal’s hot-weather performance when I raced in Spain and Rwanda, and my head never felt overly sweaty.  

From a ventilation perspective, it outperforms the Specialized S-Works Prevail 3, where I found sweat collects at the brow pad, and I’d say it’s almost on a par with the airy Kask Valegro.  

The Cytal performs well in the cold, too, and I’ve never felt my head get too chilly when wearing a skullcap in freezing temperatures. 

The only real negative is the Cytal’s sunglasses storage has proven ineffective.  

The ‘high friction pads’ never had a secure hold on the POC Crave Clarity or Elicit Toric glasses I tested the helmet with, and this also proved to be the case with 100%’s S3 and Oakley’s EV Zero Blades and Sutro Lite glasses. While the Cytal held most of these glasses, they would quickly rattle loose and I wasn’t prepared to chance them ejecting.  

There’s no denying the Cytal is expensive – especially if you opt for the pricier Cytal Lite or Carbon models.  

This ‘regular’ Cytal is more expensive than the Specialized S-Works Prevail 3 at £250 and Lazer Z1 KinetiCore at £230 / $250 / €250 / AU$400.  

But it’s less than the Kask Elemento (although I’ve compared to the Valegro, this is the brand’s top-end all-rounder helmet) at £335 / $400 / €375 / AU$570, which Simon von Bromley found to be compromised despite some impressive features.  

I’d say the Cytal is worth the premium over these aforementioned helmets. It performs valiantly in all respects, save for the sunglasses storage, while trumping them in terms of its Virginia Tech safety rating. 

Finally, because I’ve had the benefit of testing the Cytal for a year, I can comment on its durability. Besides some cosmetic scuffs, the Cytal has held up well, with plenty of service left (as you would hope).  

POC Cytal helmet bottom line  

The Cytal has proven a great all-rounder, deftly balancing aerodynamics and ventilation with a reassuringly high safety rating.  

It might be pricey, but POC really has considered all the details – the Cytal is a helmet I keep finding myself reach for.  

Besides the ineffective sunglasses storage, there’s little to criticise.  

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