POC Procen Air review: Ben Healy’s aero helmet marries the best of road and TT

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With its TT-helmet inspired design and fluorescent pink colourway, the POC Procen Air turned plenty of heads when it debuted at the 2024 Tour Down Under.

It has since become a firm favourite of high-profile EF Education-EasyPost team riders, and has played its part in a number of significant victories – including Ben Healy’s marauding win on stage 10 of the 2025 Tour de France and Lachlan Morton’s success at Unbound in 2024.

The Procen Air (£370 / $450 / €400) can also be credited with kick-starting the trend for time trial helmets in road races, as rival teams quickly cottoned on to the idea that such helmets might be faster.

In my experience, the hype is justified. Although the aesthetics are divisive, the performance gains feel tangible and there are far fewer compromises than expected.

POC Procen Air specifications and details

While a few WorldTour teams have simply taken to wearing standard TT helmets in road races, the Procen Air represents a new hybrid breed.

While it shares clear design cues with POC’s Procen TT helmet, with a rounded teardrop shape and three large vents up front, it features several changes that are intended to reduce compromises in ventilation, weight and hearing.

The tail, for example, is more aggressively truncated on the Procen Air, while the flanks of the Procen Air also only cover half of your ears – leaving your ear canals unobstructed – and are made of a soft, flexible fabric rather than a hard plastic.

The integrated magnetic visor is also far smaller than on the Lazer Victor KinetiCore, and can be reversed and stored at the rear of the helmet when not in use.

On the scales, the Procen Air is unsurprisingly heavier than more classically styled aero road helmets, weighing in at 355g for a size medium, including the visor (which weighs 31g).

That’s around 60-90g heavier than highly rated aero helmets such as the Specialized Evade 3 (£250 / $299.99 / €290), Trek Ballista MIPS (£199.99 / $329.99 / €249.99) and Van Rysel FCR (£89.99 / €100), but the gap is reduced slightly once you factor in a set of cycling sunglasses to mimic the functionality of the Procen Air’s lens.

Factoring in the two included lenses (smoke plus clear) also helps bridge the gap from a value perspective, although that’s something of a moot point if you already have a set of expensive sunnies.

As Healy, Morton and other sponsored riders often do, the Procen Air can be worn with standard sunglasses if you prefer – although you won’t be able to take advantage of the magnetic rear storage, of course.

One notable omission from the Procen Air’s spec is a MIPS liner or similar technology to guard against rotational brain injuries, and it hasn’t been tested by Virginia Tech’s helmet lab.

Will the POC Procen Air be UCI-legal in 2026?

Before looking at the Procen Air’s performance, it’s worth noting the UCI looks set to ban time trial helmets in mass-start road races from January 2026.

It remains to be seen exactly how the distinction between ‘aero road’ and ‘time trial’ helmets will be drawn, but the Procen Air’s integrated visor and ear covers might be enough to see it outlawed.

In the UK, Cycling Time Trials' latest regulations for road bike TTs prohibit helmets that cover the ears or “have a tear drop/pointy style tail”, so it wouldn’t be allowed there either.

These bans are things only racers participating in UCI- or CTT-sanctioned events need to worry about, though – ultra-endurance road and/or gravel races that fall outside of those jurisdictions shouldn’t pose issues (for now, at least).

POC Procen Air performance

Although it doesn’t feature a panoramic visor like the one on the Lazer Victor KinetiCore, the unobstructed view offered by the Procen Air’s integrated visor is a joy and much appreciated.

The lens quality is also excellent, with no obvious distortion.

I felt I was able to ride a little faster than usual while wearing the Procen Air, and it was the most aerodynamic road helmet tested by Cyclingnews in one of its wind-tunnel tests last year.

Part of the gain is certainly psychological, though. Although it's a hybrid of road and TT helmets, it nevertheless offers that same ‘locked-in’ and racy feeling you get from a proper TT lid – which encourages you to get your head low and in line with your shoulders.

Ventilation was also better than expected, with the three large vents up front and the air gap between the visor and your face doing a good job of enabling air to circulate when rolling along at a decent pace.

On longer, slower climbs, removing the visor and stowing it at the rear is easy – thanks to the strong magnets that help it self-locate to the right spot – and tangibly improves cooling.

Granted, the Procen Air wouldn’t be my choice for sweltering days with lots of tough climbs, but it was far more comfortable to wear when working hard than the Lazer Victor KinetiCore, and surprisingly tolerable in general.

Unlike with the Lazer, there’s no compromise to your hearing while wearing the Procen Air.

My only real criticism of the Procen Air is that it’s only available in four relatively dull colour options – matte black (tested), navy or green plus gloss white.

It’s fair to say its looks are divisive, but that’s long been the case with POC helmets – the Swedish company created the infamous Tempor TT helmet, after all.

POC would do better to embrace the absurdity with some brighter colour options or designs, as it does with the pink helmets worn by EF Education-EasyPost riders (which are available to purchase, albeit only on a limited-edition basis).

POC Procen Air bottom line

The POC Procen Air exceeded my expectations in practically all areas.

It’s a race-focused bit of kit, in the same vein as hyper-aero road bikes, such as the Ribble Ultra SL R or Cervélo S5.

But if being as fast as possible on a road or gravel bike is your main concern, the Procen Air is a fantastic option with fewer compromises than you might expect – provided it’s not banned in your chosen discipline, of course.

At £370 / $450 / €400, it’s undeniably expensive for a helmet – especially because it’s best suited to cooler and flatter days on the bike (meaning you’ll likely want a second option in your arsenal for hot days with lots of climbing). The lack of MIPS, or a similar rotational impact protection system, might also put some off.

However, the included lens helps in the value stakes and we know from our own wind-tunnel testing that aero helmets are one of the best-value aero upgrades you can get, in terms of watts saved per pound / dollar spent.

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