Building off the success of its flagship Star helmet, Bell has carried over much of the technology into a new, "little brother" version called the Vortex. Constructed from a polycarbonate shell, it meets DOT standards and is Snell M2010 approved, though it's not quite as light as its Star sibling, weighing in at 3.5 pounds compared to the Star's 3.4. While neither helmet is the lightest we've ever tested, the weight difference between the two is miniscule when holding each in your hands or while on your head.
On top of just being the Star's little brother, the Vortex also features a different shell shape designed for rounder heads, as opposed to the long oval of the Star. Some testers on the staff have benefitted from this change as they were in between sizes with the Star. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on your head. Inside the helmet are removable and washable contoured cheek pads that are formed with stacked foam instead of being cut to fit. This ensures uniform support and coverage. Their antibacterial and antimicrobial properties ensure none of that mess comes back to give you skin problems. An interesting new feature we're seeing on new helmets are integrated speaker pockets, useful for listening to music while riding (if that's your thing) as well as GPS or personal communication devices. We didn't have the chance to try that out for ourselves for a few reasons; the first is because we prefer to ride without distractions in our ears, and the second reason will be mentioned below.
The main feature that Bell carried over from the Star is its Velocity Flow Ventilation system that, through two upper vents and a single, wide eyebrow vent, forces cool air through the helmet while using the low pressure area at the rear to evacuate warm air. The chin bar vent includes only two positions as opposed to the Star's three. Overall the system flows an impressive amount of air, especially considering its price, but it's still not on par to the likes of the high-end Japanese brands. This ability to ventilate a reasonable amount of air leads us to the second reason we didn't try the speakerphone pockets: the Vortex is loud. Even with earplugs our testers complained of extraordinary amounts of wind noise that would make it nearly impossible to listen to speakerphones at any speed above 60 mph.
But other than that and its relative heft, we couldn't find much else to complain about with the Vortex. It fit our testers better than the Star, provides similar ventilation with decent aerodynamics. Even its side profile promotes very little lift, and the chin curtain decreases wind turbulence in the facial area greatly. We were also greatly impressed with Bell's ClickRelease shield changing system, as it's perhaps one of the most well thought out and easy-to-use systems we've tried. To that end, the shields themselves are claimed to be anti-fog, anti-scratch and UV resistant. They are, technically, but keep the visor closed at a stop on a cool day and instead of fogging, the anti-fog coating inside the shield will start to mist and distort the rider's vision. Once moving this goes away, but it's a strange phenomenon we couldn't ignore.
Another thing we can't ignore is the price. Starting at just $169.95 for solid colors, the Vortex is definitely up there as one of the best lids available for the price. Available in sizes ranging from XS to XXL, we think it's safe to say that Bell is definitely serious about its comeback to the street helmet arena.