Bike Helmet Accessories That Are Worth It
Some of these change how safe you are after dark or how far into winter you keep riding. Others are jewellery. It is worth knowing which is which before you spend.
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Helmet accessories are cheap enough that people buy them without much thought, which is exactly why the category is full of things that do nothing. A $25 rear light on the back of your head is one of the highest-value safety purchases available to a cyclist. A $25 helmet lock is a convenience item that a bored teenager defeats with nail scissors. Both sit on the same shop shelf at the same price.
So this guide is organised by whether the thing changes a ride, and it says plainly when something does not. Lights, visors, winter layers and covers carry real weight. Locks, mirrors and stickers get an honest paragraph each rather than a pretence.
None of it matters if the helmet does not fit, though. A rain cover on a helmet that rocks back off your forehead is decoration. If you have not done the measurement and strap routine, start with helmet sizing, fit and safety ratings, and if you are still choosing the helmet itself, the main bike helmet guide covers that.
The test: does it change a ride?
A useful filter here is to ask what would specifically be different on your next ride if you owned the thing. Three answers pass easily. A helmet light changes whether a driver at a junction sees you at all. A winter layer changes whether the ride happens in February. A rain cover changes whether an hour in the wet is miserable or merely damp. Each of those is a behavioural change rather than a marginal improvement.
A visor passes conditionally, depending entirely on what you ride and how you sit on it. A mirror passes for some riders and fails for others. Locks, stickers, pads and most mounts do not pass, which does not mean you should never buy them, only that you should know what you are buying.
Helmet lights: the strongest case in this article
If you take one thing from this page, take this. A light mounted on your head does three things a light on the handlebars cannot.
It sits at driver eye level. A bar light is roughly a metre off the ground, below the bonnet line of parked cars and below the sightline a driver scans at a junction. A helmet light sits at head height, where a driver looking for another vehicle is already looking. For the scenario that produces a large share of urban collisions, a car pulling out of a side road, that height difference is the whole argument.
It points where you look. Turn your head into a bend and the beam goes round the corner before the bike does. Look at a driver waiting to turn across you and the light lands on them, which is more reliable than hoping they scan low.
It moves. Peripheral vision is built to detect motion. A light bobbing at head height reads as a person rather than as street furniture, in a way a steady bar light does not.
Why it should be a second light, not the only one
A helmet light is a bad primary light for seeing with. The beam originates level with your eyes, so it casts almost no shadow ahead of you, and shadow is how you read a pothole or a root at speed. It also swings away from the road every time you look at anything else.
The setup that works is a bar light aimed at the road for seeing, a seatpost light for being seen from behind, and a helmet light on top of both. If your bike is electric and runs lights off the main battery, the helmet light is also your redundancy when the pack dies, which is covered in ebike lights and turn signals.
Rear helmet lights are underrated
Most of the attention goes to front helmet lights, and the rear is the better buy for a commuter. A seatpost light is frequently obscured by a saddlebag, a rack, panniers or your own legs, and on a bike with a rear child seat it is often blocked entirely. A rear helmet light is above all of that and small enough to leave clipped on permanently. Daytime flash mode matters too, since a bright rear light is far easier to pick out in daylight than an unlit rider.
Some helmets skip the accessory entirely and build lights into the shell, along with indicators and crash detection. That is a different product category with a different set of trade-offs, and we cover it in smart and Bluetooth bike helmets.
Visors: genuinely useful, and deliberately absent from road helmets
A helmet visor does three jobs, all of them real.
- Low sun. The half hour after sunrise and before sunset is when a low sun sits exactly in your eyes and washes out everything under it. A brim cuts that off in a way sunglasses cannot, because sunglasses reduce brightness everywhere rather than blocking a specific direction. The combination of a visor and a good lens is the actual answer, and lens choice is covered in cycling sunglasses.
- Rain. A brim keeps water off your glasses, which is the difference between riding in the wet and squinting through it. This is the job most people underrate until they have done it once.
- Branches and spray. On singletrack the visor takes the first contact from a low branch, and on a road ride behind someone it intercepts a share of the wheel spray.
Why road helmets do not have one
Two reasons, and the second is the one people miss. The first is aerodynamics: a brim in clean air is a drag device, and at the speeds road riders hold, that is a measurable cost. The second is the riding position. On a drop-bar bike your head is pitched forward, so a visor fixed to the shell points down at the road roughly a bike length ahead of you rather than up at the horizon. It shades tarmac you are not looking at while doing nothing about the sun. Upright commuter and mountain bike positions do not have this problem, which is why those helmets keep the visor. More on that split in road helmets and mountain bike helmets.
Clip-on and add-on visors
If your helmet has no visor, clip-on options come in two forms. Small snap-in visors attach to the front vents of specific models and look close to factory. Large brims strap around the whole shell for far more coverage, which is why they suit riders who need real sun protection for medical or skin reasons, and anyone touring in open country. The large ones catch crosswind above about 15 mph and look like what they are. Neither type should be attached with anything that pierces or bonds to the shell.
Winter: caps, ear covers, balaclavas and liners
A bike helmet is a ventilation system with some foam attached, which is what you want in July and exactly wrong in January. Cold air moving through the vents at 15 mph strips heat off your scalp fast, and the ears go first because they are thin, exposed and poorly supplied with blood. Fixing that is the cheapest way to extend your riding year.
Thin skull cap
A close-fitting synthetic or merino cap covering the scalp and stopping above the ears. Good from around 50 F down to freezing, depending on how you run. The key property is thinness, because bulk changes the helmet fit. This is the layer most riders use most of the winter.
Cap with ear coverage
The same idea with flaps or an extended band over the ears. Below about 40 F this stops being optional, and the difference is far larger than the extra thickness suggests. A windproof front panel matters more than insulation here, because the wind chill on the leading surface is the problem rather than the ambient temperature.
Balaclava
Full head, ears and neck, usually with a face section you can pull up. Worth it below about 25 F, in wind, or on long descents where you generate no heat. The trade-off is breath management: pulled over the mouth it will fog glasses relentlessly unless it has a vented mouth panel.
Cold does more than make you uncomfortable, and on an electric bike it also takes a serious bite out of range and can damage a battery if you charge it frozen. That side of winter riding is in riding an ebike in winter.
Helmet covers for rain, wind and visibility
A helmet cover is a thin waterproof or windproof shell that stretches over the outside of the helmet and blocks the vents. It is the least glamorous item here and one of the most effective.
In rain it stops the water pouring straight through the vents onto your scalp, which is where most of the misery in a wet ride comes from. In cold and wind it works as a shell layer, cutting convective heat loss in a way no amount of insulation underneath quite matches. With a thin cap it turns a 40 F drizzle from an ordeal into a normal ride. The limits: it gets hot the moment the rain stops, so it needs to strip off and stuff in a pocket in seconds, cheap ones flap loudly at speed, and it does nothing about water running down your face, which is the visor's job.
High visibility covers are a related product: a fluorescent or reflective shell that turns the highest point on the bike into a large bright surface. That is a genuine gain in flat grey light where a dark helmet disappears against wet tarmac, and it is worth combining with the rain function rather than choosing between them. If you commute year round in the wet, the rest of the bike needs attention too, which is covered in riding an ebike in the rain.
Locks, mirrors, mounts and stickers
Helmet locks, honestly
The category is small cable locks, coiled tethers and reusable plastic security ties, mostly $15 to $30. They all do the same job: stop somebody casually lifting your helmet off the bars while you are in a cafe. None of them resist a tool. A thin steel cable goes to cheap wire cutters in seconds and a plastic tie goes to a pocket knife. Some urban helmets build a lock port into the shell so a cable passes through the helmet rather than round a strap.
Buy one if the alternative is carrying a helmet round a supermarket. Do not buy one believing it protects a $200 helmet in a city centre overnight. The same logic that governs bike security applies, and it is set out in ebike locks and theft prevention.
Mirrors
Helmet mirrors attach to the shell or to the arm of your glasses and give a view behind without turning your head. Riders divide sharply on them. Turning to look costs a moment of forward attention and often a small swerve, and for anyone with limited neck rotation a mirror is the difference between checking and guessing. Against that, a small mirror close to the eye takes practice to read, vibrates, and can tempt you into trusting it where a shoulder check is warranted. They are cheap enough to test, and the glasses-mounted type is usually easier to live with than the shell-mounted one.
Camera and light mounts
Use the mount the helmet manufacturer designed for it where one exists, and an adhesive breakaway mount where it does not. The reason is mechanical rather than fussy, and it is in the warning below.
Stickers
Reflective stickers add a little visibility for almost no money and no downside, and decorative stickers are the single most effective way of getting a child to wear a helmet without an argument, which is a point we make at more length in kids bike helmets. Use stickers with normal pressure-sensitive adhesive. Avoid anything that needs a solvent to apply or remove.
Five worth buying
One from each category that earns its place. Prices move constantly, so treat these as bands rather than quotes.
Bontrager Flare RT rear light
- Daytime visible flash mode
- Helmet mount available alongside the seatpost mount
- USB rechargeable, small enough to leave fitted
A rear light at head height clears saddlebags, racks, panniers and child seats, all of which routinely block a seatpost light. The daytime flash mode is the part worth paying for. If you buy one accessory from this page, buy this one.
Exposure Joystick
- Compact single-body design, no external battery pack
- Long-running product line with helmet mounts
- Bright enough to work as a trail light
The reference product for a front helmet light, and the reason is packaging: everything sits in one small body, so no cable runs down your neck to a battery in a pocket. It is expensive, and a $40 light on a strap mount gets you most of the safety benefit for road use. Pay this much only if you ride singletrack after dark.
Da Brim Rezzo
- Full brim that straps to almost any vented helmet
- Serious sun coverage for face, ears and neck
- Noticeable crosswind catch above about 15 mph
Not subtle, and not for a fast group ride. It is the right answer if you tour, ride in open country, or have a medical reason to keep sun off your face and neck, and it does far more than a factory visor. Strap-mounted, so nothing bonds to the shell.
Pearl Izumi Barrier skull cap
- Thin enough not to wreck helmet fit
- Windproof front panel where it matters
- Ear coverage version available for colder days
The thinness is the feature. A fleece beanie is warmer and ruins the helmet fit, which is the wrong trade. Fit the helmet with the cap on, open the retention dial to suit, and expect this one item to add a couple of months to your riding year.
Showers Pass waterproof helmet cover
- Blocks vents against rain and wind chill
- Packs down small enough for a jersey pocket
- High visibility versions available
Ten seconds to fit, and it removes the worst part of a wet ride: cold water running through the vents onto your scalp. Get the high visibility version if you commute, because it doubles as a large bright surface at the highest point on the bike.
Everything ranked, and where to start
| Accessory | What it changes | Price band | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rear helmet light | Whether a driver behind sees you at all | $25 to $70 | Buy first |
| Winter cap or liner | Whether you ride in January | $20 to $40 | Buy |
| Rain or wind cover | Wet rides go from grim to normal | $20 to $40 | Buy |
| Front helmet light | Beam follows your eyes round corners | $40 to $250 | Buy as a second light |
| Visor or sun brim | Low sun, rain on glasses, branches | $15 to $50 | Depends on the bike |
| High vis cover | Large bright surface at head height | $20 to $35 | Worth it for commuters |
| Mirror | Rearward view without turning | $15 to $30 | Divisive, cheap to test |
| Reflective stickers | A little passive visibility | Under $15 | Harmless, minor |
| Helmet lock | Stops a casual walk-off, nothing more | $15 to $30 | Convenience only |
| Aftermarket pads | Fixes a fit problem, or hides one | $10 to $20 | Only if the shell already fits |
Swipe sideways to see all columns →
Where the money goes furthest
- A rear helmet light, above every obstruction on the bike
- A thin winter cap that does not compromise fit
- A packable rain and wind cover
- A visor, if you ride upright or off-road
- Reflective tape, for essentially nothing
Where it does not
- A helmet lock bought as security rather than convenience
- A visor on a drop-bar road helmet
- Thicker pads used to make an oversized helmet fit
- Anything drilled, screwed or bonded to the shell
- A front helmet light bought to replace a bar light
Buying one thing, buy a rear helmet light. Buying two, add a thin winter cap, because that one changes how many days a year you ride rather than how safe a single ride is. A rain cover is third. Everything below that line is preference, which is fine as long as you know that is what it is.
One note for faster bikes: accessories do not change what a helmet is certified for, and bicycle helmet standards are written around bicycle impact speeds. A Class 3 ebike sustains 28 mph and energy scales with the square of speed, so the helmet under all this is being asked for more than it was tested to deliver. What each class may do is in ebike classes explained, and the helmet consequences in our ebike helmet guide.
From here, ebike parts and accessories worth buying applies the same what-does-it-change filter to the rest of the bike, and helmet sizing, fit and safety ratings covers the fit work that has to happen before any of this is worth doing.