Scott Cadence Plus helmet review

Alistair Brownlee has regularly worn the Scott Cadence Plus during his later tri and gravel racing career, but there are also plenty of tri-friendly benefits of this aero road helmet for us age-group mere mortals.

These include the inclusion of the MIPS safety system and the addition of Aero Plugs or winter bungs, which can be shoved into the ventilation channels on colder days or if you’re truly seeking an aero advantage where heat isn’t a major consideration.

In addition, the bungs or ‘Aero Plugs’ add $12.99 / £12.99 to the Cadence Plus’ $229.99 / £229.99 price. But you also get a neat rechargeable LED clip-on light in the standard package.

Weight and ventilation

The Cadence Plus’ 284g / 10oz weight nudges it towards the top of the helmets tested here alongside the Abus GameChanger 2.0, with the weight increasing to 299g / 10.5oz with the attachable light and 338g / 12oz with all of the bungs in place.

Those bungs are easier to stash in a jersey pocket than the ones on the previous Cadence Plus, but that extra weight does start to become noticeable during longer rides.

Those vast forward-facing ventilation channels (without the bungs) did the job on the summertime roads, but there are lighter and more vented lids for midsummer races in the mountains.

Comfort and safety

The Cadence Plus boasts one of the best internal adjustment mechanisms around, proving instantly secure and easy to adjust vertically inside.

The sizeable ratchet dial for horizontal adjustment is also slick to move, the grips on the outside of the dial helping further with cold and wet hands or with full-finger gloves.

The internal comfort continues with the decent padding, which smartly sits on the MIPS Air Node system.

The Cadence Plus scored four stars in the Virginia Tech institute’s safety tests, placing 182nd out of 233 helmets tested.

Aero performance

The Cadence Plus’ aerodynamic abilities were tested in 220 Triathlon’s independent wind-tunnel analysis of 11 aero road helmets at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub with The Bike Tailor.

Its performance over our baseline Van Rysel helmet at a 7.5° yaw angle were an enormous 53.8secs faster over a 40km / 25mi bike leg at 30km/h / 19mph and a similarly huge 39secs swifter when riding at 40km/h / 25mph. The results place it at the very top in the standing for both speeds.

The big caveat here, however, is that the 2024 wind-tunnel tests were conducted with the bungs in place and not without, so we’d expect to see that have a positive impact on the Cadence Plus’ results.

That said, the Cadence Plus without bungs has previously performed well in our tunnel tests, making this a versatile and swift option for year-round riding, even if the initial outlay is high.

Scott Cadence Plus helmet specs

Price:	$242.98 / £242.98
Weight:	284g / 10oz (338g / with bungs and light)
MIPS?	Yes
Vents:	12