one of you lovely inventive peoples, get on the case.

How is it that all of my cycling gear is made out of alien inspired fabrics that wick/dry really quickly…

however the pads on the inside of my lid soak up sweat and hold it while it cools resulting in that horrible feeling, after any stop, of putting a cold sweaty lid back on for the remainder of the ride.

quick drying helmet pads.

thanks in advance.

Don’t wear a helmet! Sorted!

The solution already exists!

Just Take spare pads:

Pull out the soggy ones (chuck them in your pack to dry out later) and velcro the dry spare ones in when you stop for tea and cakes…

No need to thank me…. 🙂

my xar doesn’t soak up sweat in the same way as previous helmets – much less absobant padding.

Up side: doesn’t feel quite so gross when you put it back on
Down side: river of sweat running into my eyes because it isn’t absorbed.

Oh and buzz your hair off, Grade 3 or shorter…

too much hair makes your noggin much sweatier…

The solution already exists!

Just Take spare pads:

Pull out the soggy ones (chuck them in your pack to dry out later) and velcro the dry spare ones in when you stop for tea and cakes…

No need to thank me….

But… That’s… genius! And obvious yes, very obvious, like the cat flap, but I had yet to think of it. May good none cold damp karma rain down upon thee!

wear a buff under your helmet.

I found my replacement E2 pads much better than the originals, so either they’ve changed, or new ones work better than old ones, or both.

Seems likely, the new ones have stayed puffed up and spongy where the old ones were squashed. Dries out in about 5-10 minutes, certainly well before I put it back on again after tea+cake.

It’s cos the helmet pads are underneath 2″ of polystyrene, which isn’t very breathable.

And when you take it off, there’s no heat to make any wicking happen. Technical clothing doesn’t work very well when you take it off either. Wicking away from your skin is driven by heat. Otherwise, how would the sweat know which way to go?

I’ve taken the front pads out of mine and wear a halo headband. works a treat and no more sweat in my eyes.

I look like an extra from fame when i take my helmet off though.

That’s a bad thing?

What is the frequence at which you clean your clothes? Your helmet?

I used a headband for a while – it worked for a short time til it became saturated, then acted as a much larger reservoir for sweat, giving a serious deluge whenever my helmet moved.

It’s cos the helmet pads are underneath 2″ of polystyrene, which isn’t very breathable.

And when you take it off, there’s no heat to make any wicking happen. Technical clothing doesn’t work very well when you take it off either. Wicking away from your skin is driven by heat. Otherwise, how would the sweat know which way to go?

My technical clothing always dries much quicker than normal clothes – some of my tops feel almost dry coming out of the washing machine.

My technical clothing always dries much quicker than normal clothes – some of my tops feel almost dry coming out of the washing machine.

Thats because they repell water.

Sweat on your skin vapourises, the water vapour then travels through the fabric to the other side, as it’s more diuted on the outside it doesn’t come back in again, thus you stay dry. The trick is in making an outer layer that allows the vapour (sweat) through but not liquid (rain), whilst the skintight baselayers job is to increace the surface area for sweat to evaporate from (both by being fibrous and by encourageing sewat to form patches which evaporate cooling you down rather than droplets which run off and are of no use). Any intermediate layers are to trap air from circulateing, but not trap it so much that water vapour can’t diffuse through it.

Basic thermodynamics:
0th law – the temperature is trying to reach equilibrium
1st law, Enthalpy – evaporating sweat requires energy
2nd law, Entropy – evaporating sweat leads to greater dissorder (mass and energey diluted through the system).
3rd law’s inrelevent AFAIK.

My technical clothing always dries much quicker than normal clothes – some of my tops feel almost dry coming out of the washing machine.

True, but we are comparing helmet pads with technical clothes, not technical clothes with cotton ones.

Oh, and another reason – pads have to, by definition, have padding, which inevitably holds a bit of water.

Sweat on your skin vapourises, the water vapour then travels through the fabric to the other side, as it’s more diuted on the outside it doesn’t come back in again, thus you stay dry.

That’s what I meant. However the OP is complaining about his helmet not wicking when it’s off his head. It won’t, you just have normal drying processes.