This 12 months’s version of the Tour de France has been a hotbed for brand new tech and nowhere is that extra true than the helmets getting used.
Scanning across the heads of the peloton, three groups look to be debuting new helmets, EF Training-Straightforward Publish, Intermaché-Wanty and Bahrain Victorious. 2024 seems to be to be the 12 months of the helmet with EF Training-Straightforward Publish already inflicting a stir with the POC Procen Air that blended time trial helmet design with street helmet consolation.
Visma-Lease a Bike have been additionally at it when the staff got here near breaking the web with its new Giro TT helmet that flipped the script on helmet design as we knew it.
Happily for the biking vogue neighborhood, there was nothing fairly as radical noticed at this 12 months’s Tour. Each POC and Rudy Venture have showcased new vented helmets while Uvex has gone down the route of a vented helmet with an non-compulsory aero cowl.
EF Training-EasyPost’s new POC helmet
When POC revealed the Procen Air on the early season races, it garnered lots of media consideration blurring the strains between a street and TT helmet. With the mud now settled and the Procen Air now a typical sight inside the professional peloton POC has been at it once more.
The brand new helmet doesn’t look to have any labels on it however going by its closely vented design it’s protected to imagine it’s both an replace to the prevailing Ventral or a brand new mannequin that may substitute it.
On first inspection, the blunt entrance face of the helmet is what grabs your eye with an virtually 90-degree edge separating the entrance face to the highest of the helmet.
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Though uncommon this design does current the 5 giant entrance vents immediately into the airflow. These huge intakes will doubtless enable riders to maintain a cooler head in hotter circumstances just by their place and dimension.
Wanting previous the big entrance vents, the highest of the helmet is a far smoother affair with solely two small vents in direction of the rear of the helmet breaking apart the in any other case lined prime part. It’s not a totally easy prime with the pink ridges sitting extra pronounced than the darker sections nonetheless this portion of the helmet has actually been designed with aerodynamics in thoughts.
The rear of the helmet sports activities a somewhat blunt profile with a collection of huge exhaust vents all coming collectively to kind a big hot-air outlet. We’ve seen blunt helmet profiles prior to now permitting riders to undertake an aero place with out compromising the efficiency of the exhaust vents.
Intermaché-Wanty’s dual-purpose Uvex helmet
The staff of stage three winner Biniam Girmay, Intermaché-Wanty have been sporting a somewhat placing new helmet throughout the opening stage of the Tour. The razzle dazzle camouflaged helmet seems to be to be a dual-purpose providing with the helmet making use of an exterior shell protecting to cover the vents and enhance its aerodynamic properties.
In its stripped-back, vented guise, the unnamed helmet makes use of 5 channels that look to run virtually the whole size of the helmet to information cooling air over the rider’s head. There are just a few carbon fibre struts that be part of the channels of the helmet collectively that break up the vents.
With the detachable aero shell fitted the helmet takes on a noticeably extra aero kind. The outer two channels are fully lined with the central three decreased to smaller vents extending just a few centimetres from the forehead.
The removable aero cowl has already gotten the staff right into a little bit of scorching water ensuing within the staff superglueing the shells on to adjust to UCI gear laws. It is because removable aero coverings on helmets are banned to be used in competitors.
With or with out the aero cowl fitted the exhaust vents on the rear stay the identical. 4 giant central vents deal with carrying passing airflow away from the rider.
Bahrain Victorious’ new vented Rudy Venture
Very similar to Giro, Rudy Venture has already launched a brand new helmet this 12 months within the form of the Wingdream TT helmet. Since then the model has gone on to launch the Insurgent, a vented helmet that the model claims, “units new requirements in security, sustainability, and efficiency.”
The brand new helmet makes use of carbon fibre inside its building permitting much less polystyrene for use. This has the advantage of lowering the general footprint of the helmet in addition to growing the scale of the vents.
Aesthetically the Insurgent seems to be extra conventional in model than the opposite new helmets with a collection of vents positioned throughout the entrance and prime of the helmet. In distinction to the Uvex helmet design utilizing 5 essential steady channels for cooling the Insurgent makes use of 22 separate vents throughout the helmet.
The helmet can also be stated to make use of recycled polycarbonate in its building with the padding and straps additionally being produced from recycled supplies emphasising Rudy Venture’s dedication to sustainable product design.
The Insurgent sits alongside the aero-focused Nytron with staff Bahrain Victorious ready to decide on between the 2 relying on the stage profile and climate circumstances.
