Saturday during a mountain bike race I crashed really hard. I smacked my face down and ended up with 13 stitches and a lot of blood. So now I need to replace my helmet. One of the helmets I am looking at is the Specialized S3. Has a similar look to the Prevail but almost 100 bucks cheaper. I’m wondering how the helmet performs though. Obviously I am concerned with impact performance as well as how is the comfort and the ventilation in comparison to the Prevail. If anyone has used both I’d like to hear your thoughts.
On a side note, I remember Jordan writing about how the Oakley’s he was wearing saved his eyes in his accident. I firmly believe the same is true in my case. I had on a pair of new Radarlock’s with the photochromic lens. I have 2 black eyes and a gash on the bridge between my eyes but the lenses didn’t break and no damage happened to my Oakleys or my eyes. Keep that in mind next time you think Oakley’s are too expensive and the cheapo’s look the same.
Glad you’re okay. I crashed pretty badly a couple months ago and ended up in the hospital… not fun!
I had to get a new helmet too and ended up getting the Propero. It’s an even better buy than the S3. The only real difference from the Propero to the S3 to Prevail is the weight… which personally, I could barely tell (I think it’s less than 1 ounce from Propero to Prevail? I could be wrong).
– As for crash resistant, all helmets must live up to the same standards… no matter what the price.
– Ventilation: I’m coming from a Bontrager Circuit and, holy shit, the ventilation on the S3 is 100x better. My first ride with it, I almost thought it was too cold.
Anyway, I’m extremely happy with my purchase and glad I didn’t spend a dime more for the lighter helmet. My .02.