Fair point. I’m not sure what Alex’s deal is with specialized - I thought he’d just chosen to ride their bikes because he likes them, and now he’s no longer a team pro he can ride whatever he likes? But I could be wrong.
It features in Alex Dowsett’s new series of wind tunnel tests on YouTube. As with most of Alex’s content, it’s quite interesting.
Spoiler - comes out fastest for him.
It is worth noting Alex is a specialized sponsored athlete. Though suppose the data should be unbiased.
In Joe Skipper newest video it tested faster for him than the Mistral he has bee using.
He did say specialized gave him the helmet to test but not sponsored directly.
That said, even when he was sponsored by other companies during his various tenures on teams, he frequently used non-conforming equipment because it was faster for him. I don’t see Alex as much of a shill.
Also, it appears to be the ones you can buy on the Specialized US website don’t even come with it, at least it isn’t in the photos.
We’ll see… I just ordered one the other day and it arrives today.
As far as testing I believe Wattshop has test data for with and without the headsock. FWIW Alan Murchison (performance.chef on IG) also tested helmets last year sometime and it was fastest on him.
Wattshop data: https://www.instagram.com/...Gr6sXCa/?img_index=2
Also, it appears to be the ones you can buy on the Specialized US website don’t even come with it, at least it isn’t in the photos.
We’ll see… I just ordered one the other day and it arrives today.
As far as testing I believe Wattshop has test data for with and without the headsock. FWIW Alan Murchison (performance.chef on IG) also tested helmets last year sometime and it was fastest on him.
Wattshop data: https://www.instagram.com/...Gr6sXCa/?img_index=2
If you read the description carefully enough it mentions it and even calls it a head sock, which I thought was just something people were calling it in jest. Besides Alex and Joe, I’ve also seen the video where Alex’s coached athlete tested it as fastest and it was fastest for both Paula Findlay and Erik Lagerstrom (or at least they claimed such on their video). I’ve yet to see someone claim it wasn’t the fastest for them. I gave in and ordered it . . . I was right on the line between S and M so stressed about that, decided on M since the trend seems to be bigger is better.
Just arrived. Definitely still has the headsock. I ended up buying a size L even though I wear M in other Spesh helmets. Fits great.
Just arrived. Definitely still has the headsock. I ended up buying a size L even though I wear M in other Spesh helmets. Fits great.
Looking at buying but hard to buy with no aero ability to aero test and limited testing I can find.
So how much faster is this helmet than an aerohead
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Also concerned at overheating. Big difference between a tour TT and wearing a black ventless helmet with a built in snood for 5 hours through the heat of the day in a typical Ironman then I’d worry it would be a bit of an oven.
Also concerned at overheating. Big difference between a tour TT and wearing a black ventless helmet with a built in snood for 5 hours through the heat of the day in a typical Ironman then I’d worry it would be a bit of an oven.
FWIW, Paula wore this at the T100 Miami (minus the face condom) which was a shorter race but crazy hot/humid. The helmet color should be a non-issue, since the helmet foam provides a huge amount of thermal isolation between the helmet shell and the wearer (think beer cooler). Hopefully as the season progresses we can get more data points.
Also concerned at overheating. Big difference between a tour TT and wearing a black ventless helmet with a built in snood for 5 hours through the heat of the day in a typical Ironman then I’d worry it would be a bit of an oven.
I’m worried about same, I find visors make me much hotter, suspect this helmet is not good without one. But not all races are done in hot conditions , nor are all races an Ironman. FWIW, India Lee rode the helmet at Miami then got off an ran pretty well!
Paula said on the pod she took her visor off and lobbed it but that was due to low light rather than heat
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Helmet aerodynamics vary hugely from one person to the next. No-tail and short-tail helmets always worked terribly for me - like 20-30 seconds over 40K. Yet I know one Olympic competitor who did vastly better with one.
So how much faster is this helmet than an aerohead
Wish I knew the answer to that! I have loved the aerohead for years raced with a Rudy last year for one race with no testing. The Rudy did not pass the look test but bike split was normalish for me. Was going to go back to the aerohead this year till I saw the TT 5. Tempted to just get race with it and get out to Jim and do some testing when I can.
I saw it tested recently. Against a Rudy it did marginally better. On another athlete, against a POC short tail it did significantly better. Of course this is rider dependant.
Any thoughts on sizing here? I’m right between a medium and a large - just under 59cm.
Also, anyone know the weight?