i know this is a ‘bell’ aero helmet, but my questions are: is this a production helmet, is it available, and what model is it?
before you answer, note the unusual ‘bent’, or truncated “tail”. the only person i have seen (before this point) using a helmet of this exact shape was Lance.
That’s sweet. Love the paint on the helmet with that jersey!
Jodi
Looks like the same helmet they’ve used since '05? Also, PriorityHealth uses them, but I don’t think they are ‘available.’
I think I remember seeing a pic of Bjorn racing in one, last year.
Looks like a special World TT Champ paint job on the 07 Bell Meteor. I believe the “truncated” tail is a result of the angle that the photos is taken from. Certainly it looked standard yeterday as he was going around the course.
no, this is not the same helmet.
the tail ‘truncation’ on the prologue image is way too big to be just as a result of camera angle.
This was the '05 prologue:
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I see what you mean, when the OP meant truncation I was looking for it to be shorter. It’s not, it’s actually longer by the looks of it on second glance. There appears to be another section added to the side from behind the ear cover to extend the tail.
I was thrown of by the semances, a cse of looking for what was expected rather than looking, period.
that one looks like it is the same, or very similar. i guess my same questions apply to this helmet as well …
I recall reading or seeing somewhere that they add foam to the bottom edge of the helmet to fill in the gap between the helmet and the rider’s back. This would result in the longer tail. I’ve seen it done on the Bells and Giros.
There has been other threads on this. It is a Bell Meteor II that has been modified.
A quick search came up with this:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1210141;search_string=bell%20meteor%20modified;#1210141
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=804018;search_string=bell%20meteor%20modified;#804018
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1234186;search_string=bell%20meteor%20;#1234186
Yup, it’s a bell meteor II, which you can buy in Europe (CEN certified only, so not legal for USAT racing), that has an additional section built up under the tail. You could do this yourself quite easily if you had the helmet with something as simple as laminated cardboard.