Weight is a hugely important factor when it comes to cycling, bike and bike accessory designers are always looking to lose a bit of weight when they are designing their latest products.
You would assume that it must be getting near enough impossible for bikes to get anymore lightweight, but year on year you will see that this brand or that brand are boasting about how their latest bike model is at least a gram lighter than the previous version.
It is because of this that consumers are becoming more sceptical about whether it is worth spending so much money every year, just to buy an updated version of what they already own, purely because the latest one is a little bit lighter, but now and again something special will come along that is not only a lot more lightweight, but also just generally better.
When Specialized announced the release of the S-Works Prevail Helmet, you could probably hear owners of the already pretty light Specialized S-Works Helmet sighing and almost certainly wondering “Is it worth the extra cash”, especially when the S-Works Prevail and the original S-Works helmet look fairly similar. The truth is that Specialized really have come up with something special with the S-Works Prevail and it is a whole 15g lighter.
Admittedly, at 185g, the Specialized S-Works Prevail isn’t THE lightest cycle helmet in the world, but it is possibly the best, and yes it is very similar to the S-Works helmet but features double density foam, a Kevlar interior roll cage and a smaller retention system. To ensure that the Prevail is lighter than the S-Works helmet, they have made the top foam lighter, reduced the strap and buckle material, and with the redesigned retention fitting system using a dial instead of the usual two ratcheted tabs.
The Specialized S-Works Prevail Helmet is ridiculously comfortable to wear too, also boasting larger vents and more exhaust ports at the rear so that the air pulls across the head to keep it cool.
Still not convinced? We all know that weight is important, as is ventilation and comfort, but another huge plus point of the Specialized S-Works Prevail Helmet is that it is guaranteed to make you faster and no, this isn’t just some loosely factual bit of advertising, this has been proven by Specialized themselves. Specialized’s own aero expert, Mark Cote, gave the S-Works Prevail helmet its own wind tunnel test and found that the Prevail actually saved a remarkable 4W at 40km/h, which equals an incredible 16 seconds an hour. If this fact about the Specialized S-Works Prevail Helmet fails to impress you, then maybe bike racing isn’t for you.
The Specialized S-Works Prevail Helmet is available to buy at Rutland Cycling in five different colour designs and in three different sizes.
