The Australian Budgie may display a streak of blue, green and yellow colour across the sky but you get a similar impact with the new Down Under Collection S-Works Evade. The fastest road helmet in the world is inspired by the speed and beauty of the Australia’s own little speed demon with this limited colour way.
It is hard not to be affected by the dramatic scenes in Australia, and it was this that inspired Specialized to do something to honour the country by creating a collection in support of the Australian Wildlife for the #TourDownUnder but also donating $100,000 to aid relief efforts from the devastating bushfires. The collection is designed to echo the plumage of the friendly budgie, a colourful icon of Australia's wildlife affected by the fires.
Helmets have long been plagued by an unspoken rule of light weight, ventilation, aerodynamics; pick two, there's your helmet. Specialized, however, would rather turn standards on their head and create products that nobody ever dreamt of. You needn't look any further than the new S-Works Evade helmet for proof of this. Straight up, it's the fastest road helmet out there.
Specialized also teamed up with MIPS researchers to introduce MIPS SL, a new, ultra-light, and supremely comfortable version of MIPS that's available exclusively on Specialized helmets. With MIPS SL, MIPS technology has essentially been integrated within the helmet padding itself. MIPS SL's minimalist "watchband" attachment system provides 10mm to 15mm of rotation in every direction and offers the same brain protection benefits as other versions of MIPS, while also ushering in a new level of comfort and weight savings.
Extensive time was spent in Specialized's own Win Tunnel for the aerodynamic development of the Evade. Having their own wind tunnel develops their products with aero at the forefront of the design, rather than merely testing them there. With this, every aspect of helmet performance was carefully analysed in the Win Tunnel, and with real world testing, to ensure that no stone was left unturned in the quest for performance. This makes for a helmet that has countless testing hours and years of development, and ultimately, this adds up to the fastest road helmet Specialized have ever tested.
Grammes were taken out of the drag without sacrificing safety. The construction was therefore switched to favour the Energy Optimised Multi-Density EPS that optimises the foam type in different places. As far as ventilation is concerned, free-flowing air through the helmet makes the helmet cooler than ever whilst decreasing aerodynamic drag. Going hand-in-hand with this, ventilation and aerodynamics were both optimised in the Win Tunnel together, making for the best combination of aerodynamics and ventilation out there. The exterior vents and interior channels have been carefully considered to make sure that the helmet draws in the maximum amount of air through the helmet for extreme cooling. This resulted in the new Evade being just as cool as a bare head with no helmet, making it the coolest aero helmet on the market today.
The Evade saves 50 seconds over 40km versus a traditional road helmet and roughly six seconds over the prior iteration of Evade. This means that it's as cool as a bare head but also as fast. For road race helmets, there’s nothing that can match this performance.
However, a fast helmet is useless unless it fits correctly. The new S-Works Evade therefore has all the features you'd expect from a top-level helmet, like Specialized's Mindset HairPort 2 fit system with micro-adjustments, a soft webbing that won't stretch out, and a new Gutter Action brow pad that manages sweat to keep it out of your eyes. A new magnetic buckle has also been added to the mix that makes buckling with one hand a breeze.
- This season the Down Under Collection has been inspired by the speed and colour of the Australian Budgie. As this noble little bird, and much of Australia’s wildlife, suffers from devastating bushfires, Specialized is donating $100,000 USD to support wildlife relief efforts.
- Through extensive Win Tunnel development, the Evade is the fastest road helmet they've tested.
- New MIPS SL is the lightest, most ventilated MIPS protection to date, and is exclusively available on Specialized helmets.
- 4th Dimension Cooling System with deep internal channels, large vents, and aligned exhaust ports make it the best combination of aerodynamics and ventilation.
- Patented Energy Optimised, Multi-Density EPS construction helps to manage impact energy.
- Patented Aramid-Reinforced Skeleton provides internal EPS support to help manage impact energy.
- Ultra-light Mindset HairPort II micro-dial fit system with height adjustability for the perfect fit.
- Magnetic buckle is simple and secure.
- Tri-Fix web splitter for improved comfort and ease of strap adjustments.
- This limited colorway is inspired by the blue, green, and yellow plumage of the Australian Budgie.