SPECIALIZED S-WORKS PREVAIL
£160 › Will this airy and versatile helmet prevail?
HiGHS Great ventilation and fine fit LOWS Looks, some exposed EPS
The Prevail seems to have been around forever and is a familiar sight at races. The purposeful, chunky, muscular looks won’t appeal to all, though they clearly do to many. Aggressively shaped vents do a fine job of managing sweat and drying the front pad, while the rear extends low for great head coverage, giving a fit that’s very snug and free from squeezing and pinching. The moulded-on external shell protects the lower EPS core at the sides, but not the front and rear, with a few parts that could be prone to damage in transit. www.specialized.com
Superior ventilation makes the Prevail an excellent choice for racers
There’s no law preventing the sale of uncertified helmets, so always check any prospective purchase conforms to one of the recognised test standards.
British Standards are covered by the European standard BSEN 1078, which came into force in 1997. US standards began in 1984 with ANSI (American National Standards Institute), later superseded by the CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) which created a national cycle helmet standard in 1999. The Snell Memorial Foundation launched the B90 standard in 1990, widely accepted as the most exacting for bicycle helmets, updated in 1998 to B90A.
Australia and New Zealand’s AS/NZS2063 is broadly equivalent to Snell’s B95 (’98).