Specialized S-Works Prevail II Vent MIPS helmet

£240 Lighter and cooler version of a classic

YOU MAY HAVE heard of the Prevail II (launched in 2020) that used the brilliant MIPS SL system that integrates the MIPS crash-protection system into the helmet’s padding. Instead of the extra insert you usually get with MIPS, the SL system suspends the helmet’s pads on elastomer spars that enable the pads to move independently of the helmet’s shell. This helps reduce rotational forces, just like the traditional version of MIPS is designed to do, but in a neater way.

The Prevail has been one of my favourite helmets on warmer days and is well vented, light, comfortable and comes with the ANGi crash sensor that works with an app to send a text to specified contacts should things go wrong.

So how can the Prevail II Vent beat it? It takes the lightness and cooling a step further. On the outside, not much has changed, but look inside and you’ll see that seven spars of EPS (expanded polystyrene) across the central vent and two of the outermost vents are gone, exposing the internal Aramid-cord skeleton. That means the new version weighs just 266g in my large test sample (40g less than before, or 30g less with the ANGi sensor), plus the helmet now has three large vents that run the full length of the helmet.

It’s a comfortable lid with great looks, aimed, like its predecessor, at serious road cyclists who put in the miles. Although I never felt the original Prevail II was an especially warm helmet, I’ve been testing the Vent by riding it back-to-back with the older version. My findings are that it is significantly airier in all conditions. Because it’s much more open, this also means it dries out dampness in the pads quickly too, before moisture can run from your brow and mist up your glasses. This means you spend less time mopping your brow on a climb and you can concentrate purely on ascending.

You get over 4cm of vertical adjustment in the lightweight, silky straps. They have a solid splitter that sits below my ears in the ideal spot, but aim to try before you buy. The minimal rear cradle has a good microadjust dial and its twin-anchor design means it’s long-hair friendly.

Would I buy it? It would definitely be on my helmet wishlist. If you intend to get away and ride in hotter climes this summer, or are hoping for lots of hotweather riding at home, I’d thoroughly recommend the Vent as ideal height-ofsummer head protection. And if you’re baulking at the price, don’t panic, you can find it much cheaper than the RRP…

“It dries out dampness in the pads quickly, before moisture can run from your brow”