Reviews
Reviewed: Specialized Dissident Helmet.
The Specialized Dissident helmet has a strong pedigree. The design was lead by Bob Lakes, who's work you have seen in previous designs for Easton Bell Sports (Giro) as the Bell Star & the Bell Moto 9. With over twenty years of experience in helmet design, you know that he put all of those years of experience into this new design for Specialized.
The Specialized Dissident helmet has a strong pedigree. The design was lead by Bob Lakes, who's work you have seen in previous designs for Easton Bell Sports (Giro) as the Bell Star & the Bell Moto 9. With over twenty years of experience in helmet design, you know that he put all of those years of experience into this new design for Specialized.
The goal with the Dissident was to design a safe, advanced helmet with a target weight of under 1000g.
This was done by having a cosmetic carbon fibre layup reinforced by a Carbon, Kevlar & Fibreglass weave for strength.
The safety portion comes from making the helmet easy to remove by medical professionals in case of emergencies. The cheek panels can be removed by sliding them out, without having to remove the helmet from the rider. First brought to market by Motocross helmet manufacturers, the second feature is being able to remove the helmet without adding any strain to the neck with the eject airbag. At the top of the helmet, under the liner there is an expandable airbag that can be pumped up by medical professionals to slowly push the helmet off of the riders head.
The great design comes into play by making all of the pieces come together and actually work well, and be cool at the same time. Specialized calls it 4th dimension cooling, and the liner / shell have channels formed into it that are designed to move air through the helmet to keep you cooler, and be able to escape from the rear of the helmet quickly and easily.
Now I thought that was going to be a bit of marketing fluff. Everyone says that there helmets breathe well and have lots of ventilation. But when I was pedalling in to the bike park the other day, I had put my goggles on backwards on my helmet and when I got to the park they were a bit foggy. It seems that my goggles were positioned over the rear vents and since I had worked up some steam on the ride in, the vents pushed the hot air right onto the lenses. Seems like the vents actually work.
Once I got some laps done in real world usage I found the helmet to be very nice and comfortable. The liner is well designed and comfortable, the straps are easy to adjust and setup to your preference. The D rings are made from Titanium to save weight and they won't show discolouring / rust which can be seen on some lower end full face helmets. I did find that the cheek panels would pop out of their clips occasionally. Could be due to trying to pull my fat face out of the helmet, but I do find it a bit challenging to snap them back in quickly.
The Dissident also boasts built in recesses for ear phones and a channel at the rear to align the wires back to your device.
Quick Notes:
- The Most Advanced DH helmet ever designed
- Engineered to protect World Cup DH and gravity riders - ASTM DH
- Lightweight Carbon Matrix shell - target weight 1000g
- 4th Dimension Cooling
- Helmet EJECT™ system compatible
- Leatt™ brace compatible
- Speaker compatible
- Complies with one or more of the following safety standards for bicycle helmets: CPSC, SNELL B-95, CE and ASTM 1952 (standard for downhill mountain bike racing helmets)
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