I like the yellow/green in some color combos. I actually don’t like it in the red XXX that I am getting, but the deal I got was worth the minor dislike.
They have more subtle colors and better combos in the Blaze & Specter in particular. I have often disliked the color combos of many Bontrager helmets in the past, but most of these new ones are actually to my liking.
What I don’t yet understand is, if wavecel is safer than mips, why does the ballista mips appear to test better than wavecel xxx in the Virginia tech tests?
Quite an interesting little Q&A on this in the latest Cycling Tips podcast.
Can you share a link to the cast?
I was told about this in my local shop when I bought Bontrager helmet 2 years ago, so not new. Maybe depends on a shop.
Same here. Price, test results, and warranty are the main reasons I bought a Ballista two years ago.
Sure thing: CyclingTips Podcast
It looks like the Specter is going to be the helmet for the Trek Factory Racing Team (cross-country mtb).
Trek Race Shop …seems versatile to me.
I have a first generation Smith with Kyroyd for mtb and it is incredibly hot. I was considering the Specter and it looks like it could serve double duty as a road and xc-mountain option.
Initial Impressions of my new XXX helmet:
Glasses: There is no real way I see to hold glasses on the helmet. There is minimal gap between the foam shell and the WaveCel. One spot near the back of the middle slots can fit the start of my ear stems, but the frames float and I would not trust them to remain in any riding situation.
Fit: I am a Medium in most helmet brands. Discussion from some who got theirs before me said the fit is a bit tighter than similar Bontrager helmets.
Airflow: I will have to get a ride outside (maybe in a week or two) to see how this goes. I can see some of the ducting that seems intended to draw air up from and across the WaveCel openings. It will be interesting to see how it feels in comparison to a more “open” design.
Other:
Let me know if you have any more questions. I will try to snap a selfie or two as well.
Do you notice the extra weight?
Trek’s announcement is actually way more exciting than most people here realize. I’m doing research on structures like these (periodic media for waves and so-called metamaterials), and this is indeed cutting edge as far as I can tell. I’m a physicist, not an MD, so I can’t make any educated assessment as to the medical efficacy (I’d urge caution).
But in terms of effort and complexity, this is in a whole different league than the MIPS or MIPS-like systems other helmet manufacturers have on the market (including straight-forward honeycomb structures). The big deal here is that due to the periodic structure of the material, you can engineer this medium to have properties that are vastly different from the material they are made. What is more, they can be directional and depend on the frequency of the incoming wave. Simply put, you can make the material softer in one direction and harder in another; and the degree of stiffness can change according to the impact speed. Sounds simple. However, precisely engineering these properties into the material takes expertise, not to speak of manufacturing.
@Kuttermax " With Trek having an exclusive deal for WaveCel for cycling helmets for a number of years, it will be interesting to see how the competition counters. Do they attempt to discredit the effectiveness of WaveCel, or try and launch something to compete without violating patents."
I guess you have your answer
https://www.velonews.com/2019/03/news/mips-disputes-wavecel-claims-reiterates-call-for-modern-testing-standards_489690
Chad - could you tell me your head circ. meas. to fit a Med? Interested in the Specter have 56cm head and usually wear a MD in most brands. Bontrager size chart looks like I could be right on edge of Sm/Md. Not wanting to look like “The Great Gazoo” 
Thx
One of my good riding buddies is a Trek fanboy. Heck, he may even be reading this. When they made their announcement I texted him " all that hype for a helmet liner?!?!" He even thought it was ridiculous!
Advancement in helmet tech is truly a good thing, but as others have said, this seems to be an iteration rather than an advancement.
I will try to get that measured and posted for you tonight.
Was it mentioned in podcast 199? Maybe 200?
Maybe I’m jaded, but I see metamaterials now the same way I saw nanomaterials 5-10 years ago. Long on promises, short on solutions.
Interesting research though.
I have to disagree here. The difference between the two is that “nanomaterials” is vague, there are a whole lot of things where the moniker “nano” has been tacked on. In contrast, metamaterials have a clear definition, they are periodic media for waves, so this new helmet liner clearly qualifies.
There is a lot of research going into this, and the biggest obstacle is fabrication and taking other constraints into account. For example, you can do the same for electromagnetic waves, and the idea is to have optical chip-to-chip communications. The constraint here is that manufacturers would like to continue using silicon-based devices because they have literally spent tens and tens of billions in R&D to learn how to fabricate transistors at ever smaller sizes. And the reason why this is becoming a thing now is that new manufacturing methods allow us to produce these materials at scale and at reasonable cost. As all new technologies, they will filter down from high-end, high-margin, low-volume products — such as a $300 helmet. Just to give you an idea: in the experimental physics community, one experiment with mechanical metamaterials costs between $30k and $100k. (The costs would likely be higher in the industry, though, because many universities have their own shops where researchers essentially only have to pay for material.) I don’t know whether this applies to Trek, but what Trek has done has cost Trek a whole lot of money. And it is something, only bigger players can afford.
And I think Trek has a point when it claims it is a breakthrough that only happens once a decade or so: it requires a very different level and type of expertise when it comes to the design and manufacture of these materials. The analogy to carbon fiber is apt: you need to gain expertise in design and manufacturing in order to use it to its full potential.
Of course, none of this means that this particular product is well-designed and does what Trek claims it does. But this is most likely a long-term effort on Trek’s part, IMHO it would be hard to justify this type of investment if all they did with it was make a fancy helmet. The same ideas can be applied to a whole host of other products in the same way that nowadays carbon fiber bikes consist of carbon tubes that are put into lugs. The sole of our shoes is made of carbon fiber. The crank arms are made of carbon fiber. If you are really fancy, maybe even your chain ring or disc rotor is made of carbon fiber.
And even if this whole WaveCel initiative is a bust, metamaterials are indeed one of the biggest changes coming to material science. 3d printing with e. g. titanium enables a huge number of possibilities. Ditto for photonics, there are plenty of very robust proof-of-principle designs that are now waiting on other advances to cross the threshold of commercial viability.
