Last year it was the ARO series of road helmets. Now, the sunglasses brand is introducing the Oakley DRT5 trail mountain bike helmets based on Greg Minnaar’s feedback. The helmet brings several new and unique features to the category, including integrated (and removable) clips to hold your shades, and the first helmet to use the new BOA dial integration to do more than just make it fit well.
The new BOA helmet system uses a soft, flat fiber lace to fit the helmet to your head. It sits on a height adjustable cradle, but it’s about more than just getting the helmet to fit well. Because it’s so thin and flat and sits directly next to your skin, it won’t interfere with your sunglasses’ fit. That system is worked around a MIPS liner to mitigate rotational damage.
The most eye-catching features is their eyewear landing zone, which uses mechanical clips to capture the arms of your sunglasses. These are set in place higher than normal, you can position them to rest lower so they are less likely to snag an errant branch. We’re guessing they’ll use mostly on long, slow, hot climbs…not while ripping through singletrack…but they did feel quite secure.
When not in use, they fold flat into the helmet so the clips themselves won’t snag anything, which is especially important during a crash so they won’t yank your head around. They’re also removable if eyewear stowage isn’t something you’ll use. Retail will be $200 when they start shipping in March 2018.
Going full enduro? The visor flips up far enough to stow your goggles on the front. And Oakley has two new goggles, the AirBrake and O-Frame 2.0 XL, both with lighter, more breathable MTB-specific foam and seven lens colors. For their glasses, they have two new MTB-specific lens colors: Prizm Low Light and Prizm Trail.
To complete the look, they have a new range of men’s mountain bike clothing including baggy shorts, bibshorts, jersey shirts (short and long sleeve) and a wind jacket.
i would like to see this feature on their road helmets too
Sorry but that seems like the dumbest possible area for you to put your glasses. OK so maybe they wont fall off but an errant branch would easily smash or scratch your glasses even on an steep climb. On top of this its probably harder and less intuitive to insert your glasses in this holder than threading behind your ears. How come only Giro can get sun-glass retention right?
Yeah, low hanging branches could brutalize them, although this article does point out that they can be installed lower down than done in the display example, which would at least improve things. I know that my helmets all have scratches and scrapes right on top from branches though, so it would be a no go for me altogether on the trail.
For road or gravel use, I’d consider this setup, but I’d like to see a vid of someone actually using it, rather than stills of the glasses installed. It seems like it would be pretty tough to get the arm stems in place, but I’m willing to be convinced otherwise.
I’ll call out all brands and most glasses. I have a Scott Steego and a Giro Montaro with either Scott glasses or Smith glasses. NONE stow the glasses without protruding at some ridiculous angle or poking my head. I borrowed some new dumb-looking Oakleys with thin arms, and they stowed. Do brands need to hire someone that rides AND designs?!
I have the Montaro that I use Oakley glasses with. One of my favorite things about it is that my glasses fit perfectly in the side vents and then rest neatly on the visor. They never come loose and remain out of the way of errant branches. However the best thing about it is that can deploy the glasses accurately and rapidly without having to stop. It works so well that cannot bring myself to purchase a helmet without this ability.
When are these helmets going to be sold? I need to buy a new helmet asap