The new Lazer Z1 road helmet won’t be available until June 2014, but it represents the lightest helmet they’ve ever made at a claimed 220g.
Beyond being light, it introduces some great new designs and concepts. First, it uses a next gen Advanced Rollsys retention system that replaces the wire with thin plastic rings. The shell gets a new shape on the front called T-Pro, referring to extended temple protection. They say that’s an area of the head that’s not typically well protected on road helmets.
On other models, they’ve integrated some MIPS rotational protection or Lifebeam’s Bluetooth heartrate sensor and more…
Shown on the black/yellow model is the removable magnets in the back section that’ll hold their Magneto sunglasses securely out of the way.
The Advanced Rollsys System uses a top mounted dial to adjust a circular retension system that goes from your forehead all the way around the back of your head:
The difference is, there’s no more wire and sleeve…it’s just directly pulling the thin plastic ring. The rear cranium retention is height adjustable.
The T-Pro temple protection is simply a small dropped section in front of the ears.
It has a whopping 31 vents, and they’ve been designed to pull more air into and through the helmet for better cooling flow.
Prototype Helium Fast that uses a full aero upper shell bonded to the EPS. It provides structural support, so they can remove some of the foam to make it lighter, too. Greipel’s been choosing to use it in hotter events like the Tour Down Under, so it must vent fairly well out the back.
New MIPS Helium (road) and MIPS Beam (mtb) will be their first adult helmets with the rotational protection built in. The MIPS Beam will be just $70, $20 more than normal, putting the extra protection at a good price point. The MIPS Helium will be about $260. This one’s a very rough cut prototype.
Lastly, Lazer’s partnered with LifeBeam to integrate their headband heart rate sensor into the Genesis helmet.
A small sensor at the forehead reads your pulse and the transmitter at the back sends the data to your cycling computer or smartphone.
No timeline yet, they’re waiting on Lifebeam to finalize spec and production, but it’ll be available in both ANT+ and Bluetooth versions to work with most cycling computers and smart phones. No more chest straps!
