Home > Clothing-Gear-Tools

New Smith Forefront 2 trail helmet coming; plus full 2018 bike helmet overview

2018 Smith bicycle helmet overview for road gravel and mountain bikes
9 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Smith rolled out several new helmets at Interbike last year, including the Session MTB helmet shown up above, to hit price points from $80 on up. Those include the Venture and Rover mountain bike helmets, plus the Portal, Route and Network road/gravel bike helmets. Between those and the top end Overtake (road) and Forefront (MTB), they have a broad mix of MIPS and Koroyd equipped options.

Smith Koroyd impact protection system shows helmet impact frequency zones

Smith has the exclusive on Koroyd impact protection, and showed us this interesting study on where most helmet impacts happen. Using this, they’re able to use partial Koroyd placement on mid-range helmets to bring price points down without sacrificing protection in key impact zones. Top range helmets like the Overtake and Forefront have full Koroyd coverage. Others, like the Network and Route, use it only on the sides. Here’s the full road bike helmet collection and colors for 2018:

2018 Smith road bike helmet collection overview

And for mountain bikes, here’s the lineup:

2018 Smith mountain bike helmet collection overview

Notice the new top of the range is an updated Forefront, coming this summer.

2018 Smith Forefront 2 mountain bike helmet with Koroyd impact protection

2018 Smith Forefront 2 mountain bike helmet with Koroyd impact protection

The Forefront II has an updated fit, and the visor integration and external shaping is redesigned to work better with goggles. Retail will be €230 MIPS (all colors), €200 without (black, white, gravy). USD pricing is TBD. The Session and Network arrive this spring.

SmithOptics.com

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

9 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Cowtowncyclist
Cowtowncyclist
6 years ago

As someone who has owned a Forefront for the last 3 years, they are good when the temperature is below 20 C and great when the temperature is close to 0 C. But as soon as things warm up, the less Koroyd the better. That Overtake must just be pure misery in the summer on hot days.

Daniel Hawley
Daniel Hawley
6 years ago
Reply to  Cowtowncyclist

I ride with an overtake in Southern California and it’s totally fine. I do plenty of multi-hour days when it is in the 85F/30C range and don’t have a problem. Also consider that on a road bike the average speed is quite a bit higher, and you do get more airflow through the koroyd.

jxjjd
jxjjd
6 years ago
Reply to  Cowtowncyclist

I’ve both these helmets and I ride in 0 to 35c weather. While the forefront is warmer than the overtake they’re excellent in hot weather and koroyd helps with that a lot.. if anything im cold below 5c with either…

preachingpedals
6 years ago

As someone with less hair, I enjoy the protection from the sun that the koroyd provides

RJP
RJP
6 years ago

Percentages don’t add up to 100% but only to 82%. Where do the remaining 18% go?

DougB
DougB
6 years ago
Reply to  RJP

On your nose?

Alex
Alex
6 years ago

“Smith has the exclusive on Koroyd impact protection” – Endura would beg to differ on that. https://www.endurasport.com/product/mt500-helmet/ https://www.endurasport.com/product/mtr-knee-guard/

jeremylatham
5 years ago

I’ve had a Forefront for 2.5 years and have had no issues with riding in temps up to 32 Celsius. It’s just fine in warm weather. (I generally have shortish hair).

Vu Tran
5 years ago

Forefront is an ok helmet in warm weather if you never had any other helmet. The specialized ambush, fox flux, troy lee a2 etc are all much much much cooler then the forefront. Thank being said, the forefront is the best most comfortable fitting helmet i’ve ever had the pleasure of strapping on my head. I have also lt around 6 friends try it on and they all said it’s the most comfortable helmet on the planet. comfort galore, cool it is not

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.