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- Bontrager has developed new bike helmets with an impact-absorbing technology called Wavecel that Bontrager claims reduces the chance of a concussion.
- The layered polyester resin grid can flex, crumple, and glide in an impact, combining the benefits of EPS foam and a MIPS liner in one material.
- Bontrager has exclusive use of the new material, and will incorporate it in road, mountain, and commuter helmets priced from $150 to $300.
Bontrager has new helmets that it claims protect your head against concussions better than anything else out there. The designs are built using a new technology Bontrager licenses called Wavecel, which is a 15mm-thick grid of layered polyester that can crumple, flex, and glide on impact, reducing forces.
Bontrager is making bold claims about the material, and has some research to back them up. The company says that a helmet with Wavecel will prevent a concussion 99 out of 100 times. A standard foam helmet, for comparison, can only prevent a concussion 42 percent of the time, it says. Bontrager also claims that a rider is 48 times less likely to get a concussion wearing a Wavecel helmet than they are wearing a standard foam helmet. Those are massive claims, especially since helmet manufacturers that use MIPS are reluctant to even say that the tech can prevent concussions at all.
What Is Wavecel
The Wavecel grid was developed by Dr. Steven Madey, an orthopedic surgeon, and Dr. Michael Bottlang, a biomechanical engineer. The two doctors are founders and co-directors of the Legacy Biomechanics Laboratory in Portland, Oregon.
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The technology looks similar to the Koroyd honeycomb material used by Smith in some of its helmets, although the Wavecel’s grid is more open than Koroyd. Wavecel also has a more intricate design than Koroyd, and Bontrager implies that its system better absorbs energy in rotational impacts than either Koryod alone, or Koroyd with MIPS. Essentially, Wavecel offers the benefits of a crushable cellular structure like Koroyd, and a slip-plane liner like MIPS in one material.
Bontrager also says that Wavecel is flexible and conforms to rider’s head better than rigid materials, creating a more comfortable helmet. Bontrager hasn’t yet released any helmets for testing, but we have a square sample of the material. It’s not soft, but it does flex relatively easily.
Bontrager uses the material to line the entire helmet and adds a thin layer of EPS foam over top. "The EPS and WaveCel work in concert," said Bontrager marketing representative Sam Foos. "The EPS provides a boundary for the WaveCel to glide freely during an impact." Foos added that the two materials absorb energy differently, and the result is similar to using multiple densities of foam.
Wavecel helmets still use pads like any other helmet, and the inner surface of the liner is coated to improve the comfort of riders with short hair.
How It Works
Helmet materials, no matter what they are, work by absorbing and/or redirecting the energy of an impact, lessening the forces on the brain. According to Bontrager, the layers of Wavecel “move independently and flex until the cell walls crumple and then glide, actively absorbing direct and rotational energy and redirecting it away from your head.” The video loop below shows how the material flexes, crumples, and glides on impact.
Bontrager drew its claims about how the new helmets reduce the chances of a concussion from a study published in the scientific journal Accident Analysis & Prevention titled “Evaluation of a novel bicycle helmet concept in oblique impact testing.”
The authors of the study describe how the material works. “For radial impact forces, each cell has a transverse crease to support organized cell buckling,” they wrote. “For oblique impact forces, cells can fold in shear direction and the structure can elastically deform in-plane to serve as a rotational suspension between the head and the outer helmet shell.”
How Much Safer?
Of course, them main focus of the study was to report how the material performed in impact testing. According to the authors, it did quite well. Based on the results, Bontrager claims that Wavecel-equipped helmets are, “proven to be up to 48x more effective than standard EPS foam at preventing concussions from common cycling accidents.”
The study also states that MIPS and Wavecel helmets both reduce rotational acceleration compared to foam helmets. However, according to the testing performed, MIPS reduced rotational acceleration by 22 percent, while the Wavecel helmets reduced rotational acceleration by 73 percent.
The journal that published the study is respected and many of its reports are peer reviewed, though it’s not clear whether this one was. Also, two of the study’s eight authors are the material’s inventors—Dr. Steven Madey and Dr. Michael Bottlang. Several of the other authors are employed by either Legacy Biomechanics Laboratory, or its parent, Legacy Health. Bottlang also designed the machine that manufactures the Wavecel liners. Neither fact is uncommon in scientific research, nor discredits the results, but they are important to consider when weighing whether you believe Bontrager’s claims enough to trust the technology to protect your brain.
Perhaps to quiet skeptics, Bontrager also had several of its new helmets tested by the independent Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. Although Virginia Tech has yet to update its published list of helmet scores, Bontrager claims that its Wavecel helmets received five-stars from its lab—the highest rating.
Lab testing can’t perfectly simulate all the variables in a real-world crash. And we can’t verify the lab results by crashing headfirst into a curb and attempting to recite the alphabet backwards. All we know is that in the specific tests performed for the study, Wavecel performed better than EPS foam helmets, and EPS helmets with MIPS liner. And it received Virginia Tech’s highest rating based on the way they test and rank helmets (many helmets with MIPS liners also get five stars, and a few EPS-foam-only helmets have earned five-star ratings). Neither of those things means a Wavecel helmet is the best or safest for any crash. But hopefully it means a better outcome in most crashes.
Ventilation and Weight
Bontrager says that Wavecel alters the way air moves through a helmet in a way that improves ventilation compared to a standard helmet. We look forward to testing those claims—Smith’s first-generation Koroyd helmets suffered from poor ventilation.
Wavecel does add weight, around 53 grams according to Bontrager, compared to a standard foam helmet. The company claims its top-of-the line XXX Wavecel Road ($300) weighs 352 grams in a size medium, while the $150 Specter weighs 341 grams. For comparison Smith’s Trace helmet ($250) with Koroyd and MIPS weighs 275.6 grams on our scale; a Specialized Prevail II ($250) with ANGi and MIPS SL weighs 265.5 grams.
Bontrager’s Wavecel Helmet Price and Crash-Return
Bontrager will offer four Wavecel helmets. All come in small, medium, and large sizes and use an adjustable fit system with Boa dial. Bontrager will replace, for free, any crash-damaged Wavecel helmet up to one year after purchase.
The helmet’s are expensive. At $300, the top-end Blaze Wavecel is the priciest trail helmet we’ve seen. And the $300 Wavecel Road is among the most expensive pavement options. Bontrager does sell a less-expensive road helmet, as well as a $150 commuter option.
Wavecel is not a multi-impact system. Like a standard foam bicycle helmet, you need to replace it after any impact, or if any of the material is deformed, crushed, or cracked. And like other helmets, Wavecel helmets will degrade from UV exposure (though it passes the same exposure tests as foam helmets), and if exposed to some chemicals like bug spray and paint.
- Specter Wavecel Road: $150, 341 grams, five colors
equipment Specter WaveCel Road Bike Helmet
- Blaze Wavecel Mountain: $300, 420 grams, five colors
equipment Blaze WaveCel Mountain Bike Helmet
- Charge Wavecel Commuter: $150, 428 grams, four colors.
equipment Charge WaveCel Commuter Helmet
- XXX Wavecel Road: $300, 352 grams, six colors
equipment Bontrager XXX WaveCel
A gear editor for his entire career, Matt’s journey to becoming a leading cycling tech journalist started in 1995, and he’s been at it ever since; likely riding more cycling equipment than anyone on the planet along the way. Previous to his time with Bicycling, Matt worked in bike shops as a service manager, mechanic, and sales person. Based in Durango, Colorado, he enjoys riding and testing any and all kinds of bikes, so you’re just as likely to see him on a road bike dressed in Lycra at a Tuesday night worlds ride as you are to find him dressed in a full face helmet and pads riding a bike park on an enduro bike. He doesn’t race often, but he’s game for anything; having entered road races, criteriums, trials competitions, dual slalom, downhill races, enduros, stage races, short track, time trials, and gran fondos. Next up on his to-do list: a multi day bikepacking trip, and an e-bike race.
