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Price: $70
Weight: 308g (M)
Type: Road
The right helmet for: The person who bikes everywhere and needs a comfortable helmet to keep up.
The Specialized Echelon II is the company’s cheapest road helmet (the “Road” designation simply means it doesn’t have a visor), and though it’s been around for a few years now, its rounded design has aged well with today’s road helmet market. It comes in three sizes and six colors. The Echelon II uses Specialized’s HairPort fit system. Rather than offering a women’s helmet, Specialized created the HairPort, which rests beneath the occipital lobe and gives ample room for ponytails (to create more room for hair, the Echelon II sacrifices some lower-skull protection). The Tri-Fix web splitters aren’t adjustable, but keep the straps well away from the ears. Reflective details are found in the webbing and in stickers on the helmets surface.
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A Respectable Mix of Fit and Ventilation
The Echelon II’s fit system offers vertical height adjustment, which, combined with the micro-adjustable dial, makes it easy to secure the Echelon II to a variety of head shapes. There’s internal reinforcement to increase vent size without sacrificing structural integrity, although there’s still more foam (and more exposed foam) and smaller vents than you’ll find on higher-end models like the Prevail II. Compared to a medium-size S-Works Prevail II, the medium Echelon II fits a bit snug around the temples.
Some testers found themselves wishing for adjustable strap splitters, and complained the chin strap sat too close to their neck. The Echelon II doesn’t ventilate quite as well as top-end road helmets, and the difference was evident as forehead sweat beaded up on a humid 85-degree ride. The ample forehead padding, though, kept the sweat from running down riders’ faces. These are niggles testers barely noticed on most rides with the Echelon II, and combined with its 66 grams of added heft, we’d say it’s 80 percent as good as the S-Works Prevail II, which is $155 more expensive. In other words, the Echelon II is a damn-good helmet for the money.
