Smith

Overtake Helmet

In 2013, Smith unveiled its first ever foray into the cycling helmet industry, the mountain bike-specific Forefront, to rave reviews. Now, it's upped the ante with the Overtake helmet, designed specifically for the road. At 250 grams, it enjoys the company of peloton-grade helmets from the likes of POC and Giro, and it's actually 10 to 20 grams lighter than helmets from Catlike and Kask. So it's lightweight, and it features some welcome design elements like sunglass channels to stow your shades just above the temples for coffee shop raids or slow, sweaty climbs, but there are some differences that make the Overtake really stand out.

Let's address the elephant in the helmet right off. Koroyd is what Smith is calling the funny looking layer of honeycomb matter that runs beneath the outer shell and more traditional EPS foam. It's made of thousands of tiny, extruded co-polymer tubes that absorb impact but have a fenestrated surface that allows for a level of breathability impossible to achieve with solid EPS foam while absorbing a claimed 30% more energy. Plus, it's pretty cool looking, especially in Smith's mix of contrasting and complementary color schemes.

Now for aerodynamics, which has become the buzz word in cycling helmets of late. Smith is aware that the Overtake would have to stack up against the industry's best in this department or it would be received as just another novelty act, so it brought in Len Brownlie, an aerodynamics guru whose CV includes helping Commonwealth Games champion Tara Whitten dial her time trial position, contributing to Canada's OwnthePodium project, and — oh yeah — presenting a paper titled "The wind-averaged aerodynamic drag of competitive time trial cycling helmets" at the 2010 conference of the International Sports Engineering Association in Vienna. Brownlie adapted an automobile industry test for cycling-specific applications, and the Overtake was tossed into the wind tunnel for a test.

Apparently the Overtake studied, because it passed. At a simulated 25 miles per hour over 40 kilometers, the Overtake surrendered a mere 1.06 seconds of advantage to the Specialized Evade and actually gained 4.15 and 26.8 seconds over Giro's Air Attack and Aeon, respectively.

The Smith Overtake is available in three sizes ranging from Small to Large in the colors Black, Black Ombre, Frost Mint, Matte Acid Ombre, Matte Black, Matte Mustard, Matte Navy, Matte Neon Orange, Matte Red/white, Neon Pink, White, and White Frost.