Nat Bromhead
French accessory brand Ekoï have featured prominently at this year’s Tour de France, with one of their eye-catching and more impressive offerings being their new ‘Aerodinamica’ helmet.
The first bike helmet to be designed in conjunction with the famous Italian design house Pininfarina, the Aerodinamica is the result of months of development including wind tunnel and real-world road testing by riders of the company’s four WorldTour partner teams.
“The ask was straightforward: a helmet that made no concessions between elegance and performance,” an Ekoï Australia rep told us.
“From the shape of the helmet, with its distinctive lines studied at length in Pininfarina’s legendary wind tunnel, to the choice of racing colors and the incorporation of the latest safety innovations, no detail has been overlooked in this work of art,” he added.
“It’s part science, part sport.”
Underneath its slick exterior, the Ekoï Aerodinamica incorporates 4 inserts of a honeycomb structure of long, thin tubes heat-welded together that are 95% composed of air. The company call this Koroyd® technology.
The tubes’ walls are incredibly ndcolours designed to collapse evenly in the event of impact, absorbing the impact’s synergetic energy on the front and side of the helmet.
The idea is that this reduces damage to the skull while providing a real feeling of cooling thanks to the circulation of air through the tubes and ultimately a lighter-weight helmet.
Ekoï is the only brand equipping UCI World and Pro Tour teams with the innovative Koroyd® technology, a guaranteed safety feature for riders.
Ekoï tell us the Aerodinamica meets a number of criteria: comfort, design, light weight, aerodynamics and safety. It quickly caught the interest of professional riders – including Caleb Ewan – who tested it during the development phase and are now racing it in the WorldTour.
Ewan, along with Giacomo Nizzolo, have already benefited from its gains in sprints, winning respectively the Tro Bro Léon and the Van Merksteijn Fences Classic.
At the Tour de France the Ekoï Aerodinamica along with other helmets and eyewear offerings have been very prominent as well – the brand is represented by Israel-Premier Tech, Lotto-Dstny, Arkéa-Samsic and Cofidis with two stage wins and numerous podiums among the results.
Ekoï Aerodinamica Key Takouts
- High level of protection thanks to Koroyd® technology (+48% energy absorption compared to standard EPS)
- First cycling helmet in the world to be designed by Pininfarina
- Developed in a wind tunnel to minimize its drag ratio (CX)
- Modular design: 100% aero closed helmet / 100% comfort and airflow open helmet.
- Fidlock® magnetic buckle: single-handed adjustment to open and close the chinstrap
- ATOP® wheel: micrometric adjustment of occipital support
- Adjustable straps with lateral V-shaped adjustment buckles under the ears
- Koroyd® protection: 2 side inserts and 2 front inserts
- CE / CPSC / AS NZ compliant
- Helmet soon available in two colour options: white-red and black
- Price – Around $410 depending upon exchange rate
