New premium aero road helmet “cuts no corners”

By Simon von Bromley

Published: Wednesday, 17 May 2023 at 12:00 am

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Kask has announced the Elemento, a new all-rounder aero helmet designed for “ultimate performance” both on- and off-road.

Priced at £335/$400/€375/AUD$570, Kask says the Elemento “cuts no corners” in pursuit of performance and delivers “the very best in aerodynamics, ventilation and safety”.

The Elemento has been developed in conjunction with athletes at Team Ineos-Grenadiers (the WorldTour team that Kask sponsors), including current women’s cross-country, marathon and gravel world champion, Pauline Ferrand-Prévot.

According to Kask, the Elemento is a multi-discipline helmet, and is equally useful for road cycling, cross-country mountain biking, gravel riding or cyclocross racing.

Thermal comfort is as important as aerodynamics

Kask says development on the Elemento began in 2020, when it analysed a number of scientific studies focused on how an athlete’s performance varies with body temperature.

The Italian brand says these studies concluded “an athlete’s thermal comfort is just as important as a helmet’s weight or aerodynamics” when it comes to optimising performance.

As a result, it set about developing a helmet that – it claims – doesn’t compromise on any of those three characteristics.

Kask

Typically, even the best aero road helmets compromise on ventilation to a degree (because they usually have fewer or smaller ventilation holes), but Kask is claiming we can have it all with the Elemento.

Kask says this has been achieved by the introduction of two new technologies: Fluid Carbon 12, a composite technopolymer (an advanced plastic that’s more resistant to heat and stress than standard plastics), and Multipod, a 3D-printed material used for internal padding.

Simon von Bromley / Our Media

The basic design of the Elemento is similar to that of the Protone Icon, Kask’s other all-rounder aero helmet.

Kask says the use of Fluid Carbon 12 in the external shell has enabled it to increase the size of the Elemento’s internal ventilation channels. This is claimed to help improve its ability to keep a rider’s head cool despite a decrease in the size of the external ventilation holes.

In turn, these smaller ventilation holes are claimed to make the Elemento more aerodynamic.

Simon von Bromley

Compared to the Protone Icon, Kask says the Elemento offers a 1.5 per cent reduction in aerodynamic drag, alongside an “estimated 0.26°C reduction in the head temperature”.

The open lattice structure of the Multipod padding is also claimed to “greatly improve” ventilation compared to traditional padding, while also bolstering the helmet’s safety credentials.

Five-star safety rating

Kask

Instead of opting for a third-party system such as MIPS, Kask has long relied upon its own technology to protect riders from rotational brain injuries in the event of a crash or accident while riding.

Kask’s in-house rotational impact WG11 test, for example, is said to surpass all basic industry standards for helmet safety.

Kask

The Multipod padding, in particular, is claimed to help the Elemento “better withstand linear and rotational impacts”, and has “isotropic properties”, which means it behaves the same no matter from which direction force is applied to it.

Kask says this has helped the Elemento gain a five-star (out of five) rating from Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab. This is a first for Kask, although it’s worth noting that previously only the Valegro had been tested by Virginia Tech (it received a 3-star rating).

Kask Elemento specification and pricing

Kask

The Kask Elemento features the Octofit+ retention system, the same as that on the Protone Icon and Kask’s recently launched Utopia Y aero road helmet.

Claimed weight for a size-M helmet is 260g in an unspecified colour, though our white size-M sample weighs 271g.

As a point of comparison, a size-M Protone Icon is claimed to weigh 230g, while a size-M Utopia Y weighed 258g when we got our hands on one.

Simon von Bromley / Our Media

With an RRP of £335/$400/€375/AUD$570, the Elemento is the most expensive road, gravel and XC helmet in Kask’s range.

The Elemento is available in six colours: black, ‘bottle green’, ‘oxford blue’, red, silver and white.

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