The Radavist

We’re trying something new here at The Radavist. We have been exploring various ways to keep providing free, top-notch photography, reviews, news, and Reportage to our audience, and sponsored content is one way to keep the lights on and the bills paid. We’re unwilling to compromise your trust, so we pledge to always operate with the utmost integrity and be fully transparent about any spon-con on the site.

Full disclosure: this article was supported by Leatt. If you’d like to keep the Radavist independent, please consider joining the Group Ride today – a monthly or yearly subscription is the best way to support the longest-running alternative cycling website.

Whew! Now that that’s out of the way… Our newly-minted Copy Editor, regular Radavist contributor Nicholas Haig-Arack, recently caught up with Leatt’s Dain Zaffke to learn about the brand’s history and discuss matters of safety, both physical and existential. Let’s begin with an intro to Leatt…

POC and Team AMANI are proud to release the Migration edition collection of helmets and eyewear. The new gold Ventral Air ($280) is combined with matching gold Devour Ultra sunglasses ($290), each featuring a unique lanyard made by hand at the Maji Moto Maasai Women’s project, a cultural centre and refuge for vulnerable Maasai women.

Wow! It’s already almost Summer. On a particularly cool and wet morning in Santa Fe, John wrapped up his Summer 2024 Product Picks list, showcasing ten items he’s been enjoying in everyday life and on big backcountry rides this year…

You can spend $30 on a mountain bike helmet, or you can spend $300. So, Travis aimed for the middle and compared eight budget helmets with boutique swagger.

Smith, one of our favorite helmet companies here at The Radavist, just launched an all-new helmet for spring ’24, the Payroll ($200). Let’s check it out.

Leatt started as the game-changing neck brace for moto in Cape Town, South Africa has evolved into a complete line that now serves XC and gravel riders. For 2024, Leatt partnered with Gregor Egger and Lukas Baum from
Speed Company Racing (winners Cape Epic 2022, and 2nd 2023) to develop best-in-class helmets and apparel.

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

Our Radar Roundup compiles products and videos from the ‘net in an easy-to-digest format. Read on below for today’s findings…

MET Helmets addresses a concern many of us have when it comes to head protection: is a road helmet suited for gravel or MTB too? Or is a MTB helmet ok for road use? Road and MTB helmets have different impact areas and coverage, so traditionally it has been frowned upon but the Veleno provides protection by offering full coverage and by using a MIPS system. There’s even a removable MTB visor if you feel the need to slim the helmet’s silhouette up for road. Check out more information at MET Helmets.

100 Percent has been increasing its cycling apparel and accessories catalog over the years and this week the brand announced its newest product: the Altis Gravel Helmet. This helmet was designed to be slim fitting for gravel riding but built to endure the demands of modern mountain biking. While this helmet is packed with details, the most impressive is its pricepoint of $100.

Specs:
-Smartshock® Rotational Protective System (11 point)
-High-Density EPS foam injection and molded with polycarbonate. All sized in specific molds (XS/S, S/M, and L/XL)
-Massive airflow with an impressive 14 ventilation ports
-Expanded coverage while staying lightweight
-Washable, moisture-wicking anti-microbial liner
-Adjustable ratcheting fitment system
-Nexus push release snap-buckle

See more at 100 Percent.

Chances are, you’ve seen Da Brim before. I know you have. Usually, it’s the cyclo-tourists on the Adventure Cycling Bicycle Route 66, or the TransAmerica Trail that wear these kooky devices.

Let’s be real, skin cancer is a very real threat and keeping your nose, ears, and neck protected from the relentless sun is only going to get more important in the coming years.

Our friends at Blue Lug know how to take a product like Da Brim and make it look cool, meshing safety with fashion.

What do you think? Excessive sunblock? Or a kooky (in a good way) sum brim?

Helmets. There are only a handful of topics that gather more heat online. Perhaps that’s why the Danish Road Safety Council decided to make this video?

There’s this website that offers up weight comparisons. For instance, you can put in 270g and it will tell you what weighs about that or by what multitude. For instance, 270g is about three times the weight of a deck of cards. Or, my personal favorite, 270g is about the weight of an adult hamster.

Having light-weight gear is a game we all like to play and having a light helmet might just make you want to wear it even more, which is a good measure when it comes to something that can save your life. The new POC Ventral Light helmet shaves the unnecessary grams without compromising your safety.

It’s the weight of a hamster on your head, with a retail of $275. See more at POC.

In what looks like a wardrobe selection from a cycling-themed episode of Saved by the Bell, Smith just dropped a fun and playful pack, inspired by 1980s graphics. The “Wild” pack is part safari, part party, and all serious protection. With an entire road kit, bottles, goggles, sunglasses, storage kegs, and mountain helmet, the “Wild” kit has got to be the loudest on the market right now. Check it out at Smith.

Smith just launched their new limited helmet color for 2020, dubbed Mystic Green. The color is available across their entire helmet collection, not just the high-end models. That includes the $160 Network road and $160 Session MTB (pictured), all the way to the $250 Trace road and $250 Forefront 2 MTB helmets. Head to Smith to see more specs and information and your local dealer for ordering.

The world of Rampage is something I don’t think is possible to fully understand until you see what those athletes are willing to do in person. Drops, gaps, and jumps that us mere mortals would never attempt, yet these athletes charge them with such confidence that we lose the ability to comprehend what exactly they’re doing. That world has many demands on the riders and Fox is looking to make one aspect even safer with their Rampage Pro Carbon helmet, which uses fluid technologies and carbon structures to ensure crashes become safer.

While I don’t intend of hitting 30′ hips or 100′ gaps, I can say this product looks intriguing, yet with so many helmet systems out there, it begs the question, is this race towards safer helmets just marketing, or is there something else there?

See more at Fox.