smashndash

I went from a crappy (but light) Rudy Project to Specialized Evade because it looks cool. And I want to look cool.

It's honestly not all that great. The Evade is designed for oblong heads and my head is super round/wide so I had to size up. I basically have an asteroid on my head. The Cd might be lower but the A is way higher than my Rudy. Also, the Evade seems to be optimized for when you're looking almost directly at the horizon. If I dip my head lower than that, the air feels a bit more turbulent. Almost like an air brake. I miss being able to tuck my head in low and feel the wind on the back of my neck. I'd almost say that position with a normal helmet was faster than head up with an aero helmet. But ofc head-low positions are much harder to sustain. It's impossible in a tight peloton/race. It's only good for friendly or solo rides.

I think there's good reason Remco uses the Prevail over the Evade. He frequently uses the head down position, and the evade would act as an air brake in those situations. For $270, I got to look cool but idk if I got any faster. Subjectively, I have less fun with the evade because I feel forced to maintain an optimalTM head position. It's not worth it for casual riders IMO.

Oldschool TT helmets were optimized for head up positions, but newer ones are optimized for a range of positions, especially head down ones. Check out the Danish pursuit team for a good example. The newer helmets have tails that bend down. The evade does not have that because most racing happens in the head-up position.

This is all to say - don't count on the aero helmet being faster for you. And even if it is, is it really worth it?