It’s been a few years now since EF Education debuted POC time trial helmets with duck graphics at the Giro d’Italia. Now HJC has got into the novel time trial helmet game with a design inspired by Marvel Comics' Iron Man for TotalEnergies riders in the 26.1km stage 16 time trial today.
Time trial helmets are fertile ground for the creatives. While road helmets are encumbered by boring stuff such as vents to stop the rider’s head from boiling, that’s not a problem with many TT helmets.
Plus they’re BIG, so there’s lots of real estate to work on.
HJC has got to work on its Adwatt 1.0 helmet, a design it launched in 2019. But it claims it’s fast enough that another, unnamed, unsponsored team has also chosen it, minus the Iron Man graphics and is buying its TT helmets with its own cash.
Why Iron Man? HJC’s main business is motorcycle helmets and it’s been working with Marvel on these for years. It reckons the design will bring a touch of fun to the po-faced, data-obsessed, supersized world of grand tour time trials.
