Italian brand Fizik, currently best known for producing saddles currently used by World Champion Tadej Pogačar, as well as shoes for both road and gravel, appears to be taking its first leap into the world of helmets. In an Instagram post shared by the Orbea Fox Factory MTB team, Belgian rider Pierre de Froidmont can be seen using a white helmet with a grey Fizik wordmark on the side.
Naturally, we just have these images to go off, and so everything is purely speculative, but we can make some educated guesses nonetheless.
An all-rounder with MIPS
Visually this first helmet from Fizik does bear a striking resemblance to the POC Omne, itself an all-rounder with aero leanings. This is what we suspect this new Fizik helmet to be pitched at, especially as it’s being used initially in the world of cross-country mountain biking, where speeds are lower, and the need for ventilation potentially outweighs any aero considerations.
Inside, a light grey expanded polystyrene hull appears to be providing the padding and crumple zones that are common across nearly every bike helmet on the market, save for some unusual inflatable models. A transverse strut appears to connect the lengthwise ribs, so we don’t think we’re about to see carbon fibre scaffolding as is the case in the Specialized Prevail 3, or the new Poc Cytal.
At the rear, we’re looking at a classic dial closure system common to many helmets, and a yellow circular logo on the rear quarter indicates that Fizik has opted to make use of MIPS (multidirectional impact protection system) technology, designed to help with the rotational forces involved in head impacts. This also indicates that the helmet will also be at least mid-range, as we are yet to see MIPS proliferate to the truly budget end of the market with any great vigour just yet.
A new product stream
Those new to the brand, at least in recent years, may only associate Fizik with catering to touchpoints. Shoes, saddles, bar tape – those are the bread and butter now, and so headwear makes sense as the next frontier for the brand. However, this isn’t the first time that Fizik has entered a new space, with forays into hardware in the past with seatposts, stems, and handlebars all centred around a concept of categorising riders into different degrees of flexibility - either a bull, a chameleon, or a snake, in order of increasing bendy-ness.
While Fizik does currently sponsor some pro teams, most prominently being UAE Team Emirates-XRG, we don’t suspect to see this helmet being used at the top level of racing unless it comes with some wind tunnel testing to go with it. Our own wind tunnel test of helmets reveals that they can have an outsized impact on performance, and so for now at least it may be that the company is going to focus on consumers rather than competitors.
