NEW Kask Valegro Cycle Helmet

- [Man] We have been lucky enough to be invited along
to the very final stages of aero testing,
the brand new Kask Valegro helmet.
Which, Team Sky are using for the first ever time
at this year's Tour de France.
Now behind me is the
Loughborough University aeronautics technology wind tunnel.
It's huge, I've no idea what to expect
from a helmet testing day,
I've never been to a wind tunnel before,
I'm fascinated to find out what goes on.
Let's take a look.
(upbeat music)
- So we're joined by Carsten Jeppesen from Team Sky
who's had a big hand in the Kask Valegro project.
Carsten, when did the project for this helmet start?
- We started talking about a light,
really well ventilated helmet already in the tour 2014.
So really from that on, that time on
the idea was there and we spoke
to our long time partner Kask about what could we do
and looking at different things and, yeah,
now finally we are getting there.
- This project's taken almost three years,
so is that a typical length of the projects
that you work on with the team or with the partners?
- I can guarantee we are pushing hard
but yeah and we would have liked it a year and a half ago
but yeah sometimes things just takes
a little bit longer than we expect.
Almost every time it takes a little bit longer,
there's always things that comes up and we also want to,
you know, have we looked at this, have we looked at that,
is it, could we do it a little bit better?
So I think it's our own fault sometimes.
- Can you quantify the sort of benefit
that a helmet like this might give on a hilly stage,
is it a percent, half percent, something like that?
- Now in the middle of testing
we are here at Loughborough at the wind tunnel today
to see where we're at and I must admit
we are a little bit surprised with the aero part of it,
it's better than we expected it to
but obviously there is the cooling effect
that has been spot on and a big improvement, so yeah.
- Big benefits.
- Big benefits and obviously weight as well.
Carrying a helmet that's X amount of grammes lighter
for 250k stage in the mountains, that makes a difference.
- So Kask have actually got a couple of days
here at this wind tunnel, so all that means is that
they can test, test, and test again.
So behind me they're just making a few modifications
to the Valegro just to see if it can get
a little bit more aerodynamic
without losing any of the cooling properties
and without gaining too much weight.
And this is a process that they will repeat
possibly tens of times a day during the testing process.
So what can we see on the screen here, John?
- So this is the outputs we get
from the CFD simulations we did of the Valegro.
So basically the yellow areas here
where the heat transfer coefficient,
which is the amount of energy
that's being emitted from the surface,
so on this helmet you can see you've got really good cooling
around the front of the head,
because the head sweats most at the front, so,
obviously humans have evolved to cool most at the front,
but then also at the lower speed
it's important to have cooling around the back as well.
- So it's an incredibly complex thing
with a load of variables. - Yeah.
- At every stage basically.
- Yeah lot's of things to consider
I mean obviously first and foremost
it's a crash protection device
and that really influences a lot of the decisions
that are taken in the design process.
From an aerodynamics perspective
you would like to make it thinner.
But it's gotta do it's first job, so (laughs).
(slow music)
- So the brief from Team Sky
was to create a super lightweight cool climbing helmet.
And Kask came up with the Valegro and this is phase zero.
So in phase zero, we've got the three hand drawn sketches.
From phase one, we go to phase two
where we've cut down from
four potential designs of the Valegro to two.
We then go from phase two obviously to phase three
where again we've still got two potential designs here
and then for phase three we go to these
and now this is phase four
which is the final design of the Kask Valegro.
And actually just over here
we have got fresh from the wind tunnel test study,
a mould of the final design of the Valegro.
But why are we even at a wind tunnel
if the brief from Team Sky
was just to make a lightweight, cool, climbing helmet?
Let's speak to Kask and find out.
So Luca, what's the answer?
- Well the answer is that we have to consider
the speed that Team Sky athletes carry on climbs
which is totally different from the speed that we carry.
And of course also after climbs there are downhills
and between climbs there must be some flat bits
where aerodynamics are really important.
And the most important reason why we are studying
the aerodynamics of this helmet is because
the final purpose of it is to be used by a huge amount,
hopefully, of people,
of cyclists around the world in any possible condition.
- When do you bring this helmet into the wind tunnel?
So we've seen all these designs,
so from phase zero through to phase four,
at which point does it start getting wind tunnel tested?
- Well we want to make sure
that when we go to the wind tunnel
we have already performed a bunch of CFD testing,
so simulation on a computer.
So that we are kind of sure
that we are in the right direction,
but then the real wind tells you different things sometimes,
so we are ready to modify the shape,
to change aspects of the helmet to improve the aerodynamic,
the real aerodynamic in the end.
- And is there any real world testing that you can do?
- Yes of course,
then the final green light will be given by riders.
So hopefully everything will work out
'cause the time is tight also in this project,
but we're always ready to modify anything that is possible.
- From the wind tunnel at Loughborough University
to right here in the GCN set,
we have got the final boxed Kask Valegro helmet,
and it's so light that it's hard to believe
there's actually a helmet inside this box.
But there is, here it is, the finished Kask Valegro.
Incredibly light, it's actually very thin as well
despite what John Pittman was saying
about wanting to make it thinner for lightweight,
heat displacement aerodynamics.
This is a very thin helmet,
fits very tightly on the head too.
It's going to be interesting to see just
how much the Team Sky riders do choose to use this helmet
at the tour this year.
Now from the GCN set, back to me,
dribbling in a wind tunnel at Loughborough University.
So there we go, an absolutely fascinating look,
it's quite windy in here, trying not to cry,
at the process of Kask just optimising their Valegro
which is their new lightweight and cool climbing helmet,
and of course
because of the speed that professional cyclists climb at,
it also needs to be incredibly aero too.
See a video where we explore
the benefits of aerodynamics on a climb
just click right there, my eyes,
and to see a video where we explore
the effect of body weight while you're climbing,
click down there and to subscribe to GCN click on the globe.

NEW Kask Valegro Cycle Helmet - GCN's First Look

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