O'Neal have a new full face helmet on the way, the result of the company's collaboration with DH legend Greg Minnaar. The Blade has a carbon fiber shell and generous venting, especially at the front of the chin bar, where mesh is in place to keep mud and bugs from getting stuck between your teeth.
Attached to the inside of the helmet are IPX ACells, star shaped pieces of Armourgel mounted onto a low friction disc. The ACells are intended to help with low speed impact absorption, particularly at the front of the the helmet. During a crash, the visceoelastic material hardens up, which should reduce the amount of force trasnsmitted to a rider's head.
The Blade is ASTM DH certified, and weighs in at a claimed 900 grams, which is quite light for this style of helmet. The carbon shelled version will retail for 349 Euro, and the fiberglass version will be 249 Euro.
O'Neal also had their innovative new B50 goggles on display. What sets the B50 apart from the scores of other goggles on the market? Magnets. That's right, rather than using the traditional method of cutting notches into the edge of a lens, on the B50 the lens is attached to the frame by a series of magnets.
Swapping it out only takes a matter of seconds – there's no need to waste time fiddling around and getting greasy fingerprints on a lens while you try to get it lined up with an uncooperative frame. The pro model comes with three different lens options – clear, radium red, and radium blue – and is priced at 199 Euro. With only one lens the B50 goggles retail for 89.95 Euro.
Anon has been making goggles like this since 2012. My buddy used them for a season but got tired of losing the lenses when he would crash. I think they might work better for biking than for snowboarding.
i didnt realize there were other companies that did this. Good points about the crashing and all, maybe thats why this design isnt as profound. Pricing could be high, but im all for different approaches instead of seeing the same design over and over
If not magnets, then clip slides with slides on the back of the helmet to hold them when you're done a run.
I'm totally on to something here. 2018: intro. 2019: make 'em fat. 2020: boost. . .
I'm glad to finally see it happen for MTB goggles, makes swapping lenses so quick & easy
However - Ruroc has clamps on either side of their goggle to keep the lense in place for obvious safety reasons... I'd like to see the same kind of clamping mechanism here
BUT I have to say it looks extremely similar to a 100% aircraft
- Uhhh, magnets
- Playing with magnets?
-Just magnets
- I'm just going to put snowboarding