Incredibly, it’s 11 years since the Troy Lee D3 helmet launched, bringing all of Troy Lee’s famous design flair together with a very distinctive full face helmet design. The D3 is probably one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable helmets out there. Until now! Today Troy Lee Designs launches the Troy Lee D4 full face helmet – in full carbon and in composite.
The new Troy Lee D4 helmet keeps many of the design touches of the previous D3, like the distinctive dorsal fin and squared off shape. However, the D4 carbon is the lightest carbon DH/BMX race helmet that Troy Lee Designs has ever built, coming in a near-on 1000g, including a MIPS C2 brain protection. Everything has been lightened without reducing its impact protection – like using titanium D-rings for the strap and polycarbonate brow and vent ports for impact strength – and the helmet is certified for DH racing and BMX racing.
The Troy Lee D4 helmet is touted as being very well vented too, with 24 vents – 10 front intake vents, five overhead and seven ‘exhaust’ vents. There’s also ‘Quick Dry XT2’ quick release cheek pads and an X-Static headliner for sweat removal and speedy drying.
The helmet comes in three shell sizes with three EPS sizes to give a total of six different sizes from XS to XXL.
The visor has 40mm of vertical adjustment, with ‘smart-shear’ breakaway bolts for crash safety. There’s a spare visor supplied with the helmet, along with a ‘factory pilot’ helmet bag.
Price? Given that the D3 was shockingly expensive when it came out, yet wildly popular, it’s not surprising that the all singing full ‘TeXtreme’ carbon Troy Lee D4 comes in at a round £500, with the composite D4 being £375.
There’s no denying that it’s a good looking lid. You can expect it to start appearing on the heads of Troy Lee’s extensive list of sponsored riders this spring. There appears to be around a zillion colour options for both the D4 carbon and composite – including stealthy black for the shy.
The rest of the Troy Lee range is being refreshed with a load of new colours and designs. For the moment, though, all eyes are on the new D4.
For more details, check out Saddleback’s Troy Lee page: saddleback.co.uk/collections/troy-lee-designs