A Cyclingnews special sponsorship feature

An instant collector's item from Specialized and Super Mario

Stripey
Photo: © Specialized

Specialized's stylish and ultra-ventilated S1 helmet is the choice of Mario Cipollini and the Domina Vacanze team. But of course Super Mario doesn't just get the standard issue colour scheme; as befits a world champion, Cipo has a special edition with the rainbow colour scheme.

Super Mario
Photo: © Jeff Tse

Rainbow S1s will be available in the shops in very limited numbers. As Specialized's Sean McLaughlin puts it "We're doing one production run... and that's it." However, we have a small swag of rainbow S1s to give away to six lucky Cyclingnews readers.

The 2003 edition of the S1 has changed very little from the helmet we reviewed last year. The main new feature is the BrainTrust 2 Vert occipital cradle which adds vertical adjustment, broader tension range and soft over-mold to cosily grip the back of your head.

The S1 still features the huge vents and telescopic peak that we liked last year - and the peak is removable so you can instantly switch between a road and MTB look.

Rider opinions

Filip Meirhaeghe
Photo: © Chris Henry/CN

On the basis that you may never get to touch the master, but you can tickle his creatures, we caught up with a couple of Cipollini's Domina Vacanze team-mates at the Spring Classics to find out what they thought of their S1 helmets.

Daniele Bennati
Photo: © Chris Henry/CN

Filip Meirhaeghe, who is once again guesting on the Specialized-sponsored team between mountain bike races, is big fan. "We had the helmet last year, and it's really well ventilated," he said. "That's good, because also in mountain biking we use helmets when it's really hot in the summer, and the temperature never bothers me, which is really good for a helmet.

"It will be good if we can use the helmet all the time, because it's a lot better for our safety. I know we're going to have to soon, but I already did before, so I have no problem with that. I think it should have been like this earlier, not when it was too late."

The Boss
Photo: © Jeff Tse

Daniele Bennati is also a fan, telling us, "It's a good helmet, and it's easy to feel safe it in. But also it's good because it's light weight and it's very comfortable."

Check back soon to see who has won one of the six Cipo edition S1 helmets