Rudy Project Wing Review – TT Helmet

The Rudy Project Wing is a high-end time-trial/triathlon helmet launched at Kona in 2019. If you shop around you can grab discounts of up to £100 to the list price of £375/$400/€400, making it reasonable value.

TL;DR – This will be my go-to Tri/TT helmet for the foreseeable future.

Rudy Project Wing Model History

A new helmet seems to be in use for the 2024 Pros though not available yet to buy. It’s one of those more exotic designs that you would be embarrassed to wear.

• Previous Model – Wing57
• Current Model Wing (2019, Kona. Public availability 2020/21)
• Next Model Rudy Project WingDream (March, 2024)

The previous model followed a similar design principle but its shape wasn’t as sleek (pretty) and the colour schemes were also lacking in their aesthetic appeal.

Rudy Project Wing Aero Claims

It’s rare to see claimed drag savings above 16w  from a helmet and Rudy Project claims 12.6watts in their tests at 45kmh. Whilst that might be an unreasonable speed to use for triathletes, it’s in line with 10-mile TT speeds for a fair number of ‘normal’ people.

So the reality is that with the Rudy Project WING plus a speed suit or decent tri suit, you and I might save 10 watts at lower speeds over longer distances. Still, to improve your FTP by 10 watts through training is no mean feet.

Putting helmet savings into context with other drag savings at the 20mph(ish) level; wheels might save you 10w and a decent TT position might save you 20w.

Rudy Project Wing TT Helmet – Fit, Wear and General Experience

It’s a bike helmet that you wear and adjust in the normal way. The only unusual aspect is that I had to put my index finger through the rear vent to adjust the tightness of the dial.

The visor and front air vent cover both attach to the helmet using strong magnets that are integrated as part of the design. If you crashed maybe it would come off but in normal use, it stays in place. The visor can be removed and slid back to the rear of the helmet where there are more magnets to hold it in position, same with the vent cover.

My head shape is probably more oval than normal, so I often have issues with getting similarly shaped helmets (Evade 3 is fine for example). The fit is still fairly snug for me around the ears, so much so that when I put the helmet on my ears are bent over. From bitter experience with previous TT helmets I’ve learnt to be careful about sticking my fingers in the sides of the helmet to get my ears back in position, I once broke the side panel of a TT helmet doing that…an expensive mistake. anyway, it’s easy enough to get my ears in position with a bit of care and time. I mention this only in the context of a triathlon or duathlon where you might have time constraints, I generally find TT helmets take a bit longer to put on than regular road helmets. Maybe it’s just me?

Thus, the Wing also suits a more normally rounded head ie not mine. The helmet does fit me but there is a pressure point on my forehead.

Once in place the retention mechanism nicely holds the helmet. Visibility all around is very good and you can hear traffic easily enough.

If this is your first TT helmet, you could well be fooled by the different sounds into thinking that you are going faster. Perhaps because there is less air circulating over your head and in your ears, it feels quieter and faster. It’s a good feeling though perhaps less relavent than actually going fast!

This helmet is going to be hot for your 10-mile summer TTs and probably fairly hot at lower intensities for a couple of hours in a HIM. The vent gives this helmet a ventilation boost over older TT helmets, most have some ventilation these days, however, the ventilation is going to be the worst of any helmet type ie worse than a road aero helmet and much worse than an open climbers’ helmet. Bear that in mind if this is your first TT helmet. Also bear in mind that the visor will further restrict cooling to the face and if, like me, you are a salty, head sweater then you might have to deal with stinging eyes mid-race which is not ideal. A workaround for that is to get some sort of small bandana that just covers the head and then wicks the sweat away to your rear neck… You don’t want excess material flapping about behind you as that is very un-aero.

The vent cooled me sufficiently for a maximal 20-minute effort at 14 Celcius Ambient temperatures.

Rudy Project Wing TT Helmet – Suitability

This is a race helmet for Time Trials and Triathlons. You can wear it whenever you want but might get some strange looks from your buddies on a Sunday Group Ride. Conversely, it could be a good choice on a cold, winter’s day solo ride as it will be a little bit warmer than your other helmets.

Time Trial helmets are notoriously difficult to optimise to your riding style and position. Those long tails might be more aero in the exactly correct position but may add excessive drag should you look down, sit up to ride or even ride in a position for which it was not originally optimised.

Rudy Project claims that this helmet is designed to give good performance in different ride positions, if true that makes it an excellent compromise between optimal aero and the riskiness of you not being in the right position.

The Wing disrupts the current aero-TT-helmet standards: thanks to its revolutionary geometry, The Wing is the very first Rudy Project helmet which maximizes aerodynamic performance regardless of the rider position. Thanks to its revolutionary geometry profile, its removable magnetic front cover and massive exhaust port, ultra-peripheral magnetic visor, The Wing will ensure the best comfort and performance for road cycling time-trial and triathlon challenges. [Rudy Project]

Rudy Project Wing TT Helmet Technical Options & Parts

The new blue colour was recently added and is perhaps the best-looking of the bunch provided it goes with your other gear. The black/red one just happens to perfectly match my Cervelo P5, so I have that.

There are a few other replaceable bits but it’s only a helmet and there’s not much scope for change. I guess you might want different opacity in the visor for different light conditions.

Rudy Project Wing TT Helmet Technical Specifications & Options

The Wing is lighter than the Giro Aerohead (450g, med), Lazer Volante KinetiCore(455g, med), MET – Codatronca (195g, Med), and a tad heavier than the ADWATT Aero. I’d say it’s well below average weight for this kind of helmet.

• Price: £375/$400/€400
• Weight S/M 320 g. | 11,3 oz – L 360 g. | 12,7 oz
• Dimension S-M (cm55 – 58 / 21,7” – 22,8”) – L(cm59 – 61 / 23,2” – 24”)
• Certifications CE / EN 1078, CPSC12.03, AS/NZS 2063
• Colours: Black, white, blue

My Tests

I’ve tested the Wing over 5 rides and about 200km. I made an effort to be fresh for each of the rides and also wore either a Zone3 Aeorforce X II, TriFit EVO or Santicc Darla one-piece tri suit. They’re all claimed to be aero in that they have fewer seams, the first two boast aero materials (dimpled and ridged) whilst the latter also has full sleeves.

Broadly speaking over about 20 minutes on a road bike I was typically about 30 seconds faster than I expected. On a TT bike for over 20 minutes, I performed as expected and was obviously quite a bit faster than on the road bike (say, another minute quicker).

On my final test, I just thought ‘frack it’ and went for it. I managed one of my best-ever times despite being quite a bit less fit. I was about 20-30 seconds faster here than I expected to be over 20ish minutes, which kinda blew up my deductions and opinions based on the previous tests! #Sigh

On a TT bike over a couple of different 1km sprints, I performed as expected but a good 15 seconds shy of my best times when fitter and which probably had better wind conditions.

On two longer 2-3 hour solo rides, I felt quicker but have no real evidence to be able to say for sure if that’s the case.

Basically, I need to go in a wind tunnel. But the stats from Rudy Project, above, already give you an indication of what to expect from that.

Other Test: Slowtwitch tests posted by one user of 4 helmets/5 people showed a great preference for this helmet and a slightly superior performance to the Giro Aerohead.

Price & Availability

This is widely stocked by official stockists and you can grab discounts of up to £100 to the list price of £375/$400/€400,

Rudy Project Wing Review – Take Out

I’m happy with the Rudy Project Wing and it will be my TT and Tri helmet for the foreseeable future, perhaps being swapped out on super hot race days.

I guess I hoped for more free speed than I achieved. But often ‘hope’ isn’t a good enough replacement for committed training.

I shall persevere in 2024 and update this with some race/performance results when I get a bit fitter. I expect to be able to get up to PB level with this and my Zone3 Aeroforce X II trisuit.