Any cycling helmet is built to achieve one objective: to protect your head. But with a tonne of variables thrown in like comfort, ventilation, glasses docking, and more, some may compromise some features for others. However, with the new Ambush 3, Specialized has aimed to create a helmet that you’ll forget about.
We say it in loads of our reviews; the best product is one that you don’t notice, and that’s what Specialized has attempted to achieve with the third iteration of its Ambush helmet. Part of the Ambush’s comfort recipe is in its ventilation.

This time around, the helmet employs what Spesh is calling AirCage and 4D Cooling. The former is an internal roll cage that upholds the structural qualities of the helmet by distributing impact forces deeper into it. But this system allows for the introduction of some mighty large vents, all to keep the rider cool. As for 4D Cooling, it’s a system of vents, with the confusingly named MouthPort built to pull cooler air into the helmet, even at slow speeds, to be guided over the head by longitudinal vents and channels cut into the helmet’s interior, and of course, there are exhaust ports at the rear to bin off any hot air.
On top of that, there’s the protection aspect. The Ambush 3 uses Mips’s Air Node Pro system, which is said to achieve a fit that sits closer to the head. There’s then a Boa FS1 fit system, a new brow band, and the helmet employs a new headform.

Wrapping up the features is a four-way adjustable breakaway visor, a mount for a light or action camera, and sunglasses storage, with promises that it won’t rattle with glasses in place. Oh, and it’s scored a five-star Virginia Tech rating. There’s a Fidlock closure, too.
If Specialized’s new Ambush takes your liking, it can be picked up for £169.
