[First Look] Updated 2016 Troy Lee Designs D3

[ad3]When you’re already known for making the best full face helmet on the market, why mess with success? Well in Troy Lee Designs’ case, they aren’t one to rest on their laurels so they’ve brought about some minor changes to their highly coveted D3 helmet.

However, new colors aren’t enough.  For 2016, They’ve also added a redesigned and contoured cheek padset along with a new liner.  Perhaps most importantly they’ve updated the EPS head form.  In their words, here are the main updates:

• NEW head form/shape that has been slightly modified to accommodate some comfort zones that our customers and athletes wanted updated for better fit. Extensive testing led us to a slight modification that will allow the D3 to accommodate more riders.
• NEW cheek pad, our “3D cheek pads feature an updated shape and contour to better fit the jaw and cheek area. This new 3D cheek pad extends more toward the front as well, for a more secure fit.
• NEW smoothed edge trim on the face molding area.
• NEWLY added more EPS in the key frontal impact zones for even greater safety.

We’ve had just one ride on our new lid and straight away we got along a bit better with the new fit.  There was less pressure on our forehead and overall we settled into the helmet better.  The cupped and wedged shape of the new cheek pads felt more secure as well.

Although one ride isn’t enough for a full review, we’ll keep you posted on how it goes for the long term.  First impressions are good and unfortunately we’ve already had a big crash in this lid.  We didn’t blast our head very hard so it’s still in good working order.  With that said, it might be a week or two until we’re back on the DH bikes…

www.troyleedesigns.com