I own 3 KASK Protone helmets. Having survived 2 serious crashes aboard 2 different road bikes, both without cranial damage of any kind, my black/red unit and my light blue unit are retired. I have owned many quality road specific helmets. It so happens that the KASK Protone fits my head as though custom formed for it. My first violent get off occurred when a medium sized German Shepherd darted out from my periphery directly in front of my wheel at 21 mph. 7 broken bones and a week in hospital. My helmet absorbed a major blow that easily would've been a severe concussion at best. That was the legacy of my black/red Protone. Severely scarred, but not fractured. Thank you KASK. More recently, i experienced a sudden deflation of front tire/latex tube, watching both peel off the carbon rim almost instantaneously. Freak happening. Lost control of the bike and down i went. Again, my noggin was saved by Light Blue that day. There might be equally effective helmets out there, but KASK has won my confidence with their amazing Protone.
My mountain bike shorts did not have a good liner that was thick enough so I bought these to try under the shorts. I primarily ride a road bike and use Pearl Izumi Pro bibs. I figured these would be about the same under the shorts. Bought these to try same size I normally get for my road shorts, but the straps are a little tight. Not terrible and I have used them several times on mountain bike rides. I am thinking of trying them under my long unpadded bib tights rather than road bib shorts. I may also try them on my trainer over the winter and get another pair if they work out.
I have wide feet. Not too wide, but I felt squeezed by modern cycling shoes. Just for the record, I wear Altra for running shoes. For that reason, I've been looking for wide cycling shoes.
I won't name the brand, but there's a brand that offered very wide shoes. I tried them, but they were too wide. And they were also too cushy for comfort.
I like this specific model of Lake (I haven't tried the others), because while they offer wide fit, they aren't too wide. I felt very connected without being too squeezed.
This is my first Kask helmet and it fits my head much better than some other brands I've had. It's a little narrower in width than other brands so the sides fit me better without having to crank up the straps as much. I used their sizing guide and fell into the range that overlaps between the small and the medium so I opted for the medium initially since that's what I normally wear. After trying it on and seeing how much room I had prior to tightening the dial, I made the switch over to the small. It fits perfectly and has a little smaller shell than the medium so it looks better on me as well. The pads are comfortable and there are surprisingly few adjustments on the straps, but they're right where they need to be. I've seen others note that sweat management can be a problem with this helment and I can't totally disagree. It's well vented, but I wonder whether the pads are collecting sweat and then draining onto my glasses. I've only noticed it when it's in the upper 80's and humid though, so most days it's not an issue. If it weren't for that, it would easily be a 5-star rating. As it is, it's a really strong 4 1/2.
