The Blaze is Trek’s newest mountain bike helmet, it is packed out with features and technology that go some way to explaining, or perhaps excusing, its high price. Most obviously, the Blaze is in fact two helmets in one, the idea is you can use it for enduro or more aggressive riding with its ear flaps in place, or fire them off at the press of a button when you’re on calmer terrain. Watch our unboxing video…

Plenty of the best mountain bike helmets live this double life… and live it really well, like the brilliant Leatt MTB Helmet 3.0 with its removable chin bar. It means you don’t need to buy two helmets because just one can do it all, and you’ll never bring the wrong one to a ride. But some brands make a hash of it, they’re a bad compromise all round and end up heavier and less breathable… which will the Blaze WaveCel be?

You feel really well protected inside the Blaze, but it’s also incredibly well vented and (mostly) really comfy

Trek’s Blaze WaveCel protection

As its name suggests, the Blaze uses Trek’s own WaveCel technology to protect your head. Arranged in wavy plastic rows it’s designed to both crumple like EPS and slide like MIPS to dissipate the forces from an impact. How well it works is hard to tell, but at its launch in 2019 Trek said it was 48 times more effective than standard EPS at preventing concussions. Virginia Tech certainly rates the WaveCel, with a five-star rating, although it’s pretty far down the rankings with 111 better scoring lids above it.

Trek’s WaveCel technology means most of the helmet can channel air onto your head, making it a cool place to be

The Blaze also uses ribs of more traditional EPS over the WaveCel structure to back it up, and it’s all wrapped in a plastic shell that leaves pretty much no EPS uncovered. The helmet sits really low on your head, stretching down at the back and the front too, with my go-to Smith riding glasses actually touching the front to create a wall of plastic.

Removable ears

The removable ear protection is a really neat idea, and well executed… I just wish the holes were bigger

I remember trying a Giro Switchblade a decade ago, loving the removable chin guard idea but not how hard it was to detach it. Trek’s made it very easy with the Blaze, press a big spring-loaded button and the ear protection gets ejected. It’s so easy you can even do it with the helmet on, although what you’d then do with those protectors I don’t know. When it’s time to put them back on again the process is just as simple, they slot into place with a reassuring click.

BOA retention dial keeps things snug, you can micro adjust it to loosen the Blaze by a few clicks as your head heats up on a ride

Retention and padding

Trek uses a BOA dial at the back to pull the Blaze firmly onto your head, it’s not a 360° but it’s still really secure and comfortable thanks to the sumptuous padding inside. It’s also simple to adjust in either direction with just one hand while you’re riding, so you can back it off a few clicks as your head heats up during a ride.

Trek’s spared no expense on the Blaze, it also uses a FidLock buckle under your chin, it’s easy to use, and the splitters above the ears route the nylon straps perfectly around my ears.

Those straps very slowly loosen over the course of a ride though, slipping through the buckle by about 10mm from the optimal position before holding firm again. Part of the problem lies in the way the buckle sits, it’s too far up one side of my chin which prevents the buckle’s small plastic teeth from biting into the nylon properly. As it loosens this problem resolves itself and it’s held securely, if too loosely.

The other cause must be the soft touch nature of the straps, they’re sleek and slippery and don’t generate enough friction when doubled back over one-another to stay tight. I’ve back to back tested the Blaze with a TLD A3 that uses the exact same Fidlock buckle, but it doesn’t budge on the latter lid, with the buckle sitting directly under my chin and the straps less slippery too.

The POV camera mount is a triumph, it held stong to my GoPro on some really rocky trails in Italy and France, but would still detach in the event of crash

Blaze features

A three position peak crowns the Blaze, it’s not really in keeping with the high finish of the rest of the helmet though. It’s pretty flimsy and flexible, any attempt to move it with just one hand invariably leaves it at a wonky angle as one side moves while the other stays stubbornly in place.

I do love the POV camera mount on the top. It proved strong enough to hold my GoPro firmly during five days riding at the Stone King, and because it’s securely magnetically removing the whole thing is quick and simple. It’s a super cool design, and would be ideal for night riding too.

Performance

The Blaze is not a heavy helmet by any means, but it feels even lighter than its half-kilo numbers, probably because it sits so low on your head. That makes it really stable and secure, and it gave me a real feeling of security when riding. Yes the ear protectors squished my ears but you do get used to the sensation and I ended up letting them poke out slightly for better comfort.

Extra protection for the rocky Stone King trails

It weighs a scant 511g with the ear protection and its clever magnetic removable POV mount, meaning it’s actually pretty light. For reference the similarly protective Leatt MTB Helmet 3 is 587g. Take off the ear protection and the POV mount and the weight creeps under 400g, making it lighter than the Troy Lee Designs A3 and on parr with Bell’s Sixer MIPS.

The protection comes low enough at the front to sit on my glasses without a gap, while at the back it’s similarly low, and all-encompassing with the ear protection in place. I love this aspect of the Blaze, there’s no chink in its armour and there’s definitely no mud coming through either.

And with the snap-off peak and your POV camera only secured by a magnet, and Wavecell and EPS protection, it’s a genuinely safe place to put your head. Wavecell is also one of the best materials for breathability I’ve tried, airflow is almost unrestricted and it’s appreciably cooler than almost every other helmet I’ve tested. 

Ultimately though, I was happier with the ear protection off, meaning I’d be happy on the Trek WaveCel Rally helmet

In all honesty I didn’t get on well with the extra side protection though, my ears are either squished at the top or poking through and making me look like an elf heading into battle. Maybe my ears are just big. Trek also makes a Rally Wavecell version of the Blaze, it looks really similar and costs £50 less, making it way more appealing to me personally.