Ruroc has just announced their latest flagship motorcycle helmet, the Ruroc EOX (pronounced ee-yos), which will succeed the Atlas 4.0 with features and changes made from the ground up, utilising their 1z5 years of experience in making stylish safety equipment. We were invited to the Ruroc HQ in Cheltenham for a world first hands-on and fitting, and we’re certainly excited to get the wheels turning wearing this stunning lid this year.

Until then, I’ll cover all you need to know about the price of the new EOX model, the various (and plentiful) features and updates, including the new Cardo Shockwave Mesh intercom collaboration, as well as the safety levels provided by the helmet.

Priced at an initial £399, the Ruroc EOX is available in a traditional range of graphic variants from launch – and I’d expect these to be added to with further options (and limited variants) over time.

You can choose to include the Shockwave from Ruroc (additional £179), which you’ll have seen in the Atlas 4.0 unit I reviewed last year, to add audio from your smartphone (for calls, music, navigation) via BlueTooth. New for this model is also the Cardo Shockwave Mesh (additional £349) intercom, which boasts the additional capabilities of the Cardo intercom devices – the fantastic Mesh software from Cardo can simply & seamlessly connect you to up to 15 other riders immediately upon switching on the device. It’s truly a top intercom, and introducing this option to Ruroc riders is a brilliant feature for the EOX – I’ll have a short section on the intercom below.

When it comes to shell sizes, the EOX will feature 3 – Small, Medium, Large – with varying padding sizes within those to give you 6 size options. Also worth noting, in the box you’ll get slim cheek padding inserts to swap out should you need a looser fit. The locking mechanism is still the nifty Fidlock system, which snaps together with magnetics (and means you can secure it with gloved fingers!).

When you come to making your purchase decision, you’ve also got the expected stellar graphics options. These are two flat paint finishes, Core (matte black) and Ghost (gloss white), two exposed carbon weave options (a matte black and a gloss black), and four graphic options: the Squadron (inspired by Spitfires), Mictlan (Aztec God of Death gold), Buzzsaw (gun-metal armour), and Ignis (bold orange).

I’ve gone for the Ruroc EOX sized up at medium, with the Mictlan graphic option, and the Cardo Shockwave Mesh intercom.

Alongside 15 years of growing experience and knowledge, Ruroc has spent a huge deal of time gathering feedback from hundres of thousands of riders to refine this EOX helmet – from fitting and style, aerodynamic and performance in wind (tested in the Silverstone wind tunnel), and meets the latest stringent ECE 22.06 European and DOT certification.

Safety is paramount for a motorcycle helmet, so we’ll start there. This EOX is the first showing of the quad-matrix carbon composite shell made of T300 carbon fibre reinforced with Kevlar, nylon and fibreglass for the best in impact performance, flexibility and strength –making it lighter yet more robust than their previous shell.

Then, in the headlining, you’ll once again find Rheon technology with its reactive polymer technology – a mind-bending material that acts as a sort of non-Newtonian fluid, able to dissipate energy when impacted. You’ll also find a combined multi-density EPS and EPP impact liner. This makes it perfect for the varying impact and rotational forces that you may encounter if it all goes a bit wrong when you’re out riding. As with all safety equipment, brilliant to have, but stuff you hope you never come close to needing!

Despite bearing the familiar iconic silhouette of the Atlas 4.0, look closer and the EOX is notably different. Ventialltion ports are altered, the shell has been sculpted to improve aerodynamics, and the rear section of the helmet is altered quite a bit – to both integrate the intercom in a more user friendly area (buttons on the left side, battery on the right) rather than on the rear as with the old Shockwave unit.

When it comes to airflow improvements, Ruroc quotes a big 37% improvement to stability , 2% reduction in noise, and 110% thermal airflow improvements to the Atlas 4.0 Carbon. There are 6 vents, a channeled EPS lining for adjustable airflow. The top airflow port is refined, too, and you still have the chin vents on the front which makes it instantly recognisable as a Ruroc lid, with dedicated exhaust vents at the rear.

As always with a Ruroc lid, you’ll be seen on the road – particularly in the new Ignis bold orange colour option. But a lot of time and effort has also been put into refining the visor on the EOX – now boasting a best-in-class 215 degree field of view.

The mechanism for changing the visor, with plenty of visor options to pick from, is newly designed and completely toolless. The visor itself has an anti-scratch coating on the outside surface, and will come as standard with a Pinlock 120XLT insert that fixes to dedicates pins on the inner visor surface.

This brings us to the most significant update to the Ruroc EOX, the introduction of the Cardo Mesh software if you opt for the Shockwave Mesh. This is simply a must if you’re planning on riding with up to 15 others up to 1 mile away with Cardo comms (which also can connect to other devices), and I’ve been happily riding with Cardo intercoms on all of my helmets for the past few years.

I’ll dive into the comms unit in greater detail as I use the device, but in summary – the control panel is now mounted to the left of the lid, the lightweight battery pack (it comes with a spare in the box) fits to the right side. Setting up the unit is simple with the Cardo app, which will update with a Ruroc theme when paired to the Shockwave Mesh.

Ruroc quotes a 12 hour playback time per battery, and can be recharged with a USB-C connection with rapid charging capability.

If you don’t want to go for the Cardo unit, you can instead choose the cheaper Ruroc Shockwave unit which pairs to your smartphone and can play music/take calls/provide voice navigation directions as you ride, plus pair to other Shockwave users in your proximity.

Inside the helmet, you’ll find top-spec Harmon Kardon speakers, and these will no doubt continue the impeccable audio I experienced when riding with the Ruroc Atlas 4.0.

That just about covers the Ruroc EOX which is due to launch later this month. I’ll be riding with the helmet throughout the year, and I’ll come back with here with my thoughts and notes as the year progresses – as well as likely dive a bit deeper into some of the spec as I become more accustomed to it.

Big thanks to Ruroc for having me there on the day on behalf of BikeMatters, stay tuned for more – and check out our social media accounts for more!