Back in the day, it seemed everyone had a Giro Xen (myself included). The popular helmet offered additional coverage at a time when most helmets were still geared towards XC. Eventually though, the helmet market exploded with new options and the Xen faded away. It has taken some time, but by the looks of things Giro is back with a helmet that is a worthy successor to the venerable Xen.
As the latest Giro helmet to incorporate MIPS Technology, the men’s Montaro and women’s Montara are packed with all the necessary features to make the helmets work for the modern trail rider. Blending good looks, improved protection, and integration of goggles, lights, and cameras, the Montaro and Montara look like the Giro helmets we’ve been waiting for…
Officially called a trail helmet rather than an enduro helmet, the Montaro uses a shell that offers full coverage but is still well vented with 16 ports. All of the vents are connected with internal channeling designed to flow the air between the helmet and over your head.
Even though a number of people still seem to think that wearing goggles with a half shell is a fashion faux pas, that won’t stop riders from taking advantage of improved eye protection when it’s needed. Because of that, Giro wanted to make sure goggles easily integrated with the Montaro so the helmet includes a few features to help keep them in place. At the back, a channel is built into the helmet to act as a guide for the strap and the vents in the channel have a rubberized border to increase the grip of the goggle strap. Up front, the POV visor indexes upward to provide a storage spot for the goggles when not in use.
Trail riders are also likely to want to add a light or a camera to the top of their helmet so the central vent includes an in molded mounting bracket for a mount that is yet to be seen.
Fit is provided by the Roc Loc Air fit system which has plenty of vent holes built in to allow air to flow through the helmet unrestricted. Because the harness is attached to MIPS liner at the front, the Roc Loc Air system provides more airflow between the scalp and the inside of the helmet. The system also retains the single-handed dial adjustment at the rear plus a three position vertical adjustment internally.
At this point most readers are probably familiar with MIPS (Multi-directional impact protection system), which uses a low friction liner on the inside the helmet that is attached with rubber mounts to create a slip plane that is said to offer more protection in certain impacts. Since investing in the company, Giro has been slowly introducing more and more models with MIPS.
For sweat management purposes, the X-Static padding is antimicrobial as well as hydrophilic and is said to absorb 10 times more sweat than standard urethane pads.
Weighing in at 367 g for a medium, Montaro MIPS Will be offered in eight Matte colors from a matte/gloss all black model, to the wild Matte blue and lime shown above. The Montara MIPS Will be available in three color ways (including the matte turquoise above) and both helmets will sell for $150 (USD) / €180 (EU)/ £129 (UK). Available this fall.
