Giro’s new Empire shoe was built with input from Taylor Phinney. His track background strung laces into the project, but they use the same carbon sole as the SLX high performance road shoes. They’re designed for track or time trials, but Phinney used them in most stages of the Tour of Colorado. And the Giro prologue. And the Olympics.
Retail is $275, and these look pretty good, but the prototypes will have you drooling…
…and back to reality. Giro’s other new shoes are all laces based, too, but lean more toward the lifestyle and DJ or casual mountain biker crowd. The Chamber ($140, left) and Jacket ($90) were designed with input from Aaron Gwin and use Vibram soles. The heels have an internal cut out filled with Poron XRD cushioning to help absorb the big jumps and hard landings. The Chamber is SPD compatible and has a bit of curvature to the sole, the Jacket is pretty flat. Tread patterns are designed to grab the pins but also be easy to clip out.
The Rumble (men’s, left) and Petra (women’s) are for casual mountain bikers or those just getting into the sport that might be hiking as much as biking. Toes are made to slip in and out of toe clips, making them good for spin class or just kicking around town on the commuter. Uppers are thinner than they look and should be pretty breathable. $80.
All shoes should be out in October.
They’ve had women’s shoes and gear, now there’s a full line of women’s helmets. The shapes and tech features are the same as the men’s, but the colors match up with their other soft goods. There’s even better color matching on the helmet itself (buckles match retention mech, etc.) and some of the materials are are softer. The four performance oriented models get their Roc Loc 5 retention, which they say works just fine with ponytails.
The recently introduced Air Attack was on hand so we got some close up pics. It uses magenetic attachment for the visor, which makes them safer than if a riveted attachment was poking into the foam. Giro’s rep said that while there are some other aero helmets that either use a shell and close off all the vents, the Air Attack keeps you almost as cool as a traditional helmet thanks to plenty of internal channeling to draw air over your head and out the back.
