The new Giro Aerohead MIPS is now their fastest helmet, yet it comes in smaller and shallower than the Selector, which was their previous top of the line TT/triathlon lid.
It’s already been raced to victories at the Tour de France and UCI Track World Cups, and it makes its formal debut May 20 at the Tour of California’s start. Retail availability will follow in early summer with two versions, the Aerohead MIPS with venting and the Aerohead Ultimate MIPS with hidden vents and a slimmer TeXtreme carbon fiber shell. Both use their Roc Loc Air retention system, an integrated (but removable) visor, and hydrophilic, antimicrobial X-Static padding. Both also incorporate the MIPS anti-rotation protective liner…
The standard Giro Aerohead MIPS gets a polycarbonate shell with rooftop vents for longer events. It also builds in small vents over the brow and a Zeiss Optics vented eye shield. It’ll carry an MSRP of $250 (€299/£299) and thankfully come in black, white and black with red, also.
The Aerohead Ultimate loses the top vents and gets a TeXtreme shell with a smaller frontal area to reduce drag. It keeps the visor and “Over Brow” vents, though, as well as the internal channeling, but is intended for shorter distance events or where overheating isn’t a concern. With a head spinning MSRP of $550 (€599/£599), it’s a good thing it has MIPS, too. Also available in white.
Claimed weight on both is 455g. According to Giro’s press materials, using the Wind Averaged Drag standard Giro and many other manufacturers believe is the most reliable predictor of real world performance, the Aerohead Ultimate MIPS is 3 seconds faster over 40km than the Selector. The Aerohead MIPS (with vents) is 14 seconds faster over 180km and remain about 10% cooler than the Aerohead Ultimate MIPS.
