First Look: Giro's New Merit Helmet

 I'm getting back into motorbikes after a 30 year hiatus. Its staggering how hefty and primitive a motorbike feels compared to me "heavy" enduro bike. That said, what is even more staggering is the rip off that is the pedal cycle industry when it comes to parts and kit. Decent approved helmets are available for far less than this Giro and they have 2 visors and can fit goggles. Brake pads costs the same or less and a good tyre costs less than a 2.5 Assegai and will last 10x as long. I know its apples and oranges but it still blows me away.

 "equipped with Giro's Spherical technology"

Had to read the article to work out it's their version of MIPS, I first thought they'd only just worked out how to fit a helmet onto a head

 if only there was an organization that independently tested helmets and compared their safety ratings!

oh wait there is.... Virginia Tech

www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/bicycle-helmet-ratings.html

@mikekazimer:
please pinkbike... call out helmets which haven't been submitted to be tested

 I was a Giro stalwart until I bought a Montaro MIPS. The adjuster dial was tiny and stiff, a visor screw came loose, the lining started to detach, and the plastic strap that wraps around the back of the skull broke. I emailed Giro about these problems but got no response. I’m the happy owner of a Specialized Ambush now.

 So, why should I buy this $220 helmet over their $130 MIPS "Source" helmet? This article doesn't provide much more than what is already on their website.

 Do you know what would make this advertisement actually informative to potential buyers? Telling us what the sizes are in numbers, you know, something that we are all able to measure. Letters for helmets are arbitrary and completely meaningless. Very often they are inconsistent between similar helmets from the same manufacturer let alone between manufacturers.

 The dual density foam thing is well overdue. Most mountain bike crashes don't happen at car-hitting-a-cyclist levels of force, which is what bike helmets have been traditionally designed for. Those lower force crashes will still mess up your brain though. Hope this feature comes down in price, fast.

 This is a promising design, but Pinkbike did a lazy job of explaining why. The helmet looks like a solid option for a trail rider whose top priority is reducing concussion risk. The main concussion-risk-reducing feature here is mips spherical, which is a completely different technology than the visible-yellow-liner mips people are more familiar with. My keyboard-warrior opinion is that mips spherical is substantially likelier than regular mips to provide an actual, real-world difference in a crash. In part because the whole inner shell rotates, not just a plastic liner or a pad that may or may not be what your head smashes into. This helmet offers spherical in a less-big-looking, less enduro-bro-styled, and less-heavy option than Bell's Super Air (but without fullface convertibility.) On top of the mips spherical, other features are designed to reduce concussion risk further. Dual density foam is one he mentioned. But also the shell design itself--rounder, smaller, lighter. It's not an attention-grabbing design, and it ain't cheap (none of the max-safety options are), but it looks to me like an option worth a serious look if your priority is avoiding concussions.

 So where does this fit into the Giro range vs the Montaro? And that ugly helmet they released above it? Are those helmets staying in the range?

 $220? Hahahahahahahahahhaahhahahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahahahahhahahahahhahahaha

 I do like this new helmet, but I will wait for the long term reviews. Hopefully they’ve fixed the Montara pad failure problem.

 I can already see these two stripes of dust on my forehead because of these vents

 "Competent manufacturer releases perfectly adequate product"

 The Smith Engage is $110... it is lighter and still has mips. Why even look at this $220 lid?

 Looks like it is MIPS as well as Spherical. Is anything attached to anything else anymore?

 Pretty ugly and takes too much hard-earned money.

 To the people saying it's ugly: Can you name an mtb halfshell that is not ugly?

 Am I the only person to see the smiling face in the shot from behind?

 Curious about the value of the rubber on the back to keep goggles in place. I thought the goggle/half shell fad flew the coop like ten years ago?

 “New” *helmet has virtually exact same aesthetic with painfully incremental changes or improvements

 I see no Merit in this

 I just wear my fullface overtop of my narrow roadie helmet, and goggles overtop of my POC Aspires

 ...so is that r.i.p to the massive peak?

 Ugly

 a starbucks in a starbucks

 That was a brief review. Guess I'll go to the Giro site to see the color choices.

 First look for a helmet?!

 Bleh, TLD and Fox look better...

 Pretty good lookin helmet. Visor might actually do something.

 Hello uci quit redbull for 23!!!!!!!