Giro Aries Spherical

I’ve had probably 10 bike helmets over my life and this is by far my favorite! It’s lightweight, covers my entire head and has air vents that do an amazing job of keeping my head cool! The helmet itself is incredibly comfortable and can easily be worn for hours on end with no pain! There’s also a sweat pad right on your forehead that does an incredible job of absorbing sweat and keeping it out of my eyes! Every 30 minutes I lean off the bike and press the helmet onto my forehead and a stream of sweat comes off. That’s my favorite feature on the helmet, not having sweat in my eyes! I would highly recommend this helmet! It’s pricey but you only get one brain!

First, I’m bad about replacing helmets every 5 years. Prior to purchasing this blue Giro Aries, I’d been using a Giro Aeon since 2014. Even though I wanted a helmet with MIPS, I couldn’t find any close in weight and ventilation to the Aeon. But it was time for an upgrade regardless of weight increases. My Aries was supposed to be delivered Tuesday, but instead was delivered later on Saturday. Not exactly PRIME shipping speed. But the helmet? Wow! Besides currently being rated as the #1 helmet in VaTech’s bicycle helmet safety ratings, the helmet is a vast improvement over the Aeon. Yes, it’s a little heavier than the Aeon, but not neck straining heavy. As for the ventilation and silicone sweat strip? Amazing! Being a lifelong Floridian, today’s sunrise ride involved 91% humidity with an actual temperature of 79F and a heat index of 87F. I’m a naturally sweaty person. I’m talking coming home completely soaked from just a November gathering with several games of corn hole. Today was a quite the soggy atmosphere for a ride. Anyway, the ventilation is noticeably improved across all areas of the helmet as compared the the long discontinued Aeon. And the anti-sweat strip? Not once…I repeat…not once did I have to do a helmet squeeze. Days like today usually involve a helmet squeeze every mile after a 15 minute warmup. No sweat dripping like a leaky faucet from the front of the helmet either. Yes, I still had to use my finger to squeegee my brow every mile, but that is far less inconvenient than leaning to one side and mashing my helmet into my forehead. I could wring my shirt out from all of the sweat, but this helmet didn’t require a single helmet squeeze during an hour long 17 MPH ride. The helmet fits my head like a glove as well. The new tensioner is an improvement over the Aeon as well. The Aeon clicked as the helmet tensioner was turned, which would result in steps of more tension. The new system is a continuous and smooth increase in tension as the dial is turned. No more “almost perfect” tension. The new system adjust easily in both directions, but remains in place when the dial is no longer being turned. Giro out did themselves with this helmet! Yes, it’s an expensive helmet. But consider it a 5 year insurance policy on hopefully keeping your brain intact.

Reviewing a bike helmet is inherently subjective, but buying one online can feel like taking a shot in the dark. So I will try to offer some points to consider, as objectively as I can. TL;DNR: the Aires is a very high quality helmet that I think can be adjusted to fit most heads comfortably, as long as you start with the right size. My size large Aries weighs 311 grams, which is almost exactly what Giro specifies (310 grams), but 40 grams more than my old (too old, I know) Giro Atmos. That is the price you pay for the latest rotational protection systems, like Giro's MIPS Spherical technology. It's a fair trade-off, I think, for the highest safety ranking of any helmet tested by Virginia Tech's lab. My last two Giro helmets were size medium and fit well on my 59 centimeter oval-shaped head. But, with the Aires, I had to size up to large. The fit seems narrower than my previous Giro helmets, especially on the sides of the occipital lobe, but the large size was easily adjusted to fit comfortably. Not "like wearing nothing at all," but comfortable, with no pressure points. The vertical height adjustment of the RocLok retention system, which is designed primarily to level the helmet correctly, also made a noticeable difference in comfort. In sum, if you fall between sizes, be prepared to size up. When riding with your eyes looking straight ahead, the ventilation is very good, especially across the top of the head. If you tilt your head down so you're looking at the front wheel, it is fantastic. And the Drycore brow pad really works to keep the sweat from dripping into your eyes. I was amazed how much difference these two features make on summer rides in the southern California desert where I live. In the past, after an hour and a half in 90 to 100 degree heat, when I was wearing my Atmos, my face would be beet red, and I often felt light-headed. The Aries is a remarkable improvement, and has reduced my cool-down time from twenty minutes to five. I was worried that the brow band would feel hot, but that is not the case, probably because the rest of the forehead is so well ventilated. I chose the Matte Ano Blue color, which I suspect is one of the least popular. But I think it looks great in person, and is light enough and bright enough to rival or exceed white for visibility and heat reflectivity from the shell. As an aside, the helmet I received was likely a prior return (part of the box was missing), and I am fine with that. I think it's a fair trade-off for being able to exchange my original order for the larger size.

Similar to another reviewer, I was reluctant to switch out of my Aeon helmet, which has been phenomenal for riding (especially climbing) in the hot SoCal weather (certainly the lightest and best vented helmet I have ever owned). After the very first ride, I was relieved to find out that, despite the complex construction, this vents very very well and it is so comfortable that the extra grams over the Aeon are not noticeable in any way. The last part cannot be overstated enough in my case: the Aeon was wicked comfortable, yet this one is somehow better and has that "forget it's there" quality to it even after 4hr+ rides. It wraps around your head, yet it does not have the "pumpkin head" look. The only possible issue might be the integration with certain sunglasses: there is little margin for error before some arms may start rubbing the bottom. I ride with Sutro Lights and the integration is perfect to the point of not being able to tip the helmet much to the front or to the back. On the bright side, that forces you to wear it correctly. There have been zero issues after 6-700 miles and I hope it stays that way. The fact that it received the highest safety rating by Virginia Tech of any cycling helmet is reason enough to pick this over anything else, but throw in great comfort, great looks, and great ventilation, and this becomes a no-brainer. I am very very happy with it.

Great helmet. Very comfortable, plenty of airflow to keep my head cool. Having not crashed, I can't vouch for the efficacy of it but the ball-socket construction is interesting and I could see how it would dissipate energy. Big fan of the black and red design too

The helmet is exactly what you’d hope for. The picture of the “charcoal rush” looks nothing like the actual product tho

Overall it is comfortable for my large, elongated type head and is the only helmet I've ever tried that feels like it will stay on during a fall without the chin strap being buckled. I chose this helmet because of its top rating in the Virginia Tech helmet rating charts, and i do not regret the purchase. However all helmets are meant to be work with chinstrap buckled and this one is about an inch too short for me to be fully comfortable. It will likely not be an issue at all for people with medium and small heads, but for me to give it a 5 star rating it would need an extra inch or two of strap. My previous go-to helmet is a Align II MIPS which cost $50 and had no problem with the strap length (I still highly recommend this helmet as well as the Giro) Other than that the helmet is lite, comfortable, well ventilated, easy to adjust. The liner seems to have a lot of slip to it compared to traditional MIPS, which i think will allow for greater damping of the concussion forces in a fall, which I'm guessing is what led to this helmet getting the top spot in VT ratings.

I owned a Helios and while it was comfortable, it never felt quite right. This fit perfectly and felt exactly like my older helmets. The claims of keeping sweat out of your eyes. It works as advertised. I ran 5 miles and then went out for a 19 mile ride. I had zero issues with sweat rolling down my forehead.

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