Giro’s Vanquish helmet is the company’s newest aero offering. It replaces the Air Attack in its helmet line-up with a design that sports better aerodynamics, cooling, and fit.
In designing the Vanquish, Giro had clear objectives: it wanted a bike helmet that cooled better than the existing Air Attack, with improved aerodynamics and a better fit. It also wanted the helmet to incorporate a MIPS slip plane without altering fit, and to position the Vanquish as an everyday choice, not only an event type product. So the company started from a blank slate.
Giro went about a slightly different design process than before. Where the Air Attack was designed fairly quickly – mainly in response to where Giro saw the market heading and the need to supply its sponsored teams with aero product – the Vanquish enjoyed a slower gestation, and was more engineering-driven.
Giro wanted to nail down the numbers it sought before the final shape was handed over to the industrial design team, which meant the company didn’t even see it until it was about 80 per cent done.
By initially smoothing and then interrupting airflow at three “cliffs” molded into the exterior, Giro claims the shape of the helmet “fools” air into acting like it’s passing over a long tail TT helmet. The shell consists of three pieces, which cover a dual-density foam core. Giro worked with pro athletes like Alexander Kristoff to get real world testing on the Velodrome and on the road to validate aerodynamic data.
Optics by Zeiss
Zeiss is a world leader in optical products, especially lenses. For the Vanquish, Zeiss developed a series of lenses that filter blue light to give greater depth and contrast to vision. Called Vivid, The tints aim to hang on to the blue of the spectrum that helps enhance contrast, and lose the blue that doesn’t.
Like the Air Attack, lenses are built into a shield that magnetically grips the helmet to further enhance aerodynamics. The new longer tail on the shield allows the air to flow past the helmet even better.
An added bonus showed up in testing: the shield helped channel airflow through the helmet. For those times you may not want full coverage, the shield can be positioned out of the way by inverting it and sticking it to a second set of embedded magnets. Just want to wear regular shades? The shape of the helmet works well with them, and there are even ports in the forward vents to hold them when not in use.
Copyright © 2016 Rodale Inc.