Accessory makers Giro showed several new lines of shoes and helmets at the iceBike show in Milton Keynes hosted by their UK importers Madison this week. The big news for anyone who's been lusting after Giro’s shoes but balked at the £160 pricetag of the cheapest model is that they've expanded the line down to below the £100 mark.
The new £89.99 Treble road shoe saves cost over its higher-end stablemates with a nylon sole instead of Easton carbon, and a three-strap closure instead of a buckle. It’s clearly stripped down to hit a price, but the samples Giro had on hand at iceBike looked as tidily finished and constructed as the more expensive models.
If your preference is for a ratchet-buckle closure, then the Apeckx shoe might be for you. Another road option, it’s similar to the Treble, but with a buckle over the top of your foot, and will cost £119.99.
Giro Apeckx road shoe
Giro’s new range isn’t just limited to the tarmac. The Apeckx’s £129.99 off-road brother is called the Privateer and uses a similar nylon sole, with chunky lugs in a rather attractive beige rubber. Madison press guy and most enthusiastic person in the UK bike industry, Stuart Clapp, reckons the Privateers will be popular for cyclo-cross. “They’ve got just enough flex that you can run in them, so getting off your bike is possible,” he told BikeRadar.
Giro Privateer mountain bike/cyclo-cross shoe
Giro have also expanded their range of women’s shoes, introducing the Factress to sit above the existing Espada. It boasts the same Easton EC90 carbon fiber sole as the men’s Factor shoe, but with a fit tailored to a woman’s narrower heel.
Giro Factress women's road shoe
Finally, Giro have introduced a new fit option on some of their shoes. Dubbed HV, for High Volume, this shape is intended for riders who find Giro’s standard fit too low. A typical symptom, according to Clapp, is finding that the ratchet barely reaches across the top of your foot. HV fit is available on the Trans and Privateer shoes.
Lids and hats
The helmet most often being lifted lovingly from its display rack at iceBike was the latest version of Giro’s Aeon. The result of a Giro engineer visiting the UK and being blown away by the effectiveness of the ubiquitous high-viz cycling jackets, it’s finished in screaming yellow.
Giro Aeon road helmet
That sounds like it should be awful but it somehow works surprisingly well, perhaps because the Aeon outer shell has very few large slabs of colour. Nevertheless, if you’re going to draw that much attention to yourself in a race, you'd better be planning to finish at least first.
The major new helmet introduction from Giro is the Reverb. With distinctly urban styling and minimal vents, it’s designed to exploit Giro’s skill in air-channel cooling and to have a minimal, compact look. According to Giro’s UK product manager Oliver Collins, it’s for riders who don’t necessarily want a particular style, they just want a helmet. At £59.99 it should hit the spot.
Giro Reverb commuter helmet
A clever feature of the Reverb is a removable fabric peak. Unlike classic helmet peaks, it sits inside the brim of the helmet and is held in place by Velcro tabs. It looks at though you’re wearing a cap under your helmet, but you get your eyes shaded or the rain kept off without the extra bulk.
If you do want to wear a cap under your helmet, Giro have a range of compact liners with peaks for you. They range from a classic cotton cap for £13.99 to a merino wool liner for £27.99. Both of those are available now. Coming for 2012 is a pair of lightweight summer liners, the Peloton cap and the Ultralight SPF30 cap, which looks particularly useful for those whose follicles aren’t as productive as they used to be.
Madison's Stu Clapp models the Giro SPF30 cap