Giro expand shoe and helmet ranges for 2012

Giro are expanding their shoes lineup for 2012, adding new entry-level models, and they're offering several new helmets too.

Giro launched into the shoes market last year with three men’s road models and a women’s road model, plus mountain bike options. All of these feature carbon soles of various different grades, produced in collaboration with Easton. Most of the new shoes come with less expensive nylon soles.

On the men’s side of things, the new Apeckx comes with an outsole that’s made from Dupont’s strong and tough Zytel material. It’s a strut design – a grid-like structure – to provide rigidity while keeping the weight down, and it’s very slim for a nylon option. The stack height is just 8.5mm, which compares pretty well with the 6.5mm-thick Easton EC90 outsoles specced on Giro’s top-level models.

Giro are into low-stack heights to provide a direct connection to the pedal, and they reckon they have the slimmest soles of all the major shoe brands. Bont claim 3.6mm on their Vaypor – but Bont isn’t exactly a mass-market brand.

The Apeckx comes in at £119.99 while the new entry-level road shoe in the Giro lineup, the Treble, will cost £89.99. It’s similar to the Apeckx in many respects, but it gets a three Velcro-strap closure – rather than a ratchet buckle up top – and while it uses Dupont nylon in the outsole, it’s not Zytel.

Both the Apeckx and the Treble will be available in HV versions – which stands for ‘high volume’. All of Giro’s existing shoes are made on their ‘performance’ last. The HV versions, as the name suggests, add extra space for those with bigger insteps and bridges.

These two new models get equivalents in Giro’s women’s range: the female-specific version of the Apeckx is called the Solara while the Treble becomes the Sante.

Giro have added a new high-level women’s model too. The Factress corresponds to the existing men’s Factor, the middle option in Giro’s initial men’s road shoe range. Giro had worked on the belief that the higher end of the women’s road shoe market was very small, so they didn’t bother producing female-specific versions of their top two models, but the success of the Espada convinced them that they should expand the range upwards.

The Factress gets the same EC90 carbon sole as the Factor along with a ratchet buckle closure and Giro’s SuperNatural fit kit that comes with three different arch supports for the insole.

The big new helmet in the range is the Reverb which Giro’s Simon Fisher described to us as, “A helmet for people who just want a helmet.” In other words, it’s not packed with features and it’s not flashy, it’s an understated everyday lid for people who just want something that’ll do the job.

The Reverb looks a lot like Giro’s Air Attack from the early nineties and it comes in a load of different finishes, some plain, some more elaborate. That brim is a lot like one you’ll find on a traditional-style cycle cap, and it’s removable for washing or if you just don’t want to use it. The fit is down to a simple Auto Loc system – with an elastic strip around the back of the head a lot like Giro used with their lightweight Prolight helmet. Price? £59.99

This is Giro’s new Selector time trial helmet which has been in the UK for the last few weeks. Giro reckon it’s the fastest production aero helmet out there, which might go some way to justifying the £239.99 price tag.

The Selector comes with two ‘aerodynamic lowers’; you can choose between different depths (10mm and 45mm) for the bottom section at the back – the skirt, if you like – so there’s no drag-causing gap between the helmet and your back. It takes seconds to remove one and stick the other on.

There are no front vents in the helmet shell, again to avoid drag, although the little vents at the top of the removable visor lead directly to some deep channels in the helmet body. These in turn take the air out to exhaust ports at the back so there’s a constant flow of air over your head. Well, that’s the theory although we’ve not tried it out for real.

We’ve reviewed the lightweight Aeon already and it’s now available in various different finishes: limited edition team versions, a Livestrong model, World Champs stripes, all sorts. We were particularly excited to see the Garmin design. That arglye pattern will look great with the road.cc kit… or it could just look like a nasty accident in the Pringle factory.

The Aeon is also available in a super-bright yellow version too. And if it looks dazzling in the picture, you should see it for real. You’ll be needing your shades.

Over on the gloves side of the Giro range, it’s mostly a case of new colour options and updates rather than completely new products. The Bravos, for example, move from EVA padding to gel for extra comfort.

The Zero and LTZ gloves, on the other hand (ahem!), have no padding. They have Pittards leather palms, the same as previously.

The Zeros now come with a laser-cut back section with welded mesh in there for extra breathability.

We like the Gilman for everyday round-town riding and so do plenty of other people – they’re among Giro’s most popular gloves. They now come in a new House Black finish that matches one of the Reverb helmet designs.