A new lid from an already legendary safety brand? What could be so different? The latest in MIPS technology has been making its way into new trail helmets in the form of Spherical MIPS. The system eliminates the standard MIPS liner, and replaces it with a ball and socket design. The idea is that your head is secured to the inner EPS liner, and the outer liner and rotate independently, redirecting impact forces away from the brain and still mitigating the effects of rotational impacts. The technology has been developed in the Bell / Giro lab in conjunction with MIPS. Read on for a first look at the new Giro Manifest.
The Manifest has 17 vents, 19 if you count the visual four up top (though the lateral break is just thin clear polycarbonate reinforcement).
A fully adjustable visor leaves room to stash goggles. Two screws with no set detents allow for fine tuning adjustment.
The rear of the helmet has a rubberized area meant to secure goggle straps in place. Notice the large sized vents. The break in the two-tone colors also highlights the two entirely separate EPS shapes that create the Spherical MIPS.
The RocLoc Trail adjustment system is likely the most comfortable our tester has tried to date. The outer foam layer, and central rubber manage to keep the helmet in place, yet do so in an un-intrusive way. Three tiers of depth can also be set for where the tightening system sits.
The FidLock magnetic buckle didn’t seem to help us in any way, but it also didn’t detract from the helmet. Feeling the magnets pull together makes for a satisfying feeling.
Fairly thick Anti-Microbial lining makes for a nice padded and supportive feel, and keeps things from getting smelly. A small but awesome feature, check out the ribbed gray rubber, it’s present so when you stash your glasses in your lid, they stay in place.
Within the first second of trying on the Manifest, it felt extremely comfortable. It’s always worth noting that head shape varies person to person, and can greatly affect the way a helmet fits. Our tester tends to like deeper feeling helmet, one that wraps around the rear of the head, and the Manifest seems to do just that. The f irst ride was comfortable enough to forget is was there, which is perfect in our mind. No crashes yet, but we’ll keep you posted down the road.
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