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The cycling market is ruled by two things: style and technology. Both are weighted equally, but cyclists are often forced to sacrifice one for the other. Not so with Giro’s Aether MIPS helmet. MIPS, which is short for Multi-directional Impact Protection System, is a technology that protects helmet-wearers from the complex directional physics at play during a crash, and it represents a relatively new standard in helmet safety. Giro’s parent company BRG Sports has maintained a formal partnership with MIPS since early 2014, and the Aether MIPS represents how that relationship has paid off.
The Aether MIPS debuted a new form of MIPS called Spherical, which integrates the rotational protection directly into the helmet with a two-shell construction. The result is a helmet that’s comfortable, safe and avoids any bulk that would presumably be added by additional safety measures.
Today, Giro upped the style quotient of the Aether MIPS even further by introducing the Aether Custom, which allows users to tweak virtually every color on the helmet from the shells to the straps. The level of customization offered by Giro’s online tool was previously reserved only for bib shorts and jerseys in the cycling world. The new program takes the concept of a fully custom kit one step further. Have a wild, hot-pink custom-painted bike with purple fade on the fork? You can now buy a helmet to match. Want a helmet with gray polka dots and pink/teal cheetah print? Done. The combinations are virtually endless.
We got early access to the tool, and the process is dead simple. There are eight different pieces of the helmet to customize with roughly 32 color options for each step. In all, it took around 10 minutes to go through the process of creating a helmet.
The new program allows you to express your wild side, or if you’re so inclined, go a bit more unstated. After all, do you really want to show up to the requisite mid-ride coffee shop wearing the same helmet as everyone else? But act fast, the program is limited to 25 orders each Tuesday.
