Giro has gone back to the future with some very classic looking, yet highly technical products, which have been featured in some of the year’s top races.
Put yourself in Taylor Phinney’s shoes
First seen on the feet of BMC Racing’s Taylor Phinney at the Giro d’Italia back in May, Giro is now releasing its retro-yet-revolutionary Empire shoes to the public. Blending modern materials and a classic lace-up design, the Empire carried Phinney to victory in the Giro’s opening time trial, then to fourth in both the road race and time trial at the London Olympic Games.
The shoe is constructed from a one-piece Teijin microfibre upper, featuring Giro’s SuperNatural Fit Kit, with an injection moulded heel cup and retention liner to keep the foot locked in. It shares the same light and stiff EC90 unidirectional carbon fibre sole as the Factor, Giro’s existing top level shoe, with its stack height of just 6.5mm.
While the laces seem like a low-tech fastening system, compared to the ratchets, wires and velcro of most other road shoes, they actually allow the shoe to be custom tightened for the whole length of the instep, which results in a close fit.
The Empire will be available in spring in the Phinney-endorsed deep silver colour with flouro-yellow graphics and laces, and a more subtle - yet still nice and shiny - gloss black for the less extravagant riders out there. There will likely be at least one more option available but, with so many to choose from, this has yet to be decided.
Olympic-winning aero performance from the Air Attack helmet
The Air Attack helmet is another product that has been highly visible in the pro-peloton in the second half of this season, where it has been worn by riders in Giro’s sponsored teams Rabobank and Garmin-Sharp. Its biggest victory though, came in the pouring rain of London, where the Netherlands’ Marianne Vos wore it as she took gold in the women’s Olympic road race.
As the trend in the peloton is towards the Watt-saving properties of ‘filled-in’ helmets, Giro is among the first to purpose build a new helmet, rather than cover the vents of its existing ones. While it is low on vents however - with just six altogether, compared with 26 on Giro’s Atmos - Giro maintains that these are enough to keep riders cool thanks to what goes on inside the helmet. Air is directed through a series of internal channels, while the new Roc Loc Air retention system holds the shell of the helmet off the wearers head sightly to allow air to circulate further.
The Air Attack also comes in a ‘Shield’ version, which features a magnetically-anchored visor, made using optics by Carl Zeiss Vision [with whom Giro used to collaborate on its former eyewear range - ed].
As well as the Air Attack, Giro has resurrected the classic Pneumo road helmet - which comes with a detachable visor as before - while also expanding its women’s series. The range is now topped by the Amare, which includes composite internal reinforcement, and the colours are now set to co-ordinate with Giro’s shoes, socks and other accessories.
Click the images below for a full gallery