Giro merges aero and airy helmets to create the Synthe

Giro Sport Design is to release the Synthe, a road bike helmet that features the best of both worlds: it’s aero yet airy. Giro helped create the aero road bike helmet category with its Air Attack but when designers took the aero features of this helmet and merged them with the more traditional, well-ventilated Aeon helmet they discovered they had created an aero helmet that didn’t look like one.

Like Smith Sports Optics, Giro uses “Wind Averaged Drag” to measure aerodynamic benefits of helmets. This is a formula that takes into account 72 different yaw angles and calculates a single drag measurement for a standard head angle of 30 degrees and a speed of 25mph.

In wind tunnel tests the Synthe was found to be swifter through the air than the Giro Air Attack. The new helmet is on the heads of riders with the BMC Racing Team, Katusha Racing Team, and IAM Cycling at the Tour de France.

Giro claims that riders are less likely to overheat when riding with the 250g Synthe. Tests using the company’s “Therminator” heat-sensing mannequin head, which measures a helmet’s “cooling power”, found that the Synthe’s head heating potential nearly matches the measurements taken on a bare head form. The Giro Synthe will be available in December for $250/€250.