Giro Vanquish MIPS Helmet

I bought this helmet specifically because of the visor. I frequently ride on a beautiful paved bike path through fairly dense woods and frequently get hit in the face and eyes with bugs, and when I ride close to sundown there are swarms of gnats and I literally have to close my eyes for a few seconds to keep them out of my eyes. I wear prescription glasses but they don't protect my eyes well enough, and sweat does drip on my glasses when it's really hot.

My biggest concerns with this helmet were:

1) would my glasses fit behind the visor, and

2) would the visor block the wind and cause my head to sweat even more and increase the sweat dripping on my glasses making it harder to see.

When I got the helmet, I discovered I could solve both of those problems by buying plastic stick on bifocals on Amazon ($10-20, reusable). I stuck them about 1/4" from the very bottom of the visor, almost touching the nose piece, and it works great. I need glasses mainly for seeing my phone mounted on the stem - reading maps, texts and adjusting music stations. The bifocals work great for this. When riding and looking forward (95% of the time), the visor is super clear with no distortion. In fact, when looking way over my shoulder or behind me for cars when crossing a road, the visor has a huge field of vision and is much clearer than using my glasses which tend to obstruct my extreme peripheral vision. So, for the first time in many years, I can ride my bike without wearing glasses at all and still see my phone.

A few other details:

- As other reviewers have commented, I have found that the helmet is very well ventilated and no hotter than my Giro Syntax. I can definitely feel the air being directed to my face, which personally I like. Some people have complained about it drying their eyes, and I can see that happening if you are prone to dry eyes. My problem is the opposite - sweat in my eyes and drips on my glasses. I wear a headband to keep sweat out of my eyes and limit dripping but on hot days it does drip on the visor but it tends to drip on the lower part of the visor. This can make it harder to use the bifocals, but it's still way better than sweat on my glasses and it doesn't impact looking forward through the upper part of the visor.

- My glasses do just barely fit behind the visor. The visor is close to your face so this definitely depends on how big your glasses are and how far from your face they extend. But because I discovered the stick-on bifocals, I have never used the helmet with my glasses on.

- My main route takes me directly into the sun in the early morning and late afternoon, and the helmet comes with a tinted visor, which I like a lot. I'll probably buy a clear visor for night riding.

- after each ride, I clean both sides of the visor with either water or lens cleaning wipes or lens cleaning spray. I quickly pass the bifocals under the water to rinse them and this has worked well. After about six 25 mile rides I took the bifocals off and cleaned them with lens cleaning solution and put them back on, and all is like new. The soft plastic bifocals just stick to the visor naturally using just lens cleaning solution to position them and letting it dry. They have not fallen off. I'm expecting them to last a long time before having to buy new ones, or losing them.

i was involved in a 20mph accident where i hit the front windshield of a car head first, my injuries where a concision, broken scapula, deeply bruised left side of my body. this helmet is proven to perform. it was a no brainer to replace it for a new one!!! enjoy your ride and be safe wear a helmet!!!!

One of the best helmets I have ever owned. Bought this one for my wife after I bought one. Light, strong, and airy. I ride in Florida where the temps can get high. I was concerned that this helmet would be too hot. Turns out the air flow is great. Love the magnetic shield. Work great for when I start a ride before sunrise. Just flip it down when the sun come up. Going to use this one for upcoming time trial instead of my teardrop helmet.

Giro helmets are the best. The have saved my life on two occasions after bad crashes. Will buy on other. Thanks Giro!

I was looking for an Aero helmet for my first full Ironman and this was on my shortlist. I tried it and the size small fit me like a glove. It was not as heavy as I feared and the peripheral vision was good. One thing I also liked that it didn't cover my ears and hence I had good surrounding awareness. No pressure points on head either. The Visor is very clear and good quality, the magnet is good enough (It sticks and comes off easy enough but I wish the magnet was stronger). Overall it feels fast and is well ventilated. I didnt notice much difference in ventilation to my Oakley ARO5 aero road helmet. My partner and her dad liked it and he is very happy with Medium size.

I have been impressed with how comfortable this helmet is. For once the chin strap was adjusted perfectly. The vents flow a sufficient amount of air to keep my head cool. The visor works great and is very convenient to flip upside down to stow out of the way, if wanted. The only negative for me has been the air flow that comes in between the upper visor edge and hemet. it tends blow into my eyes and dry them. I'm guessing it was designed that way to help keep the visor from fogging over.

Excellent quality helmet. I was very impressed with the comfort, weight and airflow. The lens gives a clear view of the road ahead and clicks into place with ease in both the viewing position and storage position. One con would be that the peripheral view is slightly restricted with the blackened edge of the lens when turning your head to look back, but certainly not to the point where I would consider it a problem.

I would recommend this helmet.

This is my first nice and what i consider expensive helmet. Only problem is I didn't get one sooner. I can very much feel the aerodynamic gain. Great fit, very comfortable. I am a Triathlete and this shines in aero. No question this will be an advantage over an Iron distance race. The comfort gain alone makes it worth it. This does feel like it fits a little big and bulky but the appearance is good.

It is fast and very well constructed.

It has one main flaw, it is slightly heavy compared to the Bontrager and Specialized helmet. The aero lens is cool, but I wish you could get clear and yellow or a tint changing version for weather management.

I have the Bontrager too and over ll I like that helmets looks better. This feel far better made....and MIPS is safer.

Great helmet. Super comfy... well ventilated, looks swaggy... and the visor, the visor, is the bomb. I hate wearing glasses, as I lose them or break them ALL THE TIME. The magnetic visor sold me on this helmet... and I love it. I also bought a clear visor for night riding. I'm well pleased with this helmet.

I replaced a Giro Air Attack with the Vanquish. The Vanquish definitely has better cooling and has great visibility too.

The helmet is cool and comfortable and as far as I understand 'aero'. I really liked the idea of the lens feature however it seems to be a bit high and the branding label partially interferes with visibility. I have no idea why they would label it that way..

I have used this helmet in cold and hot-and it really works well. I bought a clear visor to go with the sun visor the helmet comes with-so this helmet works well in any weather. Rain included.

Magnetic visor attachment system works great and also stores the visor on the helmet when you are at a rest area . Bonus is that the helmet looks good !

Bought this for long road rides and Triathlons. Great ventilation and the visor does not distort your vision. Minimal wind noise - I can hear tones and alerts from my Garmin Edge when wearing this helmet that I cant hear with other helmets.

I use the Vanquish for Time Trial practice, road races, and training. I am able to wear my prescription glasses inside the visor.

Previously used Giro Air Attack helmet. I ordered the same size Vanquish (Medium) For some reason I find the Vanquish visor rests directly on the bridge of my nose. Also the visor bottom edge is into my face. Not sure if I should have gotten a smaller size. The visor does cover a wider area. I had no problem with the Air Attack.

I do like visors since the have protected my face from an occasional stone flying up.

I ordered this helmet in February after a long debate, and after a few months can say that I love it. I was really on the fence because it looks really weird in the pictures, but in real life it doesn't have funky angles or strange curves it just looks like a nice helmet. I read a few reviews stating that the back of the helmet is the strangest part (visually), but it looks no different than almost any other modern helmet.

The fit is as good and comfortable as I've come to expect from Giro, with easy-to-adjust straps that don't require much thought to figure out.

The visor fits snugly into position with I believe five magnets that are molded into the top edge of the visor, vs. three very visible magnets on the Air Attack (not visible when the helmet is in place). In the upstowed position, I've had zero issues with the visor staying in place, not even an inkling that it was going to come off going over rough spots. To stow the visor, flip it upside-down and it attaches easily using the rear-most magnets.

Cooling this is what I really worried about, since I came from a Synthe (lost that one to a crash), and I live in the south where the heat indices climb over 100 by mid-June. I've had no overheating issues at all, as this helmet has plenty of ventilation, I'm guessing ducted just the right way, to do the job. And yes, I generate heat I ride with the faster groups averaging 25-30 on the flats. Back when it was still cold, I really didn't have any complaints about heat loss, since I wore a cycling cap under the helmet, but the Air Attack is warmer in winter.

Visibility the visor give me a clear, wide view with no distortion. Along the side edges the visor isn't clear, but had a rim for structural stability which I thought would be an issue, but it isn't. There is a small gap between the lower side edges and the helmet body that allows peripheral vision to see what you need to, and looking to the sides (eyes only) still gives a good view without obstruction, so no trouble with that aspect at all. The smoke lens is dark enough in sunlight, and still good in dusk.

My only complaint is that I cannot order a clear lens for the (few) night rides that I do.

Overall, get this helmet it is comfortable, looks high-end without being edgy, MIPS, cooling, and the reliability of the GIRO name.

Adjustable 100%, Aerodynamics Advantech felt when going over 25 mph, everything flows. Good quality as always with Giro products.

I debated this purchase for a while, then caught it on sale last month (still on sale now, so jump on this while you can). The fit is comfortable (medium for my 7-38 head and I have plenty of room to loosen and a few turns of the screw to tighten, so I am not struggling with a helmet that barely fits). Typical of Giro's top-end helmets (I've never had an entry-level one of theirs), the adjustments are easy and I'm expecting no slipping of the straps in their adjusters, since that has been my experience so far.

Aero? Seems to be! Since I'm not the owner of a wind tunnel, I'll have to parrot the other reviewers and say that it feels fast.

The visor..... attaches with four small integrated magnets, unlike the three prominent round ones on the Air Attack Shield. The visor goes on easily, securely, and makes a good seal. There are small ventilation holes in the top of the visor, so fogging won', I expect, be an issue (remember sitting still means no air movement, so even ventilated sunglasses can fog when you're stopped). I've seen many reviews that say the visor doesn't feel secure when flipped upside down on the helmet. There is a little truth to this in that the stowed position of the visor is higher than the regular position, so it does not into engage the channels (that exist for aero purposes and as a consequence, to help keep it securely in place), and only has the back two magnets holding it. This causes the visor to have a little travel, as it can swivel up a little, but the truth is that I've not had any trouble on the road with the visor stowed this way. I've been on one rough patch of road that I hate (the group ride took us there), and I was worried that something would give up there, but all was fine. I've not gone off-road nor done any bunny-hopping to test things, but I'm going to trust Giro's QA on this based on my very limited unintentional test.

Two complaints first, there are still no other colors of visor available other than what comes with the helmet, nor are replacements available. Second, and this ties in a bit to the first, is that the visor sits very close to the face and allows no room to wear glasses underneath without the two touching. I understand why, and love the functionality, and no, I don't wear prescription glasses, but those that do will potentially have a problem, depending on the size of their frames. My personal issue is that with the old Air Attack Shield, if my ride was going to last until after dark, I could wear the dark visor and clear glasses underneath, then stow the dark visor as he light faded and already have on glasses without having to worry about scratching them in a pocket (or using pocket space better left to calories on a long ride).

T

Great upgrade. I seldom use the wind shield on group rides.

Great helmet. One small complaint. I cant figure out how to properly secure the visor in the stowed position. It feels like it will fall off easily. This is very easy and very secure on the Aerohead.

Visor is very secure in the down position though.