You can read more details in our full Giro Aries Spherical review. You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Lightweight, comfortable, and highly ventilated with the best Virginia Tech rating of any helmet. But they’re also technical enough, progressively built enough that we can be challenged.” Pasqualina explains.
That means, this is a great helmet but it could likely benefit even more from a focused design that offered an aero version and a climbers version. It’s important to understand that there is no definitive answer about how to make a safe helmet. Different brands have different strategies that aim to do the same thing. Lazer’s approach is to build blocks into the part of the EPS foam that sits closests to the cyclist’s head. During an impact the blocks break or compress to allow movement and absorb energy. If you’re looking for that bike park feel with a touch of Arkansas tech, drop into Atonement.
For the relative distance from Little Rock (1.5 hours) and Bentonville (2.5 hours), Nebo is worth the trip for fantastic views and even more rewarding riding. Our route had us climbing from the bottom to the top, racking up a total of 2,300ft of descending with everything from steep and loose to chunky rock gardens. While Nebo also offers some variety like Ponca, the 25 miles of trails are a tad more manicured and defined. Still, there are a lot of the steep and off-camber tracks where brake control and body position are key.
MIPS came to market because the brand believes that an impact at an angle has different requirements. You can read more details in our guide to MIPS but for the purpose of this article, it’s genesis mountain bike worth understanding that there are different solutions to the same problem. Lazer has Kineticore, Bontrager and Trek have Wavecel, and even MIPS has a variety of different configurations.
Lewter has been racing enduro since 2018 and decided to settle down near Eureka Springs where he’s a mountain bike guide for Slaughter Trail Guides. To give you an idea of what that means, we can take a look at the US CPSC (consumer product safety commission) certification. The CPSC mandates a series of tests covering peripheral vision, positional stability, dynamic strength of retention system, and impact attenuation. Every helmet sold in the US will have had to pass those tests covering the ability of a helmet to stay on your head and protect it when you hit the ground.
Some people will not buy a helmet without MIPS and there may be good reasons to make that choice. The Bontrager Circuit Wavecel starts with a very capable all-around option. Wavecel technology is yet another way to handle energy dissipation and rotational impact, and it scores well with Virginia Tech. When things wear out, both the cradle and all the pads are replaceable. Those are all good features, but with the Circuit you also get magnetic mounts for lights. It might not be the cheapest, but you can use the Circuit Wavecel for gravel, road, and commuting duties.
My personal preference is generally an aero helmet as there’s very little downside and plenty of gain. Not everyone feels the same way though, lots of people love the airy feeling of a highly vented helmet. Unfortunately that airy feeling often comes with a slight weight penalty as manufacturers have to add structure to support big vents. This is a helmet that claims to actually offer 3% better “ventilation cooling” than no helmet at all while also being 27 grams lighter than my previous pick for this category. One of the basic tenets of an aero optimised helmet is that it’s hot.
All the technologies do the same thing in different ways and there’s no way to be sure that one is better. If all helmets pass the relevant certification protocols why do some brands have MIPS? MIPS stands for multi impact protection system and it is a brand name. Like Hoover or Velcro, MIPS has become synonymous with a type of system but it is a brand like any other. From there, helmet companies look for other ways to differentiate and the sky’s the limit. Every kind of feature you might want is a potential advantage for a particular helmet.
Nebo has a number of trails to choose from, offering 1,000ft+ of descending. Whether you’re putting in the time to train to become a better racer or are simply a recreational rider, Nebo has a balance genesis bike to suit most without feeling crowded. Riding White Lightning to Skullcracker, one of the more direct descents from the top and pro-rider Ingram’s favorite, drops 1,300ft in about four miles.