Every rider at the Tour de France wants the fastest gear possible, but none want to overheat while racing. In conjunction with Tour team Giant-Alpecin, Giant created the new Pursuit aero road helmet, which blends good aerodynamics with good ventilation.
Giant certainly isn’t the only company chasing the aero-yet-airy ideal for helmets. Giro’s Synthe was perhaps the first successful road helmet to achieve this happy medium, and Scott’s new Cadence Plus — ‘faster and cooler than a bare head’, Scott claims — is the most recent example of this two-in-one style.
Along with Giant-Alpecin, Giant worked with France’s Aero Concept Engineering on the design, which it claims is fast “without any compromises in weight, ventilation or fit.”
Speaking of fit, Giant is notable in its offering of two fit styles, Western (with a more oval shape) and Asian (with a rounder shape). Each comes in S, M and L, with M weighing a claimed 250g.
If you’re familiar with Zipp’s aero wheels, you’re familiar with the concept of dimples used for smoothing airflow. With the Pursuit, Giant uses two big dimples on the sides of the helmet to move air, claiming that this minimized aero drag.
Giant says the massive vents up front are ‘drag neutral’, and that when combined with internal channeling and vents at the back allow for good airflow through the helmet.
Giant uses two types of foam in the helmet; low-density foam to absorb energy from low-speed impacts, and high-density foam for crashes at higher speeds.
Light webbing and antimicrobial padding round out the features on the $230 helmet.
