Giro Eclipse Spherical helmet review: “winning balance of comfort, speed, weight and ventilation”

Giro arguably were the first to debut the aero road helmet genre back in 2012 with their Air Attack lid, a product that helped redefine what performance-focused road helmets could look like and achieve.

At a time when aerodynamics were largely the preserve of time trial specialists, Giro brought wind-cheating design to everyday road racing, and the rest of the industry quickly followed suit.

More than a decade on, Giro’s Eclipse Spherical helmet represents the culmination of that early innovation, blending aero efficiency with the ventilation, comfort and safety that’s become a standard in cycling and racing these days.

Fit and comfort

After the excess strap had been dispensed with, the Roc Loc 5 Air system’s slick retention dial and internal fitting mechanism swiftly found an ideal fit akin to my regular Giro Agilis MIPS lid.

The cradle slides up and down to fine-tune the fit and the dial offers easy adjustment.

The padding also has a luxurious feel to it and sits in the optimum place on the forehead, providing plenty of comfort and mopping up sweat.

It’s worth noting, though, that the straps aren’t removable for washing, and a chinstrap isn’t provided.

Aerodynamics

The Eclipse Spherical’s aerodynamic abilities were tested in our independent wind-tunnel analysis of 11 aero road helmets at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub with The Bike Tailor.

Its performance over our baseline Decathlon helmet at a 7.5° yaw angle (simply, the amount of crosswind on your bike) with the rider on tri-bars were 11.4secs faster over a 25mi / 40km bike leg at 19mph / 30km/h, and just 0.2secs swifter when riding at 25mph / 40km/h.

The former result places it eighth in the placings, with the latter result seeing it come eighth again out of the 11 helmets tested.

Ventilation

These results are satisfactory, but key to remember is that the Eclipse Spherical is one of the most vented aero road helmets on test.

The Eclipse’s design features six main vents at the front, concentrated on the left and right sides, with a smooth central strip.

There are also deep channels within the helmet to draw air through, and generously sized exhaust ports at the rear.

Safety

The Eclipse is the latest Giro helmet to use the Spherical tech developed with MIPS.

It’s the most effective integration of MIPS I’ve experienced, with two EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam liners joined by elastomer ‘anchors’ in a ball and socket construction to rotate individually of each other.

The outer shell is also integrated smoothly into the EPS core to complete a smart and classy aesthetic.

The Ano Blue stands out the most on the roads, but there are also black and red; matte black; white and silver; charcoal and pink options available.

The inclusion of MIPS and those two EPS foam liners would suggest a weighty number, but the Eclipse Spherical comes in at 9.7oz / 275g on our scales for a medium, putting it in the mid-table of the aero road lids we’ve tested.

That $290 price tag can’t be ignored, however, but the Eclipse Spherical to me offers a happy medium between ventilation and drag-saving abilities.

Meet our tester

For this test, the Giro helmet was put through its paces by Matt Baird, a long-standing 220 Triathlon contributor who has been part of the magazine’s testing team since 2008. With race experience spanning super-sprint to Ironman distances, plus duathlon and off-road triathlon, he brings a broad performance perspective to equipment reviews.

Giro Eclipse Spherical helmet specs

Price:	$290 / £239.99
Weight:	9.7oz / 275g
MIPS?	Yes
Vents:	14
Colours:	Red and black, black, blue dual-tone, white and grey