Review: Giro Remedy Bike Helmet

Earlier this summer I decided to dive head first (quite literally) back into mountain biking. It was at one time something that I was incredibly passionate about, even working for several years at a bike shop to better enable the habit, but at some point I lost my way and hung up the sport for a number of years. In that time a lot has happened to the sport of mountain biking, but two specific milestones stand out to me personally: Full suspension technology finally matured into something that was functional, efficient and insanely fun, and some incredibly smart individuals decided to build the only dedicated lift-served freeride mountain bike park in North America a mere one and a half hour drive from Boston. It was after my first visit to Highland Mountain Bike Park that I came to understand a full face helmet is an utter necessity for this style of riding. On my last run of the day down NE Style, I made a grave mistake and negleted to dump speed when coming into a wooden ramp feature towards the bottom of the run. This resulted in me getting launched off the side of said ramp and going head first to the deck. Luckily the only real casualty was my beloved Giro E2 cross country helmet, which promptly cracked in half when I hit ground, but this was a wake up call to me signaling that the game has changed. With all the amazing advances in suspension technology, I find that I am riding downhill faster than ever before, but the dirt, rocks and trees have not gotten any softer.

My broken Giro E2

Selecting a helmet was pretty easy, as I am rather brand loyal to Giro. Their mountain bike lids have always fit me the best and when they started making ski helmets I was floored, and have since owned two Fuses and a G10 MX, all of which have either saved my life and/or prevented serious brain damage on many occasions. I did some searching of the internets for info on the Giro Remedy and feedback was generally positive. Not only that but the price was right, being offered at anywhere from $65-$99 from most popular online retailers.

Giro Remedy - Matte Cityscape Finish

I usually wear a large in a Giro (both ski and bike) so rather than do any measuring, I went ahead and ordered one up in the Cityscape finish. When the helmet came in, I was upset to see that it was definitely too big. Its very important that a full face helmet fits snug and does not slide around on your head, and that was not the case for me with the large. This time I went ahead and measured my head, realizing that I was at the upper edge of a medium on the sizing chart. Keep this in mind if you are on the edge of a size. I would recommend going with the smaller of the two for the best fit. After wearing mine for just a day the padding has packed in nicely and it fits me perfectly.

Functionally it does what it was designed to do – keeps you out of a wheelchair or a dentist’s chair in the event of a fall. Compared to an XC helmet it can definitely get hot. It was a sunny 75 degree day with low humidity and while sessioning a warm up area at the park that involved some uphill pedaling, things got soupy real quick. I stuck to just downhill riding the rest of the day and did not have any problems sweating or overheating. In general air flow was great as long as you kept moving at a decent enough speed. Having never used a full face before, It took some getting used to having a small blind spot in front. I found that making sure the helmet was positioned properly on my head, and not tilted too far back, helped to reduce this effect. All in all it was not a sticking point and I got used to it pretty quickly. I did not have goggles and opted to just use my riding glasses for eye protection. The glasses fit just fine inside of the helmet, but fogging issues led me to ditching them later in the day. I didn’t feel as exposed while riding without eye cover in the full face as I would have in an an XC helmet. I think this was because the visor and chin protection protrude far enough to aid in clearing any leaves or branches from your face.

The Bottom Line

The Giro Remedy is a high quality helmet with great aesthetics that comes in at an incredible value. Perfect for downhill riding, but be warned that it can get hot if you are doing any climbing.

Gear Sloot Rating: 4/5