The Giro Montaro MIPS MTB helmet is built for big mountain adventure riding. The compact lid gives you deep protection with extended coverage at the rear. An in-mould polycarbonate shell with EPS liner improves durability. From long climbs to rowdy, technical descents, the Montaro™ MIPS helmet inspires your ride no matter where the trail takes you. Its compact shape offers deep, confident coverage, and the Roc Loc® Air fit system boosts ventilation while improving fit. We were surprised to find that it felt as well ventilated as the Bell 4Forty MIPS which has larger vents. That said, it still didn't hold a candle to our most well-ventilated models like the 100% Altec or Giro Manifest, our most airy models. We were also more impressed by the ventilation on the Troy Lee A2 MIPS and the Smith Session. Features Overall, the ventilation is good, but not great. Helmets such as the Fox Speedframe, Troy Lee Designs A2, or the 100% Altec do have better ventilation systems, but it still beats the Troy Lee Designs A1 out of the park! I personally didn’t find the limited ventilation much of a problem (and I have a fair bit of hair!) so it is up to personal preference, or where you ride for this one. How it Looks Roll Cage™ is a light-yet-tough web of reinforcement invisibly moulded inside a helmet’s EPS foam liner. It helps the helmet to hold together under impact and offers an extra measure of strength and integrity that you’ll never notice...unless you need it.

Both the Montaro and the Source are constructed using in-mold technology. What this means is the outer shell is molded to the EPS foam (Expanded Polystyrene) to increase the strength and durability of the helmet without increasing the weight. A key feature is MIPS integration. All Giro helmets are designed to reduce impact energy. However, MIPS also reduces rotational forces to your brain in certain impacts. The Montaro weighs around 370g for a size medium, while the Source weighs a little less at 340g for a size medium. Considering the price and target market of the Montaro, it does weigh a fair bit more than it should. The Source, on the other hand, is reasonably lightweight, consider the additional coverage it supplies, and its price.

Value

The Montaro features MIPS technology. MIPS stands for Multi-directional Impact Protection System, which is a slip plane between your head the helmet. The MIPS liner significantly reduces the possibility of brain damage to the rider in a crash. With so much going on you could almost forgive the Tyrant's slightly awkward fit as is the case with many deep-dish helmets. Apart from the extended shell twanging off your ears on the way in though the fit is fantastic straight away. The big padded cradle holds it super secure with even light tension so the chin strap is almost a formality. Every tester who tried it said the same too, which is super rare given the variety of head shapes we have on the team. There’s no obvious extra wobble, creak or rattle from the twin shell design either. There’s enough space between the over-ear sections and your actual lugs to cut down wind noise enough for a calming ‘zen’ effect but shouted warnings or sharings of stoke from other riders still come through loud and clear.

The Montaro isn’t exactly as light as you would expect for its price, coming in at 400 g. The Chronicle weighs in at roughly 30 g less. While the majority of riders will never notice this weight difference, you do wonder where this extra weight on the Montaro comes from, given that it has slightly less coverage of the head! Features The ventilation of the Source is somewhat mid-range. While it is better than the Chronicle, the 16 vents don’t quite compare with the breezy Montaro. However, it does have internal channeling, which helps flow the air over the rider’s head to keep them cool. Visor ReviewOriginally introduced in 2016, the Giro Montaro all-mountain helmet has continued to evolve over the years. Photo Editor Peter Moynes gets his head around the latest iteration called the Montaro Mips II helmet. Agreed. You're seeing the top end companies... like Bell/Giro/Kali/6D releasing their data points. So it's going in the right direction. I think you'll start to see more of the industry start to adapt this over time until it's made in to a standard. This technology is still in it's infancy and so is the testing. I think another thing you'll see is publications taking multiple helmets to an independent lab and doing their own testing so those results... even if slightly different from the manufacturer results... are all on an even playing field against one another. I think that's what you'll start to see more of.

While the Montaro is technically better (it is a higher spec model after all), I prefer the fit and feel of the Giro Source. I don’t tend to ride with goggles or a camera/light, so the additional features are a bit unnecessary for me. However, these are super handy features if you do ride with goggles or a camera! I have been testing the Montaro Mips II for the months of August and September alongside a pair of Giro Deeds shoes. For the last three years, I have been using the earlier version of this helmet, the Montaro I, and I’ve gotta say, I really like this new incarnation. Thankfully I did not have a head crash during my testing of the Montaro II, but I spent at least 40 days on trail with it. The Verdict Testers found the Montaro to be a relatively comfortable helmet. Again, it scored well in this metric but was bested by several other competitors. Its comfort starts with its fit, and Giro seems to know how to shape a helmet after all these years. It's offered in four sizes, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large, to fit a huge range of head sizes. Assuming you get the correct size, the width and length seem pretty average and should please a huge range of head shapes.

In-Mold Construction fuses a tough polycarbonate outer shell with the helmet's impact-absorbing foam liner. The fusion process allows for better ventilation systems, making in-mold helmets lighter and cooler than traditional helmets. You can tell just by looking at the helmets that the Montaro has had more design put into it. It is more complex and looks a little more streamlined. The Chronicle is bigger and chunkier, with fewer vents.