Giro Cielo MIPS helmet review

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Giro’s Cielo MIPS is the brand’s mid-range, lightweight helmet for road and gravel riding.

It takes inspiration from the Giro Aries Spherical helmet, the brand’s premium lightweight lid, but chiefly lacks the ball-and-socket Spherical MIPS system.

In testing, the Cielo MIPS has proven a solid, unassuming performer in all but the hottest conditions. At £190 / $199.95 / €200 / AU$289.99 though, it’s a hard sell against tough competition.

Giro Cielo MIPS helmet specification

The Cielo MIPS prioritises ventilation over aerodynamics with 22 vents. Although these vary in shape, they’re mostly of a similar size.

As a result, Giro doesn’t make any aerodynamic claims about the helmet.

The Cielo MIPS uses Giro’s Roc Loc 5 Air fit system, and the helmet’s adjusted with a small thumbwheel you rotate clockwise to tighten and anti-clockwise to loosen.  

In terms of protection, Giro specs the MIPS Evolve Core liner, which is becoming increasingly common on mid-tier road and gravel helmets such as the Specialized Propero 4. 

The Cielo MIPS is yet to receive a rating from Virginia Tech. Giro says it has submitted the helmet for testing, but the results are yet to be published at the time of writing.

In the past, though, Giro helmets have tended to perform well in Virginia Tech’s tests. The Giro Aries Spherical, for example, scored five stars.

Giro’s Ionic+ padding features inside, containing silver particles claimed to reduce odour thanks to the metal’s antibacterial properties.

The Cielo MIPS includes grippers inside two of the front vents for storing cycling glasses.

There are six colour options – Matte Black / Charcoal, Matte Black / Highlight Yellow, Matte Dark Cherry Towers, Matte Light Mineral, Matte Sharkskin, Matte White / Light Lilac Fade, Matte White / Silver Fade – in three sizes, from small to large.

On the scales, my size-medium Matte White / Silver Fade CE helmet weighs 275g – 15g less than claimed.

That’s only 10g heavier than the claimed weight for a size-medium Aries, and compares well to similarly priced competitors, such as the Specialized Propero 4 (319g, size large) and the Abus PowerDome (248g, size medium).

Giro Cielo MIPS helmet performance

I tested the Cielo MIPS on a variety of road and gravel rides, with temperatures ranging from mid-teens to 29°C heat. 

There’s no mistaking the Cielo MIPS is a Giro helmet in appearance and the looks are befitting of its £190 / $199.95 / €200 price point.

The fit is good, although Giro helmets tend to favour more oval heads, like mine. I appreciated how my head sat fairly deep into the helmet but I could have done with the helmet being a touch wider.

This is opposite to the Specialized Propero 4, which sat a little higher on my head but with a wider fit – as ever, it highlights the importance of trying before you buy.

The Kask Valegro, by comparison, is the best-fitting helmet I’ve ever worn for my head shape.

The retention dial provides good cranial support (better than the Propero 4 but outperformed by the Valegro), although it’s quite small in profile – however, the flipside is it’s less noticeable when riding. 

The Cielo MIPS proved a solid performer on both road and gravel and it never really crossed my mind that I was wearing it in temperatures below 25°C. 

In hotter temperatures though, my head began to feel hot and I found the padding at the front of the helmet would begin to get saturated with sweat.

While the Ionic+ padding is more minimal than the thicker padding on the Specialized Propero 4 or Specialized Search, which is a plus, it’s interesting I started to get hot in the same temperatures as those helmets.

I believe this to be a shortcoming of the MIPS Evolve Core liner, which seems to block ventilation and doesn’t allow heat to escape as effectively as the more minimal, but spendier MIPS Air Node liner.

Kask’s helmets forgo MIPS and are instead rated to its own WG11 Rotational Impact test. 

As such, the Valegro uses the brand’s own padding and it outperforms all of the aforementioned helmets by quite some distance. I have no qualms wearing it in the hottest temperatures.

It’s worth noting, though, that the Valegro didn’t perform so well in Virginia Tech’s helmet tests, scoring only three out of five stars.

The sunglasses storage on the Cielo MIPS is a low point. Neither my Koo Alibi nor Oakley EV Zero Blade glasses were held tightly in either orientation and because of the many vents, it’s hard to find the right slots while riding. 

The grippers are also glued to the helmet and the upper half of the left one started to peel after only a month of testing.

The Specialized Propero 4 fares well in terms of sunglasses storage, but it’s one of the few shortcomings of the Kask Valegro.

The Cielo MIPS is hard to justify in terms of value, too.

It’s more expensive than the Specialized Propero 4 at £165 / €190 (but equally priced in the US at $200). The Kask Valegro also pips it in the UK at £185, but it’s more expensive in other territories at $250 / €209 / AU$330.

While the ventilation is marginally better than the Propero 4, there’s simply no comparison with the Valegro and, as a result, that’s where I’d part with my cash.

Although you’d need to stretch to another £40, the Trek Velocis MIPS could be another alternative. It has a more premium MIPS Air Node liner, with senior technical editor Ashley Quinlan bestowing it a high 4.5-star rating. Unfortunately, it’s not quite as good a deal in other territories because it costs $300 / €300 / AU$400.

You’ll also drop considerable weight from the Cielo MIPS in opting for the Valegro or Velocis MIPS, which weigh 201g and 247g respectively.

Giro Cielo MIPS helmet bottom line

The Cielo MIPS is a sound addition to Giro’s extensive helmet line-up and outside of the hottest temperatures, performs well if you get on with the fit. 

While the helmet’s design is very good in terms of ventilation, the MIPS Evolve Core liner limits it. 

If you’re riding often in hot conditions above 25°C, the Cielo MIPS wouldn’t be my first pick. You’ll also need to be prepared to get creative with how you store sunglasses in this helmet. 

While the Cielo MIPS is a qualified purchase, there are alternative options at a similar price point that offer better value and ventilation. 

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