Goggles are considered by many a necessity for downhill riding. Not only for keeping the sheep droppings out of your eyes but also from a safety point of view. You only get one pair of eyes and without them you couldn’t ride, so in my opinion it’s well worth spending money on a good product to protect them.

For many years I used Smith Warps, they worked perfectly every time and were fantastic at doing what they needed to do. Of course, well used products don’t last for ever and for the past few seasons I’ve been swapping between a set of Spy optics and Electrics depending on which pair are clean and dry.  With so many goggles on the market all looking the same, is there a need for another manufacturer to get involved? can anyone do it better?

I didn’t even know Giro made goggles until these landed at my doorstep, first impressions, are well.. errr goggle like! well that’s what they are! On closer inspection though they actually have a few neat little touches that are a bit different from the norm.  The attachments from the strap to the frame are hinged, this helps sit the goggle a little deeper in the helmet and the idea is it should make the goggle fit a range of helmet shapes and sizes a bit easier.  Whether this new feature really does make them better or is just an added complication to the existing design that most goggles use remains to be seen, but so far so good and the hinge seems robust enough to withstand getting clogged up with mud and my repeated pulling on and off the helmet.

The giro goggles actually don't sit in my Troy Lee quite as well as my Smiths and Electrics do, but when used witha 661 flight they definitely do seat a lot better. This just goes to show how goggle fits are a personal preference and not only design but also the shape of your face and helmet should also factor into your decision when buying a pair.

When in use the goggles work flawlessly. No dirt gets inside the lenses and unlike a lot of goggles I have used they don’t have a problem with steaming up. They are comfy on the face and the strap has a good range of adjustment and grip allowing them to hold the frames tightly to your helmet with no fuss. They are a good looking piece of kit and unfortunately the pair I have actually ended up being used in the mud bath that is known as "Moelfre in the winter" and now they aren’t exactly “doorstop challenge” white anymore. The lenses are holding up really well against my abuse and they don’t seem to scratch easily. If anyone from Giro is reading this then one improvement that would be nice to see is a double lense available making them even better on the fog front.

In conclusion these are a great set of goggles that perform well and offer a little more adjustment than some of the other alternatives currently on the market.

Giro goggles are available from Madison

www.madison.co.uk