Giro Synthe

My head rides strapped to a 2016 Synthe MIPS. Forehead indentation? Not with my Giro. Also, as far as I can tell (and research) there is no technical nor visual difference between model years except for inflation. MIPS is not a marketing ploy, but believe what you want to believe. If you value your brain I feel £112 for MIPS is well worth the coins.

I can't see how there would be 68 quid difference between model years!

As regards the MIPS/non-MIPS I recently spent a bit of time thinking about this for my own helmet purchase. I went for a Scott Cadence Plus in the end (I think this is the same category as the synthe i.e. 'vaguely aero road'), which does have MIPS. However when delving more deeply it seems that MIPS could at worst just be a typical pseudo-science marketing ploy to get us to buy more helmets.  On balance I liked the scott helmet, so I went with it, and I couldn't see how MIPS was going to make things any worse. Have a look (e.g. link below) and see if you come to the same conclusion.

http://www.helmets.org/mips.htm

One unfortunate side effect of the MIPS system is that (at least on the Scott) it attaches in a different way, it's like a skull cap inside the helmet and has a band right across the forehead, which leaves a rather strong indented mark for a few minutes. This results in you looking like a total helmet when you commute in and go straight from the shower into your 9am meeting.