Repairing a Giro AEON bicycle helmet: How to replace the Roc Loc 5 system

July 9, 2020

This month my trustworthy Giro Aeon bicycle helmet broke down! Normally I wouldn't hesitate to invest in safety and thus buying a new one. But I like the Aeon helmet so much that I went through some extra trouble to fix it. Read along to see how I did it.

Giro Aeon

The Giro Aeon was once the top of the range from the American Giro brand. I bought it in 2016 and it has been my companion on the bike ever since. It is one of the lightest helmets available at around 190 grams. With 24 vents, coupled with internal channeling, the Giro Aeon is one of the better helmets in terms of keeping your head cool on hot days.

Wearing the Giro Aeon helmet

Roc Loc 5

Inside the helmet is the so called "Roc Loc 5" fixation system. It is a set of lightweight plastic straps and tightening wheels that allow you to fit the helmet precisely to your head. Unfortunately the Roc Loc 5 system in my helmet got damaged: one of the plastic connections got broken.

The Roc Loc 5 broken in my Giro Aeon helmet

Attempt 1: Trying to glue it

I tried to fix the plastic connection by glueing it. Instead of a simple joint, I tried to maximise my glue attempt by wrapping the plastic connection in another piece of (thin) plastic. It didn't work and it is a bad idea. You should never try to fix your helmet by glueing or taping it together again. Helmets are designed to sustain certain impacts. If you change the way it's fixed to your head, you'll effectively change the dynamics that give the helmet its protective characteristics. When it comes to safety you should never do this. I tried it because I thought it was better than no helmet, just for a few single rides... Just don't!

Glueing the Roc Loc 5 - bad idea

Attempt 2: Replacing the Roc Loc 5

The only other thing I could think of was replacing the faulty Roc Loc 5 system. When the helmet was new this would have been easy peasy. Just order a new part "et voila". But Giro does not produce the Aeon anymore, and conveniently enough newer models do not use the Roc Loc 5 system... this smells like planned obsolescence to me, bleh!

Roc Loc 5 - try finding this part on the internet...

There my hunt for a replacement part started. Boy, I did find a lot of product listings, but upon close inspections nearly all these product pages indicated the Roc Loc 5 being 'out of stock'. But... if anything fails, try eBay!

You'd be surprised what you can find on eBay... hooray! New old stock Roc Loc 5!

Because of the very few remaining sellers that offer the Roc Loc 5 system, I took my chance and ordered from this eBay seller. Oh, and yes did I buy a few of them, ha! Shipping (due to COVID-19) took nearly an entire month! My Roc Loc 5 travelled through 3 different States in the U.S. before it arrived in The Netherlands... :-)

Shipping details - my new Roc Loc 5 has seen parts of the World I have yet to visit!

Replacing the Roc Loc 5

Once you've found yourself a replacement part, installing it isn't that hard. Just make sure you take some photos before you remove the original Roc Loc 5. It makes it easier to put back the strap in the right place.

New Roc Loc 5 installed

Rear of the helmet, note how the strap goes through the Roc Loc 5

Side image the helmet

While my new Roc Loc 5 was shipping, I did find another store selling new old stock paddings for my Aeon helmet. A fresh set of paddings would make my helmet feel (and smell) new again!

Removing the old padding is easy, just detach the velcro tape

Installing fresh paddings isn't hard either, just make sure to align it properly

Conclusion

After hunting down parts from the other side of the world, my helmet is on my head again! Hooray! Agreed, one could wonder if it was worth all the effort, but I really like my helmet.

I really hate so see an otherwise fine product go to waste. This world has enough garbage already, if you want to make a difference, you should consider fixing things more often!

Wearing my helmet again!

For those of you that are interested, this is a picture of the barcodes + part codes of the Roc Loc 5 system and the pad set