Shiznaz
10-07-06, 12:28 PM
Cross posted from SS/FG because I figured it made more sense here:
Across the street from my house is a housing co-op that just got rid of all its junk on their front lawn. Mostly crap (upwards pointing standing lamps, old lady baskets, broken stereos), but I did find one real gem.
Its a 1995 Canadian-made LOFOX helmet. Its the bee's knees!
Here are some pictures for illustration:
Top view. Looks pretty nice!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/01.jpg
Bottom view. Nice hardware!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/02.jpg
Front view. HUH?
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/03.jpg
Side view. Excuse me now?
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/04.jpg
Three quarters view. Wow thats quite the helmet!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/05.jpg
But what does it look like on a human head?
HUGE!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/06.jpg
It makes you look REALLY cool without even trying
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/07.jpg
This helmet is totally and absolutely retarded but great at the same time. I'm gonna decorate it for halloween!
Some more info here:
http://joeclark.org/fullface.html
"Closer to home, Lofox Canada Inc. pushed the technological envelope last year with its own model ($129 list). Intended mainly for kids, the Lofox consists of two bonded chunks of foam-- one for the top of the noggin, another that wraps around the chin and the back and sides of the head. It's not just any foam, either: While the liner (the material that actually absorbs the impact) of the Bellistic, the TL Comp, and nearly every other bike helmet on earth is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), the Lofox uses expanded polypropylene (EPP).
Alphabet soup? Well, yes, except that EPP can withstand multiple impacts, and that has a real-world advantage: If you fall off your bike or are hit by a car, your head is likely to hit something more than once. At least, that's the theory, one that Lofox Canada president Elmar Busch mentioned frequently in interviews. Current bike-helmet standards do not test for multiple-impact protection, but the Snell N94 standard for helmets for "non-motorized sports" like cycling, skateboarding, and inline skating does. Zhang notes that only four helmets have passed the N94 certification, and all four use EPS. Other helmets, whether made of EPS or EPP, failed the N94 test, which Zhang admits is unexpected. EPP's multi-impact protection remains unproven.
" So: Is the wraparound helmet the way of the future? Likely not. None of these helmets has taken the world by storm, least of all the Lofox. Like all full-face helmets, it looks funny by today's standards: The Lofox has considerably more "coverage area" than run-of-the-mill models, making it look unfashionably massive. Rightly or wrongly, less is seen as more in helmet design. Zhang reports that helmet makers complain that the new B95 bike-helmet standard, which requires a modestly larger coverage area than B90, "makes the helmet look dorky." The Lofox meets the B95 standard, making it de facto dorky.
"I have children myself," Busch explains. "I [said], 'Mothers spend, very frequently, $100 for a pair of Reebok shoes... and the [helmet-law] fines now are going to be $80 or $90. So I'll produce a quality helmet which does the job.' But then they say, 'Oh, no. My kid's head? I don't want to spend more than $20.' That's our difficult resistance."
The helmet biz is a sideline for Busch, a real-estate magnate. He gives the product about another year to take off or crash and burn. The Lofox is kind of popular in Japan, slightly popular in the U.S., marginally popular in Canada. Lofox, he states, has "produced almost 9,000 helmets on spec. We'll put it into the market. If they sell, fine. And if they don't sell, well, I've had a new experience."
I guess they crashed and burned!
Across the street from my house is a housing co-op that just got rid of all its junk on their front lawn. Mostly crap (upwards pointing standing lamps, old lady baskets, broken stereos), but I did find one real gem.
Its a 1995 Canadian-made LOFOX helmet. Its the bee's knees!
Here are some pictures for illustration:
Top view. Looks pretty nice!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/01.jpg
Bottom view. Nice hardware!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/02.jpg
Front view. HUH?
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/03.jpg
Side view. Excuse me now?
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/04.jpg
Three quarters view. Wow thats quite the helmet!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/05.jpg
But what does it look like on a human head?
HUGE!
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/06.jpg
It makes you look REALLY cool without even trying
http://www.wwmovers-africa.com/haro/helmet/07.jpg
This helmet is totally and absolutely retarded but great at the same time. I'm gonna decorate it for halloween!
Some more info here:
http://joeclark.org/fullface.html
"Closer to home, Lofox Canada Inc. pushed the technological envelope last year with its own model ($129 list). Intended mainly for kids, the Lofox consists of two bonded chunks of foam-- one for the top of the noggin, another that wraps around the chin and the back and sides of the head. It's not just any foam, either: While the liner (the material that actually absorbs the impact) of the Bellistic, the TL Comp, and nearly every other bike helmet on earth is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS), the Lofox uses expanded polypropylene (EPP).
Alphabet soup? Well, yes, except that EPP can withstand multiple impacts, and that has a real-world advantage: If you fall off your bike or are hit by a car, your head is likely to hit something more than once. At least, that's the theory, one that Lofox Canada president Elmar Busch mentioned frequently in interviews. Current bike-helmet standards do not test for multiple-impact protection, but the Snell N94 standard for helmets for "non-motorized sports" like cycling, skateboarding, and inline skating does. Zhang notes that only four helmets have passed the N94 certification, and all four use EPS. Other helmets, whether made of EPS or EPP, failed the N94 test, which Zhang admits is unexpected. EPP's multi-impact protection remains unproven.
" So: Is the wraparound helmet the way of the future? Likely not. None of these helmets has taken the world by storm, least of all the Lofox. Like all full-face helmets, it looks funny by today's standards: The Lofox has considerably more "coverage area" than run-of-the-mill models, making it look unfashionably massive. Rightly or wrongly, less is seen as more in helmet design. Zhang reports that helmet makers complain that the new B95 bike-helmet standard, which requires a modestly larger coverage area than B90, "makes the helmet look dorky." The Lofox meets the B95 standard, making it de facto dorky.
"I have children myself," Busch explains. "I [said], 'Mothers spend, very frequently, $100 for a pair of Reebok shoes... and the [helmet-law] fines now are going to be $80 or $90. So I'll produce a quality helmet which does the job.' But then they say, 'Oh, no. My kid's head? I don't want to spend more than $20.' That's our difficult resistance."
The helmet biz is a sideline for Busch, a real-estate magnate. He gives the product about another year to take off or crash and burn. The Lofox is kind of popular in Japan, slightly popular in the U.S., marginally popular in Canada. Lofox, he states, has "produced almost 9,000 helmets on spec. We'll put it into the market. If they sell, fine. And if they don't sell, well, I've had a new experience."
I guess they crashed and burned!