Hello,

I'm a student design and I'm working on my final project that envolves the design of a new helmet for everyday use.

You're all experts in biking and I want to know your opinion about the existing helmets. Which helmet u use and why? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your helmet? Which features could be redesigned?

If you feel like helping me, don't hesitate to reply or mail me, thanks a lot!

Giro Pneumo is my helmet of choice. The reason is the comfort. It is very light, and at speed is pretty quiet. I also like the ROC4 that secures the helmet to the head, making the chinstrap not the most important part of the helmet. I have an old Giro Ventoux that was totally held on by the chinstrap.

Redesign? Aero to make the helmets quieter at speed..less whistling
Weight..light but can they be stronger?
Does any other material work better than polystyrene on the inside protective portion?
The ROC4 type system that everyone has...the best one I've seen is Limar's on the F111..it's a strap that's padded rather than a plastic structure...can that be improved for comfort? And secured to the helmet better than a snap/clip type of approach?

Brussels eh? I used to live in Waterloo...my Dad used to work on Avenue Louise in Brussels. I took full advantage of Belgian bike rides doing the famous parts of Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem...cycling history.

I use a Met Bad Boy for everyday riding.
Its a great design, and excellent value.
The vent holes are fewer and larger than high-end models, so you can fit a shackle lock through a hole. You cant do that with expensive helmets.
The fitting is done by a flexible nylon band, so it can accomodate heads of any shape as well as size. Ive used helmets where you replace foam pads to get a fit, but they get worn and dirty, and the fit is never as good as a band.
The removable visor is useful in the rain, and a reflective tab on the rear is good.
For everyday riding you dont need a highly aerodynamic or ultra-light piece of kit, but it has to fairly tough.

IMO all helmets offer marginal protection and no amount of design will improve it. When a rider crashes at speed any impact could easily result in a broken neck and fatal concussion. Football players are the only authorities I know of on helmets.

How about doing something about the chin strap? I hate those plastic clips that somethimes pinch. I'd like to see a velcro strap simialar to a USDOT motorcycle helmet. Crosswind areodynamics should be addressed.

Don't want to bring up the protection issue again.

I got three helmets and my wife has one helmet that shows wearing one is worth it... Its like car insurance. How many times has your airbag gone off? Fall on your side or back and your head will smack the pavement. This is a low risk of breaking your neck but just imagine gliding the back of your scalpe or your ear along the asphault! Not me!


Now for the design stuff... I agree that the Giro Pneumo is a hot helmet. Own two of them!

Things I like... I like the design of the head-lock system. It is not too large or cumbersome and can be adjusted while riding. Some of the "dial" types seem too cumbersome to deal with.

The helmet is light and comfortable.

Offers lot of ventilation.

Pluses/minus:
+ the air-vents along the front are designed perfecty for Oakley or Performance Vector glasses to be pressed into. Sometimes, like in rain or in the early morning, I start to the ride with my glasses mounted into the helmet.. Or at the store when chit-chating and don't want to mis-place them.

- The Giro Pneumo's front two pads will press into my fore-head and over very long rides I end up with two depressions on my brow that will remain for a few days.

From a design consideration I like helmets that are not so thick on the top or look like a mushroom sitting on my head. The sides should taper as they come around to the ears so it has a smoother transition as it reaches the sides of the face.

Pads: Pads should be comfortable, last a long time and should be replaceable if they do fail (or get too stinky). One of Giro's problems has been the pads... They tend to seperate from the inside foam and a lot of the time the little velcro dots used to hold the pads to the helmets will come unglued from the helmet...

Buckle... I would like to see a buckle that is not so much velcro like the motor bike design, but at least one should be able to close the buckle with one hand. A time or two at a rest stop I got caught out and slapped the lid on my skull and took off... I found that it was difficult to try to close the strap/buckle while I was riding (using one hand)

Perhaps for the design of the foam pads that may be neat is if you could design the pads in such a way they direct sweat away from the forhead and to the sides. Sometimes when I really sweat the pads saturate and then the sweat just runs down my face... Would be nice it it would wick away and run down the chin strap or down the sides near my ears.

I have a friend who drives Indycars that might take exception to this statement.

Yeah, the Indy cars have some pretty good safety systems. Then again I don't think many cyclers would want to ride with a big foam colar wrapped around their neck to prevent them from breaking their neck, lol.

Austin

I don't know...Jimmy Caspar rode the second stage of the Tour with one of those big collars...

Actually, the next big thing should be having the radio transmitters in the helmets like the racers have...wouldn't have to wear that band around the waist, have it all self-contained...

of course the helmet would be $500...