Note: This product is actively seeking funding on a European crowd-funding site called Ulule.
Bicycle helmets are a necessity for safety but a pain when you’re not actually riding your bike. When not being worn, Overade’s folding helmet folds to reduce the volume of the helmet to a third of the original size for easy storage off the bike. Available in black or white, the helmet will be available in two sizes: S-M, for a head circumference of 54 to 58 cm, and XL, for a head circumference of 58 to 61 cm. The helmet weighs between 350 and 400 gram depending on size.
It is worth noting that at the moment the helmets are only on pre-sale and don’t actually have any safety certifications yet. Pre-sale pricing is €75 ($99) for the helmet with a protective cover (which folds with the helmet without being removed).
What goes great with a folding bike helmet? A folding bike of course! If you ever considered buying a folding bike, this article about Common Misconceptions About Folding Bikes is a good place to start.
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Interesting idea.
But I’d rather see an easy but effective way to lock a helmet to the frame of the bike.
I don’t want to carry my helmet around, folded or not.
I want to lock it securely to the bike.
I also would seriously doubt the safety of the helmet compared to a solid one.
If one examines the evidence of head injury they will see that a helmet is needed as much for walking as it is for cycling. To suggest cyclists have a greater risk is spreading the myth that cycling is dangerous.
@Brad – you must walk faster than I do. I typically ride 14mph / 22 kmph, but I must not be trying hard enough while walking, where I generally only manage about 1/4 of that (and I try not to walk in busy car traffic). Unless you think I am likely to fall and strike my head while stopped on my bike, I can’t see how the kinetic energies involved are comparable.
@Toby, you are woefully ignorant of the helmet test standards, if you think a helmet will save you from a 14mph crash.
The Snell standard is a 2.2 meter vertical drop. Aka, it simulates a head hitting the ground, if they fall off a bike, from 7 feet up. The test is done at zero mph.
http://www.smf.org/standards/b/b95std
If it is not blatantly obvious, your helmet is not meant to protect you from your 14 mph horizontal momentum.
Thus walking vs biking? Same thing, according to your helmet test.
Toby misses the point. Not only are bicycle helmets perfectly designed for the types of falls pedestrians have, pedestrians have at least as much chance of injuries from these falls as cyclists.
The fact remains that there never was a significantly high level of fatal and non-fatal injuries head injuries among cyclists, except perhaps among racers and mountain bikers. If you get hit by a car at regular road speed (40 to 60 km/h) your helmet will do little to protect you. The first helmet laws were passed in Australia, where it was subsequently found that most serious and fatal cycling injuries were among males, 18 – 25, who had been drinking.
Do bike helmets really help?
I found one article with mixed opinions.
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/do-bike-helmets-save-lives-or-do-they-hurt-cycling.htm
And many more, such as this one, that almost come out with a firm “No.”
http://bicycletouringpro.com/blog/bicycle-helmets-proven-not-safe/
It’s not what I expected. However, one thing that comes out of the article is when bikes and cars are mixed on the road, cyclists are far less safe and should consider a helmet.
The worst thing about helmets is that increased helmet use highly correlates to decreased biking.
Below is the New Zealand study. 50% less bike riding after their mandatory helmet law passed.
http://www.cycle-helmets.com/zealand_helmets.html
NZ is not alone. Every single study on bike ridership that looks at before and after effects of a mandatory helmet law shows the same thing, no matter what country, state, or city is examined.
Increased helmet usage equals decreased biking.
That’s the issue that annoys me the most about biking helmet evangelists. They are hurting the biking community as a whole by talking about helmets.
You will find helmets a really hot issue in the cycling community particularly in countries like Australia and NZ where they are compulsory. A thread of helmets regularly explodes on cycling forums I read. So you need to pick any websites you gather data from with care.
Michael
@Michael, the thing that bothers me the most about helmet evangelists is that they talk about accidents and crashes and stuff like that.
They aren’t talking about biking.
If your objective is to get more people biking, you have to stop talking about other stuff, and start talking about what it would take to get your grandmother biking.
Grandma’s main worry about biking is cars. Plain and simple. She’s worried that she’ll get hit by a car. Want to increase bike riding? Solve the car problem.
Lots of cities have figured it out – medians between bikes and cars, dedicated bike trails, banning motorized traffic from certain streets, and twisty roads to slow down cars.
Can’t be done? Look at the Netherlands.
http://www.ski-epic.com/amsterdam_bicycles/
Did you notice the grandmothers and grandfathers on bikes? And the guys biking in suits? Or the women biking in dresses? And all the kids on bikes? My B&B was a half block from that location, when I visited last fall, and that is a very busy square, for car traffic, bike traffic, and pedestrian traffic. All commingling without a single incident.
Helmets are a bit of a hot-button issue for me; I was hit by a taxi last august while on a designated bike path separated from a busy street, more or less head-on while traveling at around 15mph (30% gradient downhill). If I had not been wearing a helmet, I would have ended up with a concussion or a skull fracture instead of just a broken left wrist.
When there are cars anywhere near the equation, the idea that pedestrians and cyclists share the same risk goes out the window. If helmets are found to be unsafe and unpopular, the solution, in my mind, is NOT to stop wearing them. It is to make them safe and popular.
The cycling community tends toward fads and gear gimmicks, and I would love helmets to become as big a trend as fixed gears or spandex shorts. And these folding helmets look pretty friggin’ cool. If they pass the safety specs, sign me up.
i did a search on reviews of foldable bike helmets and didn’t realize that this site had some (well at least pre-reviews)
own an overade and have been using it quite regularly as i use bike share – citibike
very compact as it fits easily in all the bags i carry. it has that “wow” factor – others are impressed how it folds out.
no test though on its safety as i haven’t fallen with it (knock, knock)
my two cents on bike helmet use is that i think a lot of people dont use helmets for esthetic reasons (it looks weird and not cool, it flattens my hair, etc) rather than the lack of compactibility.