Fuseproject commissioned by the City of New York to make bike helmets look less bad

In cities like New York, where bikers ride right alongside heavy traffic, bike helmets are a must. Trouble is, apparently plenty of riders don't like wearing them because of vanity -- most bike helmets aren't exactly attractive, if you haven't noticed. Well, the City of New York's commissioned Projectfuse helmets -- that combine safety with an attempt at decent stylings. The helmets feature a two-fold design, with an inner protective polystyrene, which is then covered with a customizable soft fabric that attaches with straps. No, you cannot buy them yet, and we don't know anything about pricing or availability yet, but we do know that you can score one for free -- yes, free -- at various events around the city. Let us know if you snag one!

[Via Wired]

[Stupidiot Posted Aug 30th 2009 7:42AM]

My philosophy on bike helmets has always been this: If you're not smart enough to realise you need one, then whatever's in your head isn't worth preserving anyway.

[MrLinux Posted Aug 30th 2009 9:48AM]

I lol'ed. like who in this day and age still wears the crappy 1990's style bike helmets, modern helmets are stream lined and literally look like works of art with their weird vent hole shapes and colours.

[bigcow05 Posted Aug 30th 2009 10:36AM]

It looks like a bowling ball fused to a basketball. What's wrong with the look of traditional helmets? They look pretty nice to me.

[puppethead Posted Aug 30th 2009 11:09AM]

All very nice anecdotes, but lets get back to the science. Mandatory helmet laws that vastly increased helmet use overnight, had NO EFFECT on head injury rates.

That right, they are totally useless.

Why, because bike helmets are an unproved technology. They work well for children and young kids where they are more likely to fall sideways, for everyone else the dynamics of a crash are complex. They may work well in some crashes, and actually cause damage in others.

If you want to wear one, please do, but don't think its a magic bean to save you from all damage. Better to learn to cycle better and learn to cycle defensively in traffic.

[tmarks11 Posted Aug 30th 2009 1:51PM]

I would recommend you take a look at the following info and statistics, and anecdotal stories. Maybe it will change your mind. Maybe that will save your life (assuming you are a bicyclist).

First, the rebuttal of the 2001 Times article that seems be the source of your antipathy to helmets:

http://www.bhsi.org/time2001.htm

Bicycle safety statistics: only 3-5% of the bicyclists in fatal accidents were wearing helmets, while nationwide the average is somewhere around 25% of all bicyclists wear helmets. You can draw your own conclusions.

http://www.bhsi.org/stats.htm

And here is Harborview Injury Prevention & Research Center's (HIPRC) great collection of studies of bicycle accident victims, focused on analyzing whether of not helmets played a role in minimizing severity of accidents. Conclusion? Overall, helmets decrease the risk of head and brain injury by 70 to 88 percent and facial injury to the upper and mid face by 65 percent. I think I will trust HIPRC’s conclusions instead of some idiot newspaper journalist who works for the Times.

http://depts.washington.edu/hiprc/practices/topic/bicycles/helmeteffect.html

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 30th 2009 5:41PM]

Holy carp those completely miss the point. NYC, listen up. You are the center of fashion for the US. Use it.
Why would you possibly go to the west coast for help on this?

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:36AM]

As a NYer who bikes a lot, the looks of the helmet isn't really so much the problem is it messing up your hair (like going to work in the morning). I think girls wear helmets even less because of this.

[(Unverified) Posted Aug 31st 2009 9:08PM]

I bike ride, have done so for close to 20 years. Several helmets have received damage that would otherwise have been done to my head. Helmets look good, and wearing one demonstrates that your brain works well enough to recognize their value.

Oh, that New York helmet thing ? Hilarious.

[WalnutSoap Posted Sep 1st 2009 6:53PM]

I'll stick with my Hairmet thanks.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2009 8:42AM]

There are similar products for skiing and snowboarding since 2007. Many different designs. Look at www.helt-pro.com
They are planing also a bike collection. I think its from Germany.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 3rd 2009 8:47AM]

Link: http://www.helt-pro.com