You were born to be wild, but cruising down the highway on your five-speed without looking like Dorkus maximus is no mean feat when you have an underwater missile perched on your noggin. (Helmet head still trumps brain damage any day, s’il vous plait.) The Danish designers at Yakkay make kickin’ it carbon- and concussion-free in style a cinch, with a helmet that can be fitted with a range of chic covers to transform it from a houndstooth peaked cap to a fuzzy faux-fur topper in seconds.
HAT TRICK
Available in five collections (Luzern, Dublin, Paris, Tokyo, Cambridge), Yakkay’s helmet covers can be purchased à la carte ($57), so fickle fashion lovers can change their look on the fly without investing in a whole new helmet. The hard hat itself, which meets European safety standards, comes in three sizes and can be adjusted with adhesive inserts for a snugger fit. To lend the entire ensemble a modern edge, a stainless-steel buckle ties everything together.
+ Helmet and Cover $145 at 50cycles
Its worth noting that the European safety standards, EN 1078, are less stringent than the US CPSC standards. Technically, these helmets aren’t “street-legal” in the US. (Wow, a place where the US has more regulation than Europe…)
Those are the dorkiest looking helmets I’ve ever seen.
The girls’ helmets are cute, I guess. But, yeah, those dude helmets are about as dorky as dorky gets.
These are not dork helmets? You’re kidding, right?
[...] don’t know if these stylized bike helmets are necessarily cool but they are a clear step in the right direction, as most every bike helmet [...]
Interesting that “approved” bike helmets (Giro, Bell, Specialized, etc) offer no front or temple protection and that the majority of these helmets (even among serious road and mountain bike racers) are hardly ever worn with a chin strap tight enough to keep the helmet in place, yet designs such as Bern and these are non-approved.
dennis
bike shop owner
These would be fine in the winter, but for summer, give me that dorky bullet shaped thing with all the air holes in it. Much cooler!
One reason we do not see cloth or netted topped bike helmets here anymore is their tendency to “grip” to the pavement in an accident and therefore more likely lead to serious neck damage in a fall. It’s important that the helmet remain slick so it can slide along pavement instead. As far as looking like a dork when biking, what a thing to be worried about!! I want to be SEEN on a bike, not win a beauty contest. I ride with orange vests, reflecting triangle, and fashion-be-damned clashing of colors and patterns. While bicycling, safety trumps haute couture every time.
@dennis,
Its a British company, I think – they may not have bothered to try to get CPSC certification…
@dennis
Are you serious? Look at the photo and tell me those are safe helmets. They are perched on the back of a head in such that the only way they’ll offer protection is if they flip over the bars and land on the backs of their heads.
Approved cycling helmets are designed to actually stay in place during an impact and have been proven in the real world significantly provide protection.
I have a suspicion that you are exagerating your role as “Bike Shop Owner” and are in fact just the manager of the sports section at your village Walmart
I saw these last year and forgot all about them. Thank you for reminding me.
Jacqueline
http://www.thinkmag.net
A friend of mine is a cyclist here in Nairobi, and refuses to wear a helmet because of how much he’d stick out (nobody wears them here). Maybe this will change his mind – a clothe surface has got to be better than no surface at all!
Conventional wisdom is bike gear looks fine as long as you’re within 10 feet of a bike, and farther than that you look like a clown.
These succeed in erasing that line.
True. With these you’ll look like a clown no matter where you are.
I really want to like these, because I am not keen on helmets but there are some valid points being made.
http://www.thinkmag.net
They will slice ears off.Very poor design-function.
GH