Science and Bicycling Meet In a New Helmet Design (arstechnica.com) 79
John Timmer from Ars Technica got a chance to take a look at Trek's new bicycle helmet that they claim offers "the first major change in helmet technology in years," and is backed up with peer-reviewed science. Here's an excerpt from Timmer's report: WaveCel is the product of orthopedic surgeon Steve Madey and a biomedical engineer named Michael Bottlang. The two had been working on a variety of ideas related to medical issues and protective gear, funded in part by federal grant money. When considering the idea of a lightweight material that could evenly distribute forces, Bottlang told Ars that they first focused on a honeycomb pattern. But they found that it was actually too robust -- the honeycomb wouldn't collapse until a lot of force had been applied, and then it would fail suddenly.
The design they eventually developed has a shape that allows flexing almost immediately when force is applied. "It starts to glide right away," Bottlang said. The manufacturing technique creates a clear point of failure that allows more extensive flexing once a certain level of force is exceeded -- part of the structure will fold over rather than experiencing a complete failure. Then, once folded, the polymer it's made of will allow neighboring cells to glide over each other. This provides some resistance even after the structure has collapsed. For the helmet, a patch of this material is attached to the inside of a more traditional EPS helmet, which provides impact resistance. But the WaveCel mesh is allowed to float within the helmet and can absorb much of the force of off-axis impacts. The thin strips of soft material that cushion the helmet where it rests on the head (also found in more traditional helmets) are attached directly to the WaveCel mesh.
It looks more uncomfortable than it is. Madey, the orthopedic surgeon, said they've done tests that show that, even if placed directly on the skin, the WaveCel mesh wouldn't break the skin under most impact forces. How does their new helmet work? According to a paper authored by Bottlang and Madey, helmets including the material reduced rotational acceleration from impacts by 73 percent compared to a normal helmet. A slip pad within a normal helmet (MIPS) only dropped acceleration by 22 percent, which seems like a substantial difference.
The design they eventually developed has a shape that allows flexing almost immediately when force is applied. "It starts to glide right away," Bottlang said. The manufacturing technique creates a clear point of failure that allows more extensive flexing once a certain level of force is exceeded -- part of the structure will fold over rather than experiencing a complete failure. Then, once folded, the polymer it's made of will allow neighboring cells to glide over each other. This provides some resistance even after the structure has collapsed. For the helmet, a patch of this material is attached to the inside of a more traditional EPS helmet, which provides impact resistance. But the WaveCel mesh is allowed to float within the helmet and can absorb much of the force of off-axis impacts. The thin strips of soft material that cushion the helmet where it rests on the head (also found in more traditional helmets) are attached directly to the WaveCel mesh.
It looks more uncomfortable than it is. Madey, the orthopedic surgeon, said they've done tests that show that, even if placed directly on the skin, the WaveCel mesh wouldn't break the skin under most impact forces. How does their new helmet work? According to a paper authored by Bottlang and Madey, helmets including the material reduced rotational acceleration from impacts by 73 percent compared to a normal helmet. A slip pad within a normal helmet (MIPS) only dropped acceleration by 22 percent, which seems like a substantial difference.
Testing Apparatus (Score:4, Interesting)
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No, the purpose of the post in question was to make a xenophobic remark. No one needs it pointed out to them that bicycle helmets don't help when "gross damage to internal organs" occurs nor are helmets intended to address that.
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I wear a motorcycle helmet when riding.
However, do very many people at all wear a helmet for bicycling?
I've never worn one, and while I do see the occasional bicycle rider around here with a helmet, I don't see many of them at all.
So, I'm wondering is there much of a market for bicycle helmets? Do more people wear bicycle helmets in different parts
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Anytime I'm out on my bicycle, I've got my helmet on. Why? From that time when I was a kid and one of my friends died from having his skull cracked open crashing into a curb at low speed.
Once you've seen someone's brains on the ground as a result of a bicycle accident, you'll wear the damn helmet.
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I also ride motorcycles, and I wear a helmet almost every time I ride my bicycle; I also wear a helmet when skiing. Around me (Mid Atlantic US) I'd say half or more of adults wear them, although with bikeshare that may be less since basically no one uses them on the shared bikes. I have known enough people hit by cars, concussed or (a friend of friends) killed when his his head hit a curb falling at fairly low speed that I don't even consider not wearing one unless I'm doing a short bikeshare hop. I also re
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Yes, many wear helmets and there's a large market for them. Helmet adoption is near universal within the cycling community itself so if you aren't seeing it then you aren't around cyclists.
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Well, anyone I see on a bicycle I guess I consider a 'cyclist'.....and around my city, which is seeing more and more bicycles on the road (they're even making lanes for them on the streets), you just don't see many people wearing a helmet.
Just going with what I observe....
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Re: What does the king of bicycling think? (Score:1)
Re:Visual inspection (Score:4, Insightful)
This helmet is worth a close look.
For the last 40+ years, bike helmets have been designed to protect the contents of the head from a single direct impact, They are the best protection for the occasional crash when the cyclist is thrown over the handlebars such that he drops head first onto the pavement from a height of 5 to 6 feet, or less. That kind of crash doesn't happen very often.
Most crashes involve significant shear forces as well as direct impacts. Also most crashes involving other vehicles are a very fast sequence of bounces where each bounce is a complex of impact and shear forces. Foam helmets offer no protection with shearing and often no protection after the first impact.
This helmet's design offers more protection against multiple direct impacts and shear forces.
Re:Visual inspection (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, there are a few standards. Here's a link [helmets.org]
Note that in most crashes, the cyclist, if they strike their head on the ground, will have an impact consistent with a drop of 5 to 6 feet. The cyclist may be going 20 mph, but their head is still likely to receive the same force as just dropping at 0 mph (since there's horizontal velocity (their speed)) and vertical velocity (force of gravity).
Now motorcycle helmets have a similar standard for an impact test (DOT, Snell, and ECE). Again, because despite your velocity in the horizontal plane, it's the same force of gravity. Motorcycle helmet standards tend to have a few other tests as well (such as making sure the visor doesn't crack if a rock hits it at 55 mph), but there's only so much that can be prevented by a helmet.
Now there are tradeoffs - you can make a helmet that's stiffer, or that survives multiple impacts better, but that tends to come at the cost of how much energy it can absorb in one impact. Snell faced accusations of this in one of their previous motorcycle helmet standards (either M2005 or M2010) - the helmet was more durable, but at the potential cost of more G-forces transmitted to the brain.
Nothing in the above should be interpreted as me being anti-helmet - I always wear bicycle helmets, as well as full face, either Snell or ECE rated, motorcycle helmets.
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I have discussed with friends a variety of these these issues as they relate to motorcycle helmets - it's a shame that there are not more detailed studies into the real world effects. I always wear a helmet on a motorcycle, and 99% of the time on a bicycle; on the motorcycle especially, I'd like more confidence that the helmet is designed for the most likely impacts. In truth most of the time my choice comes down to fit and (lack of) wind noise.
I have tried to see if I could get a testing organization to te
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It looks like, at least for bicycle helmets, there is no significant degradation over time [helmets.org].
OTOH, standards can improve. Motorcycle helmets seem to do better than bike helmets for standards being changed over time.
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Preface: I'm pro-helmet. I race bikes, and I pretty much always wear a helmet when I go out.
That said, I find the claims that these guys make about the concussion-protection factor of their helmet pretty dubious. To the point: you don't need to hit your head to end up with a concussion. Falling off your bike and never striking your head can STILL give you a concussion. To make claims about how good the concussion-prevention design of this helmet is may border on misleading or negligent.
But it looks like it
MIPS vs 'Normal' (Score:3)
It should be noted that MIPS (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-directional_Impact_Protection_System) was only introduced to bike helmets pretty recently. The vast majority of helmets out there - and the majority of helmets on sale today - don't have MIPS. It tends to only be in high-end helmets, or is an additional cost over the non-MIPS version of the same helmet.
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This is more complex than MIPS which is just an anti-torque system.
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And MIPS is in my opinion more marketing than anything. The very next day Trek announced their system, MIPS company claimed that Trek's system is basically rubbish (which they possibly couldn't even get their hands on).
MIPS is just an added slip plane between the helmet and the head which doesn't make sense to me. I've never seen a helmet strapped so hard to the head that it doesn't slip even a tiny amount, and also hair and skin will make the helmet slip a bit which makes MIPS totally redundant and I would
HÃvding Helmet (Score:2)
Mentioned by some of the commenters, looks safer to me.
https://youtu.be/61Kb53DCeEc?t... [youtu.be]
Re: HÃvding Helmet (Score:2)
That's awesome!
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Worse. Marketing.
Hey, it's "works" for the audiophile industry! /s
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What were they using before when they designed bicycle helmets? Astrology? Homeopathy? Republicanism?
As you say, I'm not seeing science in there.
My first thought was "engineering". Back in Edison's day, they would have called it "inventing".
Why the focus on bicycle helmets? (Score:2, Insightful)
Shouldn't there be helmets for car drivers and passengers? Brain injuries are the most serious car crash injuries. And those brains are more valuable too, because you know, unlike cyclists, these people can afford cars. I say we make helmets mandatory in cars. All professional racers wear helmets already.
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1. People driving cars have seat belts, multiple air bags, a steel cage, and steel armor. That is all better than any bike helmet.
2. Most bicyclists drive as well. For the vast majority of bicyclists, it's a choice to ride a bike for a trip. (That also means they pay into the road system via fuel taxes, income taxes, etc... just in case that was the next comment.)
3. All professional racing drivers and racing bicyclists wear helmets because they're in a high risk industry and have been thoroughly educated on
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Not really. Bike and motorcycle helmets protect the wearer because they often go flying off their vehicles and hit the pavement. (And cyclists should wear helmets - too many preventable concussions and other disabilities have occurred because the cyclist didn't have a helmet. At the very least, it wouldn't have made things worse).
Construction hard hats generally get impacted by objects hitting it - either the worker is mov
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"...because you know, unlike cyclists, these people can afford cars..."
Cyclists can't afford cars? Car passengers can afford cars? Car passengers' brains are more valuable than cyclists' brains? Helmets are mandatory for cyclists? Helmet laws are determined based on the value of the brain?
How is any of this "Insightful"? I realize the sarcasm, but the entire premise demonstrates ignorance on the part of the poster.
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Professional racers doesn't drive in normal traffic, they drive faster, their cars don't have airbags. A bicycle type helmet would be useless and anything that could protect the head from car accidents would also limit the movement of the head so increasing accidents, be heavier therefore increasing some kinds of injuries, get in the way for airbags, and be very uncomfortable for longer rides therefore increasing accidents.
If you are trying to make a point you've failed miserably.
Here in Sweden we have airbag helmets... (Score:2)
Here in Sweden we have airbag deployable helmets [hovding.com], you wear them like a collar over your shoulders, and should you fall off the airbag will deploy. The only issue then is that once used in an accident, you will need to buy a new one, but they are less cumbersome than a helmet, and so often preferred by city cyclists.
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Looks pretty cool - in the homepage video, it also seems to make it possible for the woman to ride backwards too (see the aerial shot)
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https://helmets.org/airbag.htm [helmets.org]
A neat idea, but I don't know if they're ready for prime time.
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I remember when these were all over the news because they were being hailed as the the future of bicyclist skulls. And then they disappeared. At the cost of THREE-HUNDRED euros per use, have these actually been adapted in large numbers or is it still a very boutique item?
Re: Here in Sweden we have airbag helmets... (Score:1)
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It's clear you know nothing about bicycle helmets starting with your complete lack of awareness of how many different kinds there are. It would appear you are commenting on road racing helmets, through you know nothing about those either.