By Rebecca Boyle Posted 10.20.2010 at 11:40 am 13 Comments

Modeled After Ze American Catcher's Mitt Hövding via Treehugger

I love riding my bike, but my purple plastic helmet is a definite impediment to fashion. It messes up my hair, and what am I supposed to do if I decide to wear red one day? I might — gasp — not wear a helmet at all. Thankfully, the Swedes have now invented this thing. At last, cyclists everywhere can protect their heads and their sense of style.

It’s a collar with an airbag that inflates around your head. It actually works, as evidenced by the incredible video below, in which a car driving at 12 MPH crashes into a bike dummy.

The Hövding, which means “Chieftain” in Swedish, is the brainchild of Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin, who said they wanted to develop a form of protection that would increase helmet use.

This Guy Is Wearing A Bike Helmet:  Hövding via Treehugger

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Tags

Gadgets, Rebecca Boyle, bad hair day, bicycle, bicycle helmet, fashion, helmet, sweden
“The protection would include preserving the sense of freedom and not ruin your hairstyle,” Alstin says on the website David Report.

Hövding involves a black waterproof collar surrounding an the airbag and other components. The collar attaches to a removable, washable shell that currently comes in black and a red paisley design, and the designers say it will soon come in more shades — “With the help of the shell, you can vary the look of your chiefs from day to day, and to match different clothes,” the Web site says.

The Hövding will go on sale next spring, just in time for bike weather. You can pre-order them here.


[Hövding via Treehugger]

13 Comments

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OddNotion
10/20/10 at 12:19 pm

Oh, so many unanswered questions...

Do you have to buy a whole new airbag every time you set it off? I'm guessing this is for street riding only...anything rougher than that and I suspect you would have a lot of false inflations. As of this moment, I am recalling quite clearly the discomfort of being smacked breathless by an airbag; what does it feel like to have this thing unfurl around your cranium at a high speed?

Certainly an interesting concept. I'll be interested to see where this goes.

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Delkomatic
10/20/10 at 12:26 pm

What a bout the penetration? I mean say a sharp objects comes at your head this thing is not gonna save you there. What if you go through a windsheild won't this thing just shred on the glass or de-inflate.....I smell a law suit...Americans line up...

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kamydon
10/20/10 at 12:37 pm

How about if the car hits you at 60MPH? does it inflate as fast to protect your head?
Does it inflate even if you are not biking? Like sitting in your office chair and you bend to pick up a pen..

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pablo_max
10/20/10 at 1:49 pm

Don't be stupid. If you're hit by a car going 60 MPH do you think a helmet shall save you? Even if it saved your head, your body would be pulp.

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vrakoch
10/20/10 at 2:43 pm

proves: simplest solution is the best solution

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credendo
10/20/10 at 4:14 pm

She looks like a bobble head of one of the founding fathers.

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cogpv
10/20/10 at 9:28 pm

It's easy. You just thread the lock cable through one of the holes in the helmut or through the straps. Then someone would have to cut the straps to steal the helmut making it useless.

I got into bike racing in the late '60s and you had to wear a helmut to compete. After one guy crashed I was examining the skidmark on his helmut and said "Boy! That could have hurt!"

After that I didn't wear a helmut for many years until one day my doctor said "Get a helmut!" And my girlfriend said "Get a helmut!" So I got a helmut.

I later joined a bike club and they don't let you ride without a helmut.

I finally landed on my head one day when I fell down on some glare ice. I was grateful to have my helmut on. I also got some studded snow tires for my bike. Yes, they make them.

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PhilInYork
10/20/10 at 10:01 pm

I want to see the video when they test the inflatable jock strap.

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mjsd555
10/21/10 at 2:24 am

I saw this do absolutely nothing for the dummies face, which is a pretty important part of head gear. if you're not going to protect the face, how is this better than a basic bike helmet?

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pikeymick
10/21/10 at 10:38 am

Are any of you in decent enough shape to even be able to ride a bike?

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drinny26
10/21/10 at 1:07 pm

lol i know, theyre so busy commenting they probably havent been on a bike in years. i for one like it and as the article implied, its not to take the place of helmets its for those who choose not to wear one for whatever reason. helmets arent going anywhere dont worry.

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