But is it always all that practical? It seems bikes can be folded (and conveniently carried) to little more than the size of the cycle helmet, which is fine but you still have a bike helmet that is the size of..er.. a bike helmet.
If you are one of those commuters who combine train and cycle journeys, the helmet needs to be carried around even if the bike is left padlocked in a suburban station. Here are some interesting survey results: 92% of cyclists don’t wear a helmet. 84% believe their lives are at risk if they don’t wear a helmet. 83% don’t wear a helmet because of portability.
So this month’s challenge is to come up with a safety device that cyclists will use and is portable. The over-riding concern here is that the solution provides protection that is at least equivalent to a standard cycle helmet. Equally it needs to be substantially more portable if it is to have an impact and also this is a price sensitive part of the market – a Bill of Materials running into thousands is not likely to be a best seller.
As always we have a solution in mind which will be published in next month’s issue, but if you have any entertaining or interesting solutions then feel free to leave a comment or email the editor at tfryer@findlay.co.uk.
Our solution is called Morpher and it is a helmet that can be easily folded flat to be carried around, and equally easily unfolded for safe cycling. The range will be extended to cover other sports such as horse riding, skaters, snowboarders etc. Made from EPS (expanded polystyrene) it weighs just 250g and will retail for around £60. It contains around six different materials within on moulding and has, according to the inventor, never been achieved before!
For more details go to www.morpherhelmet.com
