Here’s a Novel Concept: Cool Bike Helmets

It’s common knowledge helmets protect you when you ride a bike, but not common knowledge that you can find cool bike helmets. For anyone born in the last 30 years, helmets have been a part of our upbringing. How many times did your parents send you to school with your helmet tightly buckled before you learned to hang it from your handlebars as soon as you were out of sight? If you weren’t involved in cycling as a sport, helmets were embarrassing. They just weren't cool.

This new generation has no choice but to cycle in style with all the fashionable and cool bike helmets outfitting heads both young and old. Long gone are the clunky domes with uncomfortable straps and scratchy Velcro. Initially, helmets weren’t designed to turn heads, just to simply protect them. At the turn of the century, racing cyclists began to use a "helmet" constructed of merely a strip of leather coupled with strips of wool cloth that covered the head. Over time, this creation evolved into a padded leather device that offered little to no protection but nonetheless became part of the cycling wardrobe. This helmet came to be called a “hairnet.”

In 1975, the first “real” helmet was invented and safety standards were established in the helmet industry. The outer shell became hard plastic and foam was added to the interior to absorb shock. Every decade since has seen both aesthetic and functional adjustments that have resulted in today’s cool bicycle helmets. It doesn’t even occur to kids these days to feel embarrassed by their helmets, they can choose from a firetruck design to a shark or even one with a built-in mohawk.

People who enjoy bicycling as a recreational hobby, like urban dwellers or professionals who want to save their gas money, can get cool bike helmets that look like hats with a new collection that is gaining popularity. And even better, they can customize the look to fit their distinct personality with interchangeable covers. Professional cyclists, who have always chosen function over aesthetics, are now offered a broad range of products that fuse both the necessary safety components with a sporty aerodynamic look. No matter the age and rider, no one has to hang their helmet from the handlebars anymore.