Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
M O R P H E R – folding bicycle helmet
LAST month I attended the British Inventions Show.
The stand-out product was the stand by the entrance.
It took me about one second to sense that this was a good idea.
I met the inventor, Jeff Wolf OBE, who explained his head was saved by a regular helmet ... yet few cyclists trouble to wear them. It set him thinking:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/morpher-folding-helmet-technology
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
This is confusing two issues. Holland has a culture where cyclist are considered primary road users, and their needs trump those of motorists. I wish that this was the case here but it is not. Until something changes radically, motorised vehicles rule the road. Anything that lessens the chance of injury to a cyclist is surely a good thing, be that helmets, lights or high visibility clothing.
I hope that the balance will fall in favour of the cyclist but at the present time it doesn't not so why not give yourself at least a fighting chance?
-
Permalink Reply by LSquared on
-
Agreed, they are two separate issues. That's why I stated "I think you may be confusing two points."
So, just taking transport cycling in the UK only,
- what is the chance of a cyclist just going about a day to day urban journey having the sort of head injury where a helmet would make a material difference? Because without that basic understanding of the risk how can you possibly conclude that people without a helmet do not have a fighting chance? If a helmet reduces my chance of death in the event of an accident by 20% but the chance of an accident is only 0.1%, I don't think the reduction of that risk to 0.08% is really significant enough to worry about. (made up numbers to illustrate the point - I don;t know the actual numbers but very happy to be told - I've asked helmet enthusiasts several times)
- are you certain that it's more beneficial to spend time and money promoting cycle helmets over, say, the importance of taking the lane to prevent unsafe passes?
- since head injuries are also a risk for pedestrians and drivers, do you also advocate wearing a helmet in a car or when walking? After all, if your position is that anything that lessens the chance of injury is surely a good thing, surely that applies for any activity, not just cycling. The sheer difference in numbers means that if they work, mass adoption of helmets by drivers and pedestrians is going to prevent far more head injuries than even 100% adoption of helmets by cyclists.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
Here Clive, in New Zealand, is why I think the people who sell bicycle helmets, no matter how clever they are and how good they are at physics, are bad for cycling. HERE.
-
-
Or it could suggest that the people who continued to cycle were the ones already wearing helmets, who we already know have a higher injury rate once children are excluded :p
(In case you aren't aware, the generally accepted explanation is that cyclist safety improves simply as the number of cyclists go up. Drivers are more used to sharing the road, cyclists are seen as everyday road users rather than the odd eccentric so drivers don't feel the need to dispense intimidating or "punishment" driving, cyclists act as traffic calming (less urge to power past this one if there's another 30 between you and the lights), and of course, the more people cycle, the more drivers are either cyclists themselves or have close friends or family who cycle.)
-
-
Lsquared, thanks for your input on this thread. At the moment I wear a helmet for every journey, but you've convinced me to reconsider.
-
-
Thanks Alex.
And if you decide a helmet is the right thing for you that's cool too. The main thing is to make an informed decision about the risks and how best to manage them.
Happy riding
-
Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
-
Morphing closer: for those interested in Jeff Woolfs innovative folding bicycle helmet that is finally about to enter production ...
Vote on Graphic Designs for Jeff Woolf
-
-
It's been a while since I started this thread about Morpher. Here's inventor Jeff Wolfe's latest message to those early (would-be) adopters such as me:
Hi All
Thanks so much, as ever, for your continuing good will and patience.
As you know, I was hoping that we would finish production by early to mid-October but when I was at the factory I wasn’t happy with one of the side catches. It seemed that the only option was to adjust the tooling ever so slightly. These were changes of not much more than a hairs-width but never the less, they make the difference between a smoothly operating catch mechanism and one that is really tough to use.
And they took a LONG time to get right.
This added about 30 days to the process and we have now moulded the new catches and all of the other components. We are in the process of printing the instructions, beginning final assembly and commencing shipping. This is the end of the production process for the first 700 units.
If all’s gone well then we’ll begin production on our US units.
I wanted to get this done whilst I was still at the factory but I couldn’t wait there forever. I had to come back in mid-October after a 6 week stint away from home.
There’s all sorts of great contributors out there, like 12 year old Max in France, who got his father to buy a helmet for him and wrote me a lovely note today asking if he’d ever get it. Well it’s for people like him and for all of the rest of you that I’ve kept going. I intend not only to supply all your helmets, obviously, but also to make Morpher a world leading brand in helmet safety.
I’ve recently patented some incredible new helmet ideas and you should be seeing these roll into production over the next couple of years. I’ll likely do more crowdfunding campaigns to ensure that they happen but rest assured, without all of your original contributions we would have been nowhere.
Once you get your helmets I would love it if you could send in pictures of you wearing them and stories about using them. They’ll help keep the factory and my designers motivated and I’ll publish some on Twitter, Facebook and the website.
I think you all know how hard I’ve worked at this and how dedicated the factory and I have been in trying to make this product. Please just bear with me for a tiny bit longer and you should have your helmets before this month is out. I am truly sorry that our American contributors will have a longer wait.
Finally, my personal thanks to everyone that has commented on Indiegogo that they understand, sympathise and have faith that I’ll get the job done. These comments help the most when things seem tough, bleak and never ending.
Thank you all.
-
-
WELL, some 25 months after my first post on the subject, my Morpher folding bicycle helmet arrived this morning (19 Jan 2016).
Since Jeff has in that time posted regular progress updates to his kickstarter supporters, I know that he's had one or two unexpected delays.
First impressions: looks good. It's fiddly to get it adjusted correctly and it's not immediately obvious which strap goes where. There's a nape-o'-the-neck strap and a separate chin-strap. I expect that once I get it set for my big head it'll be good.
One thing I notice straight away: it's comfortable and much more so than my current helmet.
-
-
Would be interested to see some pictures if you have a chance. The pictures on the website don't really give a sense of how big it is when folded.
-
-
Alex, will do. I can report that on a return trip from Stroud Green to the Hillcrest estate in Highgate this afternoon, the helmet was barely noticeable. It's remarkably light and comfortable.
-
Permalink Reply by empyrean_aisles on
-
I love the idea of a folding helmet, but I'm not comfortable wearing one that doesn't adhere to the current British standards. I don't see anything about whether Morpher conforms to those, either in this thread or on its website - Clive, was there anything in the packaging or instructions about the international or British standards it conformed to?
Also it would be good to see a photo of it on someone's head, something which is curiously missing from the photos on the Morpher website.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
