And now for some bike love

As a departure from the music videos I’ve been posting, here’s something that is awesome and from Sweden: and INVISIBLE BIKE HELMET.

I bicycle. I bicycle just about everywhere in San Francisco. Until last year, I never wore a helmet, much to the chagrin of my friends and coworkers. I’ve been lucky: despite several crashes (usually due to the dreaded Muni tracks), I’ve never been seriously injured. But last year, I gave in to my own vanity/laziness and started wearing a helmet. I understand that it’s designed to protect my noggin, but the thing is pretty ugly. I’ve tried out a few of those skateboarder-style helmets, but they just make me look like a jockey or a tiny army general – in either case, not a good look.

So this “invisible bike helmet” idea strikes me as generally brilliant. Granted, it’s not cheap (supposedly $600, and it can’t be reused). But hey, I like the way these ladies think. And if you have an extra six hundo kicking around and want to buy yourself one (or even better: buy ME one), you can do so here: http://www.hovding.com/en/hovding

In the meantime, I’ll continue riding around with my ugly-yet-functional, very visible helmet.

Spoiler: the video is only 3.5 minutes long, but if you’re as ADD as I am, the tl;dnr version is: it’s an airbag packed into a clever collar, equipped with some fancy accelerometers and gyroscopes. If you’re on a bicycle and you fall, the gadget is designed to deploy a helmet-shaped airbag to protect your noggin.

The Invisible Bicycle Helmet | Fredrik Gertten from Focus Forward Films on Vimeo.