Hövding Airbag Helmet - Anyone got any Feedback?

Has anyone tried these Hövding airbag invisible helmet things?

http://www.hovding.com

Ive been offered one at 'cost' price to try it out and see what its like ( its still expensive but just within my reach). Im thinking I might also get one for my 10 year old, as he has started riding his bike to school every day and hates wearing the helmet.

I have a bad history with helmets; been riding since I was bout 10 or 11 on the roads in London and had my fair share or crashes. For most of that time I've stupidly not worn a helmet. I reckon the main thing that stops me is just the bulkiness and also not feeling the wind in my hair (I'm bald now but you know what I mean.) At first glance these would seem to be perfect solution.

So, before I splash out on one of these expensive but potentially amazing new helmets, I was just wondering if anyone had any feed back on them, good or bad?

cheers
matt

EDIT: please merge in helmet thread if neccesary..

They aren't reuseable, so if you fall off once, or bump in to something then it's another £200 for a new one.

Yeah, I asked about that, apparently its £99 to get them replaced once they've been activated. Which would be ok if it had saved your life, but a disaster if you dropped it on the floor in the pub..

Not sure I can afford it, eve n at the discounted price.

Has anyone bought one?

For most of that time I've stupidly not worn a helmet.

Maybe you could just try not wearing a helmet sensibly?

Srsly though, I know these sisters at my old school whose father died after a long slow degenerative illness after a head injury from cycling. I remember one of them beseeching me to wear one.

All the threads and people at work telling me to wear a helmet and whatnot have never made me think this, but I'm suddenly thinking it now: I'm going to wear a helmet from now on.

I'll just buy a Kask or something nice.

I'd be interested to know what these airbag thingy ones are like.

I'd be far more concerned about the risk to a child of their wearing a primed airbag round their neck than I would be about them cycling, horrors of horrors, without a helmet.

I've looked into these previously and understand from other reviews that they can be quite heavy on the neck. This is especially noticeable when riding with drops / bull bars etc, rather than back sweep bars.

The guy who is offering me the deal rides a Brompton...
I ride an MTB with slicks and my son rides a racer/drop bars.
Food for thought..

Yeah I tried on once and think that actually they are pretty go {Hövding Inflates} mhm mmm mhmm.

My mother has one. they're pretty popular here in Sweden but mostly among casual cyclists. Is a quite bulky helmet, sort of warm around the neck and doesn't really work with a backpack or messenger bag since most of the workings hang down the back.

Running Man?

@Manson7am has sold em and dealt with customers wanting them reloaded, I think?

Wanted to revive this thread as I see more and more of these around Berlin these days..

Anybody like to share their experience, both about just riding with one of those regularly, as well as crash reports?

Read a good chunk of the FAQ on them yet would love to hear some real life feedback.

I have seen a woman fall off her bike here in copenhagen with one on. Airbag went off like it was supposed to, and I suppose potentially saved her from head injury. Supposedly they are massively safer than traditional helmets, statistics show.

As someone mentioned up in this thread, they offer a half-price discount for your next onw after one goes off and you need a replacement.

There is an activation button that when you (presumably) turn it off every time you take it off, it won't go off when dropping it in the pub.

It's not half-price but Euro 199.- instead of 299.- I have read.
Which is ok if you really have an accident I guess, and if it wasn't your fault maybe the insurance of the other party involved will even pay for it.

They look like they protect the head really well.
From what I've read so far they actually do go off accidentally quite often - when people forget to turn them off and lock their bikes for example - but also without reason, during "normal" cycling - which, ironically, seems to be quite startling and provokes accidents.

Sounds like the computer/sensor unit really needs some developement (why does the thing even go off when you're standing still, just bending down for example, is completely beyond me).
In other words if you forget to turn it off and the thing pops you stand there on the sidewalk looking ridiculous (plus that just cost you €300).
: ]

Loads of people here use them and I've never seen or heard of them going off accidentally. But yeah I suppose it's possible. My gf has also been using one the past 2 years, she likes hers. She hasn't had hers go off yet.

She hasn't had hers go off...
yet.

My mother had two hövding (as mentioned in this thread). The fist one was bought as a gift to my father and therefore a larger size than would have been reccomended for my mother. The company said it would be fine but efter it going of two times where there were no accidents she had enough.

Apperenly the larger size combined with the bumpy road of my hometown made the helmet jump around her neck, recognizing it as an accident and opening up. When the helmet opened it had spun around and thus opened in her face, blocking all her vision. Which, it has to be said, is not really ideal when riding a bicycle...

My advice is don't. They are massively heavy and only comfortable if you are upright which sort of misses the point of them, if you are riding an Uma bike round town do you really need a helmet and in particular an exploding on.

Love this part of the video on the homepage...

"Feel free"... Yeah I've never felt as free as I do when I have a big bulky, warm, explosive scarf wrapped tightly around my neck.

Newest version of a Hövding = 650g
Giro Foray (by all accounts a cheap bicycle helmet) = 270g.

Pretty sure I know which of those will make me feel more 'free'.

The Fox Proframe is only 100g more than than the Hövding and its a bloody certified DH race helmet! And its cheaper!

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The whole concept annoys me. Spending €300 on something which might accidentally go off, seems a lot less reliable and less comfortable than a normal helmet because you find wearing a helmet embarrassing. Can't think of any other reason you'd want one

Have read a lot of reviews by now; apparently you get used to the "heavy scarf" feeling rather quickly.

€300 really is a lot though, but maybe that's just the price you have to pay if you look really good and are worried about your hair?

I get your point, yet I also think you do get what they're saying, don't you.
Plus to be fair they seem to protect ya neck quite well indeed.

They also go off if you get punched in the face while standing still...

yet I also think you do get what they're saying, don't you.

With the ‘Feel free’ line? No, I don’t really really don’t get it.

I get that it’s a product that’s perhaps aimed more at countries where cycling is more normalised than in the uk, countries where the focus is on functional bikes being part of daily life and not on performance. Countries where helmet wearing is not so normalised.

What I don’t get is how anyone thinks that wearing a Hövding is less of a drag than wearing a helmet.

It doesn’t look any less bulky to carry around off the bike plus you have to be cautious of jolting it lest it explode.

Everyone knows what a cycling helmet is and while there are groups, cities and countries where helmet wearing is absolutely not the norm, I’ve never seen anyone make an issue out of anyone else choosing to wear a helmet or ask what their helmet was.

So, freedom, from what exactly?

Inconvenience? Hardly.

Impact upon your sense of style? I think a bike helmet would have less impact.

Your hair do? Yeah maybe. But if you’re that vain and self obsessed you could probably just do without the helmet as a bump on the head might actually do you some good.

The wind messes my hair up if I don’t wear a helmet