Latest news with #Ventete
Fast Company
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Fast Company
What's it like to use this new strong and light inflatable bike helmet
I'll admit it: I don't always wear a bike helmet. That's especially true for short, unplanned rides using bike share—it doesn't make sense to carry around a bulky helmet when I might not even use it. A new inflatable bike helmet, the Ventete aH-1, was designed to help tackle that problem. When the helmet's not in use, it flattens so it can more easily fit in a bag. When you need to use it, it comes with a tiny battery-powered pump that fully inflates it in 30 seconds. After a decade of development by a London-based startup, the helmet came out in the U.K. last year and immediately sold out. It's not yet available in the U.S., but I had the chance to try it out. (The design was one of the winners of Fast Company 's 2025 World Changing Ideas Awards.) It looks nothing like any helmet I've ever seen. Instead of foam, it's made from a series of ribs covered in strong, triple-laminated nylon. The flattened version isn't small—it's roughly as long as a laptop. Even when it's not inflated, it's still somewhat thick. But unlike a typical helmet, it did easily squeeze into my backpack. It took me a couple of attempts to figure out how to inflate it, although the company has now tweaked the design so that the pump can be operated hands-free. In the version I tested, I had to hold the pump at a particular angle on the helmet's Presta valve to work correctly. (When it did work, the buzz of the pump was also very loud: I was slightly embarrassed to use it in public.) But it was fast. A tiny level on the side shows when it's correctly inflated. A strap at the back helps customize the fit. The design actually outperforms typical helmets on safety. When Imperial College London ran a study testing 30 different bike helmets, the aH-1 scored 44.1% better than the others in linear impact tests. 'It's incredibly strong,' says Colin Herperger, cofounder and CEO of Ventete, the startup that designed the helmet. 'One of the founders drove his car on it. If you think about any other helmet, it would be in pieces. When people think about an inflatable structural system, they think it's probably soft or squishy, and in fact, it's the opposite. It's actually super stiff.' The design is also comfortable to wear. When I tried riding with it on a hot day, my head stayed cool. Herperger points out that EPS foam, the material used in conventional bike helmets, is the same material used to insulate coolers to keep ice from melting. In a standard foam helmet, 'heat is trying to leave your head, and it's reflecting it back down and causing you to further overheat,' Herperger says. In the new design, 'because of the chamber system, it's actually lifted off the head, and you get a conductive airflow between the head and the helmet. So the hot air is just drawn away from your head.' I liked the way the origami-like design looked, too. It's something I'd definitely be willing to wear—though at £350 (around $475) for the helmet and pump, it isn't cheap. And because it's still waiting for regulatory approval in the U.S., I can't keep using it now. While the timeline for approval isn't clear, it may roll out here later this year.
Fast Company
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fast Company
This bike helmet inflates when you want to wear it—and can fold into your backpack if you don't
A decade ago, as bike commuting surged in London, three U.K.-based designers started thinking about how to improve safety. What if a helmet could fold flat when it wasn't in use so a cyclist could easily carry it around? 'We knew it was on the edge of impossibility,' says Colin Herperger, an architectural designer who led the project. 'But we had a suspicion that it could exist.' After years of R&D, their new design, the inflatable Ventete aH-1, hit the market in the U.K. last year and sold out within hours. Later this year, it's expected to roll out in the U.S. The helmet, which retails for £350 (about $450), folds down to a tenth of its size to slide into a backpack. When you're ready to jump on a bike, a small USB-C pump attaches to a valve and fills the helmet with air. (Any tire pump can also do the job.) Within 30 seconds, it expands, accordion-style, and the ballistic fabric becomes rigid and strong. In a safety study at Imperial College London, the design outperformed 30 conventional competitors in tests of linear impact absorption. As the designers expected, the development was challenging. The team initially experimented with 3D printing, then pivoted to fabric, partnering with other companies to create custom materials that could meet their complex performance requirements. Because nothing like this had been produced before, the process also involved innovative manufacturing techniques, such as creating new tools for high-frequency welding. The startup went through more than 100 iterations before getting to the design that came to market; the company now holds 26 patents. The final helmet has other advantages beyond its portability and strength. Unlike a foam helmet, it doesn't hold in heat, so it's more comfortable to wear. And while foam helmets become less effective if they're dropped, the Ventete helmet's pressurized air makes the new version more resilient. It arguably also looks better than a typical helmet—making it more likely that riders will actually want to wear it.
Times
05-05-2025
- Science
- Times
Inflatable bike helmet ‘offers better protection for brain'
Scientists in white lab coats are watching on intently as a lifesize plastic model of a human head hurtles down a metal rig, protected only by an inflatable cycling helmet. It ricochets off the ground with a bang, as sensors hidden inside the dummy head capture all of the forces that such a 'crash' would inflict on the human brain. The team at Headlab, based at Imperial College London, are on a mission to make cycling safer by testing how best to design helmets to minimise the risk of brain injuries. One solution is to replace the hard polystyrene foam traditionally used in cycle helmets with compressed air. A British start-up called Ventete has created an inflatable helmet, with tests by Headlab finding that it
