Peter is a cycle commuter who travels in and out of London, riding around 5000 miles each year. For the last 6 years, he has been using the same helmet. How? It’s a Hedkayse helmet. Why is this significant? It’s not made from packing insulation.
Would you trust this to save your life?
Ok so that’s maybe a bit of an exaggeration but in all seriousness, the majority of cycle helmets currently on the market are made from a derivation of the very material which protects our new electrical goods. Which is great, when its new and has not yet suffered the grind that is daily life. Especially for a London commuter.
Last July Peter was cycling around a reservoir near to his home when he noticed the nose of a badger pop into view which then shot out in front of him, like a “cannon ball”. With no time to pull the brakes his first reaction was to try to bunny hop over it. This unfortunately didn’t work, Peter described it as, “the worst thing he could have done”, as he could not regain grip upon landing. This was, he believes, due to hitting the badger with his front wheel while in mid-air as it scarpered past him. As a result, Peter was knocked unconscious. Luckily, he came around about 20 minutes later and managed to cycle home.
What’s the moral of this story you may ask, well about a week after the incident Peter went to A&E to get his injuries examined as he had not yet fully recovered from the accident. When discussing the events with his radiologist he learned that a similar incident had occurred in the same area about a week prior. But the person involved did not survive, even though they were wearing a helmet. This is where the title comes from as Peter says, “Hedkayse saved my life, it really has”.
How safe is your commute?
That story was not the only one Peter shared. When cycling down cycle route one in London a truck driver swung his door open right in front of him, overhanging the cycle lane. Peter was travelling at a moderate speed at the time leaving him no time to brake. Realising he was going to hit the truck, Peter turned his head to prepare for the impending impact, where he recalls the sound of the smashing mirror, followed by the impact with the metal bar it sat on. Peter was consequently thrown into the bushes at the side. Again, Peter was able to walk away from the incident relatively unscathed. The most encouraging thing from this was that when Peter later inspected his Hedkayse on the train he noticed that it had only suffered minor cosmetic damage.
If he had been wearing a regular EPS helmet that day, the outcome would in all likelihood have been very different. Even if Peter had been wearing a box fresh standard helmet that day, it would more than likely have been obliterated during the impact. Peter recalled that he thought if it had been one of those helmets, “I’d have lacerations from the shatter”.
Peter to this day is still using the very same Hedkayse helmet on his daily commute as he knows that it will still provide him the protection he needs, without the worry of causing damage from bashing it about on the train. Peter truly believes that more people need to be using a Hedkayse and is looking forward to the further developments of the helmet in the future.
A little more on Hedkayse
The main protagonist in this story has been the Hedkayse helmet, so let’s give a bit of context into how after 6 years the same one is still safe to use. Hedkayse has pioneered a multi-impact material called Enkayse, which makes it possible for a helmet to be fully recoverable after an impact.