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Barclays teams up with Sportsdirect.com for national cycle helmet promotion

10 per cent discount off brands stocked by sports goods retailer

Barclays Bank, sponsors of London’s Cycle Superhighways and Cycle Hire scheme, has launched a national campaign offering cyclists a 10 per cent discount on helmets bought through the UK’s biggest sporting goods retailer, Sportsdirect.com.

The bank says it “wants to encourage more cyclists to consider wearing a helmet,” and adds that with more people cycling, whether for leisure or commuting, it wants “to make it as affordable and easy as possible for all cyclists to access a helmet, should they wish to wear one.”

The issue of cycle helmets is of course an emotive one and while Barclays is recommending that cyclists wear protective headgear rather than insisting they should be compulsory, and emphasises that it is the rider's personal decision, any campaign that focuses on helmets does carry with it a risk of a backlash from parts of the cycling community. 

The 10 per cent discount is available on a range of helmets stocked at Sportsdirect.com’s 400-plus stores throughout the UK, as well as on its website.

Brands include Muddyfox and its sub-brand MFX, whose products tend to be sold through big-box retailers including Sportsdirect, as well as in-house brand, Dunlop.

The latter’s tennis racquets were once used by stars including Steffi Graf and John McEnroe, but owned by Sportsdirect since 2004, the brand has been diluted well beyond its historical focus on racquet sports and golf into areas including cycling accessories. Dunlop Tyres is a separate business, now owned by Goodyear.

Barclays cycling ambassador, the TV presenter Christine Bleakley, commented: “I wouldn’t feel comfortable cycling without a helmet and hope the offer will encourage more cyclists to consider wearing a helmet when on the roads.”

The helmet Bleakley herself is sporting in the picture Barclays supplied isn’t likely to be one of those available in the promotion, however – it isn’t stocked by Sports Direct.

Bleakley was shown trying on the helmet, made by Bern, in one of the videos she hosted for Barclays last year, aimed at encouraging female non-cyclists to take to two wheels.

Given the fact the helmet promotion is being run in conjunction with a retailer that isn’t top of mind when thinking of cycling specialists, it seems fair to say that it is likewise aimed at consumers who are new to cycling.

According to the 2012 annual report and accounts of Sports Direct International plc, the parent company of Sportsdirect.com, Barclays is the group’s principal bankers.

Last month, we reported that a Freedom of Information request had revealed that the bank had clawed back more than £1.5 million of its £50 million funding for the Barclays Cycle Hire Scheme from TfL, apparently due to missed targets during the scheme’s initial phase following its launch in summer 2010.

Currently, Barclays is offering free bike clinics in London in partnership with Bikeworks.

 

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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34 comments

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jdstrachan@yaho... replied to Paul J | 10 years ago
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Paul, don't you feel at risk though? When I walk on a pavement, the chances of being hit by a car are slim (although with drivers like Emma Way....) and when I am in a car, I have the car as a shell of protection.

Thats why I wear a helmet on a bike, to add extra protection. Don't you feel at risk?

I'm not criticising (despite my previous comments!) I am genuinely curious how non helmet riders feel when riding on the roads.

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jdstrachan@yaho... | 10 years ago
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Plus, could they have picked an UGLIER helmet to put her in?!  13

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Simon E replied to jdstrachan@yahoo.co.uk | 10 years ago
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Strax, The risk of being knocked off your bike is still small, even if you ride lots of miles, though it probably depends on where those miles take place as not all roads/situations are equally hazardous. Pootling through a park isn't the same as zig-zagging through London rush hour traffic or a bunch race.

Marketing and 'blame the victim' style scaremongering have gone a long way to convincing people that a helmet will protect them. Against a driver like this Twitter girl? No chance. A simple fall from ~1.5m is what I believe they are tested for, not being wiped out by 1.5 tonnes of steel at 50mph. Even at 30mph a car will destroy a brick wall, so how would 1/2" of polystyrene full of holes save you?

What do you think about risk compensation? Or Ian Walker's research indicating that drivers give more room to helmetless riders?

In the end it's a choice. I don't mind if it makes you feel safer. After 4 years of using one (purchased reluctantly after pressure from well-meaning family members) I stopped wearing mine recently. I don't feel less safe but I do feel more comfortable. I might wear it in the winter when the conditions are worse and it's cold and dark during commutes, but I'll see...

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burtthebike replied to Paul99 | 10 years ago
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Paul99 wrote:
joules1975 wrote:

Sorry gkam, but isn't a helmet splitting in a crash a helmet doing exactly what it SHOULD DO.

Correct. Simple physics.

No, and it isn't the physics that's simple.

Try this simple experiment: take a piece of polystyrene packing and try crushing it, and you will find that it takes considerable effort and a great deal of energy. Now try snapping it, and you'll find that it snaps extremely easily and takes almost no energy. Which do you think would absorb the greatest amount of energy, crushing or cracking?

Helmets are designed to work by absorbing energy by the polystyrene being crushed, and if it fails by cracking, it has absorbed very little energy, and didn't save your life, no matter how many paramedics, doctors or helmet salesmen tell you otherwise.

Actually, you're right, the physics is simple, you just don't understand it.

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