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news
Kickstarter funding sought for cycle helmet that uses water to cool brain (+ video)
The inventor of a cycle helmet that he claims is the first to not only provide protection for the head but also actively cools the brain is seeking funding for the product on Kickstarter.
Launching the campaign on the crowdfunding platform yesterday, CoolHead founder Sergejs Zelinskis said: “I’ve faced many race and training days alike when temperatures have reached dangerous highs, putting myself and other riders at risk.
“After years of being driven inside to train or risking my health in high temperatures, I set out to develop a helmet that would solve this problem once and for all.”
In a video accompanying the Kickstarter campaign Zelinskis, who lives in Florida, said the idea came to him when he was racing in Europe and noted the difference in the way he felt due to the temperature.
Unlike existing helmets which use vents to cool the head using air, CoolHead has a lining made from a special material which when soaked in water retains it, but continues to remain dry to the touch.
The helmet also has an integrated visor and will be available from June, with an early bird price on Kickstarter of US $105.
Zelinskis is seeking US $3,240 in funding and is already three quarters of the way there with US $2,441 pledged.
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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28 comments
Oh it's been ages* since we've had a good old sciency helmet debate!
*no it hasn't.
BTBS - yes, the increased risk was part of my point, your science regarding helmets in labs needs refreshing and concussions are not the only protection criteria, I agree with the blame transference - it's shit and getting worse, the increase in pro-rider accidents is sporadic seems to have more to do with heart conditions and vehicular colllisions and as for "This helmet just adds more hogwash and is a solution looking for a problem that never existed without helmets." - well, yes, absolutely and entirely true.
This thread needs... (courtesy tylervigen.com)
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I'll be borrowing that!
Tis a silly thing.
Retains water, yet remains dry to the touch. One wonders what cooling effect it is going to provide.
If there is no evaporation, there is no cooling effect unless there is a battery driven compressor and cooling fins. A simple water jacket, even if put in the refigerator is quickly going to rise to the ambient temperature or higher given a cyclist pedalling at 200W is losing approx 200W of heat through their head.
Multiple studies have shown the dangers of cooling certain parts of the body, as it inhibits sweating / confuses the body's temperature responses, so in fact, a cool helmet on the head could result in a reduction in sweating on the head which could paradoxically lead to an increase in brain temperature.
Naturally very high brain temperatures can be dangerous, but the body has multiple systems to prevent this happening, including making exercise exceedingly difficult, so the opportunity to cook one's brain from cycling in the heat is pretty limited. The incidence of people collapsing from heat fatigue in endurance events is actually very small. Cooling their heads is unlikely to lead to a lowering of those incidences.
Just saying....
Why not just take the helmet off and let the wind cool your head? That's the problem with helmets, they are extremely good insulators and cook your brain, which is a proven health risk.
My cotton cap is pretty cool and provides almost exactly the same protection, and is much, much cheaper.
No use for racing in though
It's more aero and safer for racing though as proven by the stats.
Having a cooked brain has only been a forced problem since one organisation decided to coin it in with manufacturers and ignore actual facts.
Try doing a ride sans helmet, you'll be quicker and safer
It is perfect for racing, it's just that the regulators brought in some completely unjustified rules making helmets mandatory, which seems to have signiicantly increased the death rate of professional cyclists.
No. It doesn't.
Well, it depends whether you believe the data or the "helmet saved my life" fairy stories. The biggest ever helmet study found a small but significant increase in risk with helmet wearing, so going by the actual, real world data, helmets provide less protection.
Exactly - helmets cost more lives than they save.
Fucking death traps that they are. Flammable too.
Not this one... it's full of water.
In my experience on my commute to work through parks I have found that cotton caps provide practically no protection against low hanging branches where as a helmet provides very good protection against them.
Try ducking under the obstacle rather than crashing into it.
Sometimes you don't have time to duck due to it being a last minute manouvre to avoid the dog off the lead or you may not have seen the branches due to cycling at night and your focus being on objects on the path. Most of the time though these branches are lower than I can duck as they are fallen/loose/broken branches.
Thats right - because we are all cycling ninja Jedis, but having on a helmet just completely blocks our connection to the Force.
Going helmet - less also makes you 1000% more attractive to the opposite sex, gives you the strength of ten tigers, increases testosterone levels exponentially lets you walk on water, divide by zero and a whole host of other super fucking powers.
Science fact. 90% of the time it works, every time...
Studies have shown that risk taking goes up with protection, but risk and protection are not the same thing. Also, if you're talking about the Australian helmet ban, the discussions were that the study also had different demographics pre- and post-ban, as might be obvious.
And that's part of the problem, racing/sporting cyclists increase their risk taking when they feel protected virtually the same as children and due to the speeds they are travelling at cycle helmets do not reduce the head injury rates, in fact wearing them has proven to increase incident numbers and thus all injuries. You only have to compare the number of helmet saved my life stories and concussion/head injury rates in racing/weekend warrior riding pre and post helmet laws or where helmet wearing has increased significantly to see this effect.
If all the number of helmet saved my life stories were translated in deaths of people on bike before helmets became a thing it would be looked at as an epidemic, and yet those numbers are simply not there, not in any country ever. This still not even taking into account better motorvehicle design, better medical treatment etc that all have an impact (pardon the pun). In fact if you look at pro racing despite better on course H&S, despite better brakes and grippier tyres, despite better medic care on course, despite marshals at more tight corners and despite helmet wearing the deaths have gone up since mandation.
This reflects what has been found in every country at every age group in every discipline and yet people still ignore these facts and the risk factor presented elsewhere in their lives.
It's not just bonkers logic but is has also caused discrimination, victim blaming and exclusion but also has bred a generation of people on bikes whom frankly ride like dicks and are the ones that seemingly crash time and time again and re-inforce their belief in a protection system that science tells you is borderline capable of even preventing a simple concussion in best scenario in lab testing. Add in gvernments whose focus is to blame/push the responsibility of safety onto the vulnerable instead of looking at the real problem and you can see why a fair few of us hate helmets with a passion because of the damage it has done not just to people riding bikes but everyone.
This helmet just adds more hogwash and is a solution looking for a problem that never existed without helmets.
Wow. I feel so stupid now, what with putting a shortened thin buff under my helmet to both stop sweat drips into my eyes and to benefit from the cooling effect of moisture evaporation. All in one widely available, easily washable, cheap package (and it reduces helmet hole sun burn too). So so stupid. I'll be buying the new helmet as soon as I can first help fund it's development.
If my brain cooled wouldnt i die ?
1. Remove bidon from cage
2. Raise it above you, with the spout pointing at your head
3. Squeeze bidon, so that a cooling jet of water* hits your head
4. Replace bidon in cage
5. Send me the $105 dollars I've just saved you
* isotonic drinks have a similar cooling effect but can be a bit sticky
Evolution should have made a way of water-cooling us, then we wouldn’t need this sort of thing.
Evolution didn't give us wheels either, but life... uhh, finds a way.
Looks a bit like Giro Attack and he sounds like Tommy Wiseau.
Luckily riding in 90+ degrees farrenheights is not an issue in the UK as we use Celcius.
I think you missed my little joke about sweat.
If you ever go cycling in the USA you'll have to do it in Fahrenheit.
Won't somebody think of the bad odours and anti perspirant sales, please?