March 20, 2014

Safe helmet, safe head

Once you have a bicycle helmet you love, it will help protect your brain. You do have to remember to wear it. You have to have it with you, put it on correctly, and find a safe place to stash it when you are dashing in and out of shops on bike errands.

Many people simply hang their helmet by its straps on the bike’s handlebars. That’s the one-second solution. The two-second solution is still fast and easy, and it’s a bit more of a theft deterrent. Slip your bike lock (we love the ABUS Bordo series of folding locks) through both of the v’s made by the helmet straps, lock along with the bike frame to a secure post, and away you go. A helmet locked this way can’t be stolen without destroying either the lock, or the helmet.

Or, possibly is it time to invest in a helmet lock? Michelle Nigh Corbett, a cargo biking rider in Portland, Oregon, found the Buggygear B hook lock at Amazon for just under $10. She uses the hook lock to lock her own and her daughters’ helmets to the family bike. Sometimes when she’s making a very quick stop she has also found the Buggygear B a handy front-wheel lock.

Originally designed to hang shopping bags from a stroller handle, the hook lock does great dual duty with helmets. Locks specifically for helmets are also now available from a few vendors – check here. If you want something even niftier that locks your helmet to your seat post and protects it from weather, check out Helmmate’s elegant solution.