World's thinnest - and foldable - bike helmet is born

Danish team unveils 'the future' - the Newton-Rider 'semi-soft' helmet

"There is nothing like the future"

That is the slightly eccentric pronouncement by a new Danish company that has launched what it claims is the world's thinnest bicycle helmet at only 16mm, and which is also blessed with a built-in chip for 'incentivised cycling'.

The Newton-Rider helmet is, claim the makers, like no other, being 'semi-soft', foldable, and 'utterly stylish'.

“The urban youth, embracing mobility and freedom of transport when at the same time refuses to compromise on design and style, need a bicycle helmet that is exactly this...Sleek, Thin, Semi-soft and Foldable”

The Copenhagen-based company is an experienced international team of specialists with expertise from bio- and nano-technologies, concept and industrial design, who wanted to push the boundaries of designing and manufacturing bicycle helmets.

“We set high goals because we like to challenge and to push boundaries", they said in a joint statement. "Nothing has really changed in the way bicycle helmets are manufactured over the last 10-15 years. Helmets are still a hard, polystyrene hat, that for sure makes you safe when riding, but are rather bulky and uncomfortable to wear and honestly, they do not make you look a lot prettier either. We decided to try challenge the norm with science and engineering”

The Newton-Rider helmet is made with compounds of Visco-Elastic and Non-Newtonian materials, whilst clever engineering and innovative design makes the helmet not only comply to EN 1078 and CPSC safety standards when only 16 mm thin, but also renders the helmet as a 'never yet seen, semi-soft and flexible helmet for comfort and style'.

The design compares to traditionally made helmets that are completely rigid and require a thickness of 30-35 mm to comply to the same standards, while, in the event of a crash, afterward it retains its usability, unlike a traditionally-constructed polystyrene helmet that has to be discarded after any impact. 

The design promises good things about fit and comfort, too.

While traditional helmets come with a variety of foam pads to place inside to try to make the helmet fit, the Newton-Rider Helmet's IP-protected design principles allow the helmet to fit any adult skull shape and circumference between 57cm and 60cm, in comfort. This is, they say, thanks to a unique pad concept, together with an elastic and flexible liner that adjusts to the head size and shape.

The helmet is also aimed at changing urban transportation modes that have arisen over the last 6-8 months in tandem with the rise of the Covid pandemic.

“The wave of e-scooters and shared vehicles for sustainable transporting, the last mile to and from the workplace etc, calls for a helmet that is also foldable to enable the wearer to always have it with them”, say the company.

“The team behind the Newton-Rider Mobility Helmet believe they have designed and created the solution, a super sophisticated helmet that is not only incredibly stylish but also foldable, enabling it to be easily carried in your bag when not being used.”

The helmet also includes an embedded chip, that, together with its proprietary software API and if embedded in scooter apps, can make operators create incentives for riding with a helmet"  

The development of the backend system and the API was outsourced to Shape, Copenhagen, an award winning software company with 100+ developers doing advanced apps and backend systems for international clients.

“In fact our highly sophisticated chip and backend system essentially creates an individual URL for each helmet, however you can't email your helmet yet

Our idea is to provide the possibility for providers to create incentives and offers to users in specific areas if they see a fit. Our software is even planned to also handle theft and many other cool features we want to wait a bit before revealing.

All in all, the Newton-Rider helmet, we believe, is in many ways what a helmet should look like and what the urban youth will expect from a modern stylish bicycle helmet of today”

The helmet will comply to the European standard for bicycle helmets, EN 1078 and CPSC standards.

Early in the development process, Newton-Rider attracted the attention of the Danish Innovation Fund because of their innovative concept and engineering skills. Since then Newton-Rider has joined the club of innovative companies in Denmark signing in on the international scene for design, innovation and engineering to not only solve problems but to help improve lives in a society that has suddenly seen how fragile our World is.

The helmet's IndieGoGo campaign is now open and accessible by clicking here