I need help!!

[Ben Staples]

Hello! My name is Ben Staples and I am a student doing an A level project involving designing and manufacturing a locking device so that the bicycle helmet can be locked to the bike when not in use. If a few people could answer the following questions it would be much appreciated and will help me design a product that will meet cyclists desires;

1) Do you think a bicycle helmet locking device is a good idea?

2) Would you be interested in purchasing it if it was available on the market?

3) What sort of price would you value it at?

If you have any ideas for this product and think it will help me ensure it will benefit cyclists, then please feel free to express those opinions.

Thank you

 

[Young Un]

1) good idea but I think you will find lots of people just pass their cable lock though the helmet and secure it that way.

2) If I was to start comuuting then yes I may be interested, but it would have to small/light enuff to be able to carry around with me along with my all ready heavy lock.

3) as for valueing the product - it depends on its security rating/its weight/size/locking system. But still be cheap enough so that I do purchase it and stop using the 'cable through hlemet' method. So about £5?

 

[jay clock]

On the odd occasion I lock it to the bike I just put the cable through the straps. Whilst it would be a hassle to lose my helmet, they are sweaty and therefore hardly of interest to a reseller, and if they had to cut the straps to steal it, the helmet would have zero resale value.

I do have a £1.99 combination lock that would go through the slats of the helmet, and have used that on occasions.

So £1.99 would be a fair price.....

 

[barq]

1. Possibly. I can secure my helmet with either my cable lock or U lock, but maybe there are types of bike lock where this isn't so easy.

2. Perhaps not for me, unless it did something extra like holding my lock when I'm cycling along, and then when I unclip the bike lock to secure the bike being a helmet lock at that point. Does that make any sense?

3. It would need to be quite cheap unless there was a clear advantage over securing my helmet with a normal lock. Maybe £6 or £7.

 

[tyred]

I don't usually wear a helmet and live in an area were crime is very rare anyway so may not be my place to comment but I can't see a very big market for such a device. Unless people who use expensive helmets might want one.

 

[Ben Staples]

thanks for the comments so far but i need to make something clear...I was thinking that the locking device should be fixed to the bike so no need to carry it in a bag whilst cycling.....this may change your views on the idea, if so, please make a comment

 

[Euan Uzami]

Hello! My name is Ben Staples and I am a student doing an A level project involving designing and manufacturing a locking device so that the bicycle helmet can be locked to the bike when not in use. If a few people could answer the following questions it would be much appreciated and will help me design a product that will meet cyclists desires;

1) Do you think a bicycle helmet locking device is a good idea?

2) Would you be interested in purchasing it if it was available on the market?

3) What sort of price would you value it at?

If you have any ideas for this product and think it will help me ensure it will benefit cyclists, then please feel free to express those opinions.

Thank you

1) sorry to be harsh but the problem you've essentially got is that if it was a good idea, then there would already be one. and there isn't.

 

[marinyork]

1) No. It's a ludicrous idea, however don't stop that doing it for your project. Helmets are low value. I tie it to my bike. If someone nicks it which would be easy to do they'd have spoilt the helmet. If someone was vandalising it they'd be able to do it anyway.

2) Hypothetically. Small locks are useful to an extent.

3) £3. It'd have to double up for something else really, perhaps securing the seat post or something.

 

[mr_cellophane]

I can't see why people are saying that a helmet would need to be destroyed to steal it if it was chained to a bike. Bolt cutters would easily break a small chain.
I think the biggest problem would be the differing helmet styles and vent slots which would make a standard solid lock difficult to design. As for something which is a permanent fixture on the bike, where would it go ?
I very rarely leave my helmet with my bike. Same with water bottle, pump and lights, they all come with me.

 

[ChrisKH]

I also do not leave my helmet with the bike. I find it very useful upturned as a receptacle to carry my gloves, hat, keys, pass, lights, etc. from bike to office and office to bike. They are light and easy to carry and do not necessarily need to be stored with the bike tbh. Now if you were designing a lock for lights that would probably be more useful to me.

 

[mickle]

I don't wear a helmet. But if I did, and when I did I never left it on the bike because;
1) Weather might happen to it.
2) Birds might crap in it.
3) Some muppet might try to vandalize or nick it.
4) The risk of it being bashed accidentally.

Locking a decent bike up is already a bit of palaver and may involve removing lights/ computer/ water bottle/ panniers/ front wheel/ seat post. On my commuter the bike frame must be locked to an immobile object and the wheels secured separately. Someone like me isn't your target audience then but whoever your market the product must be easy to install but more importantly quick and easy to operate. More than a few seconds is going to put people off.

The technology already exists to secure a helmet to a locked bike, as someone already pointed out, a £1.99 cable lock will do the trick perfectly well but that's not to say that you can't come up with an innovative solution. It doesn't matter that you are finding a solution to a problem which doesn't exist, can you persuade enough people that they need such a thing is the real question.

It needs to be priced at around £5 to £6. This gives it a value price point which is
a) High enough to warrant a card spend but low enough for a cash sale.
High enough to qualify as a quality product but low enough to be an impulse buy.

Please come back and tell us how you get on.

 

[4F]

1 and 2 no

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I would do this by re designing the helmet, not the bike. I would then market the lockable helmet, not a lock to lock helmets or a lock on a bike to lock a helmet on a bike.

I might look at the lower section of a standard helmet...the bit that is nearest the ears and shaped to hug the head there. I would try to shape each side in such a way that the rider can simply clip the helmet onto the bikes top/ cross tubes then lock it on using a cylindrical push in out combination lock fitted into the helmet.




I doubt it will appeal to racers / roadie riders as no doubt it would be a heavier helmet.
It would likely appeal to parents of kids with mtbs
You'll never get bike manufacturers to modify a bike to do this...but producing a range of lockable helmets would be easier. Hey you could call it the chastitty hat

PS..It's my idea and when you make £millions I want a fair % wedge

 

[BigonaBianchi]

..or how about just making the straps on the helmet out of a knife proof material and adding a lock into the strap clip?

 

[BigonaBianchi]

..actually all you need do is make replacement helmet strapping from a knife resistant material, put a lock into the clips and sell them for under a fiver...when you do just send £4 of that fiver to me...ta.