Ask A Woman: Looking for a chick-magnet bike helmet (they exist, right?)
If you’ve got a question that needs the female treatment, chances are you’re not the only one who wants to ask it. Beth is our source for the answers. From opinions on men’s style to decoding the sometimes mysterious ways of women, she’ll take on a different question every Thursday. And don’t worry, your identity will be protected too. Click here to get to know Beth, then get in touch with her by sending your question to: askawoman@dappered.com
Hey Beth:
I live in the D.C. Metro area and because of the horrendous traffic I bike to work. I get teased by my female coworkers about my “cool” bike helmet. There probably isn’t such a thing as a sexy bike helmet, but could you help me find one that will at least avoid the laughter?
– Ed
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Hi Ed,
I don’t ride my bike much (especially since my other half ran it over with the car–thanks a lot, dear), but when I do–did–I always wore a helmet. And it looks dumb. Like teenagers mocking me from their passing cars dumb. Still, I don’t want to be a vegetable for the rest of my life when said teenagers aren’t paying attention and crash their car into my unprotected head. So I feel your pain, Ed. Safety first, but oh what a sartorial sacrifice it is.
Our fearless Dappered leader turned me on to the site nutcase. They make helmets for a variety of sports–biking, rafting, snowboarding–in as unoffensive a style as I’ve seen. That means smooth lines without any weird aerodynamic sculpting (which, yes, I’m sure makes you less wind-resistant, but Ed needs to get to work, not win the Tour de France). Here we have the page for their solid colored biking helmets. I like the more demure colors like Chocolate Milk and Shark Skin, but if you’re feeling Liberace-ish, they also have shades like Gold Sparkle. They also have patterned helmets; those are bit more risky if you’re trying to wear your helmet in an unobtrusive manner. But I do like the unfortunately named Beaver Fall and Stumptown Woody.
Bell, bern, and Amsterdam Bike’s hat-style. Know that the bern comes in plenty of (more subtle) colors.
Another brand/style I found is the Bell Faction helmet. I like it less than the nutcase–it’s less streamlined–but still a good option, especially in the colors, white, grey, and black. The Giro flak is in the same style as the Bell Faction and the nutcase. Bern helmets are kind of cool-looking too, and they feature a small brim which I sort of like. My favorite is the Bern Watts which is not as bulky as their other styles, and comes in some fun–though still relatively reserved–color combinations, like black and grey or green and black.
I could not believe when I found the site for Amsterdam Bikes. They make helmets that look like hats! Literally, the only give away is the strap that connects under your chin. The site is dreadfully lacking in information, but it looks like you buy the helmet, which comes with a hat cover, but the covers are removable, so if you get bored with the hat cover, you can purchase a new one. They are very expensive for the helmet (this one is $139), and also for just the hat cover ($59), but if you really feel self-conscious about wearing a helmet, it might be a good investment for you.
Still, after all this…your female coworkers may find something else to tease you about, even if they approve of your new head wear. Take it as a compliment. Women typically don’t tease losers–only men they’re fond of. Ah women…speaking of women [transparent transition], did y’all hear about a new little site that launched on Monday [shameless self-promotion]?
The female version of Dappered. It’s called full clutch, and as the tagline says, it aims to promote smart, sophisticated style for the ladies. We’ve got sale picks, reports on trends, makeup how-to’s and a lot of other fun stuff for the women in your life. Go check it out and then spread the word [pathetic begging]!
-Beth
Got a question for Beth? Send them to: askawoman@dappered.com
Those are the dorkiest helmets I’ve ever seen.
Just remember, if you’re going to wear a discrete helmet, you’d best not wear it with the full lycra skinsuit!
i cant believe beth is seeing another man behind my back — why didnt anybody tell me?!
Oh man, those are terrible choices, especially for the summertime.. Bike helmets mostly look lame because of fit, ie. “mushroom-head.” Go and try on a bunch of helmets and find one that fits your head and is relatively low-profile and you’ll be good to go.
If you are worried about how your helmet looks, you are riding too slow. HTFU!
I wear a cheap, non-stylish bike helmet and it does its job (well, I didn’t test it and hope I won’t have to). I might buy another helmet in the future, but it will just be a better, lighter, more aerated non-stylish helmet.
I have to guess that by “cool” helmet he means a helmet like the ones suggested
its the work ladies you are worried about, at this point, changing your helmet may look like you are lacking self-confidence
If you want a new helmet get yourself to a bikeshop and get yourself a regular old helmet, something like this like this (doesn’t need to be this exact helmet) http://www.amazon.com/Giros-Savant-Helmet-Charcoal-Medium/dp/B005I6SX82/ref=sr_1_21?s=cycling&ie=UTF8&qid=1337256378&sr=1-21
to add, personally I would go with the white/silver color on that
If you’re so self-conscious about your helmet, you could always hide it in your super cool JanSport backpack so your co-workers don’t see it.
Disagree. I have the bell myself and it looks/works great. Looking forward to upgrading to a Bern soon. Saw a guy with one on a few days ago, and it’s much lower profile than the Bell.
the bern helmets are actually pretty nice. Couple this thought with the fact that they sell insertable liners or something to keep your squash warm in the winter time, and it makes for a pretty sweet brain-bucket. I believe they also may make some ear-warmer/headphones attachment as well, but I would recommend that more for snowboarding/skiing and not for riding your bike. (A duel use helmet?)
(I don’t have a bern, but a bunch of bike commuter friends rave about them).
USA! USA! USA!!
http://www.bikeweekleathers.com/-DOT-DAYTONA-SKULL-CAP-AMERICAN-FLAG-p1705.html
Roller derby helmets on bikers!
The helmets do look pretty cool, but they seem like they’d only exacerbate the problem faced by any bike commuter: sweat!
I think you’d be better off going with a low end race helmet. Not too streamlined so you don’t look too goofy going slow, but plenty of vents so you don’t have to worry about the sweat methods discussed today.
http://www.amazon.com/Louis-Garneau-Mundial-Cycling-Helmet/dp/B004KKGCH6
http://www.amazon.com/Giro-Transfer-Helmet-Charcoal-Universal/dp/B005I6PCOU
The rationale for this being is that the whole reason for wearing this is function, not fashion. I say have fun with it. You’re only wearing the helmet for the trip back and forth to work. I’d be more worried about making sure I didn’t have helmet hair the rest of the day than what the helmet looks like.
That Amsterdam would be bitchin’ with an argyle shirt, white pants and black knee-high boots. And maybe a whip to complete the look.
I swear, every time I think something, there is a post about it the next day! I jsut bought the Bern Watts in Matte Gray – like a gray suit, it should go with anything, anytime, anywhere.
Its as cool as a bike helmet can look…. they will always be dorky, but living in Chicago, it is a necessity. In a smaller city, I probably wouldnt use one.
My wife has the matte orange Nutcase – it has an easy fit dial on the back which is sweet, and it is somewhere on the low end of the dorky scale.
Good choices
my bern watts is legit (see comment below) – definitely recommend!
Alternatively, there’s always the Bret McKenzie method…
http://www.hotlikesauce.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Hair-Helmet.png
That show is sorely missed…
There is no such thing as a “cool helmet,” unless it’s designed to actually keep your head cool. I’ve raced for the better part of my life and urge you to just wear whatever you think will keep you safe.
Personally, I rarely wear a helmet unless I anticipate heavy traffic along my route or I am actually competing. Those three helmets up top look ridiculous, seriously.
This the first Dappered post I disagree with. Beth admits in the first sentence she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, so I would take her advice with a whole spoonful of salt. I’ll echo the statements of some other comments and say that a bike helmet is a utilitarian object where form follows function. Just find one that is lightweight and keeps your head cool. The helmets recommended in this article are neither of those things.
The only time you will ever catch me wearing a helmet, is on my motorbike.
I’ve never, nor will I ever wear a helmet on a pedal bike, and this is from someone who used to ride a lot of bmx bikes(dirt jumps,streets,ramps). I snowboard a lot too, on the east and west coast. I’ll ride any black diamond trail or double black ,any park feature, jumps,rails,boxes,anything else they put in my way,no helmet. My friends all wear helmets and they are still afraid of all that stuff on the mtn. I think if I did wear a helmet, I’d try to go too big and hurt myself.
I feel if your going to wear a helmet, you’d better be pulling some stunts off. I know it’s about safety but, screw that. No one wears a helmet in their car, and that’s dangerous too. Or get a full face helmet so no one sees who you are .Also, who cares if it’s a law, have you never broken the law before?. I’ll take the risk, if I crack my head open, then those are the cards I was going to be dealt. Not trying to be a bad ass, just don’t wanna look like a fool.
But thats just me.
Worrying about being teased by coworkers about your helmet reveals a lack of self-confidence, and I wonder if THAT’S what’s generating the teasing and ridicule. Or could it be that these same colleagues are actually impressed with your fitness and dedication and are giving you a hard time in a good-natured way?
In either case, wear what makes you comfortable. Own it. Be proud of your cycling. To hell with your co-workers if they don’t get it.
Yeah, I have to echo everyone else… those helmets are terrible… buy a reasonable looking “sleek” designed one, most of them are designed to keep your head cool, and be very light, and buy one with a smaller profile. Then own up to your biking to work and tell your coworkers you’re in better shape than most other guys they meet cause you bike to work and don’t eat doughnuts and a 400 calorie starbucks in your car sitting in traffic…
Or the JD hairmet
http://images.wikia.com/scrubs/images/c/cc/5×22-Hairmet.jpg
“Not trying to be a bad ass, just don’t wanna look like a fool.”
Odd, the first thing I think when I see a cyclist without a helmet is “What a @#$% fool!”Sure, I don’t wear a helmet in my car, but I’ve got a ton of steel and air bags to protect me. Hurtling down the road at 35mph+ riding 20 pounds of potential shrapnel I’ll take all the protection I can get.
Agreed. The “weird aerodynamic sculpting” isn’t about making you faster- it’s ventilation to keep you cooler. They are sculpted specifically to draw more air across your head so you don’t sweat as much. In the summer, leave your “Tony Hawk” helmet at home and wear your “Lance Armstrong” helmet so you don’t show up at the office drenched in sweat.
I get stuck riding in traffic a lot. One of my friend’s Mom’s just got back on her bike after a year layoff because she was hit and had her femur crushed and spine broken. Went for a run a couple years ago, and a woman who was riding slowly on an old mountain bike bit it coming off a small footbridge, smashed her head into the pavement, and she was bleeding out of her eyes. That was a fun 911 call.
I have zero problem with people who choose not to wear a helmet. I don’t always wear mine. But when I’m biking to work during rush hour? Yeah. You bet.
That settles it for me. Time to invest in the Bern Watts. Been looking at that for a lonnnnng time. Thanks j.r.
So I’m gonna have to finally pull the trigger and comment on this…
I cycle every day to and from work, roughly 8 miles. It’s mostly through residential, but I don’t wear a helmet. Mostly this is for convenience’s sake; when I arrive, the helmet just is a big thing to store, and locking it to my bike is asking for trouble. Yet, I highly encourage anyone who feels the least bit unsure of their cycling abilities to wear one. It doesn’t hurt AT ALL, and can only save you if you get in an accident. Countless lives have been saved, and permanent brain damage is worth a few jokes.
Now moving on to the helmets listed above, there’s no need to pay that much. Go to your local bike shop and just pick one out. There are some really sleek ones that aren’t “fashionable” but will make you look cool. AND they’re usually under $50! If you really need a helmet, just store it at work. When I bike to work, I don’t wear my expensive Allen Edmonds, I wear a cheap pair of sneakers and change when I get there. Easy enough.
Wearing a helmet isn’t lame, and if your coworkers give you crap for it, just turn it around into a joke. That’s the big issue here. Protecting your head in the event a rogue car decides to knock you off
For sure. I don’t like wearing a helmet—it’s uncomfortable, it looks dumb, etc—but waking up in the hospital with fucking amnesia (seriously) pretty much solidified my position. The accident is the only thing that hasn’t come back to me, but I’m fairly sure I wasn’t “pulling some stunts off.”
Au contraire; the 1st paragraph illuminates her firm grasp of the situation.
Gentlemen, this is a style blog, not a cycling blog. The reader asked for a helmet that is more aesthetically appealing, not one that keeps his head cool & the examples Beth has provided fit the request to a T. Just as we leave the running kicks at home unless we are actually running, some of us would prefer to leave the racing helmets at home unless we are of a racing mind. And no, riding a bicycle in & of itself is not necessarily a sporting activity demanding sporting attire. It was created for, & continues to function as, a simple means of transportation.
I, for one, thank Beth & Dappered for the helmet suggestions b/c I do not care for the aerodynamic look either.
Dude just wear your normal futuristic looking tron helmet. it’s badass and your coworkers are just jealous.
I was hoping someone else remembered the hairmet
I would wager that bleeding out of one’s eyes and lying in a hospital bed make a person look inherently dorkier than any helmet on the planet. Too many people get serious head injurious from the kind of thinking expressed by many in this discussion. I’ll choose a helmet no matter how dorky 100% of the time.
Ed, just so we’re clear why co-workers are ridiculing you: you don’t happen wear the goofy spandex bike shorts to work do you?
Ugh, that’s horrible.
As an avid cyclist and competitive bicycle racer and can assure you that no helmet looks cool, and attempting to find the least “helmet-looking-helmet” is an exercise in futility. If you’re going to ride a lot, just use a good standard lightweight helmet. My team has changed helmet sponsors a few times over the past few seasons so I’ve got to try quite a few different offerings from different companies. As far as minimal, lightweight, and something that fits closest to the head, the best helmet out there is the Lazer O2. You can get it for around $75ish, and it’s going to fit very, very close to your head and has a slim design. I’d still wear it but we had to switch to Rudy Projects this year. Those Bern and Bell helmets are awful looking and pretty impractical if you’re commuting every single day. Like anything else in fashion, you gotta own it. Don’t half-ass it with a clunky helmet and the whole anti-lycra attitude, neither will come off as “cool”. Proper bike attire (including a proper helmet) serves a purpose. Ideally you want a helmet with more vents and something a bit lighter so you don’t sweat quite as much, same with a lycra kit, it’s highly functional. Get a nice lycra kit, get a decent helmet, make sure your kit helmet and shoes all follow some sort of similar color scheme. Google ‘Tom Boonen’, ‘Mark Cavendish’, or “Heinrich Haussler”… tell me that your female coworkers would make fun of those guys. Yeah right! Also not sure why Beth poked fun at that Giro helmet, that’s a proper helmet and looks a million times better than that horrid Nutcase. Not trying to be rude, but I think this is one topic Beth is not going to be any help at. No offense. Think of it how Dappered went through the whole tie with jeans thing, “looks like you knew you were supposed to dress up but you couldn’t stand the thought of going all the way, so you compromised”. It’s the same with bike apparel. Don’t compromise. Own it.
Not to flame you, but how in the world is a helmet a “big thing to store”? I can assure you that your hospital bed or casket are much more difficult to store.
Doesn’t matter if it’s 8 miles through a residential and to say “if you’re unsure of your cycling abilities” then you should wear a helmet is absolutely foolish. I’ve been riding and racing bikes for quite a few years. I’ve been hit twice by cars, both were unavoidable, both were in residentials, and both times I had a helmet on. If I hadn’t, I’d be dead right now.
+1. None of the helmets mentioned in this article are sleek or low profile or good looking. A nice GIro or Lazer are going to look much better, be much lighter and slimmer profiles than those helmets mentioned in this article.
The bern and amsterdam are major fred status.
The only logical reason I can think of for ThatFlaco’s otherwise douchey response is that he in fact has suffered some sort of brain damage from not wearing a helmet.
That’s just it, those helmets aren’t aesthetically appealing. They’re ugly. A bike helmet isn’t about “aerodynamics”, its about letting more air in to cool your head so you’re not a big sweaty mess when you get to work. A standard bike helmet like the Giro Venti that Beth made fun of isn’t a “racing helmet”, its a pretty standard bike helmet.
Seems like a lot of you are missing the point or arguing off (or at least aside of the) topic. Ed, tell the women in your office to STFU. A few weeks ago I was wearing a linen jacket (and tie) with dark denim jeans at the library where I work (I’m 27) when a semi-fashionable 32-year-old coworker started busting my balls about my wardrobe. “Nice jacket, Justin,” in an annoying, sarcastic tone. (This was a repeat offense and also in front of co-workers.) I told her she sounded like an immature high school douche I used to know and asked her to keep her rude commentary to herself. Where do these people get off? This is head protection we’re talking about. Wear whatever head protection you want to. It’s your skull.
Yet another advantage of living in Australia is that such hard decisions don’t have to be made by individuals – bike helmets are compulsory – if you’re in traffic and not wearing one, you’ll soon have the police on your case!
A little late to add this perhaps, but nonetheless I’d like to offer up a plea that everyone remember and abide by the rules of the road. I know that people in cars can seem aggressive at times from the perspective of a cyclist, but as a pedestrian in DC, I can’t tell you how many times I see someone on a bike blow right through a red light.
Aiight fellas, there’s two obvious camps here. Let’s move on.
What is more fashionable… a trendy helmet on the bike, or a sweaty brow when you arrive at work? The trendy ‘street style’ helmets tend not to have much ventilation in comparison to typical helmets.
Remember that the thickness of the foam in a helmet is mandated – if you have a tiny head, a helmet is going to look more silly on you due to proportion.
For everyone that thinks a helmet is going to protect you from vehicle impacts or high-speed crashes – perhaps you should look at how these helmets are tested.
Who cares!? I want the safest, most durable helmet possible…even if it’s the ugliest. When it comes to preventing my skull from getting cracked, being “pretty” is just plain trivial.
Nothing wrong with JanSport backpacks.
These helmets all look really hot. No vents in them. Just get a regular effing helmet. It doesn’t have to look cool, it’s there to protect your damn noggin! This is probably the stupidest thing to get embarassed about, ever.
I think this is the exact helmet I have. It owns. But then, I don’t try and use it to pick up chicks. It’s there to protect my friggin’ skull.
“I’ve never, nor will I ever wear a helmet on a pedal bike, and this is from someone who used to ride a lot of bmx bikes(dirt jumps,streets,ramps). I snowboard a lot too, on the east and west coast. I’ll ride any black diamond trail or double black ,any park feature, jumps,rails,boxes,anything else they put in my way,no helmet. My friends all wear helmets and they are still afraid of all that stuff on the mtn. I think if I did wear a helmet, I’d try to go too big and hurt myself.”
You’re an idiot, FYI.
My stepdad has shattered a bike helmet clean in half mountain biking. if he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, he’d have been fucking DEAD.
So yeah…wear a helmet when you engage in dangerous, gravity-based sports like mountain biking and skiing/snowboarding.
As someone who has taken several high speed tumbles and shattered more than one helmet, I will never ride without a helmet. Then again I ride 4-7K miles a year, but even on trips down to the store, you still won’t find me without a helmet. Your head is a fragile melon surrounded by 4000 pound machines of death… do what you can to protect it.
Personally, I don’t think most road or mountain bike helmets look foolish. I do laugh a bit at the Specialized “Cylon” helmets, but they offer very good cooling. The above listed helmets are pretty fugly and I honestly wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them. However a nice Giro Aeon (my personal helmet), Atmos or similar designed helmet will sit nicely on your head without giving you that mushroom head look.
Beth, you’re a lovely woman and full of great advice. Just not in the field of bike helmets.
I don’t have one of these yet but just saw one in the Bike magazine today. I think this is a decent looking helmet.
http://www.pocsports.com/en/product/1230/trabec-race
She may have some very well-dressed single friends! 😉 I love Beth’s columns, she gives great advice.