Ever caught yourself staring wistfully at your helmet with a feeling of sorrow that it’s, you know, a bit lacking in functionality? Chinese firm Livall's new Bling Helmet, launching today via a $20,000 Indiegogo campaign, could be one answer to your woes.
The Shenzhen-based tech startup’s all-singing, all-dancing headgear combines music streaming, fitness stats, traffic signals and social media integration. It’s billed as providing riders with a “safer, more joyful cycling experience”.
According to Livall, company co-founder Yong Liu dreamed up the Bling Helmet after breaking an arm falling off his bike (we don’t know what caused the accident) – leading him to “recognise the demand for a smart helmet that merged safety with tech functionalities”.
The resulting product features an LED light direction indicator system said to replace hand signals while ensuring cyclists stand out to pedestrians and motorists. Riffing on the capabilities of the established IceDOT crash sensor, a built-in gravity sensor detects external strikes and automatically alerts emergency contacts in the event of an accident.
Perhaps rating a little less highly in the safety stakes, the Bling Helmet will also include a Bluetooth speaker and built-in mic, enabling riders to stream music and place phone calls. The “world’s smallest single-unit cadence sensor” is included too, to enable wearers to track their ride data – which can be shared socially.
Livall’s CEO Brian Zheng said: “We’ve refined our prototype more than 10 times to solve all high level technical difficulties during the production process.
He added: “We’ve interviewed thousands of testers for user experience and internal beta testing. The end result is a revolutionary product we believe will change and possibly save thousands of lives around the world.”
Livall says its helmets are made of standard EPS as the main structure, and PC as the 1mm-thick outer shell, weigh 480g, and will be available in Ferrari red, bumble bee yellow and ocean blue.
For more information, head to the Bling Helmet’s Indiegogo page. A Bling Helmet is currently winging its way to BikeRadar US's Colorado base – we will give our impressions of it in due course.
