A British inventor is poised to start a crowd-funding mission to put his latest idea into full production – the Morpher folding helmet that can fit in a handbag or laptop case.
The Morpher is the brainchild of Jeff Woolf, who hopes his collapsible helmet will win over lidless city cyclists who don't wear one because they are too cumbersome to carry around all day.
Morpher folding helmet
Video: Morpher Folding Helmet Technology
The Morpher could be a winner with users of shared bike schemes such as Barclays Bike Hire in London, the Vélib in Paris and Citibike in New York.
Though the extent of Morpher's market research isn't known, the company says more that 80 percent of bike hire users believe their lives are more at risk because they don't wear a helmet.
The technology that allows the expanded polystyrene Morpher to squash flat and pop up into a useable helmet has worldwide patents. It still has to go through international safety tests, however.
On 1 November, Morpher will launch the crowdfunding drive to raise funding for the tooling that will make the helmet, and finance the safety standards testing around the world.
There's a rich history of inventors trying to solve the bulky helmet issue with a folding model. Remember the Stash (not available on Amazon); the Overade (last seen taking pre-orders according to the website in January); or the Closca (which might be shipping pre-order anytime now)?