By John Marsh, Editor & Publisher
Creating their own technology is something I’ve heard at least a couple well-known helmet companies talk about for the past two or three years as MIPS has become the dominant technology employed in helmets to mitigate the rotational force of an impact, which can result in a concussion or other brain injury. (Click the following to learn more about MIPS.)
{slider WHAT IS MIPS?|blue|closed}
Modern (non-MIPS) bike helmets are wonderful pieces of technology in terms of their impact resistance. They are designed – and tested – to help prevent skull fractures and other major blunt-force trauma. They are not, however, designed to mitigate the forces that can cause a concussion.
A Swedish company called Multi-directional Impact Protection System (MIPS) patented the slip plane concept (what it calls a low-friction layer), using two layers in the helmet (the MIPS “liner”) to help mitigate the rotational force of an impact, which can result in a concussion or other brain injury. Here’s how the company itself describes the technology:
“In a helmet with MIPS Brain Protection System the shell and the liner are separated by a low friction layer. When a helmet with MIPS Brain Protection System is subjected to an angled impact, the low friction layer allows the helmet to slide relative to the head.”
Click to read MIPS and Sliding Resistance of Bicycle Helmets from helmets.org. Click to read more from MIPS at http://www.mipshelmet.com/ {/sliders}
POC, the helmet maker that was an early adopter and helped sell the concept of MIPS and make it the de facto standard, was not among those companies I was aware of considering their own tech. Yet, POC became the first to announce that it is launching its own, similar tech (called SPIN, which stands for “Shearing Pads INside”), in its 2018 line of helmets.
POC said it will use SPIN in helmets including the Octal X SPIN road helmet and the Tectal Race SPIN mountain bike helmet (each will sell for $250).
The company said SPIN is a “more integrated system” than MIPS, which is a separate layer inside the helmet that touches the head. The MIPS “liner” has to be “mated” to each individual helmet model to align with the helmet’s vents, etc. The result, which POC claims its new tech overcomes, is a less-than-perfect system when it comes to air flow and fit.
SPIN uses helmet pads. “To counter oblique impacts, we have created SPIN pads, which are optimized to provide rotational impact protection based on the precise location inside the helmet and which can shear in any direction. The objective is to minimize the effects of an oblique fall by allowing the helmet to move relative to the head.”
We’ll hope to get a look at SPIN at Interbike next month. Here’s an illustration from POC:
World’s Largest Underground Bike Parking Garage Opens in Utrecht
On Monday, the world’s largest underground bike parking garage officially opened under the train station in the city of Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The Stationsplein Bicycle Parking garage opened with spaces for 6,000 bikes on its three floors. In the coming months, another 1,500 spaces are planned. And by the end of 2018, the garage will be able to accommodate 12,500 bicycles, which will make it the world’s largest such facility.
If you’ve ever been to the Netherlands – especially to a city of any size – you’ve surely seen literally thousands of bikes parked next to train stations and other transport hubs. The Dutch use their bikes for all manner of commuting, errands, hauling, etc. Bikes outnumber people in Amsterdam, and probably in cities like Utrecht as well.
Stationsplein Bicycle Parking garage will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With a public transport chip card, cyclists can park their bikes for 24 hours free of charge.
Features of the new garage include a digital system that guides cyclists to available parking spots, a special area for “non-standard” bikes, such as cargo bikes, and the ability to rent from a fleet of 700 OV bike-share bikes.
Amazing the difference in attitude between Dutch politicians and American regards bicycle infrastructure. The thing that always struck me about the Amsterdam main train station bike parking was how many obviously abandoned bikes there were. Flat tires, trashed wheels, rusting hulks, etc. were much in evidence. It was like people used the train station as a convenient place to throw away a bike.
It gets worse. They throw 15,000 per year in the canals!!! http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/2290-how-many-bicycles-and-cars-end-up-in-amsterdams-canals And they steal something like 80K per year.
http://www.dutchamsterdam.nl/857-stolen-bikes-in-amsterdam But everyone has one, so it’s probably a drop in the bucket compared to the total number of bikes.
I’m puzzled about how “MIPS” ans “SPIN” helmets reduce the inertia forces which cause the brain to impact with the inner surface of the skull. Speaking from personal experience, it is that impact which leads to many problems. Why would rotating an inner layer reduce the inertia generated by impact?