The Cycling Helmet …Congrats Ventete on The Launch and Spectacular Product
VENTETE – Drop 1
16 JULY 2024
12 PM UK TIME
We are excited to announce our first Ventete aH-1 helmet drop.
As a subscriber, you will be granted exclusive site access to purchase while supplies last.
Follow @ventete for the latest updates.
The promotional ad above is from Ventete.com a UK helmet company I made a personal investment in a few years back.
When I was in London a few weeks back I met with Colin the founder to see the production ready product. It is spectacular. You can watch a few videos on how the helmet is easily to inflate, deflate, fold and carry.
My son Max a product geek that is hard to impress had the same reaction as he got the demo from Colin and tried the helmet. Colin is a former architect turned entrepreneur and it was fun to finally meet in person and talk about the long road to getting the helmet ready for sales in Europe. Colin is a cyclist and design geek which shows in how he is thinking about the product and the brand…
‘Invention fundamentally depends on an anticipation of the direction in which culture is moving.
Cycling, once a specialised pursuit, has expanded to become a part of a diversity of lifestyles and identities. Movement is expressive, active and spontaneous. The city is opening up. Moments of joy and stillness, risk and immersion, permeate into the everyday.
Ventete aims to inspire and equip this cultural change.
Ventete began with a technical design focus to create a helmet that could fold down and fit in your pocket. This simple idea gave rise to an intricate engineering solution – a patented pneumatic structural system that uses pressurised air to responsively absorb impact forces.
Ten years on, the system demonstrates industry-first innovations in high-precision fabric welding and polymer moulding. The result is premium head-protection designed for the demands of how we move.’
Hypebeast had a very positive write up on the product.
The first drop has quickly sold out which is nice to see.
The government safety approvals are huge barrier to entry in the market so innovations Colin and the small team have made to be EU compliant are a significant achievement. Next up the USA which will take a bit of time. I am excited to have our portfolio company DSTNC ready to offer these in the States when the time comes.
What are the different bicycle helmet safety standards? Helmets in the UK and EU must meet the EN 1078 safety standard. In the US, they have to adhere to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s CPSC 1203 standard.
This afternoon, I am watching stage 18 of The Tour De France here in my room (in French) and checking out everyone’s helmets. I find it hard to believe that helmets were not a thing until 2003.
While voluntary helmet use in professional ranks rose somewhat in the 1990s, the turning point in helmet policy was the March 2003 death of Andrei Kivilev at the Paris–Nice. The new rules were introduced on 5 May 2003, with the 2003 Giro d’Italia being the first major race affected.
Cycling helmets were not even invented until 1975
Cycle helmets have been around since 1975. They were originally a ‘spin-off’ product from the development of expanded polystyrene foams in motorcycle helmets, intended to supersede the old ‘hair net’ style of head gear then used in cycle sport.
I can’t imagine cycling without a helmet and soon it will be much easier to carry one around with us at all-times.
