Hello Everyone!

I am a Junior Industrial Design student at the University of Cincinnati, and I need your help. Our project for November is to design helmets. I chose a motorcycle helmet, and right now we are in the process of "verification" when we ask the community if our ideas are on target or completely stupid.

I have three concepts, and my focus is usability, ventilation and comfort:

Concept 1
Concept 2
Concept 3

And what I want to know from you is how you feel about them.

Do these seem usable in your daily lives?
Are there aspects of them that you don't like, that seem weird or that seem to pose a safety hazard even?
What are some of your favorite aspects of helmets you already use that may be missing in some the of the features I've outlined in my concepts?
Which one is your favorite, and what made you decide?

Anything you want to share, even if it's "You're crazy I hate all of these" would be FANTASTIC!!!

Thanks!!

All three of your concepts look like viable designs. I believe the next "Big Thing" in helmets will be the use of carbon fiber in their construction.

_________________

Always wear a helmet, eye protection, and protective clothing. Never ride under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

YOU'RE CRAZY AND I HATE ALL OF THESE!
haha jk of course
I do like the concepts you brought in with the inner mohawk and the larger facial vents.
The only things I don't like are large back vents that snap back into place (most accidents happen in a matter of milliseconds).
And the longer jaw might work for some bikes, but for a lot of cruisers and sportbikes it won't... When you're on a cruiser you're sitting slightly back and tucking your head toward your chest. If your helmet is longer it will probably prevent you from doing that (even average helmets nowadays do on some cruisers for me).
Oh and I love the build in sunshade concept. They've got those on some HJCs and other helmets.
You might also want to look into a Reevu helmet. http://www.reevu.com/. They've managed to integrate a rear view mirror into a helmet. Haven't brought it to the states yet, but hopefully soon!

I do have a friend that went down a couple of months ago, and went down HARD...
He went into a ditch (to avoid other riders and an oncoming truck) and the ditch flipped him up off of his bike. He landed face down and the bike landed on top of him hard enough to break all of his facial bones through his full-face helmet. Perhaps designing a grid/cage system into the helmet instead of just foam would be helpful?

_________________
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

I've deleted your duplicate post in the "Polls and Surveys" section so that all responses can be kept in one thread.

_________________
Mike


Loud Pipes Ruin Rights

Oh hey fancy seeing you here!
So I really like the shape of concept A, but I feel like the overlapping sections in the back might be a little dangerous in a crash (like they'd fall off easily? they'd need a lot of structural support.)
The vents from the second helmet seem like they would be super effective. It'd be nice to be able to adjust the vents to control air flow instead of just open or closed.
Would you mind doing some validating for me too? I'm still trying to get more feedback...
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/V2RKX2J

Thanks for all the feedback so far, everyone! (And sorry about duplicate posting! My forum etiquette is not what it used to be!!!)

And levyka, I will for sure head on over

Industrial girl, while all three of your concepts look really cool I would be scared to have a helmet with any kind of lip on the back of the helmet. If one were to go down and be sliding on the back then I would be afraid that they would catch on the road or ground and pull the helmet up or off ones head. I DO like the over sized vents on the front and top though. I live in GA and heat and humidity could be mighty uncomfortable and I was always wishing for a little more airflow.
As for the headphones, if they could cancel out ONLY wind noise and not other noise like cars and little children that im about to run over, then that would be great.

_________________

I'd buy one just for how awesome they look. But I think you're missing the most important factor to me... wind resistance. They all look fairly wind sailish.

Very nice concepts, none-the-less