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TECH NEWS
Kask Vertigo 1Kask helmet amnesty runs until end of August
Kask’s bike helmet amnesty in the UK and Ireland, which started last month, runs until the end of August.
If you take an old helmet of any brand to a Kask stockist until 31 August, you can buy a new Kask Vertigo for £100 rather than £165. We should have told you about this last month, to be honest, but what with the Tour de France and everything surrounding it, we didn’t get time. Still, you have over three weeks left to take advantage of the offer.
The Vertigo is Kask’s current flagship helmet although the Italian company have unveiled a new Protone. It was used by Team Sky in last month’s Tour de France and will be available to buy at the start of next year.
We reviewed the Vertigo here on road.cc back in 2010 and concluded that it was a high-quality lid.
“Modern helmets are incredibly robust and should last for five years, but even in the hands of the most careful owners, over time they are at risk of getting bumped, dropped and knocked and this can lead to unnoticed damage to the polystyrene compression layer,” said Angelo Gotti, Kask CEO.
“They’re the most important thing we wear when cycling, so we want people to start thinking about helmets more and to start giving them a routine check – as they would their chain, their tyres or their brakes.”
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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30 comments
My new Vertigo arrived today and its the most secure feeling helmet I have ever owned!
^ that looks shite.
How are people getting by with just the one helmet? You need various ones to match your outfit for the day!
I have multiple helmets (a bit like N+1 bike theory...)
The most comfortable (except my pads are dud)...is the Scott Fuga...with this in mind I purchased a Scot Vanish R, which has to be the worst fitting of all I have ever experienced...it feels unsafe...like my head just doesn't fit in it...it's so shallow that my forehead tanline is non existent, the cradle fits above my occipital at the back of the skull...I have a pinhead (the Scott has 'Conehead') seems the two don't gel at all...
I don't have any Kask dealers near me ...are Kask...'head fits inside' or 'helmet perched on top' type helmets...wouldn't want to splurge on one to have to sent it back...
Tempting...
Paid full price for one of these awhile back--excellent helmet. Ticks all the boxes: comfortable, well-vented, good-looking, light, soft strap, etc.
Highly recommend anyone to take advantage of this.
Well my current helmet (a giro) is comfortable, well ventilated and reasonably light as far as I can tell - job done.
PS, I have no idea about relative protection and neither do I wish to find out !
I wasn't talking about which was less appealing. That's fairly irrelevant. My comment was about *protection*, not appeal.
So was mine. Is it clearer if I phrase it as "Having bounced my head off concrete and tarmac in a couple of different sports/activities with and without a helmet, I know which hurt less and left me with less injuries - even when in similar situations".
It is clearer if you use those words, yes. It changes the meaning completely.
(You'd do even better using 'fewer injuries' instead of 'less injuries'. HTH.)
Good point.
'A lump of expanded polystyrene covered in a thin skin of polycarbonate, out in the sun every day, for five years?'
aye. And subjected to knocks and regular exposure to skin acids and corrosive sweat (have you seen what sweat can do to a headset if you have an unprotected bike on a turbo trainer!)
Having said that, I do believe that a 5 year old helmet will provide the same level of protection as a brand new one. i.e. sod all.
Having bounced my head off concrete and tarmac in a couple of different sports/activities with and without a helmet, I know which was less appealing.
"Modern helmets are incredibly robust and should last for five years"
No, no, no. A lump of expanded polystyrene covered in a thin skin of polycarbonate, out in the sun every day, for five years?
If you are a helmet wearer, ask yourself "how much is my head worth?"
MY head is worth more than £20 per year, and even at full price, £33 per year.
I change my helmet at least every 2 years, even if it looks fine, because foam/polycarbonate helmets deteriorate whether they are bumped about or not.
Has anyone done CE / Snell / BSI tests on a 2, 3, 4 or 5 year old helmet to see if they still protect?
I have yet to spend more than 50 quid on a helmet, as I have yet to be convinced more money spent buys a multiple more of protection. ...
It doesn't, but I don't think anyone claims it does. More money (usually) buys you lighter weight, better ventilation or more aero (or a combination of two or more of those things).
..and possibly comfort. One of the most uncomfortable helmets i've ever tried was a Specialized at over 100 quid, whilst their helmet at half that was very nice (and what I wear now, crash replacement so rude not to take one at £ 25).
The most comfortable one i've tried to date, by quite a margin, was actually the Kask Vertigo and at £ 100 i'm quite tempted, but keep thinking there are better things to put that money towards.
The only helmet I've ever found that was actually the same shape as my head was a Specialized Evade. £160, oh dear. Their cheapo Chamonix is similar though so I have one of those.
Technically speaking, yes, as they're made to the same standards.
I wear a £30 Giro Indicator complete with peak for going to work and just riding about to the shops etc. Max wear time, 20 minutes perhaps.
When I go training etc, then the Giro Atmos comes out. They cost around £100 and it's comfortable for hours.
I wouldn't entertain the idea of wearing the Indicator for that amount of time.
If you're happy with the cheaper option though, that's fine. As everyone is different it's a bit of a pointless claim so I'll go now.
Same here - K50 is the most comfortable helmet I've ever owned. The leather effect chinstrap is great for those of us who sport facial hair. No more beard hairs getting pinched by the strap with these
The most comfortable helmet I've tried. Must be my alien shaped head. I'm off to get one.
In what sense is it an 'amnesty'?
Is my existing helmet wanted for a crime? What did it do?
Wiggle have now updated their website with the vertigo at £100.01 if you email them a picture of your old helmet
Ribble have the Vertigo for £99.99 without needing to send them your current lid...
Ha i just got this email in from Ribble - joked with my boss about how i might now end up breaking my helmet only to find a crack in the polystyrene!
Fate, i guess.
I'd have one in a flash if they weren't designed for people with heads like Smash aliens.
Can't find the Vertigo in Black / Lime (Large) in stock anywhere that is taking part in the amenisty
They're reduced on Ribble now and Scotsby cycles only need you to email a pic of what you're replacing. I'm half tempted to get a new one.
i think the picture has to show the straps cut through on your old helmet to qualify, maybe some retailers will flog you a kask on the amnesty regardless.
Helmet debate alert.
I can see it being quite technical too, people arguing about the forces applied to helmets, disagreeing about energy dissipation and then we'll get the mass debaters....