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TECH NEWS
Philippe Starck presents novel aluminium-and-cork helmet
Helmet maker Giro and renowned French designer Philippe Starck have teamed up to create this futuristic urban helmet, simply known as the Giro by S+Arckbike.
The helmet is inspired by the boom in electric bikes in Europe, which Starck has been a part of with his high end S+Arckbike machines.
We're pretty sure we can see some hints of classic science fiction movies there too, with overtones of The Day The Earth Stood Still and Metropolis. Maybe Starck is also taking some inspiration from his near-namesake Tony. Can an electric bike powered by a flux capacitor be far behind?*
Starck believes helmets for e-bikes (more accurately Electric-Assist Pedal Cycles or EAPC) need to be more like motorbike helmets.
He said: "The EAPC helmet requires ergonomics that resemble more and more those of the motorcycle. A 45km/h EAPC approved helmet requires a full visor to protect from the cold but also from various projectiles."
The Giro/Starck's helmet has an aluminium outer shell and cork lining to provide protection and that full-face visor to ward off flying debris and insects. As well as coming from sustainably harvested cork trees in Portugal, the liner has significant anti-microbial properties, Giro says, so it should resist getting whiffy.
The aluminium shell is also highly recyclable.
“The increasing power of man and machine create new needs and new ergonomics that I have decided to take on with Giro, the most innovative player in this industry,” said Starck.
There's no word yet on when the Giro by S+Arckbike or how much it will cost.
*Yes, I know that was a different movie. It's a joke.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- eburtthebike 54 min 21 sec ago
I'm sure those driver who are so concerned about trees will enjoy this pic
- Secret_squirrel 1 hour 13 min ago
if only there was a metal that could be bent back in your LBS with minimal risk of it snapping or fatiguing....
- Secret_squirrel 1 hour 15 min ago
Nerd that I am - I couldnt resist popping over to the BoE Inflation Calculator....
- Yorkie1 1 hour 22 min ago
I noticed from previous bike reviews that you (Stuart) must be the same height as me roughly 1.79m tall, is there any reason you didn't ride a 54cm...
- dubwise 1 hour 38 min ago
Didn't know who it was until looking on social media on Sunday morning....
- Jimthebikeguy.com 4 hours 2 min ago
Try and get rid of the negative associations around carbon and pressfit. Carbon frames are no more troublesome than metal, and pressfit is no more...
- r32hoo 8 hours 21 min ago
The first generation CHPT3 items made in concert with Castelli were fantastic quality, and when purchased on sale were a reasonable investment. I...
- David9694 11 hours 30 min ago
Theres not one scrap of self-help among drivers is there, it's always someone else's issue.
- Simon E 12 hours 18 min ago
Oh dear. A single bike in a single size in one shop is not indicative of the entire UK market for bicycles. And the slump isn't just bikes, it's...
- hawkinspeter 15 hours 10 min ago
Ridiculed or is it just jealousy?
Add new comment
17 comments
Is there any point worrying about the safty aspect of this helmet? Any adverts for current helmets I've seen lately focus on looks, low weight, aerodynamics and ventilation with very little comment on safety (I've just seen one that mentions temple protection and that's all the safety details it gives).
"Starck believes helmets for e-bikes (more accurately Electric-Assist Pedal Cycles or EAPC) need to be more like motorbike helmets"
Why? Electric assist means that the bike has an electric motor to ASSIST in moving you along - you still need to pedal. For this reason the requirement for ventilation/cooling (or keeping warm when the temparature drops) is more similar to when cycling.
As a bike helmet NO flying an X wing fighter in a galaxy far far away YES
technically not an x-wing but you're on the right lines:
Glad I'm not the only cynical one here. Starcke's a Stylist not a Designer. Designers make things work; Stylists make them look pretty.
Good designers also make things look desirable after they've made them work. REALLY talented designers find the two inseparable.
Even after all these years, Starcke is still just a stylist. (Have you ever tried to USE that lemon squeezer???)
The French ISP 'Free' got starck to design their modem - it has little ventilation and overheats but it does look good, at least before meltdown. This helmet seems to suffer the same problems.
Remember he designed that lemon squeezer that looked like a rocket. Fin.
Looks great as a work of art, I really like it.
As helmet, it's a bit shit and I wouldn't wear it.
The visor needs to be mirrored.
Should I fear I am about to be pithed, I will be sure to reach for this one forthwith.
Perhaps it's just me, maybe I'm not fully into the design ethic, but if I wanted to design a helmet that needed to be closer to the ergonomics that resemble more and more those of the motorcycle, I'd start with a motorcycle helmet...
...not an aluminium pisspot with a cork lining, however sustainable that lining might be.
John Cooper Clarke wrote a poem about this kind of person, can you guess the title?
Well I think it looks quite cool. Why all the down on Starck? He's done plenty of good stuff. His Excalibur bog brush was a classic
If it passes the necessary safety criteria then why not?
I reckon it would be a fairly safe bet that it wouldn't pass any sort of certification for any kind of safety head wear but then that's not the point of it.
Some of the stuff he does is fun but it's not really design. At best it's product styling and tends to have the whiff of something scribbled on an envelope and then handed to someone else to actually make into a manufacturable object.
I was a bit surprised to see he's still operating really, he's a bit of a relic from the 90s but obviously Giro think the name still carries some cachet.
Well I need a new bog brush, so does Excalibur work - whats it like handling sprayed on dryed out diarrhea and whats it like shifting those clingy bits that hug the waterline and just don't shift no matter how much elbow grease.
He likes a good laugh that Philippe Starck.
The Emperors New Helmet, brought to you from the man who can't design a lemon squeezer.
Why are people still patronising this bloke? He's never given a toss about function, he's all about the form and the fashion.
Note the nice rigid 'peak' to add extra leverage to your neck if you land face first. C'est une cruche de merde.