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Rare AA branded cycle helmet Now on eBay!AA helmet tabard on eBay.png

Rare AA branded cycle helmet Now on eBay!

Highly collectable Ltd edition lid + free high-vis vest, proceeds go to Road Peace
by Tony Farrelly
Mon, Apr 18, 2011 17:34
8

As predicted the first of the 5000 free helmets and high vis tabards given away by the AA last week is up for grabs on eBay… we all saw it coming, (sorry, I'll get my tabard). 

The upside is that those of us feeling glum about missing out on the chance to dress up like a member of the fifth emergency service (cycling division) get a second bite at the cherry… the bad news is it's no longer a free bite. On the other hand all proceeds will be donated to RoadPeace by the seller duncan_kay.

Duncan who runs a 20's plenty campaign in Worthing in his spare time, commutes to London by train and Brompton folding bike. He works near Lincoln's Inn Fields where one of the AA giveaways took place and told road.cc that he went along out of curiosity to see what the reaction would be.

"I told a couple of colleagues and they were eager to get free helmets so came along with me. I got handed one too but don't wear a helmet on the road. As I hope you can tell from the wording of the ad, I feel quite strongly that if the AA really cared about making things safer for cyclists (rather than just pandering to their member's views) then there's better ways that they could have spent whatever it cost them for this publicity stunt!

"So I thought I'd make a point and auction it to raise money for RoadPeace - a rather appropriate charity given that they at least campaign for reducing road danger and advocate personal choice regarding helmet wearing."

The auction runs until the 25th and the current bid is now £120 - more than four times the price of a standard Raleigh Missile helmet, but obviously this one is part of a rare limited edition run of 5000 making it far more valuable… and don't forget that free tabard. We stuck some bids in just so we can team the AA ensemble up with the equally yellow Fixie Inc Pure Blood when we get one in on test, but some people really want that helmet.

Oh, and please let us know if you spot any more AA giveaway lids and tabards either for sale, or being put to unusual uses.

 

ebay
AA helmet giveaway
AA
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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8 comments

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BigManLittleHair | 13 years ago
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I love this, great way to raise a few quid for charity. I'll be having a bit myself, if i win, i'll burn it!

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Simon E | 13 years ago
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According to the auction there was no effort by the AA to establish size or advise on correct fitting for the people going away with their AAdvert. Both these omissions increase the risk of injury in the event of an impact.

CTC were handing out copies of the Highway Code (photos) and CW has a news piece with the CTC's reaction.

There's a great change they could support if they wanted to: Strict Liability.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_Bq1vxCUvo

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Paul M | 13 years ago
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Christ on a bike! This is the first image I have seen of the AA's freebie - we look ridiculous enough in helmets and tabards as it is, but tricked out like a custard pie?

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andylul | 13 years ago
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Would be if it wasn't me that had found it on ebay 4

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Michael5 | 13 years ago
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Bit rough to be sneering at this.. the seller probably commutes from Worthing to London - its not that far away - and says is donating the proceeds to a charity.

Its not as though he's hiding the fact he picked it up for free. The charity is even one you'd expect Roadcc to support. Or is it just simply that any story is a good story for journos?

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Tony Farrelly replied to Michael5 | 13 years ago
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Michael5 wrote:

Bit rough to be sneering at this.. the seller probably commutes from Worthing to London - its not that far away - and says is donating the proceeds to a charity.

Its not as though he's hiding the fact he picked it up for free. The charity is even one you'd expect Roadcc to support. Or is it just simply that any story is a good story for journos?

Sorry Michael5 you seem to have mis-read that completely. I'm not sneering. I've got absolutely no problem with that stuff being sold on eBay - I wouldn't have a problem even if the proceeds weren't going to charity.

And yes I know that the seller probably commutes up from Worthing anyway, but the handout was also pretty widely trailed the day before so I actually do want to know if he went up to get one specially – I would guess that the seller is making a point. And does it say anywhere in the story that Road Peace isn't a good charity to support? If we didn't think it was worth supporting we wouldn't have tried bidding.

Fair dos though for picking me up if it did come across that way.

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Simon E replied to Michael5 | 13 years ago
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Michael5 wrote:

Bit rough to be sneering at this

I didn't detect that in Tony's comment.

The auction should hopefully help raise the profile of RoadPeace as well as highlighting the pathetic stunt by the AA. They could do a lot better if they cared about road safety. I may donate to RoadPeace myself.

It was good to see a campaign in favour of cyclists fill the front page of The Independent on Friday. Let's hope it makes a difference.

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Tony Farrelly | 13 years ago
0 likes

Somebody really likes yellow, it's up to £41 now, we were outbid.

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