The Collapsible Helmet That Could Revolutionize Bike-Share Safety

We have entered bike-share boom times: a combined fleet of over one million bikes now ferry people through over 900 cities across the globe. But among bike-sharers, helmet-wearing is not exactly in vogue. A Georgetown University study on D.C.’s Capital Bikeshare found that while 71 percent of D.C. commuters on private bicycles wore helmets, only 33 percent of Capital Bikeshare commuters put a buffer between their skulls and street.

This disparity makes sense: Grabbing a bike can be a game-time decision, and no one wants to lug around a helmet if they don’t have to. Industrial designer Isis Shiffer faced this conundrum when traveling throughout Europe and Japan two years ago for her masters program. Shiffer, a seasoned urban cyclist now based in Brooklyn, wanted to make use of the local bike-share systems she encountered. But she didn’t have a helmet, and she was nervous.