Helmets. Love ’em, or hate ’em, they’re a fairly common piece of cycling gear. In spite of improvements in comfort and fit, many cyclists still choose not to wear one when out for a ride. Gloria Hwang was the same way. Never a fan of wearing a helmet, the loss of a friend to a bicycling accident made her question just why she didn’t want to wear one. That introspection led to the launch of Thousand – a “design driven lifestyle brand with one mission, to reinvent the bike helmet.”
While calling it a reinvention might be a stretch, the Thousand helmet does bring some vintage motorcycle inspired style to the table, along with a few other interesting features…
For us, the most interesting feature of the new lid is their patent pending PopLock. Anyone who has ever wanted to lock up their helmet to their bike knows that putting the lock through the straps won’t really cut it. Instead, Thousand created an access port large enough for a Ulock to pass through that is covered by a magnetic plug when not in use. They’re even backing it with a Bike Thief Guarantee – if your helmet gets stolen while locked to your bike, they’ll replace it (subject to terms and conditions of course).
Otherwise the helmet is a classy design that draws inspiration from vintage moto helmets and travels. Built with 7 air vents that feed internal cooling channels, Thousand claims you get all of the cooling without a sci-fi design. To add to the premium look the helmets use vegan leather straps matched with a magnetic buckle system.
Complete with a matte rubberized finish, Thousand helmets are available in 3 colors along with a Kickstarter Only hand painted Stay Gold edition.
Offered in three sizes, Thousand helmets start at $75 through their Kickstarter which runs through June 11th, with product expected to ship by November.
