The modern development in cycling helmet technology is known as Waveney. Released in March with Trek Bikes’ aid, it’s the latest of numerous technologies that are imagined to help reduce what is referred to as rotational forces, which contribute to concussions. “Rotational movement is what correlates to how a whole lot the mind actions in the cranium,” says Steve Rowson, Ph.D., an assistant professor inside the branch of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech and lab director of Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab. “If you can lessen the rotation of the pinnacle at some point of impact, that reduces the strain or stretching of the mind, and that reduces the chance of damage.”
Although WaveCel is the most modern such technology, the most outstanding may be the MIPS Brain Protection System, which became first launched in a biking helmet in 2010 and may now be located inside hundreds of various helmets made via organizations including Cannondale, Scott, Bell, Trek, and Giro. So how precisely do those technologies work? Does one outperform the others? And are there other essential factors to keep in mind when looking for a nice helmet to guard your mind? CR spoke with our motorcycle helmet specialists and Virginia Tech’s Rowson, and the researchers who helped expand MIPS and Waveney to look at what cyclists have to remember while choosing a helmet.
Understanding Head Injuries
“Bike helmets had been advanced to prevent skull fracture,” says Peter Anzalone, senior test assignment chief for bike helmets at CR.
Helmets are still evaluated through the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC)—and employing CR—primarily based on their potential to shield in opposition to direct shots to the head. Helmets are commonly designed to take in those linear impacts that may reason cranium fractures and severe brain harm. Direct-effect shocks to the head truly purpose brain trauma. Still, there’s now a consensus that rotational forces also play an important function in concussions and different mind accidents—although the exact way each crash impacts the mind is not but understood.
When you fall off your motorbike, you’ll nearly constantly hit the ground at an attitude, which generates rotational forces along with the surprise of an immediate collision with the floor, explains Michael Bottling, Ph.D., co-founder, and director of Legacy Biomechanics Laboratory, in which WaveCel became advanced. Though researchers first began to remember that rotational movement motivated the severity of head injuries inside the Forties, it wasn’t until recently that technology to higher guard towards these dangers started to seem. Now, as issues approximately the consequences of concussions—often described as a “silent epidemic” because of their serious but not immediately obvious outcomes—have risen, the significance of better safety has grown to be clean.
According to Rowson of Virginia Tech’s Helmet Lab, the brand new Waveney helmets can efficaciously lessen rotational forces—however, so can different helmets with special anti-rotation technology. Firstly you need to have the correct equipment—no point riding a road bike on mountain trails. Make sure you have a purpose-built mountain bike that is heavier and sturdier than your average road bike. You will need to have a good helmet, gloves, padded pants for comfort, and a water bottle. These are the basics, and as you get more into the sport, you will probably add other things like a tool kit, riding shirt, and glasses. Although a bit daunting to start, once you have begun your journey, it is so much fun. The basic skills needed in all cycling apply to mountain biking as well. You will need to know how to use your gears, how to brake correctly, how to ride standing and sitting, how to drop down from and climb up over obstacles, and how to ride through all different surfaces like gravel, sand, mud, and creeks. The following are some basic Mountain Biking Tips and Techniques to get you started.
