Our journey begins in 2010 with the US invention of the ‘Helmet Lock‘…a simple solution to adding your helmet to your existing secure bikelock…although 2 years later I am sad to say despite making many hundreds, even possibly thousands, happy customers, they had to close down due to the business not turning over enough and not having the right connections to develop this into a stronger retail proposition. So a customer success, but alas not a retail success…

Then in 2011 we saw the amazing ‘Head Lock‘…which brought in the concept of an ingenious double-purpose device. Lock your helmet, lock your bike. Not sure what happened to this one, but suspect it never got past the drawing board…due to the helmet being an unlikely replacement for a secure bike lock…

…so forward to 2013…soon after the demise of ‘Helmet Lock’ and we get great innovation from the intelligent population of Denmark – the (drum roll) – ‘HelmMate‘. This locks your helmet in a waterproof bag on top of your seat – which also protects it from the rain. Cute. This has been an evident success, supported by its local cycling market, with it available at all good Danish retail outlets, and available online too at Cykelshoppen.dk    cykelgear.dk   sportsandmoreshop.de  …and available through amazon by the latter.

So, things are beginning to look up for this growing need for helmet-based innovation…with the Danes taking the lead…so what happened next?…we see the first helmet product ‘tie-in’ thing…the Cappuccino Lock …that online uk retailer, Maddison, has taken a liking to. Nothing like playing on brand to get us UK folk interested…

So…the idea of double-purpose sounds like a good way to go, but going into somewhere with a strong level of cycle ownership and helmet culture is probably also key…

So what has 2015 brought us….hey!…it’s ‘Locksit‘ – the ingenious doubling up of bike light and helmet lock. This is surely a winner – everyone needs a nice new bike light for Christmas, right? Early days – but maybe there are opportunities for Locksit to learn from the recent past…maybe by focusing on Scandinavia/Germany and Japan could be a good way to go?