Newlane Flip-Clip Helmet

Commuters rejoice! The Newlane Flip-Clip Helmet is here to make your daily commute a little easier.

The Newlane Flip-Clip helmet is a foldable and packable bike helmet. It’s been designed to solve the inconvenience of carrying traditional bulky helmets. Trying to stuff a cycling helmet into your bag after your commute is no fun. You either have to have a bigger pack, strap it to your bag, or carry it around in your hand. Neither of these options is great. You either end up with your helmet banging against obstacles as it swings around, or it gets crushed when you forget and lean against something. All of which I’ve done when I was commuting!

The Newlane Flip-Clip gets around this with its patented flip-clip mechanism. This allows the helmet to compact to about 50% of its original size, transforming into a disc-like shape with a thickness of just 81mm. This makes it much easier to fit into a bag or carry around. This is a significant advantage for commuters and casual riders who might otherwise leave their helmets at home.

So how does the Newlane Flip-Clip work?

There have been plenty of attempts at making helmets easier to carry, including inflatable, foldable, and paper models. The Flip-Clip has been six years in the making, with a team that included a former Aston Martin engineer. This team came up with a design that reduces the overall height of the helmet, making it much easier to carry.

The mechanism is very simple to operate and it only takes a few seconds to convert the helmet. At the rear of the helmet is a clamp, lift it up and it releases the top half of the helmet. With the top unlocked you can lift it up and rotate it; it’s held in place by a swivel at the front. Once in place you lock the helmet with the clamp and are good to go. It really is very simple.

The helmet does look different from your standard cycle helmet. While the inside is made from standard EPS, the outside is covered with a much thicker plastic, which gives the helmet a reassuringly solid feel. This makes me feel it will be able to handle all those little “micro-knocks” that you get when using your helmet every day. This does come with a slight weight penalty (470g) but that’s not really an issue for a helmet that is aimed at commuters and occasional riders.

Is the Newlane Flip-Clip safe?

In a word, yes! Newlane’s helmet has passed the EN 1078 standard. EN 1078 mimics high speed impacts on the front, back, sides and crown of the helmet, using flat and kerbstone steel anvils. To pass a helmet must not allow a force of more than 250G to reach the head-form. The Flip-Clip exceeds the standard, with an impact result of only 134G. These tests also see the helmet heated up (+50 degrees), cooled down (-20 degrees) or aged under UV light. This ensures they offer protection in all kinds of conditions.

The Flip-Clip is only available in one size, which Newlane feel will suit most users. The easy to use ratchet dial at the rear can adjust from 56-61cm. Newlane felt that while the average UK head size for a man is 58cm and 56cm for a woman, their M/L size would be sufficient. And a quick note about the ratchet dial, it is very easy to use. Being oversized and with a reflective centre it’s much easier to use than some dials, which can be a bit fiddly.

Another user-friendly feature is the chinstrap, which uses a magnetic buckle. We’ve seen these on other helmets – like Ekoi’s Stradale – and they’re very easy to use. You can open and close them one-handed, which is another little feature that makes this helmet easy to get on with.

Award winning design

The Newlane Flip-Clip is a Red Dot Award winning product designed and made in the UK. Like the Model T Ford it only comes in black, but with three colour highlight options, white, yellow or orange. The Flip-Clip retails for £89.99 and can be ordered from the Newlane website.