How Much is Your Brain Worth?

WEAR A HELMET!

You may think it looks a bit dorky, it may leave you with “helmet hair” and it may be too warm in hot weather…but wear it! My helmet has saved my noggin from injury more than once…but once is enough. Take a look at these statistics provided by New York City:

• Almost 75% of fatal bicycle crashes (74%) involved a head injury.
• Nearly all bicyclists who died (97%) were not wearing a helmet.
• Serious injuries were rare among riders wearing a helmet (13%), but even more rare among bicyclists killed (3%).

Bicycle riders produce about twice as many head injuries as any other sport — including football! Please don’t risk it — just wear a helmet…especially if you ride an e-bike or e-trike. My Mooncool provides a ton of enjoyment and exercise, but it is powerful and fast. This puts your head at even greater risk.

A decent helmet doesn’t have to be expensive. For my first e-cycling experiences, I wore a Bell brand bike helmet, purchased at a thrift shop for $4.50. There was nothing wrong with it, and it was good protection. But 500 miles later, I became interested in smart helmets. This precipitated hours of research.

I wanted a helmet with Bluetooth connectivity and a communication system so that I could chat with other riders. After the hours of research, I decided to try the Sena R1. In many ways, it is a great helmet — good protection and good communication features. On the downside, the built-in speakers give poor sound quality (especially for listening to music), the helmet weight is on the high side, and visibility is low (no lighting). I gave it a fair trial, but decided to return the Sena and try a Livall helmet.

I selected the Livall MT1 Neo, and it’s a keeper. The speakers deliver sound quality that is about 50% better than Sena, and visibility is decent. Unfortunately, I can’t find a helmet that gives everything I want — great lighting, great communication, and decent sound quality. For example, communication is better with Sena, but it has no lighting and poor speakers. Here’s what I get with Livall:

• Good head protection
• Decent lighting in the back (none in front)
• Good communications (cell phone bluetooth required)
• Make hands-free phone calls
• Listen to music, podcasts, map directions, etc.
• Ask Alexa, Siri, or Google for whatever
• Turn signal lighting on back of helmet
• 1-Click voice commands
• Handlebar-attached remote control
• Long battery life
• Comfortable fit
• Very lightweight
• Automatic SOS alert 
• Anti-Loss Alarm

All things considered, the Livall seems to be a good choice, and I have no plans to make a change. To make it even better, I will be adding a helmet light visible from the front. Of course, most of these features are not necessary, and not cheap, but they do contribute to the enjoyment of riding my Mooncool. But the main thing is…

Always wear a helmet when riding!

Mooncool Folding TK1 E-trike