Every urban cyclist knows this moment: A quick trip to meet a friend. A spontaneous detour through the park. A coffee run on two wheels. You grab your bag. Your phone. Your keys. But the helmet? That's where friction creeps in.
Helmet adoption isn't an awareness problem. Most urban cyclists understand the risks. And yet, each year over 85K cyclists in the US are hospitalized due to head-related injuries.
The issue isn't knowledge. It's design.
Traditional helmets were built for long, planned rides, not for short trips, mixed commutes, and the spontaneous rhythm of city life. When protection feels bulky or inconvenient, behavior doesn't scale. Even when intentions are good. If we're honest, most safety conversations focus on telling people what they should do. Wear a helmet. Be more careful. Make better choices.
But what if the real question is: Are we designing cities and products that make the safer choice the easier choice? Urban cycling is rarely linear. It's short rides that turn into longer ones. It's train + bike share. It's a last-minute decision to ride because it's faster than traffic. If safety doesn't fit real life, it doesn't get used.
At FEND, we think about helmet adoption through the lens of behavior. How do urban cyclists actually move? What causes hesitation? What removes friction? That thinking led us to engineer a safety-certified helmet that folds by 50%, not as a novelty, but as a response to friction. When protection fits in your bag, your routine, and your pace of life, safety becomes more likely to happen.
Design shapes behavior. Convenience changes outcomes. As cities invest in bicycles and e-bikes as part of low-carbon transportation systems, safety has to evolve alongside infrastructure. Safer cities won't be built on awareness alone. They'll be built on design that works in the real world.
Ready. Set. Ride.
Sujene Kong, Co-Founder FEND Helmets