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The Hövding "airbag for cyclists" is back: this time with a BOA dial, and its own app...

The Hövding V3 now comes equipped with a BOA adjustment dial, and can call your nearest and dearest in the event of an emergency...

You may have seen versions 1 and 2 of the Hövding 'airbag for cyclists', that claims to offer cyclists head protection that is eight times safer than a traditional helmet; however Version 3 has ramped things up a couple of notches, with BOA technology for quick adjustment, quicker airbag deployment and even an app for a connected experience. 

road.cc crash tests the Hövding 2.0

Clipping around your neck, the Hövding looks like a sort of scarf/neckerchief but when its accelerometer detects a collision, deploys an airbag that blows up around your head to cushion the blow. It's single use, but of course you'd hope to never have to use it.

Cycle Show 2019 (42)

 Whereas previous Hövding iterations were made in three sizes, V3 features a BOA dial at the back to obtain your perfect fit, so it's now one-size-fits-all.  This is hidden away behind a zipper when you've dialled it in. 

The other big upgrade is that you can now connect your Hövding to its very own app. This can tell you how much battery charge you have left (that battery life has now been extended to 15 hours), and it can also call emergency contacts in the event of a collision with its ICE (In Case of Emergency) function. Hövding also tracks your movements, speed and distance, and says its data can be used to help their customers and even city councils learn more about the state of the roads and the safest cycling routes in urban areas. 

 

Hövding 3 is available now on the Hövding website for £249. 

Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.  

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2 comments

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growingvegtables | 4 years ago
1 like

Tw o points.

 

- £249 - for that price tag, I'd expect it to fry an offending vehicle's EMS, and fry both of the offending driver's braincells.  Yup, both - zero-tolerance.

- Oh wait - it's only designed to Michelin-man the cyclist?  FFS!  Make the cyclist a football for the SUV drivers?  Naaaah, not for me.

Avatar
Philh68 | 4 years ago
3 likes

They should market this to car drivers. It’s got to be safer than a Takata airbag, surely.

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