Ever since its inception in the early 2000s, Swedish brand MIPS has had a monopoly, more or less, on inclusion in high-end bike helmets. Its device—revolutionary at the time—deflects rotational impact away from the head in the event of a crash, thereby reducing the likelihood of brain trauma. However, it has also provoked many companies to research and develop their own proprietary rotational impact protection units, most of which are different takes on the same concept—a snug inner webbing that is able to move independently of the helmet's outer shell.
British brand RLS took a new stance on rotational impact protection, moving its device from the inside of the helmet to the outside. In doing so, the company claims that its technology can reduce the risk of concussion by four times when compared to traditional helmets. Studies at the standard-bearing helmet-safety lab at Virginia Tech University have confirmed those claims, giving the new Canyon Deflectr RLS—the first commercial helmet available with RLS—their highest rating after recent testing.
Peel Away
Photograph: Michael Venutolo-Mantovani
Like any other new technology brand, RLS is hardly new. Its founders and earliest employees spent years toiling in a series of warehouse bays in East London, trying to find a way to better protect against rotational impact. Like all great origin stories, it wasn’t until the eleventh hour, when the brand was nearly out of seed money, that the company decided to try something new and potentially revolutionary: polycarbonate ball bearings.