The problem with most bike and ski helmets is that they’re one-hit wonders. After one solid whack, the impact-dampening foam they’re built with is left fractured and ineffective. Enter Giro’s Combyn. The helmet features a flexible soft-shell technology that’s designed to take multiple hits. To pull it off, they borrowed the foam and plastic layering system used in the helmets of NFL players. Because the Combyn has only a few vents, the system’s still best for half-pipe or park skiers who don’t need a lot of airflow (and hit their heads more often). But in a few years, expect to see soft-shell helmets on everything from backcountry skiers to road bikers.
