Nina Hoffmann Visits Bluegrass HQ & Learns About the Helmet Design Process

Words by Bluegrass

To ride fast, you need to be confident, and the helmet plays a big role in case you crash but also because you need to be perfectly comfortable with it while riding.

Back in January, we got the chance to welcome Nina Hoffmann to the office. She was going back to Germany after intense training in Finale, and it was the perfect timing to stop by Como Lake and spend one day to discover our lab.

Here is her take!

“When setting up with a new sponsor, its always good to get to know to products in detail.”

“I really appreciated that I had this opportunity to visit the factory and experience how everything gets developed, tested, and designed.”

“It was cool to see how much you are working together, talking about new ideas or projects or getting feedback or discussion problems. It’s a long way from having the idea of a new product (or a feature on a present product) to finally sell this helmet or protecting gear.”

“I’ve never seen how products got tested and I was impressed how many helmets get damaged in the lab. It’s good to see on how many details you pay attention (different kinds of impact, angles of forces or material layers). I was really curious about all the math and physics behind. I was surprised about the analysis after the testing. Taking photos of the areas of impact and calculate the average forces to compare them with new tests.”

"I wanted a clean and smooth design and I totally fell in love with this shiny red colour you showed me in the office. So we did one helmet all over in red, racing red, haha. The second design fits perfectly to my favourite outift and the combination of red, white and dark blue is amazing!”