Unfortunate Nutcase Helmet Paint

First: MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Secondly: I dropped my nutcase helmet today. Maybe 30cm and I've had major paint chipping.

I'm actually scared carrying this helmet around because the paint will come off with the smallest knock. Has anyone else had this problem? It is very poor indeed!! :( Feedback please!
Here's a photo of the damage sustained by a 30cm fall onto tarmac!

Christmas in Christchurch, New Zealand

The tree in Latimer Square, Christchurch

Christmas is strange here. It's too warm to feel like Christmas to me. I kinda expect my (august) birthday to be on Tuesday, not Christmas. That's just how I've always felt around this type of weather.

Above is the main Christmas tree in Christchurch. I cycle past it quite frequently. It, to me, isn't quite christmassy! But it feels very Christchurch. Christchurch to me, is a sunny building site, so the use of things like this feels quite appropriate. I do appreciate the fact that no tree had to die here! :)

The phone boxes around the base contain direct lines to Santa Claus! And there's always a couple of kids looking extremely excited using these. If I was 8 years old I would be past myself at this.

This is a very Christchurch advent calender!! This advent calender is made out of shipping containers!

Too little too late for this church... notice the exposed stairwell workmanship

Christchurch has developed many, many uses for shipping containers and has a very unique relationship with them! You can see see the re:START mall which is a mall composed entirely of very bright shipping containers. The shipping containers also hold up several older buildings from further quakes, and areas with cliffs from falling rocks.

Chinese Scwhinn Issues and Japanese Pedals!

Oh Eliza! Look what you're doing to me D:

Eliza with new pedals and a new brooks saddle

Actually, we are getting on okay at the moment.. :) We have installed a new saddle and pedals to make Eliza a bit more lady like.

I have had plenty of issues with this bike.

Enter the Scwhinn Cream 2012 3 speed - this was what Eliza was when I bought her. She is the large/extra large frame for my 5ft 9 frame (174cm, if you want precision).

A few things that I did not like include

- Black plactic pedals (scwhinn should have used the same from this bike as the basic)
- Big chunky foam seat.
- The original handlebar grips.
- The spontaneously exploding spokes. I don't think this was in the blue print.

My scwhinn in a made in China and they have had a run of bad spokes. My poor Eliza had 4 initially. After about a month and a half of riding ping. Just like that. What the fudge. When you spend $700 NZD on a bike you kinda expect perfection. Anyway. Off to cycle trading company I went.
By this stage my chinese built bike had already made one solid attempt to kill me when the back wheel moved forward and jammed itself into the front fender halfway across the road. Stranding me. The male human had to borrow a friends car to rescue me and Eliza. That damaged the trust in our relationship. The bike/female human one. Anyway. Keith at cycle trading saved the day, the paint was only a little scraped..

The spokes. Well they fixed the initial four. A week later she pinged another two. So Keith respoked the entire rear wheel - we had planned to bike up to the wildlife park that day, so that didn't happen.
The next week the back wheel came loose again. I was at the pool and whilst cycling home everything started to shake slightly. So, thanks to the excellent Christchurch initiative of putting bike rakes on buses I was able to get into town and get her fixed AGAIN without any injury to my person.

No problems since. And thank goodness for keith at cycle trading company who did not charge me for fixing Eliza and did it promptly without any warning of my arrival.

I changed Eliza's pedals today however.

"New" kyokuto pedals

Chunky black plastic pedals

I biked the 8kms to Around Again Cycles and found a set of kyokuto top-run. Made in japan. On my chinese bike. I do hope they get along :\. Anyway, these pedals are from the 70's and fairly commonly found. I think they are definetly better than the black plastic mess!
(Opinions welcome!)
 They cost me $30 in total - $25 for the pedals and $5 to fit.
I didn't appreciate that last bit - okay $5, not the end of the world - it's like £2.50 - but cycle trading company have NEVER charged me for labour and frequently knock a few dollars off when I buy bits and pieces together. I just feel as though you gotta do better than that petty $5.
Whilst in Around Again Cycles I noticed stocked a variety of bikes - from brand new scwhinn creams to vintage raleigh bikes in varying degrees of (dis)repair. An interesting place.
I'd love to give a vintage pashley/raleigh a try so if anyone fancies letting me borrow their bike for an hour I will give it an honest critique against my new vintage style bike. :)
Around Again Cycles also stocks a variety of new helmets which include bell helmets for the round headed humans of the world like myself. They have a second hand helmet bin from which Cycling in Christchurch's Meerkat rescued a Winnie the Pooh helmet. Lucky for those who have tiny craniums!

I will post regarding my saddle update shortly! A brooks b18 "ladies" saddle.

A Nutcase Helmet Review.

Product rating: 4.5/5 - 0.5 deducted for the lack of a tightening brace as available in the gen2 helmets.

I actually REALLY love this helmet.

I know its crazy and out there... but I find if you love something, not only do you look after it but you're also more inclined to, in the case of a helmet in particular, use it.

Front my helmet

Anyway - here is my new helmet. Purchased from cycleways in ferrymead Christchurch. I have been interested in getting one of these helmets for a while, ever since I saw them on letsgorideabike blog I just thought they were really pretty - I did not think I would get one as out there as this one. But there ya go.

Anyway, on arrival to cycleways I saw immediately that they had a wide range available! Excited! So, I pick out a colour I like and ask to try one on. I have a big head, so I have to get the large/extra large size.


The back (the emblem is reflective)

This limits my choice - I don't know
whether it's the australasia distributers fault but cycleways state they can't get any of the more girly ones in my size.

Now, the official Nutcase Australia website lists the red helmet I wanted does come in the larger size, same as the american size. Now that's irritating. I'm not sure if I should be cross at cycleways or the NZ provider.

The new "gen 2" of the nutcase helmets retail for $100 AUSD and $100 NZD. Which means we get a slightly better deal than the aussies. Very rarely is this the case.
After I tried on a helmet, I was given the available colour options - two union flag helmets, one yellow and one black with detailing. And my rainbow helmet. Well, no union flags for my head. Or the uber masculine helmets. So I was left with my rainbow friend here.

Rainbow is a "gen1" helmet - leftover stock. So I convinced the shop assistant to sell her for $70 NZD as opposed to the $100 it initially went for, which is also the current price for the gen2's. I was pretty happy about this to be honest. The difference between the gen1 and gen2 seems to be limited to the tightener on the back of the neck. I feel that although it makes the snug fit that bit better I was not willing to pay $30 extra and sacrifice my cool rainbow gem just to have one on my helmet.

The sliding clasp.

The gen1 helmet has a couple of cool features! The strap buckle is magnetic. Which I've tried to illustrate above. it is very secure, and once it has secured itself, which is extremely easy to do, it is just as simple to unlock. Due to the sliding catch (2nd picture) it is very secure. It should not unclip by accident. You slide it in the direction illustrated to unclip it. Nice.

 The padding inside the helmet is excellent. It allows for "customised fit" which is a fair discription. Very easy to change and adapt - the padding is secured by velcrow. It comes in 3 different thicknesses, of which I utilised 2. After a bit of fiddling around it's easy to find what is comfortable.

These helmets appear to be very similar to the Bell helmets but I haven't tried those. Which is why I can say appear. Bell do not really attract me, the way the nutcase brand has been bravely creative is refreshing, new and a lot more fun. Bell do appear to be cheaper but not as inspiring!

 Thought it might be worth note - the male human in my life is an avid road cyclist. He has tried my helmet on himself and finds it too wide at the sides. Due to his oblong head! I have posted previously on head shapes in helmets - might be worth a look!

EDIT - this helmet is pretty rain proof! The lack of holes in the design is quite fundamental with this style of helmet. However, this does mean ventilation for those 30 degree celcius days are down. Depending on where you live/how you bike you might view this as positive or negative. Those pads do make for very absorbant sweat sponges however!

Helmets - Oblong vs. Round.

It is important for the reader to note that in New Zealand it is illegal to cycle without a helmet and you may face a fine if caught without.. a fine that costs more than a decent helmet!

When I purchased Eliza, I initially invested in a $30 tec helmet. I was happy enough with it - cycle trading company actually gave me it for free.. when I bought my $700 bike. Anyway. I originally thought that it was fine! Though I found it was a fiddly fit and it just didn't feel right. In discussion with the male human however, we rationalised that there are two head, eh, shapes. oblong and round.. a member of CAN at the recent (21/12/12) spokes summer solstice ride said that you are a Bell helmet or a Giro! Now that I think about it I definetly had a bell helmet as a kid! I believe it had butterflies on it.

                                          Tec helmet (left) with a Nutcase helmet (right)

                                          Note the extra padding in the right side helmet.

My tec helmet was made for those of an oblong head dispossition. I, however, have a round head. Quite round.

The above photos hopefully illustrate what I mean. However, small difference it may seem, the slightly longer shape of the tec enabled it to work its way backwards over my head and off my (very essential) frontal lobe. Nutcase (which shall be reviewed in a later post) provide a variety of thickness of padding to allow slightly different head sizes to be accomodated. Very clever!

Lesson: I implore you to chose an appropriately shaped helmet as well as sized! Otherwise whats the point?

One good thing did come out of the tec helmet however, they are made here in Christchurch so the money is pulled back into the economy in our immediate area.

I do.

This is Eliza

And, I love her.


I do.

This female human adores her bicycle. A good thing too, because of lately it has proven to be a right pain in the bum.. more literal than physical but after acquiring a brooks saddle for Eliza she was that as well.

Humph.

My bicycle saved my life. Literally. And also tried to kill me. She may plead manslaughter, but I don't know.

We are (the male human and I, that is) Irish (the northern variety..) immigrants to the BEAUTIFUL country of New Zealand - specifically the work-in-progress city of Christchurch.

We don't have a car - it was not something we could afford with $1,000 to spend on getting me registered for work with my regulatory authority. $400 of which wen towards proving I spoke the inglesh.

So. I lst 10 kgs in 2 months. Swiftly bringing me in under 100kgs. Which, at 5ft 9, would be better at around the 70kgs mark. Baby steps.

Eliza came to me through http://www.cycletrading.co.nz/. The physical shop is MUCH better than their website - it is a shop full of fixies, 3 speed commuters and vintage/classic style bikes. Out front was Eliza. I was very much a newbie at this and, as thus, the 3 speed shimano gear hub MYSTYFIED me. Fairy dust is how I rationalise it to myself to this very day o.0.

I have not had Eliza/a bike for very long...I have no other bikes (bar the male human's road bikes..) to compare her to. In the flat cyclist haven of Christchurch, we were as one.

I shall extend upon changes I have thus made at another time, and also into her issues. Which were very nearly mortal for me as I nearly became roadkill due to a defect at one point.

Every rose has it's thorns. Thankfully I am armed with clippers.