Welcome to Headspace
Happy New Year, and welcome to this new section of the 6D website where we’ll provide content for our customers and the public in general. Our goal with Headspace is simple: to inform. Some of that informing will be through stories that are 6D-specific, but we also plan for this to become a place where people can come for data and awareness about concussion- and brain-protection-related topics. To that end, some of the posts will be about those topics and have little to do with our company, at least directly.
Personally, I welcome this opportunity to communicate with the public about subjects that I find meaningful or important. I’ve made a few blog entries in the past, but the frequency and regularity of those posts have been limited by the day-to-day responsibilities of managing 6D. With this new program, we’ve implemented processes that should make it possible for me to post my thoughts on a more consistent basis. In addition, we’ll have posts from others such as my business partner Robert Reisinger, and even by and about people and organizations outside the company.
As a manufacturer of innovative helmets, 6D is by nature a forward-thinking company, but as we head into 2018, I can’t help but reflect on the past seven years. Honestly, before Robert and I founded 6D in 2011, my back was against the wall; I was unexpectedly unemployed, but I didn’t want to just go to work for someone else again at that stage of my life. At the same time, my previous career experiences had given me a really good understanding that helmets weren’t protecting at the level that they needed to in motorcycle accidents. I wanted to try to advance that situation, and I thought we could build an improved safety helmet that would better protect the riders. I also hoped that in the long term, our efforts would help promote participation in off-road motorcycle riding.
We’ve made some great progress toward those goals in the years since, and the past year has seen 6D take some additional important steps. Our ATR-1 helmet had already found a home in the off-road motorcycle world, but spring of 2017 was when our on-road helmet—the ATS-1—became a complete product line. In addition, we also got our mountain bike trail helmet—the ATB 1T Evo—into our warehouse in all sizes, and out to dealers and distributors around the globe. All of these helmets feature 6D’s Omni-Directional Suspension technology (ODS), and the bicycle helmet even has an updated version, which helps the smaller, compact size of the ODS system in the bicycle helmet to deal even better with shearing forces. In adding both of those products to the company’s catalog, we were able to grow our business and improve our penetration in the marketplace, while also protecting people who have elected to wear 6D helmets.
Another big milestone for 6D in 2017 was our work on the NFL Head Health Challenge and the study of different multi-impact materials that have the potential to benefit users in motorcycle and bicycle applications. I’ll dedicate a future column to the NFL Head Health Challenge, but for now, suffice to say that in addition to being a great honor, winning that prestigious contest’s Grand Prize award was confirmation of the importance of our work. Our study of new materials inside the challenge also helped us to understand how we can improve the performance of our ODS technology, and how we can integrate that into new products as we continue to develop and grow our company.
With these other options now available, it becomes more important than ever to educate oneself as to the differences of the available technologies, their methods, their influences, and their capability compared to each other, and to ODS.
One of the things about which I’m proudest is the role 6D has played in inspiring other brands to work harder. When we introduced the ATR-1 in 2013, it created quite a stir within the marketplace, as technology in helmets was still a new concept. Since then, additional manufacturers have acknowledged the significant role that rotational energy and low-threshold energy play in accidents, and they’ve introduced other solutions in their helmets. That trend continued in 2017, and at the end of the day, it brings improved helmets to the market for the consumer. With these other options now available, it becomes more important than ever to educate oneself as to the differences of the available technologies, their methods, their influences, and their capability compared to each other, and to ODS. It also keeps us on our toes as we continue to move forward and invest in R&D to improve safety helmets.
That—going forward—is what gets me most excited, and it’s really what New Years are all about. I see 2018 as an exciting time for 6D, as we continue to grow our business globally and further our product offerings. We’re getting new enquiries from countries all around the world, for access to the 6D product line; for example, we just picked up our first accounts in Russia, China, Argentina, and Poland towards the end of last year!
I expect 2018 to be an important and exciting period as we continue to grow our business and further develop the technology in order to offer consumers better and safer options for helmets. I look forward to informing people about brain protection, and to giving them a place where they can find valid third-party information about the brain.
Hopefully you’ll enjoy our “Headspace” and find it informative. I look forward to sharing what we know and helping to educate people who visit regularly with the desire to better understand helmets, head protection, and important associated content.
My most sincere condolences on the loss of Robert. I live in San Luis Obispo and worked for Robert at Mountain Cycle when I was fresh out of Cal Poly. He was a tireless and meticulous creator. His passion for his projects is inspiring and insatiable.
I wish the best for 6D and his family in his absence. Glad to know he was still doing what he loved – riding Moto.
Ben Lerner
Leave a comment