Product reviews

The BELL brand in cycling helmets is synonymous with quality, care of workmanship and affordability.

Since their debut on the outdoor and cycling scene in 1954, the company has gone from strength to strength – not bad for a company that started out 31-years earlier as a small parts auto shop in Los Angeles.

Fortunately today, BELL is well represented in Japan, with many stockists of cycling and outdoor equipment – often the same place – carrying their 21 types of mens, womens’s and kids helmets which retail for around 8-15,000 yen apiece; a venerable snip.

www.bellbikehelmets.com

One of the biggest dangers riders face is the night run.

It’s dark, or the light is poor, its harder than normal for drivers to see you with their minds focused on all the signs and traffic signals out there, and so, whilst not a guarantee of safety, you WILL be a lot more visible if you use any form of reflective light strip currently on the market.

The standard ‘yellow’ strips in retracting form permit themselves to be stretched to their maximum length (there are several on the market) and will almost automatically wind themselves back up when not prevented from doing so.

100 yen shops the length and breadth of Japan sell these strips in various sizes (length and width) making them the perfect wraparound on a dark rucksack, arm or ankle band and even ideal to fit round the seat stem to offer that little extra bit of protection when being approached from the rear by car drivers more interested in their navigation systems or in-car TV!

Get reflective and get safe!