Photo: Hovding

A few years ago, my husband rediscovered his old bike and started showing up at places looking tousled, flushed and exhilarated. His enthusiasm convinced me to import my own bike to our city, and soon I started showing up places looking tousled and flushed, period. I've dreamed of an invisible helmet that would protect my head without messing up my hair.

Two Swedish industrial designers had the same dream, but theirs was way more radical. They conceived of a helmet like a car air bag that would be triggered by sensors to inflate during a crash. When not in use (which, if you're lucky, would be pretty much all the time), the helmet would zip into a stylish waterproof collar worn around the neck. (Check out collar styles, read more about how this works and see a crash-test video of the helmet in action by going to the designer's website.) After more than six years of planning and tweaking, Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin have found a way to turn their far-out vision into a safe, futuristic-looking helmet that will sit on—and save—other people's heads.

The international cycling community has been going crazy for this design ever since photos hit the Internet about a year ago. Earlier this month, the Hövding won one of the world's biggest design awards, and now the helmets are available for preorder in Sweden. They're currently priced at 2,998 Swedish kronor, which converts to about $436. That's more than 10 times the price of my helmet. On the other hand, it's 40 to 50 times less than the price of a new car.

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