May the Forcite be with you.
[UPDATE 10/20/20: Forcite co-founder Alfred Boyadgis reached out to us to clarify that yes, the first 1,000 helmets shipping are ECE 22.05 certified units, for Australian customers only. He went on to add that Forcite hopes to ship U.S. helmets mid-2021, depending on the DOT certification process and also COVID-19 global supply impacts on components.
Boyadgis also said that if you’re in the U.S. and want to be among the first to know about U.S. production, you should sign up for Forcite’s email list.]
Original post follows:
It’s one thing to announce a new smart helmet, and completely another to put it into production. The good news is that Forcite seems to be doing both. Way back in July, 2019, we told you about the Forcite MK1 smart helmet. This ECE and DOT-certified smart helmet comes with an integrated Bluetooth comms system—and a fancy 1080P HD camera built into the chin bar.
Since the company is based in Sydney, Australia, that was also the first country where the MK1 lid debuted. Only 1,000 helmets were planned for production in the first batch. As of October 18, 2020, all 1,000 of those lids are now shipping out to Forcite’s first customers.
What does this mean for the company’s plans to start offering the MK1 in the U.S.? That’s unclear from the information Forcite has put out so far, but we’ve reached out for clarification. If and when they update us about any such plans, we’ll update this piece to include that information.
Forcite also mentioned on its social media channels that it plans to make additional announcements about future helmet production later this week. At this point, we don’t know if those plans include additional MK1 availability, or future helmet designs, or what—but if you’re curious to see what the company has planned, you may want to follow them to see what’s up.
Once these helmets are out in the wild, we’ll hopefully start to see what actual riders like and dislike about them. Basic stuff like helmet build quality, comfort, and noise level are obviously important. However, we also want to know about stuff like the user interface, and what the video and audio quality are like. Will the reality live up to all of its potential? Here’s hoping that’s the case.
Sources: YouTube, Instagram, Facebook
Keyword: Forcite MK1 Smart Helmet Is Now Shipping To Its First Customers