NINA HOFFMANN
To ride fast, you need to be confident, and the helmet plays a big role in case you crash but also because you need to be perfectly comfortable with it while riding. Back in January, we got the chance to welcome Nina Hoffmann to the office. She was going back to Germany after intense training in Finale, and it was the perfect timing to stop by Como Lake and spend one day to discover our lab.
We took the chance to ask her a couple of questions!
Action Photos Credit @Sebastian Gruber
Headquarter Photos Credit @Ulysse Daessle
Did you enjoy your visit at the office?
Yes, of course! It was my first visit to a big company and I was really excited about seeing all of the facilities and structures.
Did you expect it to be like this?
I didn’t think that there are so many people involved and that the office is that wide. But I expected the different kinds of offices like the marketing/social media one and the design office or the test lab. And it was cool to see how much you are working together, talking about new ideas or projects or getting feedback or discussion problems.
What did you enjoy the most visiting the office?
Definitely the test session in the lab! I was really curious about all the maths and physics behind that (even if I only saw a little bit of it). And I loved your chickens and the horses behind the office – that makes work more pleasant.
How important was it for you to discover how we are designing and testing the helmets?
When setting up with a new sponsor, it’s always good to get to know the products in detail. So I really appreciated that I had this opportunity to visit the factory and experience how everything gets developed, tested and designed. There are so many people involved in the process of finishing a new product! Especially the part of testing caught my attention. I’ve never seen how products got tested and I was impressed how many helmets get damaged in the lab haha! But it’s good to see on how many details you pay attention (different kinds of impact, angles of forces or material layers). This gives me the guarantee that I wear helmets that save my head in any case of a crash.
What did you learn during that day? Did you expect tests on helmets to be like this?
That it’s a long way from having the idea of a new product (or a feature on a present product) to finally sell this helmet or protecting gear and that the feedback of us as riders is really welcomed and needed to improve the products. I was surprised about the analysis after the testing. Taking photos of the areas of impact and calculate the average forces to compare them with new tests.
How important is it to you to choose a helmet (very important, not so much…)?
Very very high importance! My head is the most important thing of my body and I want to keep this one working for many more years. For example the Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a disease that is caused by many repetitive brain trauma. If you wear a helmet that doesn’t really fit it will cause such small trauma or release other constraints or disabilities. I know I’ve done my best to keep my body safe and I don’t have to regret anything with the material choice if I crash and still hurt myself.
What characteristics should a helmet should have for you? What are you looking for when you are choosing your helmet?
First of all, safety! A helmet should be as safe as possible and fulfill the highest standards (or higher). Then I go for the look. For me as a girl a fullface helmet should look female, and that means (in my opinion) a round design and not to massive. Especially on my tiny head helmets often look giant haha and also important things are ventilation and field of vision.
After seeing how we torture the helmets, do you feel safer wearing them?
Haha yes! Cause I saw which heavy impacts you gave on the helmets and they didn’t crack! I think it’s hard to get such an impact on the trails.
Which feature(s) do you like most in the Legit Carbon?
I like the visor, which is not too big and releases easy when crashing and the special construction around the ears that makes it possible to hear everything as if you don’t wear a full-face helmet!
You just received your custom helmets, what leads you to choose these graphics?
I wanted a clean and smooth design and I totally fell in love with this shiny red colour you showed me in the office. So we did one helmet all over in red, racing red haha! The second design fits perfectly to my favourite outift and the combination of red, white and dark blue is amazing!
Thanks Nina for the good times!