During the process of conducting our recent twitter contests, we stumbled upon some freebies, contests and sweepstakes that we thought would appeal to just about any bike rider, cycling enthusiast or velo ambassador out there.

While these are only a handful of the many bike-related opportunities available at any given moment, we hope they will inspire you to keep the wheels turning and remain active in both your online and local cycling communities.

• This one’s for the ladies: did you know that there’s a bicycle designed specifically to meet the needs of female road cyclists? It’s called the Terry Symmetry bicycle, and it’s designed by Georgena Terry. Did you know that you can win one simply by entering your email address? Well, Terry Bicycles is offering the chance to do just that, here: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/87701?ogn=website. The approximate retail value of prize is $1069.00 – $1,229.00. Contest ends February 22, 2011 @ 11:59 pm (EST).
• In Portland the folks at Bike Gallery bike shops are hosting the last of their four Free Flat Fix Fridays on January 28. Simply bring your flat tire to any of their six locations the Portland Metro area on the 28^th and they will install a new tube for no charge. As stated on their website, “‘We understand it takes a commitment to ride through the winter months, this is our way of saying thanks for being out there. And if you are a fair-weather cyclist who has hung up the bike for the winter, we want to help get you and your bike ready for the warmer spring weather.” We like the spirit and dedication, and applaud Bicycle Gallery for their efforts. Find more information at http://www.bikegallery.com/blog/2011/free-flat-fix-fridays/.
• Many bike riders double as skiers and snowboarders during when the snow starts falling.  If you’re one of those people who love the snow, be sure to enter Whistler Blackcomb’s Dream Ski Vacation contest … but only if you truly “Love Snow.” The perks on this one are unbelievable: Whistler Heli-Skiing adventure for two, 5 nights at The Fairmount Chateau Whistler, Lift Tickets for 4 days, travel, meals, equipment rentals, food and much more. To enter the contest visit http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/58442?ogn=website and follow the directions which are basically to “profess your love for snow by posting a comment and, if you can, a photo that demonstrates just how much you adore snow.” Contest ends February 28, 2011 @ 11:59 pm (PST).
• And then there are the bike riders who prefer to go down hills on two wheels (minus all the freezing and snow). Mountain Bikers – this one’s for you: The winner of the Flip Winter The Bird sweepstakes gets to choose their favorite hot weather destination and enjoy seven+ days of singletrack mountain biking and much more in Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, or Argentina – with a friend! Entering is easy here: http://wildfireapp.com/website/6/contests/60805?ogn=website. Sweepstakes ends February 11, 2011 @ 11:59 pm (EST). If you win, you’ll choose one of the following:
  • Mountain Biking (MTB) + Yoga in Mexico
  • MTB + Mayan culture in Guatemala
  • MTB + surfing in Chile
  • MTB and whitewater rafting in Patagonia
• Street Smarts San Ramon Valley is hosting the seventh annual storybook poster contest where elementary school students get to compete to have their illustrations featured in a valley-wide storybook about traffic safety.  According to Eric Louie at the Contra Costa Times, “The story, ‘The Great Zoo Escape,’ has animals escaping from the zoo. Students must bring the animals to the school safely. Along the way they learn about pedestrian safety, bicycle safety and the benefits of walking or bicycling to school.  Ten illustrations will be selected. The book will be distributed to thousands of students in the San Ramon Valley. Each winner will get a bicycle safety kit, art kit, and a $40 Target gift card. The winning artwork and final storybook will be unveiled at the Street Smarts Storybook Poster Contest Awards Ceremony on March 10 in San Ramon.” As stated on their website, “The Street Smarts traffic safety storybook showcases the artistic talent that exists in the San Ramon Valley while fostering the learning of traffic safety principles.” Visit http://www.street-smarts.com/programs/poster_contest.htm for full Contest Rules and downloadable entry form. The deadline to enter is Feb. 7

Know of any other bike or helmet-related contests or freebies? We’d love to hear about them … so leave a comment below!

Our third and final round of the Bell True Fit twitter contest is complete! We’ve reached 900 followers on twitter, and as promised the time has come to select a follower (at random) to receive a free Bell True Fit helmet!

With this new milestone, we’re also donating five brand new True Fit helmets to the folks at San Jose Bike Party, to help them continue building a strong bicycle community. Located in Bell Sports’ backyard, the group organizes themed, monthly rides through the city of San Jose, CA and this month The Orange Ride starts at 8pm on Friday, January 21, 2011. They’re encouraging participants to come to the party decked out in orange colors. Be sure to check out the San Jose Bike Party on facebook and twitter @SJBikeParty for more information.

Of course, we remain dedicated to our loyal and motivated customers, so we’re also giving away a True Fit helmet to one of our 900+ followers. OK, so the winner of the final, Round 3 is … drum roll please … Dina L (@DinaJ). Congratulations and thanks for following @BellTrueFit! Please pick a Bell True Fit size, and whether you’d like a boy’s/men’s or girl’s/women’s helmet (visit our Products page for helmet options), and then DM us your email on twitter so we can get your address to mail your free new helmet!

THANK YOU to everyone who re-tweeted and encouraged friends to follow in the first, second and third round. You all really are the engine that keeps us moving forward in making new connections in the cycling and helmet advocacy communities.

We love to see people, communities, and organizations taking the time to make bicycle safety and education a priority. It’s even more exciting when they go a step further and offer free helmets to make their efforts even more impactful. It seems every week we find another organization stepping up to the plate to make sure that children are equipped with the knowledge and equipment to be safe bike riders. Here are a few of the recent bike, bike helmet, and other bike item giveaways:

• In Grand Haven, Michigan, “A $2,000 grant from the Neel Foundation is giving participants of the Love INC Tri-Cities Love Links Bicycle Ministry program a solid head on their shoulders.” What exactly are they doing to ensure a “solid head”? They’re using the money to purchase 300-400 Bell bicycle helmets! The way it works is that Love Links will be able to give away helmets when people come to the ministry for bicycles. Bikes are distributed to people twice a month — from May to the end of this month, so get on down there! The bicycles are given away based on a voucher system. Clients go to Love INC’s headquarters, 1106 Fulton Ave., to obtain a voucher. From there, they take the voucher to one of the many bike giveaway dates. “Not everyone takes (the helmets), but we encourage them to,” program coordinator Charmaine Velik said. Visit Love INC bicycle program gets dollars for helmets for more info. (Alex Doty, Grand Haven Tribune.com)
• The “Halloween Haunt” Grand Opening celebration of the Valley Health Center Milpitas, took place on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 143 N. Main St. in Milpitas. In a twist on the traditional Halloween fair, this healthy haunt event had free kids activities, free trick-or-treat, and free food, as well as free health and dental screenings for adults and kids, including vaccinations. Kids also learned about bike safety and got a free bike helmet by attending the bike safety seminar from 1:15 to 2 p.m. (thanks to the Santa Clara Family Health Plan). Read more:  COUNTY CURRENTS: Celebration of New Valley Health Center (Dave Cortese, MercuryNews.com)
• Recently, members of the St. Augustine Kiwanis Club in Florida, along with Crookshank K-Kids (their youth services group), sponsored a program on bike safety and gave each first grader at Crookshank Elementary a helmet. The club hopes that the helmets get the youngest students off to a safe and responsible start, developing healthy habits in terms of bike safety. “Keeping students safe while riding their bikes is an important priority for the St. Augustine Kiwanis Club.” Now that’s the spirit! Kiwanis Club distributes bike helmets at Crookshank, (The St. Augustine Record)
• Taking a cue from our Minneapolis Bike Cop friends Mark Klukow and Mike Kirchen, the Pratt Police Department (in West Virginia) is now passing out free bicycle helmets to local children. Pratt Police Chief Eric Eagle said the Greater Charleston Pilot Club and local McDonald’s restaurants are teaming up with the police department to provide helmets for town residents. He said the Pilot Club will provide the helmets, which the police department will distribute. Police will also distribute McDonald’s meal cards to children wearing bike helmets. Pratt police giving away children’s bike helmets (Staff, The Charleston Gazette)

We’re also conducting a bike-helmet giveaway right now too! It’s easy to enter for your chance to win a free Bell true Fit helmet: Simply follow us on twitter at @BellTrueFit and you’ll be automatically entered into our drawing for a free helmet once we reach 900 followers! Visit Bell True Fit Twitter Contest: Round 2 Complete, Round 3 Underway for more details

The bicycle festivities are definitely in effect on Saturday in Arkansas with the Bentonville Annual Bike Rodeo.

Promoting cycling safety for all ages, B2 Bicycle Blast on the Bentonville Square kicks off with a bike rodeo from 9am-Noon. Then the bicycle parade begins.

Never heard of a bike rodeo before? Well we’ve discussed them many times on the Bell True Fit blog including a Fast Fact’s Friday feature back in June, Did you know? The Rodeo Isn’t Just for Cowboys … but if you’re still unsure, a bike rodeo is basically a clinic that helps teach children the importance of riding a bicycle safely and what skills and precautions they need to develop to have a safe time on their bicycles.

And what better way to learn than in the midst of the world’s top BMX professionals?

During the rodeo Team Self Destruct will be putting on bike stunt shows at 10am, 10:45am, and 11:30am.

If you or your kid is interested in meeting a few of the biggest names in BMX and motorsports, there’s an all-star lineup attending and signing autographs including:

• Extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana
• Nike BMX Team rider Mike Spinner
• Professional BMX Racer Danny Robinson
• Professional downhill mountain bike racer and freestyle rider Jim DeChamp

Bell is taking part in the event as well: We’re donating 300 water bottles for giveaways to the registered Bike Rodeo participants, and we’ve donated some of the lender helmets for participants as well.

If you see a Bell Sports logo at one of the booths come stop by and say hello!

For more information on the event visit Bentonville Annual Bike Rodeo on facebook and follow @BVILLEBIKERODEO on twitter for real-time updates.

We hope to see you there!

We’ve reached more than 800 followers on twitter, and as promised the time has come to select a follower (at random) to receive a free Bell True Fit helmet!

With this milestone, we’re also donating five brand new True Fit helmets to Bike Cops for Kids in Minneapolis to help them in their effort to connect cops and kids using bike safety, helmets, and bikes.

City Hall, Down Town San Jose

Big thanks to everyone who re-tweeted and encouraged friends to follow. You all really are the engine that keeps us moving forward in making new connections.

OK, so the winner of Round 2 is … drum roll please … Toni Patton (@Totally_Toni). Congratulations!

Thanks for participating! Please pick a Bell True Fit size, and whether you’d like a boy’s/men’s or girl’s/women’s helmet (visit our Products page for helmet options), and then DM us your email on twitter so we can get your address to mail your free new helmet!

We still have two more rounds of free-helmet giveaways to complete, and we hope that everyone will continue to re-tweet for the chance to win.

For Round 3, when we reach 900 followers, we’ll donate five helmets to San Jose Bike Party – the organization dedicated to building community through bicycling.

Let there be bikes! SJ Bike Party

If you missed our posts on the first and second rounds, here’s how it works: Follow @BellTrueFit on twitter and be automatically entered to win a new Bell True Fit bike helmet!

Each time we reach another 100 followers, we’ll randomly select one of our followers to send a new Bell True Fit helmet to! Plus, each time we reach another 100 followers we’ll donate five helmets to an organization that is dedicated to helmet advocacy and bike safety. We’ll be giving helmets away when we reach 900 followers.

So keep on tweeting, and please encourage your followers to follow @BellTrueFit so we can reach our goals that much sooner!

Here’s what you can tweet: Follow @BellTrueFit – we’re giving away True Fit bike helmets as we reach 900 followers! Please RT http://bit.ly/amXY8A

And be sure to check out the San Jose Bike Party on facebook and twitter @SJBikeParty as well.

We announced a twitter contest on July 24 in an effort to increase helmet advocacy and raise awareness about bike safety, and the response has been tremendous! We reached our first milestone of 700 followers on July 30, which means we’ve selected one lucky follower, at random, to get a free Bell True Fit helmet!

With this milestone, we’re also donating five brand spankin’ new True Fit helmets to SafeKids USA for them to share in their efforts to keep kids safe.

Officer Mike and Officer Mark with a full load of Bell Helmets!

So without further adieu, the first winner is Jaclyn Reynolds (@jaclynfett)! Thanks for participating! Please pick a Bell True Fit size, and whether you’d like a boy’s/men’s or girl’s/women’s helmet (visit our Products page for helmet options), and then DM us your email on twitter so we can get your address to mail your free new helmet!

We still have three more milestones to reach and we can only get there with your participation. We’ll be giving away a helmet to a randomly selected follower each time we reach 800, 900, and 1,000 followers. We’ll also be donating five True Fit helmets to a non-profit, helmet advocacy or bike safety group each time we reach a new milestone. For this round, when we reach 800 followers we’ll be donating 5 helmets to Bike Cops for Kids – the Minneapolis based duo of Officer Mike and Officer Mark.

Their main goal is to “make a special memory stick into the hard drive of a child as they grow up in challenging situations”. Their aim is to connect cops and kids using helmets, bike safety and bikes to do it.

So keep on tweeting, and please encourage your followers to follow @BellTrueFit so we can reach our goals that much sooner!

Here’s what you can tweet: 

Follow @BellTrueFit – we’re giving away True Fit bike helmets  as we reach 800, 900 & 1,000 followers! Please RT http://bit.ly/cEQ5NV

And be sure to check out the Bike Cops for Kids on facebook and “Like” them!

In last week’s Fast Facts Friday post we featured a handful of cities, organizations, and companies offering free helmets. Helmet awareness and bike safety has grown immensely over the last 20 years and we are thrilled to see so much philanthropy.

Today we’re kicking off a helmet giveaway campaign via twitter. Here’s how it works: Follow @BellTrueFit on twitter and be automatically entered to win a new Bell True Fit bike helmet!

Each time we reach another 100 followers, we’ll randomly select one of our followers to send a new Bell True Fit helmet to! Plus, each time we reach another 100 followers we’ll donate five helmets to an organization that is dedicated to helmet advocacy and bike safety. We’ll be giving helmets away when we reach 700, 800, 900 followers.

As of today we have 647 followers, but once we reach 700 followers, we’ll randomly select a follower to send a new helmet to. We’ll also send five new bike helmets to SafeKids USA for them to share in their efforts to keep kids safe.

If you’re already following us on twitter, well then you’ll be automatically entered into a drawing to win a helmet once we reach the 700, 800, 900 follower milestones. But please encourage your followers to follow @BellTrueFit also, so we can reach our goals that much sooner!

Here’s what you can tweet:

Follow @BellTrueFit – they’re giving away bike helmets as they reach 700, 800, 900 followers! Please RT http://bit.ly/dcqRlc

Here’s what you could win (and what we’ll be donating):

The Bell True Fit Adrenaline

Stay tuned for the first winner!

Cities, organizations, companies, and caring individuals are hosting events promoting bike safety and helmet awareness, all the time, across the country.  There’s a natural increase in bicycle-helmet awareness efforts during the summertime as both children and adults are biking more frequently (similarly, ski and snowboard-helmet awareness increases in the winter).

Over the past 20 years helmet awareness has grown exponentially, and judging by the giveaways happening across the country, it seems the amount of goodwill and commitment to helmet safety education have as well.

Here’s a sampling of some of the fun examples of that dedication to education and support around bike helmet safety that we found:  

1. In an effort to help keep children of Port Orange, Florida safe and abiding by state law (Florida law requires all those under the age of 16 to wear an approved helmet while operating a bicycle) the police department is offering free bicycle helmets, and urging parents to remind their children to think safety and wear a helmet. Simply call Crime Prevention Officer Dave Miller at 386-506-5822 for additional information or to make an appointment. Helmets are available as long as they last. (News-JournalOnline.com) 
2. Earlier this week Kohl’s department stores sponsored a free helmet giveaway at the Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo, NY. Dozens of children learned the dangers of riding a bicycle without a helmet, and now they’re all equipped to ride safely! Trauma Coordinator Dawn Melancon said, “At Women and Children’s Hospital, what we recommend is that every child that rides a bike has a helmet on. It should be properly fitted, which means it should be nice and snug. The chin strap should be strapped and snug also, and parents should be a role model and wear their helmets, too. And other kids should encourage their friends to wear helmets. Keep everybody safe and out of the hospital for the summer.” (WIVB.com)
3. In New Jersey, the Maplewood and South Orange police departments, along with the South Orange Municipal Alliance and YouthNet, are promoting bike registration through several events over the course of the next month. Free helmets are being provided in adult sizes small through large to those who register their bikes with Maplewood and South Orange police while supplies last. Check out the list of dates and events at SouthOrange.Patch.com.
4. They’re not giving out helmets, but they are giving out shoes! Proceeds to the second annual Reid Bicycle Ride on July 24 go towards new shoes for children and families in need. Organized by Reid Hospital this fun filled 20-mile ride ends at the Dublin community park where refreshments, massages, photo opportunities, music, prize drawings and a mini-wellness fair await. Last year they we’re able to distribute 1,000 pairs of shoes, and the goal is 1,500 for 2010! For more information, to register, or  to donate visit ReidHospital.org/reidride …

At Bell True Fit we host contests and giveaways on occasion, and this month will be no exception! Be sure to come back to the community site and stay tuned to the Bell True Fit twitter and facebook channels next week because we’ll be announcing a way for you to take home your own free helmet!

The bicycle community really is a giving place. As you might have seen on this blog from time to time, we’re pretty fond of giving back to the people who support Bell Sports. And we’re not alone. The fact of the matter is: there are a ton of bike-related online contests and giveaways taking place today and every day. At any given time businesses, media, and bloggers are posting ripe bike and bike helmet giveaways for the picking. So on this Fast Fact’s Friday we’d like to highlight some cool opportunities currently taking place and help you find free stuff:

1) At Frugal Family Fun, mother of three and college student Lisa Moore Gee is reviewing and giving away a Bell True Fit helmet! To enter the contest, simply leave a comment on her blog here. But don’t stop there, Lisa offers multiple ways to enter: a) Follow @FrugalFamilyFun  or @BellTrueFit on Twitter and then leave a comment on the blog with your twitter name, b) Tweet about this giveaway including the link to it (http://ow.ly/1W0gM) and  also be sure to include @BellTrueFit or @FrugalFamilyFun.
Lisa offered this tweet for you to use: “Win a @BellTrueFit Helmet from @frugalfamilyfun http://ow.ly/1W0gM”

Not on Twitter? Well, there are a few more ways to enter also. Visit the blog to find out how.

2) The DC Bike Giveaway taking place over at Sneaker Freaker Magazine is pretty hilarious. A tangy orange DC Fixie bike is up for grabs, and to enter the contest all you have to do is send a picture with your favorite orange thing in the world to info@sneakerfreaker.com. You must be a member of Sneaker Freaker to enter. If you aren’t yet, no worries – GO HERE and register (for FREE of course). Entries close July 1, 2010. Need some inspiration on what sorts of orange things you should take a photo with?  Check out the current entries here. Keep up with this contest and look for future giveaways by following on @snkrfrkrmag on Twitter. 

3) From 11am – 3pm ET on Saturday, June 12 the NYC Department of Transportation is hosting a Bicycle Safety and Helmet Program where they’ll be giving away free bicycle helmets to visitors of all ages (while supplies last). You’ll learn how to properly fit and wear your helmet before receiving one. While the NYC DOT is offering helmet education, there will simultaneously be a kids’ bicycle swap taking place. Presented by Recycle-A-Bicycle, children who have outgrown their bicycles (or have extra gently-used bikes to donate) are invited to bring their bike to Socrates Sculpture Park and swap it in exchange for another gently-used bike. All children’s bikes in working order and without gears are welcome at the event. At approximately 2:45pm, any unclaimed bicycles will be donated on a first-come first serve basis. Check out the event on Facebook. (QueensMamas.com)

4) Over at RaisingMy4Sons, they’re reviewing and giving away a Strider Balance bike. Designed for children, ages 1 – 5, the Strider™ PREbike is lightweight, easy to control and features an adjustable seat and handlebars to accommodate a growing child. Most importantly, the Strider teaches your child balance, coordination and develops confidence … all without pedals! According to Raising My 4 Sons’ Mandee, the Strider Sports PREbike is more than a bike – “it’s an on and off-road child mobility product”.

Entering the contest to win this bike is easy, simply visit the Strider Website and then leave a comment on Mandee’s  review telling her something you learned about the Strider PREbike. (It’s that simple!) After you’ve done that, there are a few more ways submit multiple entries. One way is to simply tweet “WIN a FREE Balance Bike from Strider $110 Value! @RaisingMy4Sons http://bit.ly/a6Keen”.

 Be sure to follow @RaisingMy4Sons for future giveaways.

Are you conducting some sort of bicycle or helmet-related contest? Is there a helmet fitting/giveaway in your area? We’d love to hear about them and feature your contests/events in a future blog post, so follow us @BellTrueFit on twitter, or leave a message below!

Did you strike out in your first at bat? Well, dust off your cleats and get back into the batter’s box because Bell True Fit is offering ANOTHER chance to win two tickets to tonight’s San Francisco Giants game against Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.

As a part of the Easton-Bell Sports family, Bell is the preeminent designer of branded sports helmets and accessories.

Easton-Bell makes helmets for softball, football and hockey, and of course baseball. They also sponsor a handful of MLB players and numerous collegiate programs, but it doesn’t stop there. Easton Baseball is also the Official Team Equipment Supplier of Little League Baseball and Softball, Dixie Youth Baseball, Pony Baseball, and AABC.

OK enough with our credentials. You get, the truth is, Easton is baseball. Now, let’s get down to the contest.

As a “thank you” to celebrate our one year anniversary as a community, we’re giving away two tickets to tonight’s Giants vs. Cardinals game. And don’t forget to get there early as it’s “wearable blanket” giveaway night if you’re one of the first 20,000 fans to enter the stadium!

Entering the contest is easy: All you have to do is follow (@BellTrueFit) on twitter and retweet (RT) this link: http://bit.ly/9nmcG2

It’s that easy.

The contest ends at 3pm PT, and the game starts at 7:15pm PT, so be sure to get your RTs in before the deadline.

Around 3 pm PT we’ll randomly select and notify a winner.

Good luck!