As a provider of safety helmets for a variety of sports from professional to novice for adults to toddlers, we take pride in bringing innovation to our customers to create a safer experience on the hill, bike path, slopes, or just out on the driveway!

Bell True Fit helmets are designed for biking, however the Bell family also offers customized helmets for a variety of activities including power sports,  bicycling, and … skateboarding. Normally we blog about bicycling and all of the elements that surround it, however over the course of February 2010 we’ve been discussing skateboarding, in particular Tony Hawk, a whole lot.  

Since February 1, 2010 we’ve given away two Bell Hawk skateboarding/BMX helmets, and two versions of the new video game Tony Hawk: RIDE – one for X-Box 360 (congrats @MomMostTraveled) and one for Nintendo Wii (congrats @davesniadak).

While we don’t have the ability to give everyone a helmet or video game, we do have one more game/helmet combo to give away to a random – and may we add, in our opinion, lucky – twitter participant. Today marks the end of our third and final giveaway contest, and we’d like to say CONGRATULATIONS @MissingLynxx. You have won a new Bell Hawk helmet and Tony Hawk: RIDE for X-Box 360!

Thank You – everyone – for participating in our February twitter contests. We hope you’ll stick around to read our blog, and just want to say: be on the lookout for future contests!

Sincerely,

The Bell True Fit Team

There’s something enriching about watching an Olympic athlete stand on the podium and receive their medal. After years of practice, relentless dedication and an unwavering desire to be the best in the world, these athletes glow with a sense of fulfillment when they take the podium to receive their medal. Even the most hardened of competitors are affected, in some way or another, by the medal ceremony, as it enshrines the winners’ name in Olympic history. Today’s Fast Facts Friday touches on Olympic medals and medal winners.

1) The last Olympic gold medals that were made entirely out of gold were awarded in 1912. The Olympic medals are designed especially for each individual Olympic Games by the host city’s organizing committee. Each medal must be at least three millimeters thick and 60 millimeters in diameter. Also, the gold and silver Olympic medals must be made out of 92.5 percent silver, with the gold medal covered in six grams of gold. Let’s start with some figures: there are roughly 2,500 volunteers at the games, there are more than 10,000 media members at the games, and there are about 5,000 officials and athletes participating. (About.com)

2) Bob Richards, two-time Olympic pole vault champion became the spokesman for Wheaties cereal in 1958, and since the 1960s hundreds of athletes (Olympic medalists and other professional athletes) have been shown and promoted on Wheaties boxes. (Wikipedia)

3) As of Friday, February 19, 2010 the United States is leading the medal count in the 2010 Winter Olympics with six gold, five silver, and seven bronze for a total of 18 medals. Germany has four gold, four silver, and three bronze for a total of 11 medals. And Norway is in third place with three gold and silver each, and two bronze for a total of eight medals. (Vancouver2010.com)

4) The all-time medal leader for all Olympic Games from 1896 to 2008, including Summer Olympic Games and  Winter Olympic Games is the United States with 2,511 medals. To put this number into perspective, the second and third place countries in the all-time medal count are (the former) Soviet Union and Great Britain with 1,204 and 736, respectively. (Wikipedia)

5) UPDATE: Easton-Bell sponsored, two-time Olympian Natalie Darwitz, who is serving as the captain of the 2010 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team, moved into the record books on Thursday when she broke the U.S. women’s record for most points in an Olympic hockey tournament. Darwitz is now at 11 points (four goals, seven assists) through three games. Next up for Darwitz and the Americans is the medal round, beginning Monday against Sweden in the semifinals. Records are great, Darwitz says, but these next two games will define her tournament more than any statistic. (USAHockey.com)

Do you have an all-time favorite Olympic athlete? Was there a moment, medal ceremony or otherwise, during the Olympics that moved you? Let us know by leaving a comment below! And don’t forget to enter our giveaway contest for your chance to win a Bell Hawk Helmet AND Tony Hawk: RIDE for X-Box 360 – contest ends 02/23/10! Check it out here.

Skateboarders and gamers rejoice! Bell True Fit and Activision are announcing the third and final video game/helmet contest giveaway! Today through Monday, February 22, 2010 we’re offering you the chance for you to win a Bell Hawk helmet and Tony Hawk RIDE for X-Box 360.

On February 1^st we announced the first of three contest giveaways, each for the chance to win a Bell Hawk skateboard/BMX helmet and, the latest and greatest skateboarding video game, Tony Hawk: RIDE. At the end of the first week we gave away a helmet and RIDE for X-Box 360. Last week we offered the chance to win a helmet and RIDE for Nintendo Wii.

Everyone’s participation in the first two contests has sent thousands of people to our blog, and helped us grow our twitter following exponentially. Thank you all very much for your participation.

Today we are happy to announce the winner of last week’s contest: Congratulations @davesniadak of Eagan, Minnesota! You are the lucky recipient of a shiny new Bell Hawk skateboard helmet and Tony Hawk: RIDE for Wii.

With February more than half way over and with two contests in the books, we still have one more helmet/game combo to giveaway …

For the next seven days we’re giving you the chance to win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for X-Box 360 and a Bell Hawk Helmet! A value of more than $160! This is your last chance to win an X-Box version of Tony Hawk: Ride and a Bell helmet. 

Skaters will enjoy using the game’s unique skateboard peripheral (shown above) which is covered with motion sensors to simulate riding an actual skateboard.Similar to using the balance board in Wii Fit or Shaun White Snowboarding, the peripheral means you’ll have to ollie through challenges, pump for speed in the half pipe, and balance to accomplish tricks. There’s no sitting your way through levels in RIDE.

Entering the contest is easy: All you have to do is follow (@BellTrueFit) on twitter and retweet (RT) this link: http://bit.ly/cC37op

We’ll announce a winner on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first and second rounds, and good luck in the third and final round! Tweet ya later!

The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games or the 21^st Winter Olympics, kicked off this morning in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The games run from February 12–28, 2010, and more than 80 nations are competing in 15 winter sports events. At least 10 of these sports require participants to wear helmets, including ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating, luge, and bobsled. Canadians, Olympics groupies and winter sports enthusiasts alike have been anticipating today and the next two weeks since 2003 – when Vancouver was announced as the host city. If you are unable to make the trek to the Pacific Northwest to cheer on your country’s athletes, we’ve assembled a few facts and resources to help you stay up to date on the games from the comfort of your home.

Read the rest of this entry »

In partnership with Activision, on February 1st Bell Sports kicked off the first of three contest giveaways: for a week we asked you to engage us on twitter (@BellTrueFit) for your chance to win a Bell Hawk helmet and the video game Tony Hawk: Ride for X-Box 360.

After sifting through the twitter messages, we’ve randomly selected a winner: Congratulations to @MomMostTravelled! You are the winner of a Bell Hawk skateboarding/BMX helmet and an X-Box 360 version of Tony Hawk: Ride!

The Bell True Fit sweepstakes continue this week and for the next seven days we’re giving you the chance to win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Nintendo Wii and a Bell Hawk Helmet! A value of more than $160!

Like X-Box 360, the Wii version of Tony Hawk: RIDE uses a skateboard peripheral (shown below) covered with motion sensors to simulate riding an actual skateboard in the game. Similar to using the balance board in Wii Fit or Shaun White Snowboarding you’ll be on your feet grinding and shredding your way through the game. No sore thumbs!

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

We’re excited to be offering you a chance to win a Wii version of Tony Hawk: Ride, and remember that we’ll be giving you another chance to win an X-Box 360 version next week!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the first round, and good luck in the second round!

Skateboarding and video games go back to the late 1980’s when relatively primitive, yet vastly popular, games for the Atari and Nintendo game consoles were introduced. California Games, Skate or Die!, and Skate Boardin’ all debuted in 1987 to great acclaim and positive reviews. While these were quite popular, none of these were the first skateboarding video game. This title belongs to 720°: The Ultimate Aerial Experience, which debuted in 1986.

720° is an arcade game by Atari Games, notable in that it is the first extreme sports video game, and it has a unique timed structure that requires the player to score points in order to keep the game going. 720° has one button and the joystick only spins in a circle. A fun and challenging game (even today) no doubt, but primitive when compared to all the video games Tony Hawk has put his name on in the two decades since 1990.

As we briefly discussed in a recent Fact Facts Friday post, the latest and most interactive skateboarding video game ever is Activision’s Tony Hawk: RIDE, which came out in November 2009.

In the game, the player uses a skateboard peripheral to simulate the riding of an actual skateboard in the game. So… STEP ON THE BOARD AND RIDE! 

Tony Hawk: RIDE lets anyone experience the thrill of skateboarding thanks to its new revolutionary motion sensing skateboard controller (above).  Give your thumbs a rest and discover why RIDING is the new way to play!  Be sure to check out BELL PRO Tony Hawk and the sweet Bell Helmets and Gear in the skate shop. 

Tony Hawk: RIDE is available on Nintendo Wii, PS3, and X-Box 360.

And in case you didn’t know, Bell offers helmets specifically designed for skateboarding: such as the Bell  Hawk.  

In celebration of Bell’s presence in this revolutionary game, we are giving away three copies of it along with three Bell Hawk helmets!

We have two X-Box 360 versions of the game and one Wii version, and we’re going to give away one package (which includes a game and helmet) per week for the next three weeks, starting with an X-Box 360 version.

Today through Sunday, Fedbruary 7, 2010 all you have to do is log into your twitter account and retweet (RT) the following message to be entered into a drawing for a chance to win:

“Win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Xbox AND a Bell Hawk Skateboard Helmet! Visit http://bit.ly/9FqEaT & RT to enter”

The winner will be announced on twitter and the BellTrueFit community site on Monday, February 8, 2010.

We’ll be running a contest to win the Wii version of the game (and a helmet) next week, and in two weeks well be running a contest to win another X-Box 360 version (and a helmet).

Again, for this week’s contest all you have to do is retweet this message:

“Win Activision’s Tony Hawk: Ride for Xbox AND a Bell Hawk Skateboard Helmet! Visit http://bit.ly/9FqEaT & RT to enter”

Good luck! See you on the Backside!

Hopefully all your cards have been sent, your house smells of fresh pine needles and colorful lights are shining brightly in and outside your home, because today is Christmas Eve! Everywhere, people are busy singing carols, doing last minute holiday shopping, wrapping gifts and getting ready to spend quality time with their families and loved ones. The eggnog may very well have already started flowing, the ugly sweaters in full effect and children across the United States are anticipating a busy morning of digging through stockings and tearing through apart wrapping paper.

Indeed, the Holidays are heartwarming for everyone, including us here at Bell Sports. This is in part due to some of the aforementioned holiday customs (who doesn’t enjoy a hearty ugly sweater party?!), but also because of all the new bikes being rolled out this season.

We spoke with Santa earlier this month, and he said that, traditionally, a bicycle is one of the first things on many children’s wish lists. Of course, we made sure Santa had our phone number so he could place orders for True Fit Helmets to go with all those bicycles! We thoroughly enjoy the thought of children across the land jumping on a bike for the first time and starting what hopefully turns into a healthy lifetime hobby.

For some tips on how to properly teach your little one how to ride a bike, check out REI’s expert advice. They suggest the most important consideration when teaching a child to ride is that you keep it fun. Some children will pick it up faster than others, and patience is key. For more information, including the proper way to wear a helmet, check out REI’s Teaching a Child How to Ride a Bike.

Another fun and exciting thing to do around Christmas, specifically, is to bake cookies and leave them out near the fireplace with a glass of milk, so as to build anticipation for your little ones. But rather than making them wait up all night to catch a glimpse of ol’ Saint Nick, why not actually track Santa on his journey around the world this Christmas Eve? NORAD, the bi-national military organization responsible for the aerospace and maritime defense of the United States and Canada has been tracking Santa’s Christmas Eve journey’s for more than 50 years. You and your children will easily be able to find out where Santa is at anytime on Christmas Eve at NoradSanta.org.

Also, in case you missed our holiday helmet giveaway that took place last week, we are extending the holiday spirit post-holiday – we’ll be giving away more free goodies early in the New Year! Check back soon for your chance to win!!

On a final note…regardless of what Holiday you celebrate (it doesn’t matter if there are sugar plums dancing around in your head or Latkes on your plate), we at Bell wish you a very Happy Holiday!!

Being in the holiday spirit, last week we posted our first Holiday Helmet Giveaway, and aim to get it out to our lucky winner in time to make a fun and useful gift! As part of the giveaway we asked people about their favorite holiday traditions and what gifts they are most looking forward to giving and receiving.  All they had to do was leave a comment answering one or all of these questions, and they were automatically entered in a drawing to win a free Bell True Fit helmet of their choice!

Well, the results are in, and we’ve randomly selected Martha Renda as the winner of Bell’s Holiday Helmet Giveaway.

Martha said this Christmas is the most special to her because she already has the most wonderful gifts: She is a gradparent who recently received custody of her three grandchildren – ages 3, 4 and 7.

“We are starting over again as parents, but what a wonderful gift we have been given,” Renda said.

We hope you enjoy the helmet, Martha!

Be on the lookout for future helmet giveaways.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

The holidays are upon us and Jack Frost is nipping at everyone’s noses. With Hanukkah starting on Friday and Christmas around the corner, it made us over here at Bell wonder – how many of you could use a new helmet this holiday? A helmet is not the flashiest gift, nor the most expensive, but it is a perfect gift to give that cyclist, bmx’r or little biker in your family – the designs are very cool, and it shows you care about their well being. Even if they already have a helmet, it never hurts to have a spare one for when they want to bring a friend along for a ride, or when an upgrade is needed due to damage (check out our Your Stories Told feature to see firsthand how a Bell helmet saved one man’s life!).

Regardless of whether or not you’d planned to give a helmet to someone this Hanukkah or Christmas, we’re asking everyone to leave a comment below and tell us one (or all) of three things:

1) What is your favorite holiday tradition?

2) What gift(s) are you hoping to receive this year?

3) What gift(s) are you most looking forward to giving this year?

The best part? One lucky person who leaves a comment will win a free Bell True Fit helmet!!

That’s right; we’ll send one lucky person a Bell True Fit helmet (any size, any style – based on availability) just for sharing some of their holiday spirit with us.

Comments will be closed at 5p.m. PT on Thursday, December 17, 2009, at which time we’ll choose one commenter at random, and send them a free Bell True Fit helmet to arrive in time for the holidays!

Want that to be you? All you have to do is leave a comment below. Be sure to leave your name and a way for us to reach you. Or you could always send your comments to us on Twitter @BellTrueFit.

And if you have a twitter account, please also leave your twitter handle in your comment. We can’t give you a free helmet if we don’t know who you are!

Happy Holidays!

Photo courtesey of FocusHack.com

We hosted our first of several giveaways for one lucky reader to receive a free Bell True Fit helmet so that they could give the new design a test run of their own.

The lucky winner is Aqua Baron, who participated in the giveaway by commenting as American Mom in Paris. This world-traveling mom to two toddlers will return home to Ladera Ranch in Orange County, California to find a new helmet waiting for her!

Congratulations Aqua, and we look forward to hearing back on your own experience with the helmet. Happy belated Earth Day!