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’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!

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!

Today is Earth Day 2010 – the 40^th Anniversary of the celebration. This week also marks the one-year Anniversary of the Bell True Fit blog! A year ago we started this blog in an effort to raise awareness about Bell’s advances in the bicycling, snow sports and fitness industries, while paying homage to Mother Earth. In doing so, we unveiled our True Fit technology: a perfect combination of science and human experience that resulted in the best fitting helmets ever. We kicked off this blog with a Bell True Fit helmet giveaway and some Earth Day awareness.

Since last April we’ve held numerous giveaways, offered invaluable helmet and biking tips, and covered off on some of the most relevant helmet and biking-related news with our Week In Review series.

Unlike a newspaper, radio or traditional TV sitcom, a blog is not a static thing … it requires human participation and interaction for it to be successful.

You’ve participated in our surveys and contests, you’ve shared your favorite biking trails and locations, and you’ve offered unparalleled insight into the minds of the bicycle community. So, on this anniversary we’d like to thank our community. Meaning, we thank YOU for all the different levels of collaboration offered to us over the past year.

We thank The Full Mommy for her review and giveaway of a Bell True Fit helmet last spring. TG Daily Dads and Grads Product Giveaway was a hit with the guys last summer.  Last fall we conducted a survey asking if you allow your children to ride their bicycle to school. During the winter we asked what your favorite holiday traditions are. Both times we gave a helmet to one lucky commenter. And of course who could forget our twitter contests where we gave away three sets of Tony Hawk RIDE video games and Bell True Fit helmets! We hope the winners @MomMostTraveled, @davesniadak, and @MissingLynxx are getting good use out of the video games and helmets.

While your participation here has helped our blog become a Web destination for the bicycle community, your engagement with our Facebook and Twitter pages has also made Bell True Fit one of the highest followed in the social web.  ‘Thank You’ to all of you who commented on our blog posts, wrote on our Facebook wall, or “ReTweeted” our Twitter updates. Without you this blog would not be possible. Your engagement helps us decide what kind of content you’re most interested in for yourself and others in your own social networks.

We hope you’ll continue to visit our site and provide the invaluable feedback that you do.

Be on the lookout for more contests, and once again THANK YOU for being a part of the Bell True Fit family!

Happy Earth Day 2010!

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

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!

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!

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!

We recently posted a survey asking people whether or not their children ride bicycles to school, if they wear their helmets, and a few other bike and helmet-related questions. We also offered a free Bell True Fit helmet to one lucky survey participant. Today we’re announcing the lucky winner … and sharing the survey results!

While many of the participants had similar responses, there were also some interesting variations too.

For example, the majority of survey participants said their children do not ride bicycles to school, with the number one reason for not riding their bikes to school being distance, as the majority of respondents live more than one mile from their child’s school. Another common reason that participants’ children do not ride their bikes to school is because of age. They think their child is too young. The mean age of all survey participants’ children was 6 years old. And for those of you in that pack with children on the younger side, respondents whose children do ride a bike to school said their child first began doing so around age 6 ½.

And when survey participants were asked, “Are there clearly marked bike paths on your child’s route to school?” the survey was about split, with 46% responding “yes”, and 54% responding “no”. We believe that this could also be a factor in deciding whether or not to allow a child to ride a bicycle to school.

Overwhelmingly, most respondents had never heard of a walking train or bicycle train. Of those respondents that were familiar with those terms, one respondent said, “… we do a walking ‘bus’ occasionally.” And for that majority out there that does not know, a walking school bus and a bicycle train both consist of groups of students accompanied by adults that walk or bicycle a pre-planned route to school (SafeRoutesInfo.org).

Other survey results that were pretty lop-sided include 78% of respondents saying “yes”, their child rides a bike 3 or more times a week, outside of riding to school. And, 23% said no, their child does not ride a bicycle that often.

Finally, participants gave a resounding “YES” to the question “Does your child wear a helmet when they ride a bike?”. That’s relieving.

Thanks to those that participated by taking a minute from their day to take the quick survey! And, drum roll please, the lucky winner of a shiny new Bell True Fit helmet is the survey is Silicon Valley-based Kimberly aka @tippytoes on twitter.