Editor’s note: A version of this article ran in the October 2024 issue of Bicycle Retailer & Industry News. This version is updated with news of Greg Shapleigh being named chairman.
Shapleigh has been involved with helmet product development and product management at Giro and Specialized. After leaving Vista Outdoor, the parent of Giro, he was a consultant and board member of the Swedish helmet tech company MIPS, before leaving that company in 2019.
HighBar’s retention system was released to the public last summer when Canyon launched two performance helmet models with the system, touting the aerodynamic and cooling benefits of the system on two models, each retailing for $299.
Despite the high-profile, high-performance, high-price launch of the Canyon models, HighBar was envisioned by its inventors as a solution to misadjusted and misfit helmet use by children and entry-level bike riders. And it will likely appear on much less expensive helmet models from various brands as soon as this year, the company said.
The HighBar was invented by Carl Winefordner and Frank Hermansen, two of the most prolific inventors in the industry, perhaps best known for dreaming up Crankbrother’s Eggbeater clipless pedal design. The two have dozens of patents on bike and diving inventions: everything from shoes to tire levers to dive masks.
Canyon is HighBar’s first customer in cycling, but the company expects to license the design to multiple brands, somewhat on the model of original equipment suppliers like MIPS, BOA or Fidlock. It’s also developing several white-label helmet designs for brands looking for a turnkey solution.
Former Crankbrothers CEO Andrew Herrick met with Winefordner and Hermansen regularly for years after leaving the company, brainstorming new ideas. The HighBar came from observing helmet use by new riders, Herrick said.
“It wasn't about road cyclists, it wasn't about Canyon. It wasn't about the Tour de France. It was about how do we help kids and the new consumer put their helmet on correctly every time?” he said.
Herrick, now a part owner and CEO of HighBar, said the product is intended for “the Rad Power, Super 73, REI customer,” while the design offers aerodynamic and cooling benefits that performance riders can appreciate. It also is said to measurably reduce wind noise for the rider.
Herrick — who is also the co-founder of Pedro’s and a former executive at GT and Intense — is joined at HighBar by a who’s who of the helmet industry. Besides Shapleigh, the group includes former Giro and Specialized designer Eric Horton; Carl Bird, a longtime director of equipment at Specialized and head of hardgoods and footwear at Rapha; Hilgard Muller, who was at Bell Sports for more than 20 years, most recently as the brand’s director of product creation; plus Winefordner and Hermansen.
All members of the initial team are part owners; Herrick said the company is backed by a few silent shareholders from across the industry as well as White Road Investments, the fund started by Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, the founders of Clif bar.
Herrick said Canyon does not have an exclusive on the design and HighBar will appear on other brand’s helmets as soon as this season, with some models hitting price points of between $60 and $100. HighBar also is being marketed for industrial safety helmets, with Studson launching a helmet in that market last summer.
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Studson released a construction helmet with HighBar last summer.
