coucho hat geschrieben:Jau isser. Der gleiche Helm...Baugleich, hörte da mal das Adams Bike übernahm??
Nicht ganz... Habe das mal recherchiert (bzw. recherchiert hat es jemand anders, ich hab´s nur gegoogelt). Bike hat die Helme nur vermarktet, die von "Lexington Safety Products" produziert wurden. Wollten offenbar vermeiden, selbst zum Ziel eventueller Schadenersatzprozesse zu werden (kann ja bei Kopfverletzungen schnell mal teuer werden). Die Rechte an dem Helm wurden von Adams erworben, als Lexington pleite ging.
In the late 1990s the Bike Athletic company, still owned primarily by Dick Kazmaier, realized that their ten year non compete agreement in the football helmet industry with AHI (now Schutt Sports) had expired. Bike subsequently formed a business relationship with Southern Impact Research Center located in Knoxville, Tennessee and Lexington Safety Products located in Lexington, Kentucky. Southern Impact Research Center, whose core business is a helmet industry (NOCSE) safety testing center, recently completed and patented a new football helmet design. Bike "arranged" for Lexington Safety Products, whose previous core business was manufacturing Equestrian-riding helmets, to acquire the market rights for the new helmet design from Southern Impact Research Center. Bike entered into an agreement with Lexington Safety Products to market this new helmet -- being careful to once again avoid ownership of a helmet producing company perhaps reflecting a repeated desire to insulate itself from future product liability exposure. In 1999 Bike started selling the new helmet design naming it the "Pro Edition". For the fist time since 1986 a football helmet is being sold with the "BIKE" name positioned on its outer front sweatband. Over the past two years the "Pro Edition" helmet has far exceeded initial sales projections and has captured a significant percentage of the football helmet market previously controlled by Schutt and Riddell. Unfortunately for Bike Products it has recently found itself without a helmet line to market. It has been reported that due to its unexpected and unplanned rapid growth Lexington Safety Products encountered severe cash flow problems and was forced to declare for bankruptcy in 2001. The future rights to both produce and market the successful "Pro Edition" helmet were acquired by Adams Corporation in a bankruptcy auction on December 19, 2001. In a seemingly apparent twist of fate, Bike Products, as a result of its efforts to distance and insulate itself from the actual business of helmet manufacturing, has also lost its marketing rights for this successful new helmet. Starting in the 2002 season the outer front headband for the "Pro Edition" model helmet will display the "ADAMS" company name.
