Skully update: Production, millennials, and helmets of the future

Lauten said the first helmet from Skully Technologies, the new company that took over after the original failed, is set to ship this summer.

Skully helmets finally heads to production

At the helmet’s CES debut in Las Vegas, Skully announced an MSRP of $1,899 (just $96 less than the CSC Cafe Racer Spurgeon wrote about last week!). To justify the price, Lauten noted the AR’s new carbon fiber shell, as well as upgraded features over the product promised in the original Skully's infamous Indiegogo campaign. Lauten, who’s been with the Atlanta-based company since last spring, continues to stand by Skully’s “Make It Right” campaign, which promises to deliver Skully AR helmets to the original backers who were left with nothing when the original company went under. The first production Skully model ships this summer, with an AR 2.0 to appear next spring, Lauten said.

What to do about motorcycles and millennials

Like many motorcyclists, Ianuzzi feels that millennials will only consider motorcycling when the industry moves to “innovate, bring them in, [and] make them feel safer”. To that end, Lauten believes Skully stands to play a pivotal role in attracting millennial riders, and his vision for the brand includes significant attention to the demographic. When asked for his thoughts on industry-wide opportunities to attract millennial riders, Lauten pointed to simple electric motorcycles and scooters as potential game-changers for the future. Of course, he felt Skully’s technology could draw them in, too.

“The fact that you can take your whole smartphone environment inside your helmet, with all voice commands, may also attract younger riders who are used to having all that data around them. They can now have it on their heads-up display inside the helmet,” Lauten said. He was careful to add Skully’s guiding principles for in-helmet features: no distractions, only better riding experiences. And for those unsure about getting on a motorcycle, “the Skully helmet may actually provide the safety aspect, for example the 180-degree rear-view vision that you don’t normally have without a helmet like this… They’ll say, you know what, this’ll make the riding safer, I will probably go for it.”

Moving forward, Skully sees huge millennial-attracting potential in sharing the ride experience, which they’ve found is highly valued by younger riders. The AR 2.0 is slated to pack an embedded camera, which will interface with a more powerful version of Skully’s app.

The helmet of the future

In the best question of the interview, Iannuzzi asks, “What do you think [Skully] 5.0 has? Lauten’s response is some of the most exciting news Skully Nation has heard since the “Make It Right” campaign.

"I see 5.0 being literally Iron Man style," Lauten said. "I mean, you put the helmet on, and it says 'Hello, John, how are you this morning? Would you like to get a Starbucks coffee? It’s on sale over here down the street. Would you like me to take you there?'”

“I envision pothole detection 1,000 feet out, where it lights up and says 'There’s a pothole right here, avoid that...' I envision the helmet literally augmenting your ride to the point where it becomes so enjoyable, you want to wear it even away from your motorcycle. Just talks to you , thinks with you, plays your music, brings the text messaging in… and then a lot of AI features for safety. ‘Watch out, that truck behind you has a speed of 55 miles an hour, if they don’t slow down, you need to get out of the way.’ Real, full set-up AI capabilities.”

I think it’s normal to feel overwhelmed by all that, but then again, dreaming big is part of Lauten’s job. Tech-heavy helmets aren't for everyone. And maybe this feels like too much, too fast from a company that hasn’t shipped any products yet, but as Lauten acknowledges several times in the interview, the Skully name is well known in the industry. You’ve got to give them that much.

If you’d like to hear the entire interview, it’s available here.