My old yellow Giro helmet was in sad shape: the Roc-Loc was held together with a wire tie, the foam pads were falling apart, the visor was attached with electrical tape, and the straps had stretched enough to put the buckle somewhere between my jaw and left ear.

I prefer to have a brightly colored helmet, mostly for visibility and safety. REI and I don’t see eye to eye on the subject as they only had helmets in black, white, black with crappy graphics, and white with crappy graphics.

I bought a Bell Influx because the GPS seems to work better than the current incarnation of Roc-Loc, and it was pretty comfortable. Unfortunately, REI only had the Influx in black with crappy graphics or in white with crappy graphics. I was not deterred. I purchased the helmet, and can of Pactra RC car Lexan paint from the local hobby shop.

I chose a mild “fluorescent green” shade to enhance visibility and offend the eyes of onlookers. This is truly a hideous shade of green, and goes well with the red helmet pads.

After a couple hours, a few thousand feet of painters tape, and two coats of paint, the helmet was done. The result speaks for itself. The photo does not do the helmet justice, it is far more revolting in person. The combination of flat fluorescent green, gloss black, and red is outstanding; much better than I could ever find at REI, or anywhere else.