FEATURE
EPS starts small before heating (top left), touring the EPS factory (opposite page). Different stages of EPS (three middle images).
very involved process, there is tooling for the back, top and lower shell for each helmet. It’s also a costly process, with each piece of tooling costing around 3000 euros, and depending on which helmet, they can use up to 30 moulds. Following this, the shells are inserted into another machine to undergo very precise CNC cutting before they move on to the next step.
Helmet shells ready for the next step in production
and spraying process, something Mattia explains is often outsourced due to a lack of trained operatives in Italy, but ABUS has a good team of operators able to do this task in- house. Once parts have been cut and painted, they are heated, which causes the sheet to melt slightly, removing any bubbles before moving on to the next part of the process. This part, Mattia described as magic, and he wasn’t wrong. Watching the sheet get placed into the tooling, onto a specific thermaforming tool, one of which is made for each helmet and each size. When the sheet is placed inside, the air is sucked out, forming the shape of the shell. This is a
10 | June 2025
Minus one, every part of the helmet is made in Italy. The only thing not made by them is the retention system, something supplied by a historical partner, but otherwise, end-to-end, each component is made in Italy. Interestingly, there are elements of Maxi Studio’s past life still ongoing, with the production of suitcase shells and ice cream machines taking place amongst the helmet production. Speaking about the visit, one of the guests, Rodney Rouse from the Bike Lounge in Nottingham, talked about his experience, “We were invited to ABUS as a retailer of their helmet and security products. Whilst there, it was really insightful as to how much goes into the manufacturing process and how much of the process is still done by hand and how time-consuming the process is. It really helped add value to the products by seeing this, and being able to explain the ins and outs of the entire
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