Originally Posted by
79pmooney
I've heard of several crashes caused by helmets on the handlebars. Seen some close calls. And that 5, 6 or 7 mph spill? Your head hits the road with the same vertical velocity and the pavement is just as unyielding. (And there is a very good probabilty that the woman in the photo above would have her head considerably lower if she had to maintain a 20 mph average.)
I get a kick out of the riders with their helmets protecting their stems. Since those riders obviously value their stem more than their brains, we get to see in dollar values, just what they consider their brain worth. Nice TTT? $70. Old OEM NItto. What? $8? I have a custom ti stem but I still think this battered brain is worth more. Guess I'm pretty vain.
Ben
I actually wear my helmet at all times while riding, butI just think it's silly to go on about other people's habits when you really know nothing about them. Sure, you could hit your head on a 5-6 mph spill hard enough to injure you, but the likelihood against that has got to be reaching hit by meteor levels.
If you look at the VA Tech safety ratings, you'll find that there's almost no correlation between price of a helmet and level of protection. Some of the really cheap ones have far better ratings than some of the really expensive ones.
As far as "I've heard of accidents that...", sounds very much like the start of every urban legend I've ever heard.