jfmckenna

I just want to add to this a bit. I have a Bell helmet that goes for around $75 bucks so it's considered a good one right? Well I dropped the damn thing literally about two feet on to a hard wood floor and the POS cracked!!! How the hell is that going to protect me anyway?

I wear one on group rides, racing, Mountain biking and any events like centuries that require it. Solo rides I mostly leave it home. I've crashed once mountain biking where I was glad I have had a helmet. I have crashed several times in training and racing (road/cyclocross) and not once did I hit my head. Not saying that it can't happen but I believe that even if it does the lid is of little protection anyway since they are so lightly constructed. Sure it can help in minor impacts and that is why I wear one but the times I don't wear one on solo rides the odds are greatly reduced. I think for many people they are simply a safety net but they don't realize that they really don't offer you much protection.

Reynolds 

+1

bpohl

Recovery rides on the MUP with my grilfriend, I take off the helmet once I get off the road. Other than that, I usually wear it. I've had two pretty bad accidents where I trashed a helmet, which I found preferential to trashing my skull. I don't judge anyone who wears one or not. I couldn't care less. You'll usually find mine on my head, though.

DaSy

jfmckenna - I couldn't agree more, the ANSI standards for cycle helmets require them to really only protect the head at speeds of impact of around 12mph. They are of very little use in the situations that kill, ie getting hit by a car.
I think people expect a similar level of protection offered by a motorbike helmet, but they are totally different beasts

recneps

in the winter its pretty common to just ride with a beenie.

recneps

I totally disagree I'm not a engineer by any means but for some reason helmets are designed to crack in a crash. I totally believe that if you were in fact to land on your head (unlikely) that a helmet would save your life.

I had a good friend crash during a TT wearing a TT helmet without a hard shell or padding, he didnt wake up for 4 days (took a year to fully recover) and hasnt been the same since, he could have prevented all of that by wearing a helmet.

I had a pretty decent conversation with a giro rep concerning the advantage and being released in the US, evidently the hold up was mostly the fact that giro designed the helmet so that the tail breaks off in a crash so to not break your neck.

jfmckenna

Yeah it's designed as a one time deal but hell like I said I dropped it two feet literally. My friends are saying that it needs to be replaced now. I plan on super gluing it back together. It's just one of the little fins in the back...

Turd Ferguson

What hat did you pull this statistic from?

To answer the OP question, I always ride with a helmet. While I've never fallen in the shower, I have been hit by a car when riding, and fallen on two other occasions. One one occasion, the helmet was in peices and I walked straight to the bar.

Pedal Wench

Seems like the one time you would insist on riding with one

gmason

Never.

And I have to wonder when I see a kid with a helmet and their parent without. They may be safe, but with a dead or vegetable parent, perhaps not too happy.

banerjek

All the time, but not for real rides. If I'm going to the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk on my trike (maybe a mile each way), I don't bother. It's all low traffic residential streets with 25mph speed limits.

I can't imagine how I can wreck, the cars go so slowly I can't get hit from behind, and I can see plenty at the intersections so I won't get creamed there. Even if I somehow managed to flip the trike (which would take some doing), I'm only a few inches off the ground. It drives my wife nuts, but it's probably far safer than most of my other riding.

merlinextraligh

If you look at the number of fatalities and serious injuries on MUP's, there is as much or more reason to wear a helmet.

In fact a helmet is going to help you more on the type of accidents common on MUP's, as oppossed to being struck by a car on the road, where you're likely toast anyway.

gmason

As a start, the only activity you mention that involves being on a moving piece of machinery is biking. That alone raises the risks immensely.

I am generally conservative anyway, but I really can not understand the attempts by otherwise intelligent people to discount the possibility of something, anything, happening that could kill you.

A wheel collapses; bars break; kid runs out in front and you try to avoid it; car - even doing less than 25 MPH, believe it or not - swerves because of driver inattention, or an intentional avoidance maneuver; man throwing a stick to his dog misses and puts it in your spokes; a hornet stings you and you react suddenly and badly; .... pick something, anything - there are thousands of possibilities.

And what kills you? Simply striking a curb, tree, car, guardrail, rock, building, street, ..., with your head. Not necessarily being crushed by a cement truck, hit by a train, falling off a cliff, or any of the many other things that may be lulling you into a false sense of security. Just head contacting something harder. Which for the target audience may not exist.

As insurance goes, simply wearing a helmet is about as cheap as it gets. None of the excuses is worth your life.

Reynolds 

You present cycling as an extremely dangerous activity. I disagree. Also, I doubt a helmet protects you as much as you claim.

jcsoc

I only ever crash when I wear my helmet.

gmason

Sorry, you are completely wrong in your characterization of what I presented. It is not necessarily extremely dangerous, though at times it can be. It, as well as many other activities, has a degree of danger associated with it. In fact, I said nothing specifically about it being dangerous at all. I was pointing out relative risks.

Cycling, as I pointed out, adds a mechanical contrivance to the mix. Indeed, you can be hurt just as badly walking, but in general, when exercising the same amount of care in both activities, you would probably fare better when walking. I suspect that the additional practice one has experienced in life with walking over cycling also helps make it safer. And the increase in speed when cycling makes that activity inherently less safe.

I also didn't claim anything at all regarding how much a helmet protects. Only that it provides an additional layer of protection.

Feel free to make your point. But please don't try to use completely erroneous claims about me making mine to prove it.

Avalanche325

I don't wear one one my weekly interval training ride.



.......................of course, that's on a trainer.

On the road - always.

dingodog

I always wear a helmet. My brain needs all the help it can get. Besides, it makes me look taller.

Reynolds 

You're right, you didn't say it's dangerous. But you did say: 'That alone raises the risks immensely'. I guess it's not erroneous to think that something immensely risky is dangerous. Also: 'As insurance goes, simply wearing a helmet is about as cheap as it gets. None of the excuses is worth your life.' Doesn't that imply that a helmet can save your life?
'I also didn't claim anything at all regarding how much a helmet protects. Only that it provides an additional layer of protection.' Agreed.

Keith99

This one disturbs me not because of what might happen, but because of what it shows already has happened. The kid is growing up in a do as I say, not as I do environment.

OkComputer

I don't ride with a helmet because I value the convenience and comfort more than the added protection for a potential mishap. Simple as that.

'But that's just stupid, your safety is obviously worth more than mere comfort...'
If safety is your concern then why aren't you wearing a full-face motorcycle helmet instead of a just standard cycling helmet?

'But it's not the same, the helmets today are light and you don't even notice them.'
To you maybe, but I certainly notice the difference. Maybe my skin is more sensitive to these things than yours. Maybe your sense of smell is probably better than mine. My point is, the level of discomfort and convenience of me wearing a standard cycling helmet is equal to you wearing a full-face helmet.

gmason

Yes - comparatively. The speed is higher, so relative to walking it is much more dangerous. In an absolute sense, the risks are still fairly small, witness the number of accidents.

There are studies that seem to prove that helmets can and do save lives. It may be an implication, but it is seemingly fact as well.

Smoothie104

I used to only wear mine on fast group rides, and race day. I've started wearing it on the slow group rides now, becuase everybody's bike handling skills suck. I still go without if it's just me or my training partner, he goes without as well.

by the sounds of it...some people should wear theirs in the car as well as walking in the mall, or maybe even talking on the phone.

gmason

I wonder if Matt White was wearing a helmet when he suffered his double skull fracture last week?

Pedal Wench

really -- is the concrete any softer on the path? The number of people who think that they don't need to wear a helmet on the MUPs amazes me. How many bike crashes involve cars? Most do not. Just because there are no cars on the path does not make them free from bike crashes.