greywolf

If he continues to wear his helmet ,how long will it take for him to have his whole body replaced (exept his head of course)

bobalou

I started wearing a helmet a few years ago. I started riding motorcycles in the '60s, and I mostly wore a helmet even then, although not always. Nowadays, I would feel naked on my motorcycle without a helmet, gloves, padded (or leather) jacket, padded pants (or at least jeans) and boots. It's all protection from road rash if you go pavement surfing. If you crash into something, that stuff won't help much.

I now wear a helmet and some sort of gloves on the bicycle. I'm not as protective about the rest of my body, but maybe I should be. Most of the people I see doing serious riding though, don't seem to wear any protection other than helmet and gloves. The available helmets that I have seen (including the Giro that I wear) seem really skimpy to me, but I assume that bicycle helmet design has evolved over time, and that they DO work when needed. Is that a naive assumption?

Looks like I'm asking a lot of questions about safety. Maybe this is the wrong thread.

Bob

I-Like-To-Bike

Yes.

Stanley

DnvrFox

Anyone who believes that a bike helmet will give major protection in a real serious accident fails to understand the laws of physics and has never carefully examined a bicycle helmet.

Given that, I still always wear a helmet, just to increase my chances a bit!

lotek 

I have worn a helmet since 1981 when I started commuting by bike.
A friend of mine did a slow sideways fall into a street sign which cost him about 20 stitches due to no helmet, that was the impetus for me to buy a helmet initially.
I got sideswipped by a car (hit and run) and one of the things I noticed after sliding down the side of the car was a large cut (scrape, gash?) on my Bell helmet (first generation). I figured that it would have been my scalp so that just cemented the issue with me.

Denver, I have no doubt that in a serious crash it won't help alot, but the minor
ones they are a godsend.

Marty

DnvrFox

Yes, mine saved me from some serious road rash when I decided to play mtn biker on a steep hill and had no clue what I was doing and went over pretty good at a slow speed - landing on a cactus!

hickok45

If I'm riding my back country roads, I rarely wear a helmet. I wear one mountain biking when required, and I'll wear one when I get out into busier highways on group rides this spring. For now, I just cruise along with very little traffic, so I enjoy not wearing one. I just wear a lot of orange.

netso

I had a bad accident on my bike in 1992. I was hit by a car. I broke three ribs, broke and dislocated the shoulder(Right), and a concussion with a fractured skull. I did not have a helmet. Macho Man. Now I always wear a helmet. My worst injury turned out to be the head injury. PROTECT THE NOGGIN!!!!!

Stacy

I also rode motorcycles in the '60s and 70s with a helmet - as required by state law. After I took a spill at 65 mph and got up with a headache, road burns than ran straight through my jeans and leather jacket, and an arm that swelled to twice it's normal size, I was far less eager to ride with any bare skin.

I agree bicycle helmets always seemed a bit flimsy by comparison but they're still better than nothing. Needless to say I prefer wearng jeans over my cycling shorts.

Stac

John C. Ratliff

It was the Spring of 2002 that I had my worst bicycle crash ever. I was "only" 56 years old then (almost 59 now). Anyway, I was headed home from work, and decided to go through a town center area where there are a lot of shops with parking lot roadways coming out to the main road. The main road has a great bicycle path, but the road curves right, and is on an incline down to another road, where there is a red light. I was approaching a roadway, and needed to go to the inside lane for a turn at the bottom of the hill. I remember looking back to clear myself, signaling a left turn...then waking up in a hospital across town about an hour later with a headache and dizziness. The docs had just given me a CAT scan to see whether I had brain injury (other than the concussion, I did not). In a plastic bag beside me was the remains of my cycling shorts and T-shirt, and my helmet. Actually, my helmet had ceased to be a single entity--it was in pieces in the bag.

I eventually recovered; scrapes on my elbow, shoulder, arm, a cut in my head (it hit twice, once with and once without the helmet), a sprained left thumb, and a huge hemotoma on my right hip. The hemotoma would need draining every week for a month, then every two weeks for two months. I still have a lump of material there, but at least I now have feeling to the area (it took about 6 months for that to start coming back).

Now, I've written about helmets elsewhere here (on these forums), but it is worth seeing my helmet here too. Some of you may have missed it elsewhere. I was riding my old, Schwinn LeTour, and it was relatively undamaged (a few scuff marks). Piecing things together, I apparently tried either to keep from hitting someone coming out from my right onto the road in front of me, or I actually touched the car with my front wheel. There are no witnesses who left statements. But I went violently went upside down, and hit on my head. Then I fell onto my shoulder, arm and hip. I apparently sprained my thumb trying to brake.

About my helmet. The doc told me, and he was a good, trauma doc, that if I had been unlucky that day, and was not wearing a helmet, I would have lived.

I have made some changes; I no longer ride Fridays (twice in the hospital on Fridays in enough tempting of fate); I ride a recumbant (much better overall visibility of traffic, more stability, better ergonomic positioning, better mirrors, better protection since my feet are forward and not my head); I ride different routes (I have not ridden that particular route since the accident); and I ride trails a lot. I bought a new helmet, one with a sealed plastic that adheres to the foam (rather than a taped one that came apart in my accident). I also ride with my blinky light both on my bicycle, and on the back of my helmet.

I urge all riders, no matter their age, to wear a helmet. Have it fitted, wear it correctly, and adjust it if it becomes loose. The fact that I can type these words into this box is a testimony that helmets work. They may look flimsy, but they will cushon one hell of an impact.

John

gmason

It has always seemed to me that there are easier ways to commit suicide than not wearing a helmet while riding a bike. All the excuses used for not doing so are really meaningless. And worse than suicide is the possibility John C. just mentioned: if I had been unlucky that day, and was not wearing a helmet, I would have lived.

Shen_1_1

I wear a hard hat at work. I wear a helmet while cycling. I know just how tough injection moulded polystrene is from another hobby.

Slide you lost me here.

Bigfoot

I ride a Catrike Road and wear a helmet.

Catrike Road #116

pauncho

If you are eligible to post on this forum, you started riding a bike before there were bicycle helmets.

That said, I 100% agree with the rule the President of my recumbent club enforces: nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle while wearing a helmet worth more than his head.

Stacy

Depends on when you started riding


Stacy

stokell

I crashed in traffic several months ago when the front wheel entered a sanitary sewer cover (they used to call them manhole covers). My bike was a wreck, but I got up and walked away without injury. Later I realized I'd got over the bars, so I checked my Bell helmet. There was a small abrasion on the plastic shell, but one of the cracks in the foam went right through. I'm glad it was the helmet that took the hit.
New helmet; $50
Life: Priceless

DnvrFox

I understand that some companies will give you a free helmet if you turn a cracked one in (or something like that).

chicharron

I have been riding my entire life almost, and bought my first helmet when I bought my new bike last summer. I didnt used to wear a seat belt in my car, but now I do. I wear safety goggles when I cut the grass, as well. So, I guess its part of being a little bit older and a little bit wiser. I took a lot of spills when I was younger, so I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have been told that you have about 6 inches between your head and the ground, and more than that you probablyl will suffer serious head and brain injuries.

hi565

Im responding for my dad, I am not over 50 but my dad is 55 and he always wears a helmet, the thing is realllly old but he always wear it.

jacketch

I have been wearing a helmet since 1982. The one I wear now is much better and a lot lighter.

A couple of years ago I was riding my mountain bike and went over the handlebars, coming down on a large tree root. I was dizzy for a while but the helmet prevented any serious brain injury. I never ride without a helmet or a bicycle.

PALux

I still see it in slow motion. Sharp right turn, corner covered with snow and ice, bike front wheel sliding, elbow and shoulder hitting hard can’t hold up head, head in ‘70’s era helmet smacks pavement hard. Got up, thought no damage and rode on to work. At work found I had chipped a bone in elbow. Medics put me in a half cast. Rode one handed for 2 days and then I threw the half cast and sling over my shoulder and was riding fine. Only wore it when off the bike. Not even a headache.
I should have replaced that helmet but I used for several more years. Helmets are a must. When I try to test adjustments and ride without one even on the driveway I feel naked.
Phil Lux

gmason

I agree. Except that I wear mine even when testing adjustments. In fact, that may be an even more important time to wear it, as you have something to distract you when testing the bike.

Cheers...Gary

yakes_md

I always wear a helmet. If I were to crash and sustain any sort of head injury, my wife would kill me. That's reason enough for me.

DlphcOracl

Always. Wearing a helmet on a bicycle is similar to (and as important as) wearing your seat belt while driving.

Grumpy Old Man

You have to be a nutball not to wear a helmet. Even where there's no traffic. One blowout or suprise hole in the pavement, and you're a rutabaga.