MMACH 5

Agreed, but what about the cyclists who had a crash without a helmet who sustained no head injury? They would not go to a hospital or morgue, so they get left out of this study as well.

gpburdell

Exactly. Need to look at the entire population of injured riders, not just those injured badly enough to go to the hospital. Particularly you then need to look at ratio of helmet use between those with similar injuries to parts other than the head as well as similar types of crashes. Only when you can normalize for the factors other than the helmet can you then begin to look for any real information about the effects of helmet use.


The trouble is that's a difficult (expensive) proposition and unlikely to get funded well enough to do properly -- FAR easier to get funding for a couple grad students to go comb through the records at six hospitals and a morgue and write a paper based on the results.


This is an example of why it's important to look at any study's methodology before drawing conclusions from its results. Many times a study is looking at a sample that doesn't allow conclusions about the population as a whole.

CarinusMalmari

What @wphamilton said, basically. They are designed to protect against very different type of impacts to the head and are by no means interchangeable.

mconlonx

There are no crusading anti-helmet types posting here, so there were none to give up on the thread.

pepslight

Was a bit lazy to read but on my own experience: I do always war a Helmet, on road bike its a good idea giving I´m always bending on the bars, a downside on helmets is that I feel safer with them and somehow I do know I drive faster and less aware than without a helmet.

mconlonx

I did some riding around town today without a helmet and didn't die.

daihard 

Thanks for stating the obvious.

esmith2039

I always wear a helmet and now make my boys wear them all the time. Before if they were riding around the house I wouldn't enforce it but a friend of mine brought up the point that 97-99% of accidents were within a few minutes of the house. Well duh makes sense don't know why I didn't think of it. Growing up out in the country if I fell it was on grass, gravel or dirt. Concrete and asphalt isn't as forgiving. Whether or not someone else doesn't want to wear one really could care less we're wearing one.

wphamilton

I'll bet it felt good to. I did 40 on Saturday, riding the Greenways in three cities and it was really nice to leave the hat at home. Going easy, not at all crowded, there would have been no point in wearing the helmet.

I'm not a fanatic about it either way, and I think mconlonx agrees with me. There is a time and place for protective gear like helmets, and times where it isn't needed. We should let our common sense and judgment inform us, and not be ruled by absolute dictates.

mconlonx

Felt great. First day in the 80s since... sometime last year.

I'll wear a helmet on my regular commute, and since I attach a tail light to the back, any time I'm out when I think I will be riding into dusk or dark on a non-dyno lighted bike. But this was just some mild in-town riding, to a restaurant for mom's day brunch, work at the bikeshop, a few visits and errands, and then back home by mid-afternoon.

Later, I went out on my motorcycle to play ping pong a couple towns over. On the motorbike, always a helmet...

rydabent

What about tomorrow??

mr_bill

Please report everyday you don't wear a seatbelt in an automobile - the not dead part is redundant.

-mr. bill

daihard 

I did some walking round town today without a helmet and didn't die. Dunno about tomorrow, though.

mconlonx

I didn't die the next day, either. But then again, I didn't ride my bike, with or without a helmet.

mr_bill

You're such a wild a crazy guy.

-mr. bill

BruceWee

The last crash I had that involved a trip to the hospital would have been less serious if I had been wearing a helmet. No concussion but four stitches in my forehead and five to put my ear back together. Saying that, a friend of mine had a similar crash while wearing a helmet and he ended up needing his chin stitched back together.

The question of whether I was wearing a helmet or not is actually pretty irrelevant when you consider the other factors in the crash. I had an argument with my girlfriend just before I went to the pub. There was a storm with force 7 winds and I was planning on getting pretty drunk. My girlfriend wanted me to take the bus and I wanted to take the bus but because she was telling me to do it I didn't want to. Honest, I'm not twelve years old.

So, off to the pub battling a head wind all the way. 8 or 9 pints later I managed to fall over while unlocking the bike to set off on the five mile journey home. The journey home was considerably easier since I had a tail wind. Unfortunately I didn't take into account the fact that as I rounded a bend the tail wind would become a side wind so I found myself being pushed off the road. There was a ditch and then a pavement separated from the road. I figured I could ride it out through the ditch and probably could have if it wasn't for the traffic cone that materialised in front of me. Over the bars and ended up using my face as a brake.

So, when people find out that I crashed my bike what do you think the first question was? That's right, it's "Were you wearing a helmet?" Not "how drunk were you?" or "wasn't the weather horrific that night?".

Cyclists and non-cyclists get way too hung up on the helmet thing. In the grand scheme of cycling safety it's such a tiny part of the puzzle it should be number 25 on the list of things we're discussing when compared to factors like driver behaviour, driver attitude, infrastructure, being seen, road position, etc.

3alarmer 

.
...you're welcome.

ahsposo 

You are such a gracious host...

DerBiermeister

I am an old cogger who has not ridden since 14 years of age. But I've taken up this activity with several goals in mind, the first one being help with increasing upper leg strength. Anyway, I intend to do 99% of my riding within our subdivision. I hadn't even thought about a helmet until a couple of people commented that there are times here when deer can jump out at you. We DO have a lot of a deer and admittedly, they will appear at the most unexpected times, sometimes 5 or more. So -- I am now in the "considering stage". A couple of questions:

The dang things, in addition to looking like something out BattleStar Galactica, look very uncomfortable. Is that the case?

Are the headbands plastic too, something of a softer material?

Do they make big sizes?

How much should I expect to pay for a good quality helmet?

mconlonx

I good-fitting helmet should not be uncomfortable. There is padding on the inside between your head and the protective foam crush material and usually adjusters to snug it up. If you try on a helmet and it feels too tight, go to the next size up; if there are pressure points against your skull, consider a different model or even brand.

Headbands? If you mean the straps, they are acceptably soft nylon. The headband retention system is usually plastic, but padded where it contacts your head.

Yes, helmets come in big and bigger sizes.

Depends on your definition of good quality, but usually $40-60 range. Or up to $200+ for a top of the line helmet. All helmets on the market are tested to the same minimal safety standards, so a cheap helmet will protect your head more or less as well as an expensive one. In fact, some expensive helmets, made with weight goals and style in mind, might be less protective than some cheaper ones.

gpburdell

Yes, a properly fitting helmet should be comfortable and not really noticeable. Different brands (and different models) are built for differently shaped heads; you really need to go physically try on helmets to find the proper fit.

As mentioned, from the purposes of protection you're essentially the same with any certified helmet. What people pay for beyond the basics is fit, weight, aesthetics, and aerodynamics. For your purposes the first is worth paying a little more for, I find the sized helmets fit better than the one-size-fits-all, but that's because I wear a medium. Someone who wears a larger helmet may be perfectly fine with a one-size-fits-all as its starting out closer to his size.

How much to pay? I'd say you can get a good fitting comfortable and well rated helmet for $40-70 for your use.

baron von trail 

I found a nice helmet for under $50. It has an adjustable head band which goes out much further than most, which is huge for me because I wear several hats in winter and always struggled to slip the old helmet over the two hoods and my fat head. This helmet opens up to a size which would fit over an Eskimo's hood if needed.

It's white, which is another huge plus for summer riding. And the visor has a nice design which allows me to see through it when in the drops while it also cuts the sun's glare when I ride with clear goggles. All in all, I love that hat.

3alarmer 

...we here at Endlessly Entertaining Helment thread try to provide a homey and congenial atmosphere suitable to the collegial discussion that ensues.

ahsposo 

I say, would you have any Grey Poupon?

DerBiermeister

That sounds similar to the one I just bought. Bern Watts EPS Summer. At least it won't look like a spaceship landed on top of my head.