Going to start commuting to work soon,and currently wear a helmet when off road.
Do i still need to wear a helmet on the road,will it make me a target,for merryment amongst my collegues.Oh and ill be rideing a road bike.

was discussing this the other night with a mate.

We both agree that “pootling/commuting” neither of us wear helmets (in London or bimbling to the pub) but he would wear one if he was hooning around on his road bike. I dont go road riding so have no opinion.

I do wear one when cycle touring.

And we both wear one when off road.

Tell them to P!ss off its your head and only you can decide how you want to protect it, do not let the numpties tell you what to do.FWIW I wear a helmet commuting

commuting to work on a on/off road route-no helmet
offroad-helmet

feel naked without it offroad, and can’t abide it commuting…..odd ❓

Do you need to? – no – there is no law. Is it wise? – depends. Just because your colleagues will laugh that is no reason not to wear one.
A dozen or so cyclist died from head injuries each year and 350 – 500 got serious head injuries.

Do you object to wearing one?

Is this a whole can of worms – yes

It’s pretty stupid, but I don’t wear a helmet to commute – most of it is on a proper off road cycle path though.

I do wear a helmet when ‘going for a ride’ on the road though.

i do
a couple of years ago i highsided fairly spectacularly. broken arm and head first collision with pavement. sore head, but reckon the helmet saved me from worse.

I do sometimes, but sometimes i wear a high viz yellow bobble hat, which I believe makes me look attractive to ladies…oh yes, it does.

always wear one, doesn’t matter if I’m out for 15mins or 5hours, for road or off road

it’s not always going to be you that makes the mistake that means you need a helmet, especially if you’re doing a rush hour commute, seen too many near misses (and even a smashed windscreen and poorly looking cyclist) to consider not wearing one.

Entirely a matter of choice, but if you’ve got a helmet anyway I can’t see much reason to leave it at home while you ride to work.

I very rarely ride without one, off-road, part-road, long road or short road.

What you got to lose?

I wear one if riding to work. Going to the shops ’round the corner – not usually. It won’t do much if you’re hit by a car. It does stop that horrid discomfort you get when you fall off and clang your head on things though. I found it useful when parking up at work as one of the bike sheds has a low roof that I invariably smacked my head against after kneeling down to lock the bike. Whilst I hit the roof sooner with the hat on it doesn’t hurt as much.

The newer helmets do produce a nice draft over your head with the venting. That’s nice on a warm day.

Wear mine on/off road all the time. Commute is on fairly fast roads. I sometimes don’t bother for a 2 minute ride to the shop but feel silly for it as the bad accidents always happen when you’re not expecting it.

I don’t even sit on my bike without a helmet properly fastened on my head. You are certainly good enough to avoid crashing, what about the others? On Monday my wife, fully qualified cycle trainer, was crashed into by a young lad. Landed on her kneen, elbows and forehead. The only injury-free part is her head, her Giro in the bin though.

Entirely a matter of choice, but if you’ve got a helmet anyway I can’t see much reason to leave it at home while you ride to work.

+1
I always wear a helmet. My worst crash in 15+ years mountain biking/biking was on a canal towpath in the wet going to work – sideways off and head sideswipe into a 3×3 piece of wood that was part of a bridge. A trip to A&E and concussion, but nothing worse. I was wearing my helmet.

Hairy – it used to be that if you return a Giro to the distributer, they will replace it at half the rrp. Ask at your local Giro-dealing LBS. Go rake in the bin and get the helmet out

It’s not half but it’s a reasonable discount – £32.50 for a new Hex.

,will it make me a target,for merryment amongst my collegues.

Jeezus, how old are you, 12?

i wear a helmet at all times on the bike with the following logic

1. off-road i consider the chances of me falling off are increased and whilst i accept that a helmet wont help if i fall on my ar5e, i think it will if i fall on my head
2. on road i consider the chances of falling off are much less, however if i do then i’ll almost certainly hit something very hard indeed and if it’s going to on be my head, i’d like some padding
3. i have no interest in what anyone thinks of my appearance.
4. my helmet is fits perfectly and is comfortable, cool and light – no downsides

I was pretty happy I was wearing a helmet when some neds dropped half a brick on my head as I cycled under a bridge a couple of years ago!

Are you that sad that you base your decisions on what friends might think??

I always wear a helmet for my commute. Half asleep = worst crashes I’ve had! It’s 7 – 14 miles each way on road / cycle path with some very fast bits, like through the clyde tunnel footpath though.

My workmates all think it’s very funny that I ride my bike to work and they snigger about it behind my back. Fell off on ice once and arrived at work with concussion and a strained shoulder and they laughed about that for months. I have a good snigger at the fact that they’re almost all overweight and the last six pack any of them saw was washing down a curry! 🙂

Always wear a helmet.
3 weeks ago a colleague at work had an accident in Harrogate.
He was cycling past queing traffic on Leeds road when a prat in a Golf decided to do a U turn to avoid the traffic.
His helmet is in pieces from where he hit the windscreen, but other than that he is alive.

I have also had too many silly falls and near misses where a curb stone or rock could have put a nice dent in my head.

Bottom line is if you cycle without a helmet you have not properly assessed the risks.

Are you that sad that you base your decisions on what friends might think??

As opposed to the opinions of complete strangers on an internet forum. 🙂

I always wear one, offroad or on.

I do a lot of road miles on my commute and I figure I’d be daft not to as any protection has to be a good thing – people do tend to hurtle around the country roads in their 4x4s. Might sound a little OTT but my two young daughters are another two reasons to make sure I remember to put the thing on. My wife’s Dad died when she was young and she’s very adamant that I should be wearing one – one of the conditions of me getting to ride the amount I do.

Always wear one, just seems a bit pointless not to. Also, the more that wear them the more acceptable it may become to those that don’t that they should, seems strange that the coolest kids at our local bike park ie the ones that can do pretty amazing things on their bikes are also very often the only ones wearing helmets

I wear one, no matter how far i have to ride. As some above say i feel naked without it.
The fiancee now wears one after someone at her work was put into a coma after hitting there head on the curb when they were knocked off there bike.

Always wear one, and it’s saved me from trips to hospital at least twice. The hardest impact was just a fortnight ago at Swinley forest…I went over the bars so fast, i didn’t have time to put my hands down, so landed head first. My 4 month old Giro Athlon is trashed, but wtf, i got up and rode home!
I commute on cyclepaths too and still wear one. Too many deadheads out there, riding with their eyes closed and brains in neutral.

Simple for me bike = helmet… Simple as that.
IF it’s for commuting it might even have a purpose for visibility…

Bottom line is if you cycle without a helmet you have not properly assessed the risks.

Don’t really want to get into a pro/anti helmet rant. But one person’s assessment of the risks may differ from anothers – since it kind of depends what personal emphasis you put on the various risks and outcomes.

I do wear a helmet when riding, but if someone has assessed the risks and decided not to then fair enough (but if they just don’t want to wear one because it messes up their hair or because workmates might laugh then they are an idiot).

Bottom line: asses the risks for yourself and decide if you should wear a helmet (or any other protective gear) – but don’t give a crap what your workmates say, it’s your safety not theirs.

Using a helmet for off-road seems a lot more clear-cut to me than using it for on-road. The frequency of accidents for road riding is much less in my experience, and there are other factors – if you feel vulnerable you’re less likely to ride like a nutjob, and if you look inexperienced then car drivers are more likely to give you room.

Having said that I do tend to wear one on the road unless I’m just pootling to the shop or something.

yes

but if you dont want to thats youre choice

to me its a no brainer, which incidently is how you could end up without one

in summary if you dont want to wear one go ahead and if you are knocked off and killed/ seriously dmaged please do it before you breed, not only will it save your offspring from having to wipe your bum/pull the plug etc
but you will also be increasing the intelligence level in the human gene pool

ton – Member

commuting to work on a on/off road route-no helmet
offroad-helmet

feel naked without it offroad, and can’t abide it commuting…..odd

Same here so maybe not all that odd!

I think the reason I hate it for the commute is the peak does my neck in on the road bike.

CHB – Member

Bottom line is if you cycle without a helmet you have not properly assessed the risks.

Rubbish. There are many ways of assessing risk. anyway tell that to all the dutchies that don’t wear helmets.

There is no epidemic of cyclists dying because of not wearing helmets. Do you actually know the level of risk? Risks of getting a head injury from some form of cycling are so low as to be infinitesimal. here is some real data on risks. http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1011.html

For example – I mean how gnarly is this trail? Full body armour needed I guess

For example – I mean how gnarly is this trail? Full body armour needed I guess

bet if you fell and smacked your head on one of those rocks sticking through the grass a helmet would be very welcome…..

Pook – but how likely is that? That is the key point. I could be struck by lightning, a metorite could land on my head. A giant bunny could leap up and tear my ears off.

It doesn’t mean that any of these things will happen

The odds on us getting head injuries riding along a track like that are so low I am prepared to accept them. Note the absence of rock gardens and jumps, note the absence of cars and trucks

How do the risks compare with the likelihood of receiving a head injury through driving?

(or more specifically, crashing?)

Lower – have a look at the relative risk data in the link In my post with the picture

Believe it or not, the risk of messing up ones hair by wearing a helmet is a much bigger factor in stopping alot of women riding to work than you might think.