[Closed] Helmets. do you wear one, on road? off road? at all?!

Always have a lid on whatever I'm doing. I can't ride without one as it feels very odd.

I wear one on road this time of year, but tend not to when it gets warmer.

Kettles on:-D

[img] [/img]

No, I dont really ever wear one.
But I've got things to do for the next couple of days, and, together with the other Dawkins-style skeptics, am not sure even I want to do this again so soon after the last stushie! 🙂

depends on the level of risk... 😉

Where's TJ?

Most valuable part of the body that has the greatest exposure = Brain.

Hard concrete, tarmac, rocks under you while on a bike and you fall off at speed, you are almost guaranteed to hit some part of your head.

If you are on a bike, wear a helmet simple, why take the risk?

i need to get one been saying so for ages too must pull my finger out! and stop buy bits for my bike instead!

I wear one all the time, it's my choice and to be honest it feels strange riding without it. However it is [b]*NOT*[/b] a legal requirement and as such is up to the individual.

If you are on a bike, wear a helmet simple, why take the risk?

Because there are some studies that show if you fall off a helmet can cause injury, similar to seatbelts in cars...

no I am scared of rotational injuries and offending TJ 😉

Wear one all the time now on both road/off road, after a friend of a friend got knocked off and now needs to be fed, possibly could have got away with it if he had been wearing a helmet.

Yep if im riding seriously or in some anger I will. But if im out on like a family ride where im not going faster than like 15mph I havent used one. I didnt feel comfortable with out one though

(No offence, drinkmoreport)

Please, if you have to answer this thread, just answer the original question with a 'yes' or a 'no'.

And please, please, for the love of all that is unholy, don't get all huffy and try to justify your position to other people who WILL NOT change their position no matter how amazingly well-structured, and backed-up with peer-reviewed evidence collected over the course of the last six millenia of helmet use, your arguement is.

Well, I tried.

Always on road. Tarmac is hard, so is steel. And from experience windscreens are pretty solid objects too.

Offroad, all the time, except on dog-walking rides.

But each to their own, so not sure why you're asking the question, really.

(yes, what bananaworld said)

I only wear one when I am planning having a serious accident.

I'm hopeless at remembering which day I have set aside for accidents, so I end up wearing it all the time just in case 🙂

Snow, ice, slippy tarmac, bad weather conditions, I hope you, Dimmadan are protecting the most valuable part of your body when you are driving, or even walking .
(The most valuable part of my body is probably my bank card.)

When ever I ride on or off road, unless I'm nipping to the shops which are 1/2mile up the road in the middle of the day.

Most, but certainly not all of the time. Depends on perceived risk.

Yes, yes and yes.

Anything else is like saying that I wear my seatbelt on local roads but take it off when I get on the motorway.

Curiously I feel no compulsion to at all when I'm in Amsterdam though.. Strange how the brain works!

Seatbelts on bikes make absolutely no difference, on local roads, or in Amsterdam.
Just thought I should clear that up, bikewhisperer 😉

On mountain bike; yes. *

On road bike; about 30% of the time.**

(* mainly to stop the 'why aren't you wearing a helmet? questions)
(** usually when riding with other, less predictable riders)

Is Bananaworld a forum policeman, or, have they just had a bump to the head and think they are?

Seatbelts on bikes make absolutely no difference, on local roads, or in Amsterdam.
Just thought I should clear that up, bikewhisperer

I got so bogged down in the simile they sort of blended together as one in my mind..

OK, I am now REALLY worried. This thread has been open an hour or so and TJ isn't here.

[b]SEND OUT A SEARCH PARTY![/b]

I dont know which side of the argument bananaworld is coming from, but lets be honest, we can all remember how entrenched this all gets.

Most often I don't wear one. More likely to put one on for off-road with jumps and drops and so on though.

i only wear a helmet to view this forum

Always.
Riding without a helmet just feels wrong. Plus it's kind of a handy place to mount my light as well.

LOL at RA29erBNBATAI, like your post 🙂

Off - road, yes.

On - road, no.

Because thats just the way it happened. I was riding on the road, decades before I started this off-road malarky and didn't wear a helmet then. No body around my town did, you only saw riders in helemts on TV, back in the day.
🙂

Back in the 70s helmet thingys made you look like your were balancing a bunch of bananas on your head and were strictly the preserve of the weekend warrior, pro racer.

Its all been pre-determined anyway.

As [i]they[/i] say,
"[i]wear a helmet if you wish, but you won't live one moment longer[/i]".

S.

yes

CaptainFlashheart - Member

OK, I am now REALLY worried. This thread has been open an hour or so and TJ isn't here.

SEND OUT A SEARCH PARTY!

Don't worry - I am here now. I was in the pub

I wear a helmet when appropriate. Wheels off the ground = helmet - wheels on the ground no helmet.

Cycle helmets are good at protecting you from the one in thousands minor injury ( scalp lacerations etc) They are not so good at protecting you from the one in millions chance of a major injury.

I wear one when appropriate - if the risks of crashing are high. cycling is a safe pursuit - so I only wear one when cycling dangerously

Recently I have been wearing one a fair amount - even with studded tyres my chances of crashing must be higher right now.

So - no helmet required.
[img] [/img]

So - offroad I probably wear one 50% of the time - depending what I am doing. On road perhaps 25% of the time. Look at the risks. Look at teh science. Understand how to assess risk. Then make an [i]informed[/i] decision based on reasonable parameters

Why?

Mostly off road, I've smacked more low hanging branches than i care to remember. On road, rarely, in Winter I prefer a beanie, and in Summer I just find them too uncomfortable. Although I will when riding in a group

Yes always.

Everyone to there own, but after you've had a high speed crash and broken a helmet, it soon makes you think its a good idea. Broken helmet/skull. I know which i prefer

Chew - its a long argument and its been done many timnes - however:-

Sometimes its a low speed low risk ride - look at my picture above and look for nasty rocks and stuff.

Risks are very low - literally millions to one

research shows you are more likely to crash, more likely to get head injury the more often you wear a helmet.

There was no epidemic of head injuries before helmet wearing becamne common

The science is contradictory, counterintuative and does not show any benefit [i] accross population[/i] for wearing helmets - infact he reverse is true

90% of the time i do.

if i am going to the pub i wont - there is a much higher chance of the helmet getting damaged, under the table/ on the bike/ fall off the table then there is me crashing.

if i am going for a ride i wear it.

could say it goes with outfits - if i am going for a ride wearing riding gear helmet goes on - if i'm in jeans and trainers it'll be at home - not cos i'm vain mind 😉

Jeremy - I'm not saying that you should wear a helmet, just from my own experience, i wouldnt go without one.

I dont think the science in contradictory. If you wear a helmet you have protection in case you have an accident. If you fall off and slam your head on a rock, like i did, then i'm sure the helmet saved me a greater injury.

Its probably more the case that people feel "safer" wearing a helmet, and therefore take more risks, therefore more accidents.

Its your head so you make your own choice.

Wearing something that weighs **** all,doesn't impede, and may save ur head is a no brainer...

research shows you are more likely to crash, more likely to get head injury the more often you wear a helmet.

90% of the time.

When touring I don't, doesn't seem to go with the feeling of freedom.

Always now, ever since the Bell Tomac really.

I could show you the gaps from loosing three teeth on the tarmac, or the big lump in my nose though you wouldn;t guess I'd ever broken my jaw.
All done during the leather hairnet helmet period, which no one ever wore whilst training.

I always wear one.
I refuse to ride with anyone wot don't.

SB

Oh god not this again!!!!!! my postion is clear and iam not getting dragged into this.

research shows you are more likely to crash, more likely to get head injury the more often you wear a helmet.

Is actually true - part of what I mean about the science being contradictory and counter-intuitive.

All the research shows this effect.

In Aus they had a compulsory helmets law. head injuries per mile cycled increased after the law.

London - over the last few years helmet wearing has gone from a minority to a majority. This has been accompanied by an increase in head injuries [i] per mile cycled[/i]

Holland where hardly anyone wears a helmet has a lower risk of head injury per mile cycled than the UK

Why? I am not qualified to say but there are many theories.

This is an old stale argument now - but please go and have a good look at the research - you will be surprised.

oldgit - Member

Always now, ever since the Bell Tomac really.

I could show you the gaps from [b]loosing three teeth on the tarmac[/b], or the big lump in my nose though you wouldn;t guess I'd ever [b]broken my jaw.[/b]
All done during the leather hairnet helmet period, which no one ever wore whilst training.

So how would a typical XC helmet prevent these injuries?

I'm not the forum police and I'm not on either "side" of the argument but, please, I beg you all, just stop.

This never, ever goes anywhere.

As you all well know.

Now the following is really specific to road and commuting cycling, but something I really feel I have to get across to the 'always, what harm could it do? group' and I'll try to use non-inflammatory language, is the big picture here.
If helmets made a slight difference in a crash, but made it much more likely that YOU would have that crash, or that a vehicle would crash into you would it make you pause for a second?
Because thats what seem to be the effects of compulsion, or even widespread use.
Just the promotion of helmets seems to be bad for cycling, as it shows it to be dangerous. Its also part of a general shift in duty of care, from bad drivers onto their victims.
Those of us that are trying to resist this culture may/ may not be taking a greater individual risk, but we are making cycling safer for everybody.

Not even sure why I clicked on this thread (maybe to try and work out why somebody was bothering with a helmet thread), but anyway...

you fall off at speed, you are almost guaranteed to hit some part of your head.

Could a helmet save ur head?? If so then wearing one is a small price to pay.

The reason why so many ppl are against wearing helmets is they dont want to be forced to wear one through legislation..

all the time .

nockmeister - Member

Could a helmet save ur head?? If so then wearing one is a small price to pay.

The point westkipper makes above is that infact this is far from proven. Indeed there is evidence that across populations helmet wearing increases injuries.

TJ
The teeth and jaw one was down to good old top of the head slam, put my front teeth through my lip as well.
I think something between my skull and tarmac might have helped, I'm not prepared to find out!

I can only compare it to a later off when I could feel the lid working on impact.

Please, if you have to answer this thread, just answer the original question with a 'yes' or a 'no'.

And please, please, for the love of all that is unholy, don't get all huffy and try to justify your position to other people

Yes- all the time[u][b].[/b][/u]

I find mine is a useful place to attach lights and cameras.

TJ wrote,

"London - over the last few years helmet wearing has gone from a minority to a majority. This has been accompanied by an increase in head injuries per mile cycled

Holland where hardly anyone wears a helmet has a lower risk of head injury per mile cycled than the UK"

You know fine well that London's seen a huge rise of bicycle use since the congestion zone charging came in, with people who'd not ridden for 20 years suddenly commuting in the most hostile road riding environment in the UK. Of course there's an increase in injuries. And there are myriad reasons why Holland has lower injury rates, none of them helmet related.

There are legit arguments against helmets. Just that these 2 aren't.

Off road - yes.
On road - yes.
Pottering to the shops or the pub - no.

"Helmets make it much more likely that you will crash" is not non-inflammatory language, by the way. 😉

Northwind

Its a simple point. The evidence is contradictory and counter-intuitive.

There are many reasons why when rates of helmet wearing is higher accident rates are higher. Its far more complex than you suggest.

Its clear that there is no good evidence that can be seen for helmets reducing serious injuries when looked at across whole population.

Go and have a read around the evidence - IIRC there is a good set of links to follow from wiki that takes you to all sorts or proper research. Its interesting

You know fine well that London's seen a huge rise of bicycle use since the congestion zone charging came in, with people who'd not ridden for 20 years suddenly commuting in the most hostile road riding environment in the UK. Of course there's an increase in injuries.

Always wear one both on and off road. Although I did go through a stage of just wearing a beanie while on the road..bit silly.

A protrusion of bone from the top of the head about 1" diameter and 2" high, or possible an M6 tapped hole in the temple would be a good alternative to a helmet.

Or you could mount the camera on the handlebars.

I did wonder about an M6 mount for a headlight 🙂

TJ wrote, "There are many reasons why when rates of helmet wearing is higher accident rates are higher. Its far more complex than you suggest."

Of course it is. And it's also far more complex than [i]you[/i] suggest. But you can't deny that neither statistical case is at all compelling. The weakness of the examples you chose is pretty telling IMO.

TJ wrote, "Its clear that there is no good evidence that can be seen for helmets reducing serious injuries when looked at across whole population."

Again, of course there isn't, just as there is no good evidence to support the contrary- this is a lack of information and doesn't support either case. But that doesn't mean that we should disregard smaller studies, and as you know there are a large number of these which present arguments in favour of helmet use.

Northwind - are there? find me one. Thats a challenge for you

The only strongly positive studies I have seen are after the fact statistical surveys of hospital admissions - these are always strongly positive because of the imbalance created by the self selecting sample.

I'm not going to play silly games, multiple pro-helmet studies are a google away. Attewell gives us 16 in 1.

All the time now (except the 10 metre pedal after fettling to make sure things are schweet...)

Down here in Australia, you have too. Law, fines etc.

When I was home in June, I did find it hard to understand the number of people without helmets in London traffic.

I don't ride differently with or without; I don't try to fall off; but if caught unaware by a ped/car/bus/van/truck/etc who isn't concentrating, I may have less chance of being as hurt as I would without it...

Even if the numbers are unreliable, unavailable etc, I reckon more serious injuries are reduced by having a helmet, than are made worse by wearing one (if it fits right, etc). Therefore, I feel they are worth having and if you have one, you may as well wear it.

Holland where hardly anyone wears a helmet has a lower risk of head injury per mile cycled than the UK

I live in Holland and it is poles apart from the UK, drivers have respect for cyclists, their version of the Highway Code is completely different, the cyclist has primacy, if one gets knocked off it is the drivers fault, unless it was due to some extreme stupidity of the rider. Using Holland as an example is like comparing apples with underpants!

Fatsimon Mk2

Oh god not this again!!!!!! my postion is clear and iam not getting dragged into this.

I think you have by posting.

 

What happened to freedom of choice? I like wearing a lid, it adds to my collection of gear that shows I have no idea, but what you do with your head is your choice.

It seems the OP wants to carry out a sampling exercise to find out what current trends/opinions are so he can place himself somewhere on the trend/opinion scale according to whether he is strictly conformist, mediocre, strongly non conformist or just plain eccentric.

Anyway it's important for people to have accidents and hurt their head so that the doctors have people to practise on, and we have more significant numbers for the statistics. Ideally half the cycling population would wear helmets and half wouldn't, and for a real double blind study we would need half the non cycling population to wear helmets too.

All the time for me because my riding is pants.

Each to their own though

Not if I'm riding up and down my road tweaking gears or something but anywhere else, yes. I feel naked without it. Even in the Alps, riding up the Col de Cou in 27 degrees, I had my lid on.

Maybe it does make me take more risks but that's part of where the thrill is for me so it's worth it. As for wearing it on some rides and not others, I don't see the point. I own it anyway and I don't actually know when I'm going to fall off. Maybe my chance of falling on a pootle around is only 1 in a million. Do I know if today is the 1 or one of the other 999999? No idea, might as well wear the light weight well ventilated lid I already own. besides, I've got to get the use out of it, it's scrap after 3 years! 😈

Anyone who has ever met me has been subjected to my 'I had a ride in a helicopter once' story.

Perhaps if I hadn't bothered with the helmet I could have saved them from the tale.

Ohh go on subject us...

I used to wear a helmet unquestioningly for for on/offroad racing, but would wear a hat in cold weather, and I would notice how much keener my hearing was with approaching traffic, NOT wearing a lid seemed to give me a bit of crucial early warning, NOT wearing one was making me safer!
It also made me a bit less tired too, which was less distracting.
.
This is a MTB site,with many members that dont ride on the road at all, and helmets are part of the MTB uniform, so its unsurprising that that challenging the orthodoxy here is a bit like being a human rights campaigner in China (another place with lots of bikes, no helmets, and the hospitals aren't full of cyclists being spoonfed)
PLEASE, try and look at what information is available, look at why organisations like the CTC are against compulsion, and what it would mean for cycling if a third of them gave up in the typical aftermath of such a rule.

off road, yes.

on road, mostly no as all main routes here in germany have a proper cycle lane laid alongside the main road but not on it. if there is a chance of the paths icing up then i'll put my lid on.

plus the snowboard piss-pot helmet keeps my head warm in winter.