I’m not entirely sure what the OP is expecting here. People who don’t wear helmets are only going to say it’s because they aren’t expecting to fall off/won’t land on their heads if they do/don’t trust the helmet to provide any meaningful protection. They  are hardly likely to say that they love the sense of wind in their hair so much they are willing to risk almost certain permanent brain damage because of it.

On the road – Always

“Proper” off-road – Again, always

Gravel/canal/easy off-road – 50/50. Why? Partly as I perceive the risk to be lower, partly as there’s something quite pleasant about riding along the tracks without a helmet. There’s also a factor of how likely my wife will see me as she is less keen on the concept on going without a lid.

One of the main reasons I don’t wear a lid for shoppal poppage is to try and demonstrate to others that you don’t need to be A Cyclist to use a bike to do a bit of shopping on and that bikes can be used for pottering around instead of cars.

In those same threads is it abundantly clear who does and who does not wear a helmet.

Yet it seems abundantly clear that most people on this thread both do and don’t wear a helmet.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yet it seems abundantly clear that most people on this thread both do and don’t wear a helmet.

Yeah my bad, i get it’s not binary but my point was rather you can pick any thread with helmet in the title and get to exactly the same conclusion as this thread is going to get to in about 3 pages.

I got to Haldon earlier this year for an after work ride and realised I’d left my helmet at home. I thought “oh well I’m here now I’ll just go a bit steadier”

That thinking went out the window pretty much as soon as I’d turned a pedal though. I did the red, blue, and some of the unofficial stuff and quite enjoyed the feel of not wearing a helmet. There were quite a few people about so I was expecting somebody to comment on the lack of helmet but nobody said a word!

Yes, but not if it’s “proper” mountain biking (rocks and roots and a relatively high likelihood of an unplanned dismount). For that, I’ll always put a lid on.

Rather like Kayla, I’m positively looking for opportunities to ride about generally without one to encourage the notion that riding a bike on a street is a viable and sensible transport solution rather than an extreme sport.

Cheers for the replies guys

So from this thread I have found out quite a few people ride without a helmet, more than I anticipated

Also its interesting to hear the varied

different reasons as to why they dont wear them

Personally I try to always wear one but just wanted the views of non wearers

As for asking for the views of only non helmet wearers, that was done deliberately

I wanted to see how many people couldn’t resist posting about why they wear a helmet when I asked them not to

This was to see how defensive people could get when asked not to comment on something and to see how long it took for the first comments to be posted

I now have my answers!

I suspect this post will get some of them to comment again, which is not what I want 😉

The only times I don’t wear a helmet on either of my 3 mtbs are:

a) I forget to put it on when commuting to work – very rare.

b) I cycle to the shops on my lunch break – in normal clothes too!

c) In warmer weather on my commute in to work I get too warm so take it off – without stopping – and hang it off my handle bars. If feeling reckless it also hangs over brakelever.

Hardly ever wear one.
Never on road, rarely on mtb, never locally.
Can’t stand how they feel or the heat generated from wearing one. and more importantly it’s entirely my own choice (unless riding somewhere where helmet use is compulsory)
Exceptions being uplifted DH where I’ll wear a fullface, BMX track gate practice fullface (it’s compulsory) and if I’m winch and plummetting gnar I’ll usually take one with me but only wear it on the descents.
Unusually I wore one yesterday for a fairly tame ride (in company, I put it on for the first descent and rather than be a faffer, just kept it on the whole ride for once) but we were on Ebikes so the heat isn’t as much of a problem. still had to undo the strap for every climb though.
I don’t really slow down with no helmet on. I just ride smoother. I also ride more playfully without one. I never used to wear one dirt jumping (don’t DJ all that often anymore) I wouldn’t attempt something (trick or line) if I wasn’t 100% sure I could pull it off. For me not wearing a helmet actually ensures commitment and if it’s going wrong means you bail in a controlled manner and under your own terms. I’ve seen too many riders “trying” something all armoured and fullfaced up with no clue of the basics or how it’s going to go. Like this idiot.

Ironically I think almost all posts I’ve ever read from kryton57 are pretty close to the “height of stupidity”
Bez the exact opposite.

There’s a gravel/mud towpath near where I live, where I sometimes like to go for a car-free, helmet-free ride. I like to go helmet-free because rides like that feel so much nicer without a lump of smelly polystyrene strapped to my head, and the biggest danger along there is probably falling in the tidal river, which is why I always wear a lifejacket. I also tell anyone I see to do the same – height of stupidity not to – if it saves just one life etc…..

Always a helmet on the trails, i’ve headbutted a few trees and branches and the helmet seems to help.

When I’m offroad on the tandem – very rarely wear one.

offroad on my MTB – probably only if I have ended up forgetting it like you did.   I’ll see if there is another solution but I probably wouldn’t give up the ride unless it was something particularly risky, I’d just ride differently

If I’m going on an mtb ride with a group or even just one other, I’ll always wear a lid, as this tends to be the time we have accidents.  If I’m riding by myself  I might not bother as I ride within myself and rarely have any issues.

Up to the shops I won’t bother either.

nip to the shops /pub – no lid

ride to work in traffic – lid

xc ride – lid

stacked the bike in the local woods back in July and was glad I was wearing the lid. My head was scraping the ground for what felt like about 2-3feet.

Arrived at Cwmcarn yrs ago and realised I’d left my lid behind so I rode without.. it felt very wrong, I couldn’t relax and people were looking at me weird, I had to explain why.

Rarely

When at glentress, night rides yes.   Large groups yes.   Bimbling around no.  Out in the wilds no.   I don’t push it and I want to feel vulnerable so I don’t crash as a broken leg would be pretty dangerous

Probably 90% of my riding I do not. When I do I wear a I wear one property fitted unlike most folk

It’s like unprotected sex, we all know the associated risks. And I’m safe in both instances!

Of topic i know…. But I don’t believe Mr.<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>Jenvey is a complete idiot…. If that’s the case we are all idiots for trying something for the first time or screwing something up and faceplanting. He is just willing to blog about his adventures and progression, including his failures… Seen the outtakes from Danny Mac etc…? They must all be idiots…..</span>

When I’ve fixed my bike in the garage and ride it up and down the street to check its working well I don’t wear a helmet.

This.

(But have a mate that went OTB just pootling along the street, testing his newly fettled brakes … Damaged his elbow rather than head, so a helmet wouldn’t have helped.)

99.9% of the time I wear a helmet for MTB and commuting. Once forgot it for commuting and didn’t realise until I got to the office an hour later. Felt very vulnerable cycling home. Not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing i.e. does the helmet give me a false sense of security/safety?

A good 16 years ago on the MTB riding back from the pub in jeans and t-shirt didn’t wear a helmet. Went down a nice grass bank only to see a 3 foot drop to the pavement and road at the end. Landed the drop which was fine, flew across the dead end road and went down someone’s drive and the front wheel hit their house. Bike stopped and I head butted the house. I’m told I had concussion. So after that I bought a helmet and also upgraded to a front disk brake, whoop.

Using an Ofo bike a few times before they removed them from Sheffield and I never wore a helmet. But I was mostly cycling like a dick and using the pavement, pedestrianised areas and quiet roads. No dangerous junctions etc. Plus I may have had a beer or two!!

It’s only if you also like to kick miniature poodles when out riding that I’d start to worry.

All the time. Even in bed. (very high bed!)

I always wear one, even more so after I broke the 2nd on on a gate (1st one was a tree interface)

Once I’m on the bike I don’t know I’m wearing one anyway.

Sorry Nick. Dave is a complete idiot. He spends his time hunting out and researching riding spots above his ability and when there if he doesn’t even understand the basics of how to ride a feature he’ll have a go anyway thinking it’s how “good” a rider he should be rather than actually progressing one step at a time. Because of this he often falls and injures himself. Again completely oblivious to how he didn’t manage to ride the feature. He’ll moan about his equipment and when healed he’ll revisit the same feature but with a bike with more suspension and dressed in more protective kit and try again despite still not understanding how to ride it. and usually still not managing it. The fact that he does this for Youtube views makes him even more of an idiot. (or genius if he’s making a comfortable living from it. He’s not).

Danny Mac knows exactly what he’s doing, exactly how and why it may go wrong, the possible consequences of it going wrong and the risk involved in doing so. And has made a very comfortable living from Youtube. Very much not an idiot

So yeah. Probably the same guy aren’t they?

Danny Mac knows exactly what he’s doing, exactly how and why it may go wrong, the possible consequences of it going wrong and the risk involved in doing so.

And still wears a helmet. Have you let him in on how much better he could be without it? How much smoother and more playful his riding would be?

Is it glasses, an interpreter or just intelligence you’re lacking here Tom?

I get pretty hot, when riding on a warm summer day. So, when I’m riding solo, with no one else to have to consider, I sometimes ride without a lid. Off-road only, I always ride on the road with a lid.

I love it. Wind in what’s left of my hair, feeling of freedom. 49 years on, with 33 of them off-road twice a week or more. I’ll still be doing it until I’m old and mad. So next week or so.

I wear a helmet if there is an increased likelihood of having an accident, or increased severity if I do have an accident. I tend not to wear a helmet if there is low risk (e.g. up some hills esp. if it’s hot, or when riding the miles of railway path around here (Co. Durham)). I always wear one when out with the kids (as someone else said above, the black and white option for kids is easier). I don’t feel odd without a helmet – when I was growing up no-one I knew wore a helmet and I never did either, plus I enjoy the wind in the hair feeling.

I never used to commuting in london (mainly on bike tracks) but since moving back to aus 10 years ago always do. I always did mountain biking.

As a side note at out mountain bike club meeting last night 3 of us who have broken vertebrae and had head injuries at same time had not been riding technical stuff at the time, I had been on a fire trail taking my time, don’t remember what happenned to put a fist sized soft spot on the side of the helmet and leave me in neck and back brace for 12 weeks (5 weeks into this). One of the others had been on a tarmaced bike trail. Tish happens when you don’t expect it and so aren’t prepared.

Never.

Cycling is safe and I don’t give two shits about my personal safety anyway. No wife/kids.

Sometimes I ride a bike without a helmet, sometimes I wear a helmet without riding a bike, as circumstances dictate.

TROLL.

btw that GEEX/Dave Jenveyclip is very funny. fair play to him, the crackpot.

Geex- can you not take him under your wing and teach him the FULL power of the force?

🙂

Habit is a funny thing isnt. Those in the habit of not wearing a helmet dont and those that are in the habit do. I pretty much always wear a helmet, unless I forget it. Its just habit. Most of my riding doesnt call for one these days but it feels weird riding without one.

people that don’t wear helmets probably don’t wear a seat belt either.  The only time I don’t wear a helmet is when I’m adjusting the gears.

people that don’t wear helmets probably don’t wear a seat belt either

You sure…?? You do realise one of those is illegal?

1978-1990 mostly riding street  (mtb and bmx) falling off 20+ times per ride, often backwards or otb – no helmet.

The next 15 years not much riding outside woodland bimbles and towpaths, trips to the shops – no helmet.

2004 – 2009 ‘proper’ mtb – no helmet.

2009 bought my first cycling helmet cos my kids were born and felt duty bound. Wore it for about 5 years til the cradle broke, couldn’t afford to replace it til earlier this year and now nearly always wear one as I expect the kids to wear theirs.

Sometimes still don’t wear it on the 5 minute work commute out of habit.

people that don’t wear helmets probably don’t wear a seat belt either

Sure, because—aside from being illegal and invalidating our insurance—we think that smashing a couple of 1500kg objects together at closing speeds of anything up to about 120mph is perfectly comparable to cycling at 15mph along a canal towpath. If it makes you feel better, we also do the Sunday roast without oven gloves, fill up at the petrol station while lighting up a Camberwell carrot, and on bonfire night we launch our fireworks through an open bedroom window. Also when we read the internet we poke ourselves in the eyes with knives without wearing safety glasses. (The last one is true, by the way; it’s a coping mechanism.)

You sure…?? You do realise one of those is illegal?

so is speeding but that doesn’t stop people.  its the same mentality.

so is speeding but that doesn’t stop people.  its the same mentality.

No, it’s not at all. In fact it’s practically the exact opposite: seatbelt laws, and compliance with them, leads to increased speeds. It’s risk compensation, known as the Peltzman effect after the man who was called in to research why a wide-ranging increase in driving laws in the 1970s had no effect on collisions and casualties.

so is speeding but that doesn’t stop people.  its the same mentality.

You have no doubts about this, so much so that you’re prepared to air this opinion in public? Man, the internet is a freaky world.

Yes ride occasionally on easy stuff without a helmet mainly gravel type stuff. Nice to feel wind in my hair whilst still got some. At trail centres I know in Wales will take helmet off for initial climbs at start. No cars to worry about and it’s nice way to ride for me. Have occasional comments of you should have a helmet on. I ignore them and carry on with my lovely day.

I’ve not bothered with a helmet for riding to the pub/restaurant/shops – don’t want to be carrying round the **** thing.

If I found myself miles from home without one for an MTB ride I would probably just go for a ride, and knock it back a peg or two. As others have said it doesn’t eliminate the risk, it reduces it slightly, and like all PPE it should be seen as a last line of defense not the first thing to do about any potential risk. From this point of view maybe I should be knocking it back a peg or two anyway!