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Riding offroad without a lid on?
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mboyFree Member
Not me I might add… I did when I was a teenager, but that was back when we all thought we were invincible!
Anyway, in the knowledge that a helmet has saved my life offroad at least twice in the past, I always wear one. Went to Cannock Chase today for the first time in over 18 months (and my FTD has changed! Fair play to them), and there was literally dozens of people riding the trails without helmets on, and incredibly, all of them old enough to know better…
I know each to their own and that… But I thought that as Cannock was a proper "trail centre" (for lack of better term), all those who rode the trails there had to agree to wear a helmet? It's been years since I saw anyone offroad without a lid on, and today I saw loads! What gives?
tonFull Memberin 30 years of cycling, i have yet to land on my head when falling off.
why do you ride a mountain bike and not a road bike/unicyle/recumbent………choice!
TandemJeremyFree MemberSensible adults in making their own minds up shock?
Why would anyone have to agree to wear a helmet to ride anywhere?
I love the way you "know your helmet saved you life" – what sort of helmet were you wearing? Normal XC ones are simply not that good – if they save your life you are left seriously injured. If you are left with no injury they saved you from a minor injury.
Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition
Latest Singletrack VideosFresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...crazy-legsFull MemberMTBing is one of the few sports where safety gear like helmets and body armour has gone hand in hand with being cool and trendy and the vast majority of riders use at least a helmet if not arm/knee/leg armour as well – I think that's why anyone not wearing a helmet immediately stands out.
jediFull Memberi have hit my head loads over the years, in fact i am concussed now 🙂
tazzymtbFull MemberI only wear a helmet beacuse I'm an extremely clumsy f**ker and usually bang my head on the boot lid getting the bike out. Have head butted a tree once and was glad to be wearing it, but that's due to the fact that I have a head and face like yoda's scrotum and it doesn't need any more scars or random lumps!
hilldodgerFree MemberIt's been years since I saw anyone offroad without a lid on, and today I saw loads! What gives?
Perhaps people are making their own decisions about their safety ???
mboyFree MemberSensible adults in making their own minds up shock?
Yeah, fair enough, I'm not denying anybody the freedom of choice… Their decision, I just find it odd myself!
Why would anyone have to agree to wear a helmet to ride anywhere?
Legal Reasons Perhaps? 😉
Seriously though, so many places I've ridden have disclaimers about "everyone who rides these trails MUST wear a helmet" etc… You not seen them anywhere?
in 30 years of cycling, i have yet to land on my head when falling off.
I have, MANY times… Either poor riding, or trying too hard, who knows! But I've done it and been grateful for wearing a lid.
I love the way you "know your helmet saved you life" – what sort of helmet were you wearing?
Yup, totally destroyed a Giro E2 a few years back. Front wheel in hole at 20+mph offroad = flung over handlebars and landing on head in piledriver position onto ground as hard as tarmac! Giro E2 was in a poor state, but my bonce was in one piece… Went to the Doc's the next day, I had pretty severe concussion… Next 3 weeks (fortunately for me I was at uni at the time, and it was the Easter Holidays) were spent sleeping 18 hours a day with a very sore head!
Also come off in Morzine, probably similar sort of speed, wearing my full face lid, did a couple of tumbles, landed head first again… Don't expect my head would've looked too clever minus the lid!
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for choice, I just find it a bit odd that people will spend say £1500 on their bike, but not even £50 on a lid to protect them when they fall off! Or am I doing it wrong in that I expect to fall off my bike from time to time?
RustySpannerFull MemberEach to their own – I only started wearing a lid 4/5 years ago, after being turned away from a demo day for showing up without one.
I definitely take more risks now that I wear one all the time, but having seen the state of the lid my partners daughter was wearing after it bounced off a car wing and the kerb in quick succession, I don't think I'll be venturing out without one any time soon.
mattsccmFree MemberNever seen a sign telling me I must wear a helmet, only the cover your arse ones stuck up along with other advice.
I wear my lid on stony ground but rarely around the Forest of Dean unless I am out to play silly buggers with suicidal mates.TandemJeremyFree MemberSerious answer – I don't know cannock but even I normally wear a helmet at trail centres where speeds are high and hazards are plentiful. I don't wear a helmet when ambling around the countryside riding well within my limits. When out for an amble and I come across a fast rocky descent and I have no helmet I ride it very cautiously indeed.
Two different sorts of riding means two different risk assessments.
As regards your accident – if you had a good dose of concussion with the helmet then yes – it would have probably been very nasty without it It might have been disabling but dead is unlikely even so.
westkipperFree MemberCan anyone show me a cycle helmet that is marketed as 'guaranteed to save the wearer from serious or fatal injury'?
Thought not.nickcFull MemberI know each to their own and that
At which point the helmet "discussion" comes to an abrupt end, really
5thElefantFree MemberI only wear one to race or at trail centres.
Where I live/ride I don't feel the need, and I ride that bit slower. I tend to crash when I wear a helmet (because I'm racing and because I'm not taking it easy).
RichPennyFree MemberWhen out for an amble and I come across a fast rocky descent and I have no helmet I ride it very cautiously indeed.
Wouldn't it be better to be wearing a helmet, then you wouldn't have to ride cautiously and could actually have some fun 🙂
crikeyFree Member…the other thing all you little lads forget is that when mountain biking started here and abroad, there were no helmets.
Do you think everyone sat about frightened to ride off kerbs until they were invented?
…and I don't recall any epidemic of head injuries then either, and the statistics (as opposed to the helmet saved my life and ended the second world war types) don't indicate any major changes in head injury rates now that every one wears one….
TandemJeremyFree MemberRich – If its one short section from a long ride I'd rather the freedom and comfort of not wearing a helmet. Its rather exciting doing fast rocky descents without a helmet anyway.
A day of fast rocky descents and I take the helmet.
jediFull Membermy mate fell of the back of a motor bike pootling along with my mates on bmxs and died with no lid.
i wore a lid since that dayCaptainFlashheartFree MemberI'm pretty happy to have had the three helmets I have written off in my past. I was wearing them. They took the impact.
TJ, I honestly hope you are never found out for your stupidity in this, really I do. Please just wear one.
Freedom and comfort? Not a good enough argument. Sorry.
Helmets are far more comfortable and free than any wheelchair or grave that I have seen.
tazzymtbFull Memberwe need to follow team mcoy's example and wear a full face helmet for slow xc and bright orange clothes as an extra safety feature so that we;
a: don't get shot by hunters
b: can be easliy found in the event of falling off
c: can standout so that prospective sponsors can find youYou fools do you not realise that his is the only true way
nukeFull MemberI wear a seatbelt when driving for all journeys no matter how short: my seatbelt has never yet saved my life but I still wouldn't consider stopping using it. For me, a similar principle for cycle helemts: I always wear a helmet when cycling.
I see people driving without seatbelts, I see people cycling without helmets…their choice. Can't see why it always seems such a contentious issue.
rumbledethumpsFree MemberI was at cannock afew weeks back and a bloke stacked it on one of the fire roads. Even had one of those muscle shirts on so I bet his arms were gashed to bits.
He seemed ok, but really needed a lid.
Whilst im on the subject of Cannock, met a nice lad en route on an on-one inbred, I was on a Cove (I believe he was from Tamworth). Anyhow he took me and my mate around a new section we as visitors didnt know about. Whoever you are, thanks!
Really great people down there. Did'nt expect much of Cannock really (only been half a dozen times on the dog over the years) but enjoyed it this time. Was suffering from flu and fitness but rallied on. The Dog just needs to be longer.
TandemJeremyFree MemberCFH – thanks for the sentiments but I know what the odds are and understand assessing risk – helmet free days are of such low risk that it is negligible and I am prepared to accept that negligible risk.
Traffic free / wheels on the ground / known trails / good conditions / extra caution on anything tricky = very low risk.
As crickey says off road biking predates helmets and there has never been an epidemic of head injuries.
Edit : – and a helmet is more likely to put you in a wheelchair with a broken neck.
crikeyFree MemberEquating seatbelts with bicycle helmets is wrong; they do not equate in safety terms.
If you think an inch of polystyrene is the difference between a serious head injury or not you have a quaint and somewhat mistaken view of the laws of physics.
If helmets worked as some of you think, the evidence would be crystal clear, unequivocal, no fannying about.
That evidence does not exist.
5thElefantFree MemberI'd happily ride anywhere off-road without a helmet in preference to riding a bicycle in traffic. Now that is an unacceptable risk.
crikeyFree MemberI'd happily ride anywhere off-road without a helmet in preference to riding a bicycle in traffic. Now that is an unacceptable risk.
You don't really understand much about actual risk then….
mboyFree MemberSorry guys, can I put the lid firmly back on this can of worms please?
Hadn't meant to start an argument!
Just a bit shocked as to how many grown men ride without lids today… Was the first time I'd seen it in ages, and was wondering why mainly!
5thElefantFree MemberYou don't really understand much about actual risk then….
I can think of 3 people who I know indirectly that are dead from riding on the road. One more than I know from motorbikes. Two more than I know from cars. And 3 more than I know from mountainbikes.
Good enough for me.
CaptainFlashheartFree Memberwas wondering why mainly!
Ignorance, arrogance and selfishness. People who think they are above any danger, beyond any risk and who don't care if they splatter their brains over the trails in front of their friends or family.
For those who choose to be **** and ride without one, please make sure you never ride anywhere popular or a trail centre. When one of you crashes and is hospitalised or, heaven forbid, worse, the outcry will come down on all of us who take a reasonable view of the risk of our sport and wear a helmet. That outcry will make our sport, that which we all love and adore, so much harder. It will clamp down on access to riding, it will reduce the enjoyment for us all.
Modern helmets are light, comfortable, cheap and might well save you from injury. Why the **** can't you just wear one and shut the **** up?
BikebreakerFree MemberI wonder how the people who don't wear one would feel if when they have a spill and a head injury on ringing 999 they were asked
"was he/she wearing a helmet?"
"No"
"Sort yourself out then, why should we come out to you when you knew the risks"With limited resources in emergency services people should have a little more responsibility for their actions.
I bet if you asked a paramedic what he thought it would be wear a helmet. I know there are statistics that say it makes no difference but think about the poor sod having a heart attack while you're laid out without a helmet taking the ambulance miles out into the countryside.
joolsburgerFree MemberRiding without one seems pretty dim witted to me but then I'm not dead ard!
Helmets are cheap and no bother so why not?
tazzymtbFull Memberas a follically challenged gentleman helemts also keep your head nice and warm and look better than a bobble hat or a buff (although one with a skull and crossbones on to get into the pirate vibe propperly would be good)
TandemJeremyFree MemberCFH – why should your inability to understand and assess risk mean hat I should have to wear an ineffective uncomfortable piece of plastic on my head?
Bikebreaker – people who wear helmets are more likely to crash and break other bits of themselves – plenty of evidence of this. Your argument is fallacious anyway. You can keep yourself totally safe by never going out and all mtb injuries are avoidable
CaptainFlashheartFree MemberTJ, you have no idea of my inability (or otherwise) to assess and understand risk. I understand fully that the risks of riding a bike are manifold, with the risks of mechanical failure, other people, weather conditions, etc. etc. etc.
You just carry on with your arrogance, please. I'll bring you grapes when you're in hospital dribbling.
GlenMoreFree MemberBikebreaker – Member
I wonder how the people who don't wear one would feel if when they have a spill and a head injury on ringing 999 they were asked
"was he/she wearing a helmet?"
"No"
"Sort yourself out then, why should we come out to you when you knew the risks"With limited resources in emergency services people should have a little more responsibility for their actions.
I bet if you asked a paramedic what he thought it would be wear a helmet. I know there are statistics that say it makes no difference but think about the poor sod having a heart attack while you're laid out without a helmet taking the ambulance miles out into the countryside.
Do you think the paramedic would also be asking the heart attack "sod" whether he smoked, drank, ate fatty food and had regular exercise?
GlenMoreFree MemberCaptainFlashheart – Member
You just carry on with your arrogance, please. I'll bring you grapes when you're in hospital dribbling.
Seems you've already started.
TandemJeremyFree MemberCFH – unusual for you to have such a blindspot on this one.
You accusing me of arrogance when its you that is telling me what I should do is rather laughable.
Its clear that you have no idea of the risks or how to assess them.
Whats the view like from your high horse?
pastcaringFree Memberi've hit my head a few times, with and without a helmet. i much prefer with! but there are still days i don't feel the need and ride without one.
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