I still don’t understand why no one questions wearing a helmet on a motorbike

actually I think there are a few motorbike riders who do.

I think in some states of the US you don’t have to wear a motorbike helmet. I was in Hawaii more than 20 years ago and saw a few guys on hogs without helmets. I believe the argument is that you can hear better thus it’s safer. I don’t know how, as a big enough motorbike engine drowns out everything else, all my pals with big bikes wear earplugs !

I don’t wear a helmet if I have to go out in the fields on my motorbike to go and find someone. No legal requirement, low speed, no risk of collision with other vehicles – low risk. Protection appropriate to the activity and risk.

wwaswas

a relatively high risk activity

You can’t just declare all “cycling” a high risk activity.

why not aracer/TJ can declare all walking, beer drinking or car driving to be high risk or all to be higher than all cycling if they wish to get pedantic and I suspect they might

This sort of discussion has no place under a such a thread title. Start another thread if you wish to continue your helmet debates, which I think are a valid topic for discussion, but someone died, we don’t know the facts, and it somehow seems disrespectful to a fellow cyclist.

Mick

I still don’t understand why no one questions wearing a helmet on a motorbike around town at speeds less than 30

When the motorcycle helmet laws were introduced, many did. But I guess the bulk of bikers nowadays come from a generation who didn;t experience riding bikes before compulsion, and I guess you’re less likely to question something if it’s ‘always been that way’ for you.

Bikes and helmets go hand in hand… Just like climbers and ropes!!! SIMPLS AS.

why not aracer/TJ can declare all walking, beer drinking or car driving to be high risk or all to be higher than all cycling if they wish to get pedantic and I suspect they might

I’m not sure why it’s pedantic to point out the logical inconsistency in your argument. There’s a huge difference between suggesting that driving and walking are higher risk than cycling and suggesting any of them are high risk – using my comparison as justification for your absolute is frankly ridiculous.

I can’t believe the petty crap on here and think we should leave this post now as it has a real bad vibe…
you should all show some respect and spare some thought for the poor woman and her family please!

another helmet thread??
v8ninety + deviant – i think you guys summed it up perfectly as to why you should really wear a helmet.
it’s quite obvious that there will always be riders out there who dont feel the need to wear a helmet…for whatever reason.
i used to be one of them…then i went into my LBS whilst thinking about investing in a helmet and saw a helmet on display that had impacted against a dry stone wall…it belonged to the shop owner and had he not had the helmet on…i might have had to permanantley use another shop.
i may one day have an accident and break a leg/arm/collarbone etc… which i can live with as i’d still be alert enough to scream/writhe about in agony…which from a first aid point of view means my injury is not life threatening…
connecting my skull with tarmac/concrete/stone/kerbs/trees/vehicles etc…i very much doubt i will be screaming/writhing about in agony.
i dont agree with making it compulsory for cyclists to wear a helmet…especially adults, who will have enough personal responsibility to make their own informed decision over wearing a helmet…but what i would be in support of is to make it compulsory for those of the younger age say below 16

then i went into my LBS whilst thinking about investing in a helmet and saw a helmet on display that had impacted against a dry stone wall

You don’t have to hit a helmet very hard to damage it significantly. I know because I’ve done it. That’s because helmets are designed to absorb impacts in low-speed accidents.

The helmet your saw probably saved the LBS a more serious injury, but it’s very unlikely it saved his life.

There was a thread on here a while ago from someone who’s partner had been killed by a vehicle while on a charity ride.
She mentioned that she had searched the internet for more information and found a forum somewhere where people were speculating about whether he was wearing a helmet or even riding on the correct side of the road.
I thought everyone agreed at the time that it was a bit distasteful for them to be doing that, when friends and relatives of the cyclist could easily find the conversation.

And yet, here we are doing exactly the same thing.
Names in newspapers are real people, not just stories or inspiration for arguments.
By all means, argue that what you wear on your head, what grips you use and what size wheels you’ve got is right and everyone else is wrong, but not here, not on this thread.

As MidlandTrailquestGraham, Jonzo, Rilem have said, this is not the place to have this debate.

Imagine if your loved ones/sig other came across this if it was you that had persished.

I don’t know. Some of the bitchiness on this thread is certainly on the disrespectful side, but if I were a relative of the deceased, and especially if helmet wear or lack thereof was a factor (we don’t know do we) then I would be at least understanding, and quite probably glad that it has raised the profile of this thorny issue. Sadly, it always seems to take something bad to happen before people take notice of anything, such is human nature.

I don’t think that it is the discussion in itself that is disrespectful, more inevitable. But the way some people have behaved themselves during it could certainly be perceived as such.

Whether there’s actually any point to the discussion, well that’s a different matter…

This lady (Kim) was a friend of a female friend of mine. She was an experienced rider both on road and off road. I understand that she was wearing a helemt.

The road conditions were atrocious at the time, but nothing that she would not have been used to. There is an indication that her brakes may have failed – but I cannot verify that.

Whatever the result the quote from her parents ‘she died in a beautiful area doing something she loved’ – is a fitting epitath

wilts rover – Member
This lady (Kim) was a friend of a female friend of mine. She was an experienced rider both on road and off road. I understand that she was wearing a helemt.

The road conditions were atrocious at the time, but nothing that she would not have been used to. There is an indication that her brakes may have failed – but I cannot verify that.

Whatever the result the quote from her parents ‘she died in a beautiful area doing something she loved’ – is a fitting epitath

Sorry to hear that WR, as you said an fitting epitath which some commenting above could to do well to remember. RIP Kim.

Time to call this thread a day perhaps?