juan – rugby is an English originating sport 😉

Why do skydivers wear helmets ?
If you hit the ground at 200mph a helmet won't do much good ?

Bird strike? 😆 theres got to be a good reason though?

Why do canoeists wear helmets ?
They only go slow and they're only going to land in water anyway.

As a white water kayaker, because you'd be amazed how easy it is to sweep round a bend in the river to be confronted with a fallen tree or low branches, and more so because capsiding in shallow fast moving water can easily mean you bang your head on a few submerged rocks.

Do I need a helmet to leap on this bandwagon ?

😉

…….

Why do cricketers and american football players wear helmets when baseball and rugby players don't ?

rugby

baseball

cricket

not that clearcut!

I don't believe this is page 2

coffee I didn't say rugby wasn't originating from england 😉

ton's like me! Both of us have heads to massive we have to wear helmets to prevent cracking the planet in two when we fall.

colande – Member

nosemineb – Member
I want to reply, but cant be bothered. Sorry

haha my favourite reply to the thread,
i'd say that's an oxymoron

I'd would agree, similar to the OP but with added Oxy

'kinell that baseball helmet makes bicyle helmets look good

ton's like me! Both of us have heads to massive we have to wear helmets to prevent cracking the planet in two when we fall.

I have just wet myself

For what it's worth here's my 2 pence worth…..having fairly recently taken to fell running in abig way I can confirm that yes you can with a bit of skill quite easily exceed 20mph running down a hill however as has already been said when you fall, you don't have 20+lbs of metal hunting you down and you generally just fall on your ass. On a bike one trip over the bars has far more potential for serious injury before the bike that you have been parted from hunts you down…….

Have you been with Amy Winehouse?

most xc riders are weight weenies and seeing as the head is a heavy part of the body they have lightened the skull by drilling holes and replacing redundant bits with carbon fiber. Why do you think that most xc race whippets look so angular in the face hand have big noses ? it's all been rebuilt to the optimum lightweight aerodynamic profile. This does have the side effect of making any crash result in spectacular cranial explosions, hence the use of helmets for xc.

oh gawd dont get drawn in 🙂

going back to the OP,
if you reword it to road

I was thinking, if walkers and road runners don't wear helmets, why should road riders wear helmets? Or is it the walkers and runners who have got it wrong, and we'll be seeing them putting lids on?

Comments please.

i get what your trying to say but it's no banana

Poor troll 0/10

Generally when out walking in this weather I wear a hat.
It's a nice hat.
Bought for me this Christmas from Next.
It's lambs wool which is a little inconvenient as it's not going to save me from visiting the head injuries clinic at Watford General; which is a shame.

**** me i just thought you can save half a pound there. 😯
mans a genius.

Couple years ago came up on a group of riders and a girl, not wearing a helmet, had taken a fall sideways while making a tight turn. She struck her head on a pointed piece of rock and it embedded in her head about 1/2 inch or so. If she had been wearing a helmet, probably nothing more than a headache. They were carting her off in a stretcher with about 4 inches of bloody bandage wrapped around her head. Got my attention.

"the best fell runner only really comes close to an MTBer on the flat – I think they do 5 mile runs in about 35-40 minutes. That's a pretty poor average for an MTB offroad"
He's not on about on a towpath/fireroad/road though is he?
On something with some gradient changes and lots of rocks/roots/tight corners and lots of changing direction and drops etc I fell runner compared to someone on a saddle up XC bike could easily be faster I reckon. Try running down a techy DH course, ankle twist risk aside you can 'absorb' the drops by letting your legs come up into you so much more. At least this is my conclusion after running down part of Dunkeld DH track once (don't ask)

5miles over 35-40 minutes, so about 8mph? Maybe on smooth flowing singletrack or fireroads that would be slow on an MTB, but on techy singletrack ups/downs you may well not achieve that

"Why do cricketers wear helmets"
How fast is a cricket ball typically bowled at at professional level? 100+mph? Cricket balls are pretty hard ..

Because mtb'ers are more fashion conscious/led & it undoubtedly makes them more attractive and saves on hair gel ➡

I rest my case 8)

Not me BTW !

OK, I'll bite… I don't wear a helmet for local XC rides. It's a matter of risk assessment: I know the trails extremely well, I 'know' exactly what my speed will be and that I won't crash… Of course, a branch might fall just as I pass beneath but the chances of that are infinitesimal. And I enjoy riding helmet-less.

If I ride somewhere new, or on faster, rockier trails (such as a trail centre) I always wear a helmet. If I go downhilling, I wear a full-face helmet. But for pootling about Hampshire? No. And I like the fact I have the freedom to make my own mind up.

As a digression, there was a very interesting article last year by Malcolm Gladwell (I think) on the severity and extent of brain injuries suffered by American footballers as helmet technology 'improved', thus enabling many more and harder impacts to be taken. The study he quoted said that pretty much any player with an impact-intensive role will have damaged their brain by their early twenties. I wonder how our rugby players are doing now it's a bigger, faster, harder sort of game.

James, a quick google search shows that elite fast bowlers and pitchers both reach about 100mph.

Why do builders wear helmets ?
They rarely go above walking pace.

Woody:
Would it not be a smart move to wear some protective ride-glasses when the trail conditions are like this?
I for one don't appreciate grit and sh£te in my eyes on a ride.
I also wear a lid, have outboard stablisers and stuff cotton wool down the length & bredth of my clothing – just in case.
Besides, was it last year that McCoy racing famously did his XC rides in a full-face helmet (because his mummy told him to be careful).

Hey, where's TJ? He's usually in threads like this like a rat up a drainpipe! 😉

ton's like me! Both of us have heads to massive we have to wear helmets to prevent cracking the planet in two when we fall.

FFFFing genius line! Really brightened up my morning! I have the same MAHOOSIVE HEAD problem too. I have previously bronken a Citroen and bent a BMW with it, so I know exactly what you're saying!

Stuart Mackenzie: Look at the size of that boy's heed.
Tony Giardino: Shhh!
Stuart Mackenzie: I'm not kidding, it's like an orange on a toothpick.
Tony Giardino: Shhh, you're going to give the boy a complex.
Stuart Mackenzie: Well, that's a huge noggin. That's a virtual planetoid.
Tony Giardino: Shh!
Stuart Mackenzie: Has it's own weather system.
Tony Giardino: Sh, sh, shh.
Stuart Mackenzie: HEAD! MOVE!

I've just done a very large fart, which I think more than answers your question.

Goes off holding nose 😳

Peter when I was in the Cubs they had to order me a special hat!

Hey, where's TJ? He's usually in threads like this like a rat up a drainpipe!

I'm worried about him, you know. There was a thread yesterday where something wasn't quite perfect in the NHS and he was nowhere to be seen. Another thread on, ahem, bullying in the workplace and he didn't even try and turn up to blame Thatcher.

I hope he's OK.

Of course, you all realise that a standard XC lid is designed and tested for sub 12 mph collisions…

Peter when I was in the Cubs they had to order me a special hat!

When I buy a new motorbike lid, I just ask for the biggest they're got, then wear the box it comes in.

Could there be a link between large heads and chainsuck 💡

Could there be a link between large heads and chainsuck

PMSWL

What is XC then!? To me, XC is basically anything that isn't jumping or uplift assisted DH.

If we're talking pootling along a tow path at 10mph then I rarely bother, but for normal XC riding then I would.

Surely multi-day slow rides aren't really XC, and WTF is XC 'with a bit of technical'?!

Similar speeds? WTF? Even the best fell runner only really comes close to an MTBer on the flat – I think they do 5 mile runs in about 35-40 minutes. That's a pretty poor average for an MTB offroad. Not to mention the additional height.

I bet the typical weekend warrior ride doesn't average much more than 8mph.

Excellent question – most people are just reacting to it being phrased in what you take to be a silly way. Re-phrase the title to "Why don't fell runners wear helmets?" and it is a perfectly sensible question.

Albeit one we've visited before, to say the least.

I think it is an interesting thought experiment – by the same logic that gets us wearing a helmet to ride we should wear a helmet any time a head injury is likely. But we don't.

Why don't people wear helmets in cars?

Far, far more avoidable head injuries in car crashes than in bike crashes…

What's the basis for that? Genuinely curious like.

I don't wear a helmet when cycling below walking speed. However, when the bike computer shows between 5 and 10 mile per hour (running speed) I stop and put on a Ronhill fleecy hat. At higher speeds I take my cycling helmet out of my rucksack and put that on.

It can get a bit frustrating for others on the ride but it offers good opportunities for second and third breakfasts, or photos.

if your squimish dont watch this…but it gets the message across !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWw10inDfaw&feature=related