helmets
Comments
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Question is - are you fooling yourself by using an inferior helmet?
Unless you are wearing a Snell Certified helmet then you are wasting the effort by compromising your safety.....<b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
He that buys flesh buys many bones.
He that buys eggs buys many shells,
But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
(Unattributed Trad.)0 -
i fully agree with freedom of choice and i choose to wear one even though its akin to wearing an oven on my head in summer.
i got hit by a car earlier this year (doing nearly 20mph) and i headbutted the edge of the roof just above the passenger door. The whole front end of my bike was mangled as well so it was definately a heavy impact. My helmet was knackered - split all the way through in 3 places - so i'm pretty sure i would've got a nasty head wound if not concussion had i not been wearing it.
For me it's worth wearing one, even if that remains the only time i ever whack my head cycling.pm0 -
each has their own opinon on this topic but I will continue to wear a helmet.
I get the feeling that sometimes it seems that people don't wear helmets because, it is not cool to wear one.0 -
skinny man0903 wrote:each has their own opinon on this topic but I will continue to wear a helmet.
I get the feeling that sometimes seems that people don't wear helmets because, it is not cool to wear one.
That's exactly it, when I actually see it as being extremely uncool to not wear one. It seems most who don't, or refuse to wear one, figure their buddies will laugh at them. The point being..........?
I think the problem, certainly on this board is the thinking that head injuries occur ONLY when one falls from a bike to the ground, and the head contacts an automobile door, bumper or other surface such as the ground, or to children.
I can say I have ridden bikes for 41 of my 53 years and a helmet has NEVER saved my head when I fell off of a bike, because during all of those accidents, my helmet never hit the ground.
I can say that during all of those years my helmet HAS saved me from being knocked unconscious, and down a ravine, by low tree limbs, mostly 4" to 7" in diameter that were behind a bough of a tree that I just could not see while I was in the woods. Way up there in the woods, where one can be knocked out, possibly attacked or eaten by animals while you lay unconscious. Bears and mountain lions who are too slow to get to you as you fly past them and don't even see them. Mountain lions are the quick ones. Get knocked out, lay there for a bit, wake up with a huge ass bear slapping your head around.
I HAVE seen 'mama' bears and cubs on the trail, and all three of us dropped the bikes and ran and hid. Seriously. Me, the guy I mentioned in an earlier post who was out for a month, in a coma, (Bill Jung, Everett, WA.) and his buddy, Sykes. We nearly sh*t ourselves. We had to hide for nearly an hour. Bears DO attack when with cubs. If you are knocked out, hello dinner. Do not feed the wild animals.
I can also say that my helmet saved my head from more of these types of potential injuries than all of the bicycle accidents in my life. I have seen stars, some from street signs that are illegally hung too low, No Parking, Cross Here, etc.
I ride mostly local now, within a mile of populated areas because I am a much busier person running my own business, and where I moved to does not have the mountains that I found my self addicted to back home in Seattle and the surrounding areas. Mountains here in GA., US are little tiny twits compared to my regular serving of same. Slick Rock, Utah is cool, but can't out-do the Cascade Mountain range on the west coast of the US. The main portion of which runs just 40 miles from Seattle. 14,000 foot mountains. The rush is awesome.
We don't have bears a mile from my house in Ringgold, GA. The tree limbs are still a problem, and I still wear a helmet.
Summary:
1. Fewer head injuries happen to adults in city situations that will damage us severely, mainly because we know how to, instinctively, save our own heads/ass*s.
2. Head injuries that would kill you, would most likely kill you WITH a helmet. Three quarters of all bicycle associated head injuries occur to children between the ages of 5-15. Why? Because of inexperience. It's just common sense. Adults run below the 2% mark, if I remember right. I know I'm going to get my ass kicked after this rant, but it has a lot of truth in it.
The injuries that don't kill you, helmet or not, still hurt. A helmet, witout arguement, lessens the injury.
Do what you want, but YOU know what the truth is. Protection is always better, and no protection is just ignorant (that meaning, ignoring the facts with full knowledge of the facts.)
Last of all, you will be treated differently by motorists when you don a brain bucket. They figure you are smarter, and WILL drive closer to you because they figure you are able to deal with it because of the helmet (like a magic smart hat or some crap.) Motorists don't know how a bike handles and what it's capabilities and incapabilities are. They don't give a rip to know. Common sense.
I also know, at least in Seattle, which has bike lanes everywhere, and bikes on them, that motorists give way to bike clothed riders much more than suit or civie clothed riders. You want to get whacked? Ride with a hat, jeans and a sweatshirt. True story. I started using a helmet 20 years after I started riding. Sheesh. I got respect suddenly. I kid you not. It was like night and day.
The higher the risk...um....oh yeah....the more protection you should have. Yeah, that's the ticket.
I've been there, done that. I'll stay stupid looking and slightly injured.
Thane kyoo, thane kyoo berry mush.
Kelly J.
Next???? I'm finished.0 -
Freedom of choice for the individual and I choose to wear one. Coming from powered two wheels it seemed the obvious thing to do and after wearing an Arai m/cycle lid you don't even notice a cycle helmet is there!!!!0
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Freedom of choice is what I feel is right, as well. Washington state has an under 16 year olds mandate. Parents can be fined.
It's odd that they will buy a bike for $250 (which is so substandard that the real cost of the bike is less than a helmet) but they consider $20 for a helmet way too much.
(Scratching head) :?: :?0 -
bikers46 wrote:That's exactly it, when I actually see it as being extremely uncool to not wear one. It seems most who don't, or refuse to wear one, figure their buddies will laugh at them. The point being..........?
good post... but of course people are going to laugh at us... lycra... I mean your co<k is practically on display
Purveyor of sonic doom
Very Hairy Roadie - FCN 4
Fixed Pista- FCN 5
Beared Bromptonite - FCN 140 -
good post... but of course people are going to laugh at us... lycra... I mean your co<k is practically on display
Since when do men whine about the size of their wanks? From what I've seen in a month on this forum, penis size or a direct reference to penis(es) will be included in every post one way or another. Damn, see what I mean.
I took mine off the market in 2001 and now I just leave it at home on rides. It's only this big any whoo. %--->
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Thornhill et al did research that showed that in 60% of head injuries - Alcohol is the biggest single factor...........
Now who wears a helmet in the pub?<b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
He that buys flesh buys many bones.
He that buys eggs buys many shells,
But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
(Unattributed Trad.)0 -
Beer in the Camel Bak??0
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These threads always seem to go the same way. A few people say "each to their own" and two or three people dissappear up their own behinds and decree that everyone else should do what they do :roll: . Funnily enough it always seems to be the same side that decides this.
To answer the original question, i wear a helmet when road racing, a head fairing when time trialling and a wooly hat when it's cold.
Hypocrisy is only a bad thing in other people.0 -
on the road wrote:Now I bet if I was wearing a helmet at the time someone would say it saved my life.
I really doubt any bikers would say that, maybe someone walking their dog or stroller/pram.
I would have said "Whoa dude, like that was so rad, man. Like, hey let's go get a brew, dude. Y'know, you probably wouldn't gotten whacked so hard if you were wearin' a brain bucket, but it's all good, you're, like ok." Not really, I don't and never will speak that way.
But, that's just me.
This has really been a kick a** thread.0 -
Always, I mean why not?'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.0
