Helmet, Yes or No?

DonDaddyD

Let me get this out there I wear a helmet always! I no longer feel comfortable cycling without a helmet.

However, I organised a recent cycle ride and had two bike doctors prior to the start of the ride, both weren't wearing helmets and one told me that the average helmet only protects up to 12mph, a speed I nearly double cycling and especially if I'm commuter racing.

So I put it to the board, is the 'only protects the head from impacts of up to 12mph' valid?

Do you wear a helmet and if so or if not, why?

robmanic1

seconds out, round 1!

Clever Pun

it depends on how I feel

attica

<gets popcorn, beer, lazyboy chair>

hang on....


That's it, I'm sitting comfortably, off you go chaps.

UnworthyPapaLazaru

Ive been wearing one recently but I look stupid. I have a huge head and it kind of sits on the very top of my skull. Ive only been wearing it so my son will wear his when he is on the back of my bike on a saturday/sunday spin and it has kind of carried over to my commute.

Can I hijack this thread at this very early stage? Can anyone recommend a helemt for the bigger brained individual? One that envelopes the skull rather than balancing on the top?

To answer the question in the OP, the past two months I have worn a helmet 95% of the time, before that I never used to wear it.

virtuoso

DonDaddyD wrote:

Let me get this out there I wear a helmet always! I no longer feel comfortable cycling without a helmet.

However, I organised a recent cycle ride and had two bike doctors prior to the start of the ride, both weren't wearing helmets and one told me that the average helmet only protects up to 12mph, a speed I nearly double cycling and especially if I'm commuter racing.

So I put it to the board, is the 'only protects the head from impacts of up to 12mph' valid?

Do you wear a helmet and if so or if not, why?

Doctors are some of the stupidest people I know. Protects upto 12mph in what circumstances? There are a million different ways your head can impact, and a million different objects your head can impact onto, and any combination thereof. One collision you'll walk away from and the next at the same speed you'll be spreading cerebral matter over the tarmac like butter.

I wear a helmet because I feel like a total wally without it on.

aclucas

I wear a helmet because I'm more likely to be better off with it on than without it on in the event of an accident.

Littigator

I always wear a helmet. I read an article recently, I think it was on Bike Radar which trashed the use of them saying similar to your Docs thoughts. But my brother in law is a doctor and a pro racer and he always wears one as well and reckons you're mad not to.

I think if nothing else, if you come off without wearing one at speed you are looking at substantial scalp loss, and I ain't talking about TG.

Harveytile

Whatever turns your cranks. Just don't force your opinions on me. It's your life and you get to do what you want. (For now anyway)

biondino

In the last enormous thread about helmets, the evidence seemed to be that:

- At high speeds the helmet will make little/no difference, you'll still be killed if you would have been killed otherwise

- At a small range of highish speeds and certain types of accidents, there is some evidence that rotational brain injury (which results in paralysis/vegetative state rather than death) may be exacerbated by helmet use. The range of accidents where a helmet will make difference is likely to be very small

- At low speeds helmets will help a great deal in avoiding mostly superficial damage but also more serious injuries.

So a helmet is either good or neutral in a vast majority of potential accidents. Seems pretty much a no-brainer if you'll pardon the pun.

(and yes, I wear mine every time I ride because the thought of having an accident without a helmet, splitting my skull open and lying on the ground in a pool of bood thining "why oh why didn't I wear my helmet" really doesn't bear thinking about)

knight2k

I'm a sometimes wearer.

I do when I'm out with the club or riding sportives, as I tend to be riding faster.

I don't wear a helmet when I touring or if I'm out in the evening.

secretsam

virtuoso wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Let me get this out there I wear a helmet always! I no longer feel comfortable cycling without a helmet.

However, I organised a recent cycle ride and had two bike doctors prior to the start of the ride, both weren't wearing helmets and one told me that the average helmet only protects up to 12mph, a speed I nearly double cycling and especially if I'm commuter racing.

So I put it to the board, is the 'only protects the head from impacts of up to 12mph' valid?

Do you wear a helmet and if so or if not, why?

Doctors are some of the stupidest people I know.

Yup

At the very least, a lid protects against any of the following:
a) minor abrasions to skull, ears etc if you fall off
b) minor dings from (eg) wing mirrors
c) other low speed bumps

I remember reading a quote from a guy who said: "Yeah, I look stupid in a helmet. But I'd look more stupid in a hospital bed."

girv73

@UnworthyPapaLazaru: I have the same problem with getting hats to fit. I've a Bell something-or-other MTB lid that I picked up in a LBS, chosen because it was the only one that wasn't trying to crush my outsize skull.

[edit]

To answer the OP, I know that cyclist vs. vehicle rarely ends well and a helmet is unlikely to do an awful lot of good, but I'd rather have one on than not. I feel uncomfortable and vulnerable if I don't have one.

nicklouse

a French slant on it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/ ... .transport

boingboing12345

I crashed again last week on the MTB at about 21mph, slid along the wet floor (covered in paving slaps and wet leaves), dragging my head on the floor. My helmet is not marked, my head is not marked, and I have whiplash type injuries and a bruised hip!

My wife is due any day with our first baby and the helmet certainly stopped me lying their until somebody called my wife! (I was in big trouble when I got home!)

I always use my helmet on my MTB bike, and will also use it on the road bike as my speeds are higher and I feel safer.

The hat on the MTB bike also protects again low branches and general obstacles on the trail.

I can’t see why it is not worth wearing one, as I tend to take a spill at least a couple of times a year, and the hat has certainly helped each time.

Littigator

girv73 wrote:

@UnworthyPapaLazaru: I have the same problem with getting hats to fit. I've a Bell something-or-other MTB lid that I picked up in a LBS, chosen because it was the only one that wasn't trying to crush my outsize skull.

dude, what are you talking about, the helmet in your pic looks like a perfect fit!

What?!

spursn17

I fell off of a picnic table last year (don't ask!), 6 stitches and 8 staples in my head and hurt like hell putting them in, and when they came out.

I wear a helmet, don't want that again.

girv73

Littigator wrote:

dude, what are you talking about, the helmet in your pic looks like a perfect fit!

In that shot I'm styled with artificial helmet extensions.

karl j

Hi, to answer the orig. question - yes i believe that the 12 mph issue is correct. By that i mean that i have no reason to doubt it, also i have no means to test it out myself.

Secondly, sometimes yes and sometimes no. Used to be Yes more than No but since brain surgery (tumour) last July its been No far more than Yes - cos wearing one now hurts like 'ell

roger_merriman

cycling is really rather safe, yes people do die, but then plenty do in all sorts of ways.

will a helmet save one's life? seems unlikely it's a lot weaker than your head and places where helmets must be worn have not had any improvements.

will a helmet help in low speed spills and getting clipped by branches? yes more than likely.

is this a thread that will probably go on and on, yes...

cee

even if all it does is stop my head and face being grated, then its for me.

if it goes under a car, it might acheive a good noise and flying helmet shrapnel before my head gets crushed.

always_tyred

spursn17 wrote:

I fell off of a picnic table last year (don't ask!), 6 stitches and 8 staples in my head and hurt like hell putting them in, and when they came out.

I wear a helmet, don't want that again.

I have no sympathy for people cycling on picnic tables.

leshark

roger merriman wrote:

cycling is really rather safe, yes people do die, but then plenty do in all sorts of ways.

will a helmet save one's life? seems unlikely it's a lot weaker than your head and places where helmets must be worn have not had any improvements.

will a helmet help in low speed spills and getting clipped by branches? yes more than likely.

is this a thread that will probably go on and on, yes...

This makes me laugh, more children die on bicycles than any other singular reason.

I ride a mixture of XC and DH (now phrased as freeriding) I always wear a helmet, I have come off seriously on four occasions, twice doing about 25+ mph, both cases I would have been unlilky to have walked away from without serious injury had I not been wearing a helmet. I have also come off on road, when my front wheel decided not to grip on a rather wet day, although I was traveling about 20 mph, the impact was probably half that by the time my head made contact with the ground.

No it wont save me from severe impact or a broken neck, but one of the worst injuries is skin damage, so refrain from wearing a helmet at your peril, I refuse to ride off road with anyone choosing not to wear one (as I don't want to be the one scraping skin off the pretty rocks on the Mendips!)

OrbitRider

There are few people who now consider motorcycle helmets to be unnecessary. However, a Type A motorcycle helmet has a design impact speed of 16.8 mph. OK, a motorcycle helmet is more enclosed than a cycle helmet and will therefore offer greater protection, but the difference is not so great as might be expected: a motorcycle helmet will absorb twice as much energy as a cycle helmet. If a cyclist hits his/her head at greater than 12 mph, then the cycle helmet may fail. However, the failing helmet will have absorbed a good deal of the energy of impact before it gets to the cyclists head. To say that a cycle helmet is useless in above 12 mph impacts is just not true.

However, I'm still sceptical about the effectiveness of helmets. There seems to be a big discrepancy between case studies and whole population studies (in countries that have compulsory helmet wearing). If helmets were so effective, it should have shown up in injury statistics by now. While the jury is still out I shall continue to wear my helmet...

El Gordo

The 12mph thing is rubbish - it's just not that clear cut. I don't know what peice of research came up with that figure but I suspect it's been taken out of context.

A helmet will absorb some of the impact in some crashes at any speed. It may not be enough to save you though.

dafruk

I really don't fancy having a face that looks like chiselled spam so I'm all in favour of the helmet.

I did like that article about the French vs British take on it. Generally cyclists have to ride more agressively (I'd have said conspicuously) to be safe in urban areas. I've been hit twice at relatively low speeds by drivers not looking before pulling out and have been glad for the helmet saving me losing a chunk of scalp on one of those occassions.

tiny_pens

leshark wrote:

This makes me laugh, more children die on bicycles than any other singular reason.

Thats an interesting statistic. Do you know where it came from?

I'm suprised that more children aren't killed by cars. This is implied as a dangerous risk by all of the government television ads.

This article suggests that the mortality rate is fairly low:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002 ... enpolitics

The claimed statistic is that in 2001, 136 cyclists were killed including 25 children. That seems like a fairly low number of fatalities. I'm suprised (and pleased given that the most dangerous activity has a low fatality rate) that drowning, accidents around the home (I seem to remember some statistic being passed round about 8 people per year die from being hit by a falling iron), fires weren't more serious.

Tiny Pens

always_tyred

Tiny pens?

My other half accuses me of this when I've just got back from a long ride. :shock:

whome

I believe the 12mph comes from the standard testing that they do.The testing is done with a 3-6kg weight (to simulate the head) attached to the helmet, which is then dropped from a certain height onto an anvil. I believe 12mph is the velocity of the weight&helmet as it impacts, though which standard that applied to I am not sure.

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf
Purely information about the testing that cycle helmets undergoe.


There is a lot of other good info at http://www.cyclehelmets.org/ even if you do believe in wearing a helmet.

OrbitRider

Standards are as follows:

BS EN 1078 Helmets for Pedal Cyclists and for Users of Skateboards and Roller Skates

BS 6658 Specifications for Protective Helmets for Vehicle Users

Unfortunately you have to pay for them, so I can't link to them.

whome

However, the failing helmet will have absorbed a good deal of the energy of impact before it gets to the cyclists head. To say that a cycle helmet is useless in above 12 mph impacts is just not true.

The argument I've heard is that when they fail they fail catastrophically and absorb far less energy than when it is within limits. I'm not sure what data there is to substantiate this, nor what the figures might actually be.

The whole population results do suggest that helmets have very little effect
And cycling in general is safe, so while the jury is still out I shall continue to go bareheaded (unless I take up mountain biking again where the risks are significantly different).