Helmets? What do you think?

steelo

I'm just interested to know what the general opinion is as there are a few people in my biking group who refuse to wear a helmet as they think they do more harm than good during a crash and also promote an unrealistic air of safety.

Personally I always wear a helmet, i've not had any major offs (yet) and find a helmet useful especially when riding under low branches (thwack!). The peak is also good for keeping that setting sun out of your eyes on those fantastic early evening runs!

jmillen

Every ride, every time regardless of how long I'm on the bike.

I'm sure there are freak stories where the helmet has caused more injury than good, but in my mind they're an essential bit of equipment.

thekickingmule

I always wear it. When off road, as you mentioned, it is useful just for riding under low branches, and on the road, I would rather it was a helmet going through a windscreen than my skull, regardless of the implications it may cause.

The only time I don't wear it is when I'm fettling, and I ride around the block testing gears out.

fitch28

always wear a helmet.

my husband went over the handlebars 2 days ago and cracked his. dread to think what would have happened if it had been his head. :shock:

allthegearnoidea

always without fail!
only takes one knock and your toast!
one of our club rules, and on several occasions the helmets have saved a much more severe injury! (stuntman steve on youtube!)

i get fed up with parents taking kids for a ride and making the kids wear lids but they dont! not a good example!

scotto

always always always

zero303

Even to the shops...

meesterbond

allthegearnoidea wrote:

i get fed up with parents taking kids for a ride and making the kids wear lids but they dont! not a good example!

What really annoys me is when you see M&D and kids riding along with the helmet losely perched on the back of their heads... what is the point???

MacAndCheese

Always. To the point where I once wore my full face on my slick tyre shod rigid commuter bike, because it was the only one I had in the house at the time. looked like a moron! I just know the one time I don't wear one will be the one time I fall off.

cee

look...the helmet debate is boring and usually ends in someone saying I know a guy who fell on his head and would have died if he wasn't wearing a helmet....to which someone will respond yeah but I have never worn a helmet, fallen on my head loads and always survived......

statistically, you are more likely to give yourself a head injury whilst walking down the street, than riding your bike down the street......

I always wear one for off-road...those low hanging branches and many offs with boulders and sharp pointy stuff etc......thing is....its just habit now....i stick the lid on my head even when i am only going down to the shops...just part of getting on the bike now.

Daz555

Agree with above - helmet debate is boring. Both the pro-helmet and the anti-helmet mafia are as irritating as each other.

All I 've got to say is this. It's a personal choice based on personal risk assessment. One man's extreme sport is another man's walk in the park.

Each to their own.

captainfly

Always and usualy a full face now, I had a reletively low speed off and slid drown the side of the track wearing old pee pot ansraped my jaw ansd it still clicks a bit, and I don't want that to happen again or worse because I'm geting faster all the time.

RealMan

For riding and commuting at night, yes. For riding to the shops, mates houses, etc, no. Also go down bmx track sometimes without one.

Joe_Pineapples

steelo wrote:

there are a few people in my biking group who refuse to wear a helmet as they think they do more harm than good during a crash and also promote an unrealistic air of safety.

Oh really?
I'd love to have that one explained to me!

OH NO Dan

Allways wear one. Mainly because i get wacked by branches/trees so its good for that.

ariteofpassage

Up until about a year ago I never wore a helmet, except for off road that involved techy downhill. I have had a few bad falls over the years, including on the road where luckily, I never hit my head! (don't know how!!!) Then I suddenly decided it was time to wear a helmet, I now always wear one, you get used to it and it feels normal now. But I do think it is a personal choice.

dave_hill

I know that there's a lot of debate as to the efficacy of cycle helments but my take is this - if I'm going to take part in a risky activity, I'll take whatever precautions are necessary (for which read prudent and sensible) to increase survivability in the event of an accident.

Regardless of the legal requirements, I wouldn't drive a car without wearing a seatbelt and I wouldn't ride my motorbike without a helmet. If I was to be involved in a serious accident, neither may save my life. But they may increase my chances of surviving unharmed and in my book that's good enough for me.

It's only a sensible precaution - it's like not smoking while you're filling the car up or not taking a leak on a live railway line.

I regularly encounter a guy on one of my local runs who rides into the middle of nowhere in what is reasonably severe terrain and he NEVER wears a helmet. I once stopped and asked him (politely) why. His answer? "I don't fall off..."

Anonymous

^^ agree wholeheartedly with what Dave_Hill said

I always wear my helmet off road, and when commuting, but don't bother with it when just out on towpaths and such.

bregante

Helmets? What do you think?

Who are you calling a helmet?

Hercule Q

i always wear my lid unless its testing the bike or 200 meters to my dads (too lazy to walk) i have been thankful wearing one on the trail on more than one occasion and this evening my mate came off at 20+mph onto his head and we were happy to not need an ambulance :shock:

nicklouse

Mmm.

2 piss pots.

2 XC lids.

2 Fullfaces

and a MC lid.

yep I am a user.

nfrang

I only ride with full body armour + cotton wool cos ya never know! Most humans fall straight on their heads. Fact.

Northwind

What I always think is interesting is that for mountain biking, you're much more likely to suffer a crippling knee injury than a crippling brain injury. Your brain's in a solid box, and well located to avoid impact, while your knees are weak, complicated joints, and very exposed to impact. But then you get the people who sneer at body armour but won't ride without a helmet. Obviously you'd sooner have a knee crippling than a brain crippling, but then ideally you'll have neither.

People say "it's your own risk assessment" but I doubt that- I think the deciding factor's often not risk, it's vanity, or pride, or prejudice, or dislocated risk perception, or peer pressure, rather than an educated risk assessment. I include myself here btw! I can't make the educated call of whether my helmet is a worthwhile risk reducer, I wear it on the off chance it is, and because I know I'd feel like a right knob if I didn't and I spangled myself. Also, it gives me somewhere to fit my camera.

cee wrote:

statistically, you are more likely to give yourself a head injury whilst walking down the street, than riding your bike down the street......

I call straw man on you- head injuries while walking are higher because people do more walking, not because it's more dangerous. Head injuries per mile travelled, now that's going to be a different story, and that's all that counts.

nfrang

I would guess the 60/70 peeps that have taken this groundbreaking poll so far are not wholly telling the truth.

I also think the term 'Mountain Biking' does not always apply. But sounds dangerous.

Anonymous

What makes you think that, nfrang? Almost every cyclist I see these days has a helmet on.

Skippy2309

I must admit I do not always wear a helmet, if I am doing a canal path ride with the missus, no helmet or my short 5minute burst to work no helmet (although this is changing), long ride to work - must have a helmet, but now its getting dark helmet all the way and a nice light coloured top.


one of the replies says about perceived safety, did you know there was more deaths in the army when they introduced the steel helmets to the trenches, purely because the guys now stuck their heads up to look thinking the helmet will save them, theres a few studies i remember (cant remember the locations of them) that showed drivers drove closer to people wearing helmets - but put them together and you could have a problem.... simply if you got a helmet on it dont mean you can ride like a tw@t.

lesz42

perceived safety, funny that, modern cars with all the perceived safety, means people can go faster then ever , taking more risks. more speed


but, i know of a few people who do not wear seatbelts, they reckon if you crash the car may catch fire and will be trapped in the car, better to be flung out of the car


i wear a helmet, some people dont, but i wonder who will regret it more one day?

bike husband

Always wear a helmet when riding, it would only take one fall to damage the old brain and you never know when that fall may come [just my view]

Anonymous

Northwind wrote:

Your brain's in a solid box, and well located to avoid impact, while your knees are weak, complicated joints, and very exposed to impact.

But a bad impact on the knee can mean a bad limp, maybe some surgery, rehabilitation.
A bad knock on the head, and you could be a vegetable, or worse still, game over.

A knee will also take a bigger impact than a head.
Tell you what, to prove this point, how about we meet up somewhere, and I knee you in the face/head repeatedly until my knee gives in, then we'll see what level of brain damage you have? :twisted:

Fridge-Seal

I always wear a helmet...even when I'm not on the bike, schools are dangerous places you know! (Those last bits were jokes)
Personally I reckon that it's far more dangerous not to wear a helmet than to wear one.

I have heard some of the arguments about anti-helmet-ism, and it's something to the tune of "...don't like the sideways rolling motion that the helmet introduces when it impacts on the ground..."
I understand what they're saying, but in case they failed to notice- your head is also round, and will roll when it impacts on things as well, albeit to a slightly lesser degree.

Also helmets aren't just static hard things that sit on your head- the foam that they are made out of is designed to fail in event of a crash-so that you skull doesn't.

Tank-slapper

Always.

For the same reason I always wear a seatbelt.