Bike or skateboard helmet

legacydan

So will be commuting to work quite a bit once my new bike arrives. just curious if skateboard helmets offer the same protection as normal bike helmets. Just never really liked the styling of the standard bike helmet, so if skateboard style offers same protection that will do me.

something along this style:

http://www.skatehut.co.uk/acatalog/Protec_Charcoal_Helmet___39.95.html

or is the bike helmets you can get in this style too?

whyamihere

You can get bike helmets in that style. They tend to be called 'pisspots'. How long is your commute though? They have basically no ventilation, so get very hot, very quickly.

lost_in_thought

I saw a guy in an american football/baseball helmet today.

That looked warm.

Aidy

Every now and then I see people in full faces pootling along the road, they look a bit... warm.

There always tends to be comedy non-cycling gear to go with it, too.

meanredspider

See my avatar - but I wouldn't wear one because of the heat problem - even in winter. I keep mine for snowboarding. It would be safe though.

wgwarburton

legacydan wrote:

So will be commuting to work quite a bit once my new bike arrives. just curious if skateboard helmets offer the same protection as normal bike helmets. Just never really liked the styling of the standard bike helmet, so if skateboard style offers same protection that will do me.

something along this style:

http://www.skatehut.co.uk/acatalog/Protec_Charcoal_Helmet___39.95.html

or is the bike helmets you can get in this style too?

It's impossible to know- not enough evidence- but it's quite likely to offer different protection- the shell is likely to be stronger, if it has less holes, and it may be smaller (probably a good thing) but have less padding, hence lower absorption(?).

Cycling is basically safe, by any useful definition of the word, so just wear what you feel comfortable in....being comfortable will probably help you more than the helmet!

Cheers,
WE.

legacydan

whyamihere wrote:

You can get bike helmets in that style. They tend to be called 'pisspots'. How long is your commute though? They have basically no ventilation, so get very hot, very quickly.

what a great name! Never thought of the heat issue! About 12km to work each way, i dont think it would be too uncomfortable with less ventilation, Do you have any links to anywhere thats sells them?

rich_e

As others have said, you can get cycle helmets which have more of a 'skateboard style', but they differ in the foam they are made from. A lot of traditional skate helmets are hard hat style. Cycle specific helmets are made from a type of foam that will save your noggin in a crash, but is likely to deform and be damaged in the process, thus having to buy a new one after a crash.

legacydan

Rich_E wrote:

As others have said, you can get cycle helmets which have more of a 'skateboard style', but they differ in the foam they are made from. A lot of traditional skate helmets are hard hat style. Cycle specific helmets are made from a type of foam that will save your noggin in a crash, but is likely to deform and be damaged in the process, thus having to buy a new one after a crash.

so skateboard style helmets wont save your noggin in a crash? TSG do bike helmets in this style and they look to be made from same type of foam

mkchu84

legacydan wrote:

[About 12km to work each way, i dont think it would be too uncomfortable with less ventilation

You may be surprised how hot your head gets. I've got a specialized echelon which has reasonable ventilation compared to other bike helmets I've had and I'm still tempted to take it off when the temperatures go up

wgwarburton

legacydan wrote:

Rich_E wrote:

As others have said, you can get cycle helmets which have more of a 'skateboard style', but they differ in the foam they are made from. A lot of traditional skate helmets are hard hat style. Cycle specific helmets are made from a type of foam that will save your noggin in a crash, but is likely to deform and be damaged in the process, thus having to buy a new one after a crash.

so skateboard style helmets wont save your noggin in a crash? TSG do bike helmets in this style and they look to be made from same type of foam

There's a long and frequently heated debate as to whether a bike-helmet will save your noggin in a crash. Rich_E is implying that it will and you are inferring that this means another won't...!

Without wishing to restart old flame-wars, it's probably safe to say that:

1) cycling is pretty safe, anyway, so don't get too stressed about it.
2) It's better not to put any faith in a helmet. Ride as if it won't protect you and there's less chance it'll need to.

We'd all like there to be nice clear facts & figures telling us the best option, but sadly they aren't available. A helmet may help in some kinds of crash, but it won't protect your head against being whacked by a 20-ton bus at 30mph!

There are a lot of strong opinions around on the topic, some of them not well-informed, you have to draw your own conclusions, really, including whether mine are worth anything!!!

Cheers,
W.

meanredspider

Most skateboard-style helmets will indicate that they are designed for all sorts of dynamic sports, including cycling. My snowboard lid says this though specifically excludes motorbikes. I think one of the differences between your average bike lid and a skateboard/snowboard lid is that a bike lid must be discarded after a crash whereas a the board lid expects the odd minor bash.

I find it difficult to believe that anyone could argue that a lid doesn't offer protection. I do buy that it may give riders a "false" sense of security and maybe the same for car drivers but I think you're insane if you don't wear one - but that's just an opinion formed from 40 years of cycling - much of it in Cambridge: the original "cycle city". Everything has a balance of benefit and harm - my job, in medical devices, is to understand and balance this for our products. Lids, like car seat belts, are no exception.

SmellTheGlove

I use a pisspot (basically a very cheap one with a SixSixOne paint job, so save your money), too warm in summer really even for a 10k trip - I tend to go lidless these midsummer days - but tops for winter and MTBing whenever.
Long live personal choice.

wgwarburton

meanredspider wrote:

... I think you're insane if you don't wear one ....

That's a little strong, is it not? There's no hard evidence that they are effective at reducing serious injuries, so it is hardly madness to choose not to wear one.

Cheers,
W.

meanredspider

WGWarburton wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

... I think ....

That's a little strong, is it not? There's no hard evidence that they are effective at reducing serious injuries, so it is hardly madness to choose not to wear one.

Just IMHO (hence the words I chose).

There may not be much hard evidence (I haven't looked) - I've just experienced (in the first person) what protection they provide. I've also seen (first hand) accidents where I have no doubt that a helmet would have reduced the injuries. Unless there's hard evidence that they INCREASE the risk, intuitively it has to be said that energy-absorbing material between your skull and a hard surface HAS to be a good thing. It might not prevent you being killed in-extremis but neither will a seat belt, leathers, a bullet-proof vest, a construction hard hat, a smoke alarm etc etc.

Offered the choice of being struck over the head with a cricket bat once with or without a lid, it would be interesting to see how many chose the latter...

I don't mean to ignite this debate as I sense that it's been had on here often enough. I'm happy that people make whatever choice they like and would hate to see this legislated on. We all act on our knowledge & experience - both drive me to think you'd be insane not to wear a lid - opinion: nothing more or less.

wgwarburton

meanredspider wrote:

...There may not be much hard evidence (I haven't looked) .... We all act on our knowledge & experience - both drive me to think you'd be insane not to wear a lid - opinion: nothing more or less.

May I politely suggest you look for some hard evidence to increase your knowledge on the topic? You're clearly well placed to assess the situation and make a balanced judgement, but by your own admission you are not particularly well informed.

Cheers,
W.

whyamihere

Helmets will protect you against low speed, low energy crashes, certainly. I'm pretty sure they won't do anything if I get my head run over by a bus. I will either wear or not bother with a helmet depending on the circumstances.

Mountain biking - I'm not a very good mountain biker, and I'm likely to fall off at low speed. Helmet.
Commuting - There's always the possibility of being knocked off while filtering or something, at low speed. Helmet.
Winter training/leisure rides - It's cold, helmets keep my head warm. Helmet
Summer rides - When it's hot, helmets are quite uncomfortable, and on quiet country roads I'm not likely to have the kind of crash they'll protect me against. Obviously it's possible, but on the risk/reward scale, I'm willing to not wear a helmet for these rides.

meanredspider

WGWarburton wrote:

May I politely suggest you look for some hard evidence to increase your knowledge on the topic? You're clearly well placed to assess the situation and make a balanced judgement, but by your own admission you are not particularly well informed.

Yes, I will, though I was just playing back the point you made about there not being much evidence. Until now, I've not felt the need to have any 3rd party evidence - I have what I consider enough first-hand evidence to convince me.

I am well-informed about motorsport head protection - in particular Snell testing as it pertains both to motorbike and car helmets (my car lid costs me nearer 600GBP - it pays to be informed). Again, I've factored that in to my opinion.

My nearest neighbours both here and in Cambridge were all surgeons (3 of them here) - they all wear lids and insist that their kids do too. Again, this informs my opinion.

And, finally, working in the medical device industry, I know all-too-well how "evidence" can be conjured up to support most positions - especially where opinions are polarized as they appear to be here. I'd therefore treat anything I read with some care.

If I come off when I'm riding down the Kessock bridge at 30mph and am catapulted into the path of an oncoming timber lorry, I'm not expecting my lid to save me. I'll be another data point suggesting that lids don't protect against serious injury. If I lose my front wheel on a diesel spill and go sprawling across the road with only my lid protecting me from having my nose ground away on the tarmac, I probably won't be a data point saying that lids protected us from serious injury. Equally my dad witnessed a lady have the most innocuous fall off her shopping bike at 3mph. She hit her head on the kerb and died that night in hospital. We'll never know if a lid would have saved her. I suspect it would have. It's another of my own data points.

I suspect any studies of this are too confounded by the number of variables: Busier roads, faster bikes, mountain biking, cycle lanes, novice cyclists etc - to deliver clear results.

But I will do some reading

lost_in_thought

STOP IT.

:roll:

OP,


is a cycle helmet

and

is too.

Both are allegedly summer helmets, and both avaialble from here

I still think they'd be rather too warm but have no proof!

tiny_pens

legacydan wrote:

So will be commuting to work quite a bit once my new bike arrives. just curious if skateboard helmets offer the same protection as normal bike helmets. Just never really liked the styling of the standard bike helmet, so if skateboard style offers same protection that will do me.

In theory the skateboard helmet should offer greater protection than a normal bike helmet due to greater protective coverage. The strong part of your skull is the forehead bit and the weakest parts are the bits at the back and lower down the sides (which is why you aren't allowed to punch people in the back of the head in MMA matches).

Might get a bit warm though depending on the length of your ride.

meanredspider

lost_in_thought wrote:

STOP IT.

Sorry

*shuffles off into the corner*

lost_in_thought

meanredspider wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

STOP IT.

Sorry

*shuffles off into the corner*

Apology accepted :P

You too, Buns. :fingerwagging:

DonDaddyD

Don't you have to be of a certain age to wear a skateboard helmet while cycling or be in graphic design and live in Clerkenwell or Shoreditch?

Also don't you suddely have to call everyone "Dude" And use phrases like "soz" and "Chillax"?

Lets not forget the wearing of skinny jeans.....

I feel a rant coming on...

wgwarburton

lost_in_thought wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

STOP IT.

Sorry

*shuffles off into the corner*

Apology accepted :P

You too, Buns. :fingerwagging:

I stopped when MRS posted his "Yes, I will...do some reading"... 8)

Cheers,
W.

rich_e

lost_in_thought wrote:

STOP IT.

is a cycle helmet

and

is too.

Both are allegedly summer helmets, and both avaialble from here

I still think they'd be rather too warm but have no proof!

Bern makes helmets in both Hard Hat & EPS (suitable for cycling protection) style.

for example the Bern Baker, I have as as a snowboard helmet. That uses the EPS foam inside it for protection, which is the same as in cycle helmets. Designed to protect you in a crash, but with a large impact its likely to be damaged and you will need a new one.

The hardhat style ones, which traditionally were used for Skateboarding, though perhaps not so much anymore are basically a hard style with foam padding, designed to take multiple knocks. They are ideally used for water sports and other actions sports where the idea is to stop you getting a bump to the head from something, but be much more durable a helmet.

Here's Bern's own explanation here:





I'm also going to say that anyone who thinks wearing a helmet is unnecessary for commuting is being silly. Sure, there are chances nothing will ever happen to you, but having that helmet on may just save you when that situation arises. I know when I was younger, my cousin was saved by a bike helmet. Looking at the helmet afterwards, if that had just been his head, he most certainly would have been a vegetable.

fossyant

PS you'll look a right plonker with a skate helmet on.....

navt

I wear a lid because I have kids. Now shaddup and do as daddy does .

legacydan

fossyant wrote:

PS you'll look a right plonker with a skate helmet on.....

^^^
ok thanks for the really useful info!

Seems like TSG seem to do a good range of helmets here, reasonably priced too, Seems to have better ventilation than other pisspot style helmets

http://www.ridetsg.com/index.php

Not the safest of roads on my commute top work, so i think it would be safe wearing a helmet than not, won't do me any harm wearing it, maybe just get a bit hot headed!!