Off on the ice

wgwarburton

TommyEss wrote:

...If you crash with a helmet on and hurt your hip, you don't then say "My hip's sore - must get a better helmet?!"

You might well. Studies of helmet use in Australia have shown that wearing a helmet reduces injuries to unhelmeted areas...

It's possible the analysis was flawed, though... they were very keen to show that helmets made cycling safer...

Saw this today for the first time (it's a blog post on how cycling-as-recreation has compromised perception of cycling-as-transport). I liked it... :-)

There are some good messages there for utility cyclists like us commuters.

Cheers,
W.

cyberknight

All week my back brake has frozen ,luckily open so i can ride .
On further inspection looks like i need to replace the brake cable so i will be in the car for the last 2 night shifts this week.

As for speed apart from being careful on corners my speed has actually been faster as i have been giving the beans to keep warm :shock:

After maybe 3-4 miles i am warm enough apart from my toes, after a night shift i am tired and have no way to warm my shoes up and combined with a unheated cold floored changing area my feet are numb before i even start

Lycra Man

I was wearing a Bell cycling helmet. It has a peak. Thank you for asking.

It's completely undamaged after the fall.

I have seen films where the hero slides along the road under a car/plane/train/rocket, with their head on the ground, and always thought, How ridiculous. If that were me, I'd lift my head up off the road.

When it actually happens, let me tell you, it's over before you know it.

The good thing is, I will heal, but my helmet wouldn't.

Lycra Man

Initialised

Well I didn't wuss out, my Snow Studs haven't turned up so I dropped my Conti DFIIs to 40 PSI and it was quite fun, I took it slow, allowed an extra 50% time, had a couple of hairy moments, stayed up and turned up on time. As the only cycle commuter I was the only one who's commute was relatively unaffected by the snow.

@WGWarburton, thanks for the link, that rant could apply to many pastimes and product categories. For the record, cycling in the snow with reasonably priced hybrid tyres on an old mid-range Hagrid is pretty safe and on mornings like today was faster and probably more pleasant than driving or using public transport.

TommyEss

WGWarburton wrote:

TommyEss wrote:

...If you crash with a helmet on and hurt your hip, you don't then say "My hip's sore - must get a better helmet?!"

You might well. Studies of helmet use in Australia have shown that wearing a helmet reduces injuries to unhelmeted areas...

It's possible the analysis was flawed, though... they were very keen to show that helmets made cycling safer...

Hmm - ok - so I was probably reading the recount of the crash a completely different way to Mr Jeremy Rundle - I just didn't see anything in the story that would have brought the performance of the helmet into question.

As for Aussie helmets - ugh - been my biggest bug-bear since getting here, mainly because helmets are SOOOOO expensive here (Bell Sweep anyone? $300 please! :shock: )

Ah well... As for helmet laws - well, this isn't a helmet debate thread - and I don't think we need another of those. Apart from the compulsory helmet wearing here, one good thing is that the ANZ standards require batch testing of helmets - this probably goes someway to improving/maintaining the quality of helmets over here. The actual physical testing of the helmets is tougher than the Euro EN tests, but not so hard as the US CPSC. I did read a report that, in summary, came to that conclusion.

I can see how batch testing would increase quality AND cost to the end user - but not a doubling - guess there's a mix of that factor, the smaller market here, and the fact (according to my girlfriend's father) "Most people here don't know any different so don't make a big deal about it"

Buckled_Rims

Tyneside a bit hairy at the moment with ice and snow. I'm now reluctant to go on bike, but just as reluctant to drive the car or walk!

I'm off to bed and I hope it'll all be a dream in the morning