Helmets worth the weight in gold

theshrew

Went out today to Delamere. Had a bit of a play on the little downhill section and had a bit of a off.

I cant even remember how i came off just remember the sound of my helmet hitting the floor and then my mate laughing his conkers off.

Anyway after i took my helmet off it had put a huge split up the back of it. Just makes you think that could of been my head !

popstar

Unfortunately on todays group ride we have lost one of our Sunday warriors too. Peeps sayin without helmet it would have been much much worse. MTB is dangerous, but that's the darkside of the sport.

Tom Barton

Glad your ok - Bright side - you get to go shopping for a nice shiny new lid :-), pick a good un!

starkee

Glad to hear the helmets have done their job !

And to think in the Feb edition of WMB some fella has written a letter complaining that all the pictures in the magazine feature a rider wearing a helmet,and they are " expensive, useless pieces of moulded expansion foam " :shock:

getonyourbike

starkee wrote:

Glad to hear the helmets have done their job !

And to think in the Feb edition of WMB some fella has written a letter complaining that all the pictures in the magazine feature a rider wearing a helmet,and they are " expensive, useless pieces of moulded expansion foam " :shock:

He's just an idiot.

Before, I didn't ever wear a helmet but now I do proper mtbing my lid goes firmly on head for everything from a trip down to the shops on the roads to 5h ride nailing the singletrack.

MountainMonster

getonyourbike wrote:

starkee wrote:

Glad to hear the helmets have done their job !

And to think in the Feb edition of WMB some fella has written a letter complaining that all the pictures in the magazine feature a rider wearing a helmet,and they are " expensive, useless pieces of moulded expansion foam " :shock:

He's just an idiot.

Before, I didn't ever wear a helmet but now I do proper mtbing my lid goes firmly on head for everything from a trip down to the shops on the roads to 5h ride nailing the singletrack.

It's a bit overkill riding in town with a helmet IMO. I never ride with one if i'm just tooling about, or riding on the country roads on my other bike. But if i'm on the MTB doing anything where it will be easy to lose traction, or anything steep, helmet goes straight on! Had a few bad offs already, and don't fancy tempting fate. I'm overdue for a deadly crash after all the motorbike offs i've survived at stupid speeds.

theshrew

Tom Barton wrote:

Glad your ok - Bright side - you get to go shopping for a nice shiny new lid :-), pick a good un!

Ive only worn that one 5 times

hyperman

MountainMonster wrote:

getonyourbike wrote:

starkee wrote:

Glad to hear the helmets have done their job !

And to think in the Feb edition of WMB some fella has written a letter complaining that all the pictures in the magazine feature a rider wearing a helmet,and they are " expensive, useless pieces of moulded expansion foam " :shock:

He's just an idiot.

Before, I didn't ever wear a helmet but now I do proper mtbing my lid goes firmly on head for everything from a trip down to the shops on the roads to 5h ride nailing the singletrack.

It's a bit overkill riding in town with a helmet IMO. I never ride with one if i'm just tooling about, or riding on the country roads on my other bike. But if i'm on the MTB doing anything where it will be easy to lose traction, or anything steep, helmet goes straight on! Had a few bad offs already, and don't fancy tempting fate. I'm overdue for a deadly crash after all the motorbike offs i've survived at stupid speeds.

So you don't wear a helmet around town, presumably where there are cars, or on country lanes, where there will no doubt be speeding chavs....that makes sense.

northstar

So you don't wear a helmet around town, presumably where there are cars, or on country lanes, where there will no doubt be speeding chavs....that makes sense.

do shut up, you don't have a clue what you are on about.

Mark_K

northstar wrote:

So you don't wear a helmet around town, presumably where there are cars, or on country lanes, where there will no doubt be speeding chavs....that makes sense.

do shut up, you don't have a clue what you are on about.

And here we go again!

Eyon

Oh what the hell, lets join in with this.

Concrete is just as hard to smash your skull on as rocks/trees, if not harder. Curbs are painful to hit at a guess, where as soft mud is not so much so. I maintain 20mph+ on road, but less on a trail, yet roads are deemed to be safer? Tree's dont jump out and hit you, but cars going at 30mph will hurt your head, without a doubt.

You only have to read about the amount of deaths on bikes in towns, or all the white bikes in london, or if you are on back roads, that chav in his Galanza at 500mph around a blind bend wrong side of the road, or the business man on his mobile in his A6 with no control not looking where he is going, only takes that to happen and you're a gonner.

In all reality, you might still die even with a healmet on, but anything to reduce the chance of death is a good thing in my opinion.

I've posted this once I'll post it again, watch Mark Cav's crash, look at the amount of helmets smashed to bits when they hit the ground, (all head first), specifically the guy on the far right http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RNAYR3KPIg Our skull wouldn't fair much better, and certainly our brains wouldnt take too kindly to hitting the front/rear of our skull at speed. Look at James Cracknell for another example, lucky to be alive. Would he be without a helmet? I would guess not.

If you study the physics (boring, i know) it only takes a small reduction in deceleration of an object to reduce the force applied to it, and in skull terms, the bigger the force, the more it hurts or the harder it tries to kill you

Its everyones choice to or not to wear one, It might not be cool to wear one, you might look a bit weird, but I'd rather be that than be brain dead at 21 for a bit of £50 plastic strapped to my skull.

As for the guy in WMB, well, his choice, but a very bizzare statement to make so publicly. I commend all the cycling mags to only show pics with helmets on

jimexbox

northstar wrote:

do shut up, you don't have a clue what you are on about.

Well I know for a fact that a mate of mine is fed through a tube into his stomach because he didn't wear a helmet in town. A car clipped his back wheel at less than 10mph, and he landed on his head. The consultant neurosurgeon in hospital, who I presume knows what they are talking about told me he would of walking away if he had a helmet on. Now he's one step up from a vegetable, it is of course your own personal choice.

northstar

it is of course your own personal choice.

Yep and the way it should be, sad to hear about friend but personal choice is always the way forward.

If anyone was hit at a high speed a helmet probably isn't going to be much use.

welshkev

i saw some numpty this morning riding down a dual carrige way leading to the M4, he nearly got taken out by me as he came off a curb no lights, no helmet, dark green jacket at 7.20am this morning!!! he then swung out into the other lane, nearly smashing into the side of a stationary car, then hammered down the middle of the 2 lines of cars, i'll add again: no lights or helmet :shock:

then a few minutes later, i see him riding back up the road -the wrong way - towards the on coming traffic, on a dual carrige way, again i'll say -no lights no helmet!!!!! ok, the traffic was stop start, but even so, we were getting up to around 30 mph when we were moving...........

what a muppet

welshkev

northstar wrote:

it is of course your own personal choice.

Yep and the way it should be, sad to hear about friend but personal choice is always the way forward.

If anyone was hit at a high speed a helmet probably isn't going to be much use.

you sir are acting like a tool :shock:

yes it is personal choice and should you ever be knocked off not wearing your helmet come backand tell us about it then.

hindsight can be a wonderful thing, but not if you're dead

largephil

theshrew wrote:

Tom Barton wrote:

Glad your ok - Bright side - you get to go shopping for a nice shiny new lid :-), pick a good un!

Ive only worn that one 5 times

I trashed a xen on the second ride!

Best £65 I've ever spent. I would not be typing this today without it!

Babber Goo

i came off on black ice 2 weeks ago - i'd literally just come off my driveway to set off, put my first pedal stroke down and WHAM the next thing i know i'd landed full force on the tarmac on the side of my head

i didn't even have time to put my arms out to cushion my fall, i was taken completely by surprise

i was pretty dazed for a few hours afterwards - if i'd not had my helmet on i would have definitely got a concussion, or perhaps even fractured my skull - and i'm not joking

personally i'll always wear a helmet from now on - and i'll recommend to others to do the same

owenlars

My view is that they might make a difference and they almost certainly won't do any harm so why not wear one.

seward4or5

largephil wrote:

theshrew wrote:

Tom Barton wrote:

Glad your ok - Bright side - you get to go shopping for a nice shiny new lid :-), pick a good un!

Ive only worn that one 5 times

I trashed a xen on the second ride!

Best £65 I've ever spent. I would not be typing this today without it!

Hopefully everyone knows that if you trash your helmet, get in touch with the seller or more likely the distributor who may offer a discount on a like for like replacement.

largephil

seward4or5 wrote:

largephil wrote:

theshrew wrote:

Tom Barton wrote:

Glad your ok - Bright side - you get to go shopping for a nice shiny new lid :-), pick a good un!

Ive only worn that one 5 times

I trashed a xen on the second ride!

Best £65 I've ever spent. I would not be typing this today without it!

Hopefully everyone knows that if you trash your helmet, get in touch with the seller or more likely the distributor who may offer a discount on a like for like replacement.

Got a crash replacement and it lasted about 6 weeks! That was a bad 2 months I had. I've had countless minor crashes but 2 serious ones in 2 months was bad. Just goes to show, you dont pick and chose when or where. If your going to have a bad one then its going to happen. I'd rather be wearing the propper kit when it does.

jmillen

No helmet, no ride for me...Simples

rickyrider

Like quite a few people, I've always worm helmets but quietly wondered whether i really needed to... until I came off a couple of years ago, landed splat on the side of my head before I knew anything about it at all and hey presto, cracked helmet rather than head. I now realise why they are rather a good idea...

popstar

MountainMonster wrote:

It's a bit overkill riding in town with a helmet IMO. I never ride with one if i'm just tooling about, or riding on the country roads on my other bike. But if i'm on the MTB doing anything where it will be easy to lose traction, or anything steep, helmet goes straight on! Had a few bad offs already, and don't fancy tempting fate. I'm overdue for a deadly crash after all the motorbike offs i've survived at stupid speeds.

I suppose where MM leaves there are no cars, but even then if his helmet is ugly I understand why it's not been weared. It's all about style, you see.

projectsome

If you see someone without a helmet on, give them a gentle nudge as you go by :twisted:

I've hit countless low branches while out on the bike but thankfully the helmet's softened the blow.

popstar

edit.

cooldad

popstar wrote:

Unfortunately on todays group ride we have lost one of our Sunday warriors too. Peeps sayin without helmet it would have been much much worse. MTB is dangerous, but that's the darkside of the sport.

As the SW referred to, it would have been nasty without a helmet. I don't remember much until we were back in the carpark and the paramedic was checking me over, but apart fron some minor bruising across my forehead and temple, my head is fine. Which is unfortunately more than can be said for the rest of my body, immobile shoulder, nasty bruises and some stitches in my elbow - at least I'll have a new scar for my female admirers.
Getting back to helmets, they don't have to cost a lot. I had a basic Bell (always been a fan since the 70's - used to wear their motorcycle helmets.). Cost me about £25 and protected me from plenty of low flying branches up to now.
May not be stylish, or sexy or an 'in' brand but CE and TUV certified and certainly did the job.
Also I found it very comfortable and fitted me perfectly, which is very important.
Was a bit befuddled last night, and too painful to check the bike out carefully (doesn't look too bad), but I did get onto Ebay, and bought a new, identical helmet for £17 odd.
So as soon as the shoulder works again I'm back in business.

popstar

Cooldad pix or it didn't happen !

Northwind

owenlars wrote:

My view is that they might make a difference and they almost certainly won't do any harm so why not wear one.

That's it. Also they are a convenient place to put a camera or lights. And if you own a helmet and hit your head and die, you'll feel like a right knob.

Buuuut, it's time for Northwind's s**t-stirring helmets vs kneepads comment. The actual effectiveness of bike helmets is very low, they will often help but the best they can do still isn't a huge amount. And your brain is the most protected internal organ you have, it's in an armoured box on a shock absorbing mount and your entire crash reflex is to protect it, not to mention that it's fairly out of the way- in most crashes your head won't touch down let along take a damaging blow.

On the other hand your knees stick out, they're delicate, they heal badly if damaged, and after hands they're the part of your body that gets hit the most often in bike crashes. The figures I've seen from the Belford and borders studies show that you're between 10 and 20 times more likely to take a damaging knee injury than a head injury. And knee protection is more effective and has no risk of causing injury unlike helmets. And yet riding without a helmet is seen as madness but riding with knee pads is often seen as overkill. (counter argument- head injuries are worse than knee injuries. Counter counter argument, yes they are but they both suck)

Not saying don't ride with a helmet... Just saying it's a risk dislocation and anyone who gets on their high horse about wearing helmets but doesn't wear knee pads might want to think that through a wee bit more.

welshkev

Northwind wrote:

owenlars wrote:

My view is that they might make a difference and they almost certainly won't do any harm so why not wear one.

. And if you own a helmet and hit your head and die, you'll feel like a right knob.

Northwind

While I'm s**t-stirring... When I had my big road crash- went right through the windscreen of a parked car at about 30mph- I spent a wee bit of time in A&E having cuts stitched up and my broken fingers sorted out (shoulder was popped back in by the ambulance men). And all the way through the process, medical opinion was unanimous, they looked at my injuries and discussed the crash and said "If it wasn't for your helmet, you'd be dead, or at least in a very bad state".

Which is well impressive because it was in my bedroom at the time. I knew they were good, I didn't know they were that good!

meanredspider

Northwind wrote:

And yet riding without a helmet is seen as madness but riding with knee pads is often seen as overkill. (counter argument- head injuries are worse than knee injuries. Counter counter argument, yes they are but they both suck)
.

You're trying to weigh likelihood against severity. It's unlikely you'll die of a knee injury whereas head injury must be one of the most common forms of fatal trauma.