When do you wear a Helmet? Research..

thegiantbiker

It depends what I'm doing and how fast I'm planning on going.

If I'm just going to a friend's house, then no. However, going on an all-day ride with main roads, or hitting the local trails then yes.

Trail_Guy

Always for me. It's often protected my head from scrapes under low branches.

supersonic

Not enough options for me to answer.

I believe that a person should make up their own minds about risks to themselves and take appropriate action. This extends further than just helmets, but to other safety equipment. And even how they ride the bike and what bike.

fielonator

I'm wearing one now

Anonymous

Trail_Guy wrote:

Always for me. It's often protected my head from scrapes under low branches.

Ooh, I hate it when my helmet gets scratched

tsenior

i dont like it when your helmet gets smelly.

supersonic

Or starts leaking manky fluid.

Anonymous

I do like to polish it vigorously though.

sheepsteeth

i wear a helmet when off road but everytime ive fallen off, ive never hit it on anything, so i might start not wearing it.

im sure i read somewhere that helmets can cause some injuries so i might stop wearing it all together.

keith1200rs

A sensible poll would also include the option 'neither'!

Keith

idiotdogbrain

My personal rule pretty much comes down to: Trees/technical/traffic=helmet. My ride to work involves two miles of road then 4 miles of canal path - as soon as I get on the canal path the helmet comes off as it's just more pleasant tbh. As soon as I get to the road on the way home it goes back on. If I'm going for a proper off-road ride it goes on. If I'm taking the dog for a quick run around the common it often stays off. I'm adult enough to be able to assess whether what I'm doing warrants wearing it.

Faceplanted at Aston Hill the other weekend on the XC downhill wearing only an XC lid and was lucky to come away with only a load of cuts to my face and not a broken nose/tooth. Does this mean I should wear a full-face for XC stuff? Hell, I've tripped and fallen on my face/hit my head whilst just walking along - should I wear it then too?

cooldad

Not only injuries, I believe they can cause impotence and even harbour worms. Not sure if they're the bad aids variety though.

tim_wand

Off road and On road. i.e whenever I am on the bike

Anonymous

Does anyone only wear a helmet when they're NOT on the bike?

neon_neon

Some of the answers are silly - do some people ware helmets whilst walking?

Only on technical trails for me - and usually only on the downhills. Never on road (never come off the bike on road)

cooldad

yeehaamcgee wrote:

Does anyone only wear a helmet when they're NOT on the bike?

We have a local nutcase who stands around outside our office talking to anyone passing by, or shouting at cars if no pedestrians.
He used to have a bike (battery powered thing) and all the gear, including pads. But he never rode the thing, just pushed it up and down the road.
It got stolen and now he has a little pink scooter (the kiddies type, foot powered) which he also doesn't ride but it looks much easier to push. Still wears all the gear, including a helmet.
So I guess they do but have to be insane.

cooldad

neon_neon wrote:

Some of the answers are silly - do some people ware helmets whilst walking?

Only on technical trails for me - and usually only on the downhills. Never on road (never come off the bike on road)

That is a particularly silly answer. So you will only wear a helmet after you have crashed?
Sounds like you should have been wearing one when your parents dropped you on your head as a baby.

Anonymous

Dude, don't call me a nutcase, I'm just trying to figure out which one of the poeple is YOU, so I can say hello.

cooldad

I did wonder about the resemblance.
And insane rants.

roger_merriman

not enough options for me to answer.

Lakesman

toastedone wrote:

Again it is people own choice, but how long does a ride have to be before you fall off and do some damage to your skull, the thing that protects your brain?

so far, at least 110,000 miles; my approximate mileage on a bicycle since birth and the number of head impacts incurred whilst doing it: nil.
based on this observation i have to be on quite a long ride before i fall off and do some damage to my skull.

and before all you michael jacksons start, i do use a helmet on a club run or when an event demands it; this is because riding in close proximity to excited riders does significantly up the risk of a crash.

NNTR

Anonymous

Michael jacksons?

jimexbox

Usually_Lurking wrote:

I've fallen over while riding on the road twice in the last 15 or so years and neither time hit my head. It's a risk, but not as big a risk as people would have you believe so long as you ride sensibly.

You should visit a relative of mine, a car clipped his rear wheel at less than 10mph. He is now paralysed down one side of his body, cannot talk, and is fed through a tube into his stomach. Obviously no helmet, he would of walked away if he was wearing one.

weeksy59

jimexbox wrote:

Usually_Lurking wrote:

he would have walked away if he was wearing one.

How do you know ?

jimexbox

weeksy59 wrote:

How do you know ?

Consultant neurosurgeons opinion, not mine.

roger_merriman

jimexbox wrote:

weeksy59 wrote:

How do you know ?

Consultant neurosurgeons opinion, not mine.

Firstly thats some bedside manners!

2ndly he really can't know, so that sort of false hope, really can't be doing your relative any good.

thats the thing about helmets there is opinions there are lots of opinons but facts are less easy to come by.

jimexbox

roger merriman wrote:

Firstly thats some bedside manners!

2ndly he really can't know, so that sort of false hope, really can't be doing your relative any good.

thats the thing about helmets there is opinions there are lots of opinons but facts are less easy to come by.

This accident happened years ago.

I spoke to the surgeon months after the incident, and yes he has a very good idea what he's talking about as he deals with serious head injuries on a daily basis. In this case speed of car and bike were known, and from already collected data a very good estimation of force of impact can be made. You do not need a huge impact to cause massive brain injuries. He had a case of a women who fell off her bike while stationary, talking to a friend, she died.

So yes, if my relative was wearing a helmet they would of walked away from the accident. Its up to the individual if they wear a helmet or not, doesn't bother me if you don't.

Anonymous

clamps81 wrote:

Surely it depends on how far away the shops are? If you live on a quiet residential street and you need to move your car so a mate can theirs in then you're not going to bother with a seatbelt, likewise if I'm riding 5 minutes to the shops where I live - it's all pedestrianised and I'm riding slowly, so the risk factor is minimal. Ditto if I ride along the canal, there are other people and cyclists about so your riding speed is really low. If I'm going anywhere near a road or on riding properly then I wear a lid.

With seatbelts round where my car is parked, it just takes one of the police cars racing past chasing little scrotes, or one of the scrotes .

But I've grown up always wearing the seatbelt and I just do it automatically even if I don't need it. Besides, the car complains if I don't belt up

As for a canal, I've seen people fall off before when not paying attention and hit a root, branch, bit of concrete sticking up or just through sheer incompetence. Seems daft, but people do fall off in the most simple situations. If it's busy as some canals can be, person coming towards you goes head over and strikes your head... !

Okay, it's a low risk. I go via some roads though to get to/from the nearby canal so helmet is worn. 5 minutes down the road, same. It's a busy road and there are idiots driving along it and have experience getting cut up by cars. Those island crossing points especially as they race to cut in front of a bike and I've had near misses. Whether it's a long trip or 5 minutes it doesn't change the nature of the accident, helmet or not.

toontra wrote:

Of course cyclists used to die by the thousand before helmets were developed in the '90s. :roll: Cycling is SO dangerous I can't believe anyone cycles anywhere, ever.

Before the 90s (and even in the 90s) mountain biking was a very small sport. The only risk was with cyclists on the roads, and there were less cars then.

Mountain biking adds loads of risk to the head, and it doesn't need to be anything aggressive, anything extreme. It's just more risk of coming off, and even practically standing still you can do serious damage if the fall is big enough.

It's hard to prove helmets work as the only way to get a good test is to repeat the accident, once with and once without.

But as always said. It's your head.

However, from experience, I do recommend if you smash up your head and are in the Surrey/Berkshire border area, I can highly recommend Frimley Park Hospital

roger_merriman

jimexbox wrote:

roger merriman wrote:

Firstly thats some bedside manners!

2ndly he really can't know, so that sort of false hope, really can't be doing your relative any good.

thats the thing about helmets there is opinions there are lots of opinons but facts are less easy to come by.

This accident happened years ago.

I spoke to the surgeon months after the incident, and yes he has a very good idea what he's talking about as he deals with serious head injuries on a daily basis. In this case speed of car and bike were known, and from already collected data a very good estimation of force of impact can be made. You do not need a huge impact to cause massive brain injuries. He had a case of a women who fell off her bike while stationary, talking to a friend, she died.

So yes, if my relative was wearing a helmet they would have walked away from the accident. Its up to the individual if they wear a helmet or not, doesn't bother me if you don't.

he may be a very good surgeon but I'm sorry he can not say I know the helmet worked or not, he can say I believe it did.

if it was such a clear case, charities like Brake would be very intrested indeed.

Usually_Lurking

jimexbox wrote:

Usually_Lurking wrote:

I've fallen over while riding on the road twice in the last 15 or so years and neither time hit my head. It's a risk, but not as big a risk as people would have you believe so long as you ride sensibly.

You should visit a relative of mine, a car clipped his rear wheel at less than 10mph. He is now paralysed down one side of his body, cannot talk, and is fed through a tube into his stomach. Obviously no helmet, he would have walked away if he was wearing one.

You should meet me. Car drove into me side on at low speed. I didn't hit my head, can eat and talk normally. Obviously no helmet, I walked away despite not wearing one.