How many of you ride without a helmet?

AidanR

On a completely different note, I've just noticed this forum corrects grammar automatically. Trouble is, it doesn't work in every circumstance:

"I would 0f course obey the law..."

Came out:

"I would of course obey the law..."

I'm not sure I like it when forum software thinks it's smarter than me!

Scotxr

AidanR wrote:

On a completely different note, I've just noticed this forum corrects grammar automatically. Trouble is, it doesn't work in every circumstance:

"I would 0f course obey the law..."

Came out:

"I would have course obey the law..."

I'm not sure I like it when forum software thinks it's smarter than me!

I'm not one of these forum types that corrects grammar!!

Everything you said in your last post is correct but there are piece of literature which say helmets have particular benifits in children and wearing a helmet allows you to fall from a height 4 times as high as without one.

I stand by what I say, if you dont want to wear one then fair enough but a parent should make their child wear one.

My experience may be anecdotal but it is real. When you've seen as many cyclist as me lying in a hospital bed with head/spinal/long bone injuries then you would maybe have a different view.

AidanR

Scotxr wrote:

My experience may be anecdotal but it is real. When you've seen as many cyclist as me lying in a hospital bed with head/spinal/long bone injuries then you would maybe have a different view.

I might well do, but I may not be right. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing, and something everyone is prone to, which is of course one of the reasons why (double) blind RCTs are necessary.

Do you have a source for that claim about falling from height?

se-po

I usually wear one.
Need my head to be safe, can work with a broken arm, but not with a broken head. 8)

Peddle Up!

Always wear one of mine. I have a selection, you know.

Scotxr

AidanR wrote:

Scotxr wrote:

My experience may be anecdotal but it is real. When you've seen as many cyclist as me lying in a hospital bed with head/spinal/long bone injuries then you would maybe have a different view.

I might well do, but I may not be right. Confirmation bias is a powerful thing, and something everyone is prone to, which is of course one of the reasons why (double) blind RCTs are necessary.

Do you have a source for that claim about falling from height?

Very rare that I come up against anyone with as much knowledge of research as me!!

The source is a sketchy one as i've not done any proper research but I will if I get a chance later. Here it is......

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... says-mp.do

MaxwellBygraves

CiB wrote:

Scotxr wrote:

some v angry stuff.

Yeah well whatever. You're welcome.

I respect your opinion. In fact, I am inclined to agree that a lot of the 'my helmet saved my life' comments are exaggerated. I am doubtful just how much protection a foam lid can offer me in a high speed crash. I always wear a helmet though, because I don't find it an inconvenience and I don't particularly want to find out exactly what the limits of their protection are. I am curious because it seems like you don't wear a helmet to just 'make a point'. Obviously it is your choice (and it should stay that way!!) but don't you think you may as well wear one, on the off chance it may protect you in a serious crash? It just seems like you're taking a stand against no-one in particular...

Bobbinogs

No offence Scotxr, but most folks have posted along the lines of "I do/don't and other folks can do what they deem appropriate". The thread was just about "do you wear a helmet", not does anyone fancy arguing whether one should wear a helmet.

Just let it go because I don't think you are persuading anyone to wear one, just revisiting what life was like under the Blair nanny state government.

This why most of us groaned when we saw another helmet thread but at least this one went through a few good and refreshing pages of responses before it went south.

secretsqizz

Shoot man, who let a mtb'er on here?
Of course they need helmets to save their lives.

MattC59

MattC59 wrote:

TuckerUK wrote:

huuuuuuge can of worms you've just re-opened,

The OP merely asked who didn't wear a helmet, I don't see that as anything controversial in the least.

Anywhere else you'd be right, search the forum, you'll see exactly what I mean.

Told you so

~Muz~

Dare I coment? lol...

I do wear one but not bothered if others don't.. I wear one as common sense says it must provide some protection, if I wore a bucket on my head it would do something in a bump, even I just keepin out the gravel..

sloppyschleckonds

~Muz~ wrote:

Dare I coment? lol...

I do wear one but not bothered if others don't.. I wear one as common sense says it must provide some protection, if I wore a bucket on my head it would do something in a bump, even I just keepin out the gravel..

The thread has achieved its objective, nobody cares.

~Muz~

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

~Muz~ wrote:

Dare I coment? lol...

I do wear one but not bothered if others don't.. I wear one as common sense says it must provide some protection, if I wore a bucket on my head it would do something in a bump, even I just keepin out the gravel..

The thread has achieved its objective, nobody cares.

In that case why don't you wind your neck in and keep your funny comments to yourself? If the thread is finished surely the mods will close it??? Or is it finished when you say so?? Tool..

Thebigbee

A very contentious issue.

I think it needs a comprehensive poll to get to the bottom of it once and for all.

Maybe firstly - do you wear a helmet yes - no.

Then have various sub options or you could just have a yes - always - no - never - yes - sometimes!

Please just try and get some results where some proper data can give a representation.

What I certainly don't want - is to be dictated to. At the moment cyclists have a choice.

What I find infinitely more annoying is the amount of cyclists who ride at night without any type of lights. That is something that I am certain should be made compulsory..I know it is but doesn't seem to be enforced.

jmillen

Yes...every single ride regardless of on or off road

Scotxr

jmillen wrote:

Yes...every single ride regardless of on or off road

Seems to be the opinion of all the guys on the MTB forum and some on here. I started a similar topic on MTB and someone mentioned some interesting stuff.

exlaser

never! unless i have to by law.

Benjamin Hall

I wish i had the guts to not wear one. Nothing looks cooler than a cotton cap!

Thebigbee

jmillen wrote:

Yes...every single ride regardless of on or off road

So you would stick one on on a jaunt of 1/4 a mile down the local shop on a quiet road?

The point is that it is individual choice and it really achieves nothing unless there are some kind of stats.

People may put on a lid for a long ride and not bother with a cruise to the local shops.

Similarly MTBs may use one more often because in all honesty they have much more chance of coming off their bike and also hitting their head at speed.

Thanks to the uneven nature of off road riding - and also the fact that you may be going downhill at 40MPH+ with trees under a metre away of you - therefore you are going to hurt ya bonce if you come off!

However - this is a road beginners thread. So the results are immediately skewed.

As I said - this question needs a comprehensive poll otherwise IMO the question is completely moot.

There are arguments for and against.

As far as I know - no politicians, including "Boris the Bike" have even called for it to be made compulsory - so can we just get a consensus on here so that this tedious debate can be put to bed?

garrynolan

Always wear one. Motorcyclists wear them (not all full-face) - you'll be going as fast downhill as any other vehicle, so any protection has got to be worth it...

roger_merriman

garrynolan wrote:

Always wear one. Motorcyclists wear them (not all full-face) - you'll be going as fast downhill as any other vehicle, so any protection has got to be worth it...

do you wear Motorbike helmet and leathers?
does any one wear full face helmet?
does any one wear body amor?

seems to the time for helmet threads one on the MTB side as well.

tarquin_foxglove

Scotxr wrote:

When you've seen as many cyclist as me lying in a hospital bed with head/spinal/long bone injuries then you would maybe have a different view ... i've not done any proper research but I will if I get a chance later. Here it is......

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/ ... says-mp.do

A study of more than 100 police reports and hospital records of fatal crashes found that between 10 and 16 per cent of deaths could have been prevented if the cyclist had head protection

My concern is that limited study which found a limited benefit, leads to this Coroner's comment that a cyclist that having been hit by 3 cars should have been wearing a helmet.

It was a bright sunny day, the cars were close together & no one saw the cyclist until they hit him & yet apparently all we can learn from the incident is

"I do feel wearing a helmet would have increased Mr Honour’s chances of survival.

“We are all very quick to put helmets on our children but we are all vulnerable.

T.C.

Never unless i have to in a sportive - and i hate it, and i definately don't like being dictated, the sensible comment is 'wear one if you want it's your choice.'

squired

I wear a helmet sometimes. I don't really sweat and end up getting extremely bad heat rash from head to toe, accompanied by itching everywhere. As a result I have to be extremely careful about what I wear (not just on my head) because I can overheat very easily. So, in the summer I tend not to wear a helmet. When it is cooler I wear one.

gilesjuk

We should retain the right to choose.

Mandatory cycle helmet laws have been shown to cause a drop in people cycling and it is having lots of people on bikes on the road that improves safety more than helmets.

In Dutch countries almost nobody wears a helmet and their cycling death rate is a fraction of ours.

Safety in numbers:

http://www.ctc.org.uk/resources/Campaig ... umbers.pdf

Keith1983

I wear a helmet at all times. I think these days the helmets are light enough and have enough vents in them for discomfort to be negligable. It would be nice to have more lightweight, breathable PPE available for other parts of the body but it isn't! I do however concede that some people on here have a brain that doesn't seme to be worth forking out £50 to protect!

briantrumpet

Pop over to Cycle Chat to see the endless 'debates' on this. The usual mix of personal anecdotes, pseudo science and dubious statistics.

CiB

Zzzz. You still banging on about hats?

Tell you what. Have a proper question, one that allows us to give real answers:

Do you wear a helmet:
All the while, even in the shower or when walking to school in snow & ice - heads are so precious it's madness not to.
Whenever I'm I'm out on the bike for any type of riding, anywhere
When I'm doing competitive events that require a helmet as part of the terms of entry
When riding in a way that makes a helmet a reasonable choice (MTBing in the woods for example)
When I'm ambling across a green field park with the kids at walking pace. You never know...
When commuting to work on empty country lanes where traffic is literally non-existent
Sometimes - it depends entirely on circumstance
Sometimes not - it depends entirely on circumstance
If I remember too
If wife is in one of her 'be careful' modes again and would really like me to
Etc.

Just saying always yes or always no is a bit pointless. I wear one on competitive events, partly because I have to and partly because the risk is that bit higher. Most of the time I reckon the risk is low enough to ignore, and that's what guides me, Same with the kids - 10 isn't 3½ and I reckon he's able to ride his bike on cycle paths without a helmet. If he ends up deciding to go careering through the woods on a chunky bike he can wear a hat, as that sort of cycling is higher risk. You'll all be jolly pleased to discover that we both survived yesterday's death-or-glory amble back from school.

And scotxr or whatever you call yourself, your lurid claim to see 'lots' of head injuries. Come on - spill the beans - how many? 50, 60 a day? 2 or 3 per week? 1 or 2 per month? How bad is this epidemic of head related injuries that cyclists (oh and climbers and bikers too, to boost your numbers obviously) seem to suffer from? And of that subset of cyclists, would you care to break it down so that we can use your expertise to gauge how many are kids falling off bikes in the park V road accidents, how many adults are coming a cropper and in what circumstances? I've already said that I'll wear the hat for riskier ride types, but for bimbling around I won't. So come on - how many of these many head injuries do you see, and how are they broken down by category? And how do those figures relate to other activities that cause head injuries, like other sports, DIY, falling over etc? This is what I'd like to know, not just a bland statement that claims cycling per se is just so dangerous that you'd have to be a madman to even consider doing it in any of its many forms without donniing a crash hat first. So?

Scotxr

CiB wrote:

Something very boring

I'm sorry but i'm not on here to give you an indepth analysis of ITU admissions.

I started a thread over on MTB to get an idea of what those guys thought, seems like I have more in common with them.

Here's a couple of quotes......

cooldad wrote:

Not this again.
@scotxr - just because lots of people respond on a forum saying they don't just means lots of people who responded don't, not that lots of people don't. Not even very subtle difference.
Look next time you are out - I would say just about every serious rider I see, roadie or MTBer does. People popping to the shops often don't.
Chavs don't, which is a GOOD thing.

MountainMonster wrote:

I don't know a single person who rides without a helmet if they are doing any form of serious riding. I see even most older people out for a 5km bike ride with helmets on, and the only times I see someone without a helmet is when I'm leaving the city, and people are just commuting to the shops or such

Like the guy above me posted, don't think just because a few have chimed in saying they don't wear helmets means the large portion of people don't wear them. I find with the helmet topic most who don't wear helmets are so proud to state it to be "cool and different", and the ones who do wear helmets feel it is too stupid to reply, myself included. .

The bit in bold I believe covers you..........

~Muz~

Don't see why the pissy attitudes on here? If you don't like the thread don't read it?!?! It's a beginner forum not a gods gifted cyclist forum, I would guess the majority of readers are new to the hobby like me, and to be honest the attitude of some of the older members is appauling! Not a very inviting atmosphere at all