Do you wear a helmet?

I always wear a helmet when riding. For me the point of using a helmet is not only about serious brain injury. Ever see a scalp wound bleed? Huge mess.
Also, I don't like the idea of going out to dinner with a huge hairless scab in the middle of my forehead.
The helmet may protect me in a serious crash, or it may not if the forces involved are too great. However, the helmet is very likely to protect my scalp and upper face from some nasty bloody skin and scalp injuries that are sub- lethal.

 

I never did as a kid, and even in my younger adult days. I went a few years without riding at all, and for some reason when I finally got a bike again I got a helmet to go with it. I wear it all the time now. With age come wisdom (hopefully).

 

I always wear one. Need to protect the bald spot from the sun.

 

I always wear a helmet, and it's a good thing that I do. I crashed back on May 20th - apparently headed over the handlebars and took the bike with me - and I believe that I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't been wearing a helmet. As it was, I had a skull fracture and a significant brain injury. Needless to say, I now have a new helmet. If you're interested in the story of my crash and recovery, you can read it at http://denise2004crash.crazyguyonabike.com.

 

Everytime. I also wear a Gath helmet when surfing and that's a BIG cultural faux pas

 

If you would have asked me 3 weeks ago I would have said...."Yes of course! Always" I road down my driveway up about 10 - 15 houses, talking to a friend...headed back down the hill got up to about 25. My chain came off!

( I was on my mtn bike ) I ate it into the asphalt, ripped up my arms and legs...bruised a couple ribs, and used the back of my head to cushin the fall.

I had a concussion and had to go to the ER for a cat scan. They didn’t find anything J/K I couldn’t believe I was going down.....WITH OUIT A HELMET!!! I swear that’s the first thing through my mind.



Praise God my hair is starting to grow back!



Most people would say "Yes, I wear a helmet" just make sure you ALWAYS

wear one when on a bike...sometimes we forget because "we're just in front of the house."



Ouch! That was a painful lesson.

 

No, never. Noone cares about that in Latvia and besides, helmet does not protect you. If a car will bump into you, you'll get the same woundings as you'd get without a helmet. It only protects you if you go under road signs which are too low or if you go through a forest where trees' branches are too low. Or maybe when you ride along the mountains where rocks can fall down. In a open area and on a independent cycle road, there is no use of a helmet. If you fall, you always fall on your hands/arms/knees. And another thing - your head feels more freely without it. Though, if you buy a good helmet it makes your aerodynamics better, but that's another story.

 

I have 4 helmets and always wear them. Unless its just popping up to the shop or testing a reapir. I have forgotten it on one occasion and it felt really weird. I didnt have any confidence to ride hard at all.
I had a nasty BMX accident once which resulted in me having internal bruising and a nice bar end shape scar around my belly button - looks cool The impact left a 4 or 5 inch hole in the floor.
I was not wearing my helmet this time but have done since then as it hit home how much worse it could have been it it was my head and not my stomach!

 

Please post a photo of yourself. I've never seen a guy with four heads.

 

I always use my helment. I used it so much it's like using a baseball cap. I love my two helments. I've got a GIRO and a BELL and they have both come in handy. A helmet to me is like putting on my cycling shoes, you just need it.

 

lol I never said I wear them at the same time

 

I wear a helmet, 90% of the time.

there is no exuse these days with moden technology and the every increasing amount of vents in these things...

also the design on them are getting better and better, a quality helmet looks fantastic and we all know that cyclists are the most fashion conscious of all soprts people...










PS the last statement was a joke....(NOT)

 

So you are saying that if you fall off the bike and hit your head on the pavement, a helmet doesn't protect you???

I don't think that is correct at all. I have broken 3 helmets so far, 2 times mountain biking. I think I would have broken my head if I hadn't been wearing a helmet.

 

I used to wear helmet all the time. Untill I noticed my head was shaped like the inside of my helmet! I could feel where each vent of my helmet was, a ridge on my skull. Each place the helmet pressed on my head had become a valley in my phrenology! I'm not kidding, it scared me for a minute! Now, I take it off If I'm going to be inside for a long time.

 

I just can't understand how it's possible to fall on a pavement and hit your head! When I was 7-13 I had fallen a lot and never even close damaging my head. It's like a reflex always putting hands in front of my face, so it's them who get all the damage. Maybe it's a bigger issue for those who ride road bikes and so the speed is higher. But I ride my MTB on asphalt and safe forest tracks and I never go over 50 km/h even on downhill. We don't have steap hills here in Latvia.

 

Here's how I broke my first helmet: I was mountain biking with friends. We came upon a short but steep technical decent. One had to pick a line between two boulders, although there were some sharp rocks in the path itself. Just past the boulders is where the track was steep, but only for a few meters. At the bottom were several large rocks. I got nervous just as I reached the 2 big boulders and slowed to almost a crawl. That was my mistake. I hit the rocks in the track too slowly, and they stopped the bike dead. I began shifting my weight back some more but it was too late; I endo'ed over the front handle bars. I fell over the bike, but I fell even further because it was the steepest part of the trail, and I hadn't quite gotten out of my left pedal either. I put out my hands of course, but my body, combined with the weight of the bike, picked up some velocity. My hands broke the fall somewhat, but I was in a funny position and there were large rocks all around. I cracked my forehead right into oa rock and then my bike landed on the back of my head. Cracked the hemlet.

Here's a quick story about a friend of mine in TX. He was riding on the street, pretty slowly. He was crossing an intersection when a lady ran a stop sign. She slammed on the brakes but still hit him broadside. The impact threw him sideways- he never had a chance to twist to the side and catch himself. Suffice to say he was slammed to the ground on his side, and his head slammed into the road. Luckily he had a helmet on, and came away with a fractured leg and lacerations on his arm.

In both cases, the riders were not going fast. But the laws of physics work in funny ways.

 

It depends if I am riding on the bike path and not as a pack i'll just wear my trusty Phonak cycling cap. If i'm on the road or with a pack i'll wear my helmet.

 

Just got my spanking new 25 vent Giro-Monza helmet today, now I can get rid of that 6 vent heat generator I'd been wearing!!

 

All the time except on rides wherein my wife is with me. Its a sloooowwww ride, like "stop-and-smell-the-flowers-and-enjoy-the-scenes" kinda thing.

 

and mess up my Hair, no way..