Poll- Do you wear a helmet?
- Thread starter genesisscubakid
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geerfree said:
Please. Do some research on how effective a bicycle helmet really is. 'Take away most if not all the risk' is poolyanna-ism. It 'may' help protect your head, some, depends on so much. It 'may' not help at all.
Most of the replies to this thread appear to be from riders in The United States where cycling is fairly new as a sport and would therefore have a different attitude to helmet wearing to those of us in Europe where cycling has been established for 100 years or so. I belong to a pre-helmet generation and raced from the late 1950's to the early 1970's, competing in road races and cyclo-cross. During that time, like the majority of my contemporaries I never wore a helmet. Apart from not being required to, most of us didnt have the inclination or feel the need. I still ride for pleasure and still dont feel the need for a helmet but then I dont go around head butting rocks and trees like so many of you guys seem to be doing. Wear a helmet if you wish by all means but please leave it a matter of personal choice for the rest of us.
I always wear my helmet - as soon as I get to the door and don't take it off until I get back home. I have reason to believe it does not do much - but it's a silly reason not to use the only physical protection we have.
Here in Israel almost all roadies use a helmet, the very few who don't will not be accepted by any group. However, many children and inexperienced cyclists avoid the helmet.
Here in Israel almost all roadies use a helmet, the very few who don't will not be accepted by any group. However, many children and inexperienced cyclists avoid the helmet.
When I was a kid I was hit from behind without a helmet about 2 blocks from my house on a fairly rural road. Bend my cannondale frame and put me in the hospital for two weeks. After a few days I came to (I only recall the last few days in the hospital) I was told I couldn't speak, even though I was trying to communicate - the doctors assumed I had permanent brain damage. The following week things came together for me though.
I was hit hard enough that looking back on it, the idea of saving myself by attempting to roll is laughable. While I still would have been seriously hurt, wearing a helmet would have helped quite a bit. So yeah, I wear a helmet now.
I was hit hard enough that looking back on it, the idea of saving myself by attempting to roll is laughable. While I still would have been seriously hurt, wearing a helmet would have helped quite a bit. So yeah, I wear a helmet now.
You only need to use it once to know you should always have it on. In my case that was about 8 years ago. Pushed off road and head first over the handlebars. Got intimate with a tree. Luckly I walked away with only some pride missing and a damaged bike. Wouldn't be caught riding without it.
Greg
Greg
I've never worn a helmet, but I haven't raod over 15 miles a day. If you ride 6 to 8 hours a day you'll one day be glad you wore it. I mean you could just black out and fall on your head. Your bike tire might blow. So many things could happen and you coming down at 20 miles an hour on your head would hurt like a *****. Then you would go buy a helmet.
It's true that you can injure your head in many different ways, not all of which are on a bike. However, when you're on an unprotected, top-heavy, unstable metal frame travelling at 20mph+, when the only thing sticking you to the road is two tiny threads of rubber, you have a duty to your head to protect it from harm. After reading that story (linked to from the first page), I notice that the kid who rode (in a quiet suburban neighbourhood with no traffic) over a drain, cannot pick up anything heavier than a pair of shoes and certainly will *never* ride a bike again.
Big E. said:
And tripping over a curb while walking down the street and going head first into the pavement @ 20mph (or 15, or 12, insert normal riding speed here) is equally unlikely.
There are enough people on here that relate stories about going down while riding and getting intimate with the pavement that I find it crazy to not ride with a helmet, considering how easy it is to put one on. I know of very few people (can't think of any that I know) who have ever tripped while walking down the street and suffered a severe head trauma.
Down here in Australia it is law that every bike rider including children must wear an appropriate helmet. I've been riding for 25 years and although in the early years we only wore the leather bar type helmet, which are now illegal, there was some protection for the head when coming off. Although I have crashed many times I have only once done damage to the helmet. In that case I came off in a sprint at about 35mph and slid along the tarmac a very long way with my head bouncing on the ground. So riding road, track or just training I would never venture out with the skid lid.
Absolutely!
Even if you are confident in your own riding, you cant control the universe. I was out riding about 5 weeks ago and a pickup truck went the wrong way down a 1 way street. He then rpoceeded to turn right in front of me during a sprint. Even though I had a little time to grab the brakes I still hit him pretty hard.
Docs say that it probably saved my life. Even though I still cant walk(broken pelvis) at least im alive!!!
Even if you are confident in your own riding, you cant control the universe. I was out riding about 5 weeks ago and a pickup truck went the wrong way down a 1 way street. He then rpoceeded to turn right in front of me during a sprint. Even though I had a little time to grab the brakes I still hit him pretty hard.
Docs say that it probably saved my life. Even though I still cant walk(broken pelvis) at least im alive!!!
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