I love helmets

[ianrauk]

The thing is @w00hoo_kent , I do respect your stance. You wear a plastic hat, a full face one at that, and sometime you don't wear one. A full face plastic hat probably gives more protection then one of those that are just perched on top of your head. Those that bleat loudest about plastic hats should at least look at all the benefits that a helmet like yours has if they really want to protect themselves from injury.

 

[broadway]

So, why do we all know someone who has been hurt doing it?

I don't know anyone with major injuries from cycling.

I know people who have died from cancer, heart attacks, pot-holing, falling down stairs.

 

[Big Nick]

You have continually dodged the questions put to you about why you consider cycling risky

Considering you seem so hot on reading things if you'd read this thread properly you'd see I have already said why I wear a helmet whilst cycling
I only hope you have read the 'evidence' you seem so obsessive about slightly more thoroughly

 

[benb]

Considering you seem so hot on reading things if you'd read this thread properly you'd see I have already said why I wear a helmet whilst cycling
I only hope you have read the 'evidence' you seem so obsessive about slightly more thoroughly

Nice selective quoting there, that's pretty dishonest of you.
Try again, with the full sentence this time:

You have continually dodged the questions put to you about why you consider cycling risky enough to justify helmet wearing, but not other activities which are quite categorically a similar risk to cycling.

 

[Big Nick]

Yes, presumably you wear a helmet because you consider cycling risky. Benb's question was why you consider cycling risky.

I refer to my previous reply, read back

As for the dishonest comment from @benb again insults reign when all else fails

 

[benb]

I refer to my previous reply, read back

As for the dishonest comment from @benb again insults reign when all else fails

Please show me where I have been insulting?

 

[Mugshot]

Speed I suppose and the fact that cycling on roads you come into contact with many poor drivers who simply don't see or ignore your presence on the road.

I realise that other parts of my body will probably be the parts injured in a crash but I value my head the most so add some protection however small that may be to try and lessen any possible head impact.

I've also ridden motorcycles for 30 years so I suppose putting on a helmet when I take to two wheels has become the norm for me

I'm guessing Big Nick means this one.

 

[broadway]

The thing is @w00hoo_kent , I do respect your stance. You wear a plastic hat, a full face one at that, and sometime you don't wear one. A full face plastic hat probably gives more protection then one of those that are just perched on top of your head. Those that bleat loudest about plastic hats should at least look at all the benefits that a helmet like yours if they really want to protect themselves from injury.

+1

I don't wear one at present, but it is not fixed in stone. I can certainly understand that a full face helmet with a smooth shell would seem on the face (handy pun) of it to provide a better starting point for helmet design.

 

[broadway]

I haven't changed my view on cycle helmets, I have sustained a non life threatening although fairly serious head injury cycling, my step son 9 years ago suffered horrendous head/brain injuries (hit by a car crossing the road as a pedestrian ironically) and very near fatal to the point the hospital claimed there was "no" brain activity and not responding to any tests they did effectively saying he was brain dead he was on life support machine and the decision was made to turn off the machine after 24hrs, just two hours before they were due to turn it off there was a flicker of brain activity and the decided to immediately operate on his brain to remove a clot in which a large section of his skull was removed and left out to relieve swelling, after about a month he came out of the coma and spent several months in hospital before they replaced his section of skull. He has recovered fairly well although he will probably never be able to work. My wife suffered a sudden cardiac arrest (yes cardiac arrest not heart attack) in which see suffered from lack of oxygen to the brain and was left with milder brain damage. Although both these cases were not cycling related, forgive me for thinking that in my opinion that a helmet may help protect my head from a minor fall, I have no illusions that a cycle helmet would protect me 100% in a accident, if the odds are e.g. that it only saves 1% of people that would otherwise have sustained head injuries/death rather than not wearing one then to me that is worth it. To me my brain is pretty valuable to me even if it is largely unused

I have never had a serious head injury. My wife has in car accident and as a result in a coma for around a week. It didn't persuade us to wear a helmet in a car in the same way I assume it didn't persuade you to fit out the your family with pedestrian helmets. I also assume you don't think helmets would save head injuries in cars or for pedestrians by more than 1%.

As a utility cyclist I don't find there is any reason to wear one and I am aware that they are most beneficial in low speed accidents. If I could find conclusive proof that helmets made a significant difference to major injuries, I might reconsider my position, but for the general population the actual figures after mandatory helmet introductions have not shown much if any improvement. Furthermore I haven't read of any studies of the accident figures for mainly non-helmeted "Boris bikes" that have shown them be worse than the average London cyclist where more helmets are worn. I can't imagine that organisations like Brake or Headway won't have been looking at the statistics to find evidence for their pro-helmet stance.

 

[Big Nick]

Please show me where I have been insulting?

If you don't know then there really isn't much point raising the issue but maybe some kind soul will point it out for you

 

[Big_Dave]

Organiser's liability, rather than participants' liability.

@Big_Dave - you may deduce (correctly) that I know one or two things about insurance, so your post #218 is a little misplaced in trying to correct my description of the processes.

Sorry I should have wrote "in my opinion", instead I used "Surely", I will remember in future

 

[w00hoo_kent]

+1

I don't wear one at present, but it is not fixed in stone. I can certainly understand that a full face helmet with a smooth shell would seem on the face (handy pun) of it to provide a better starting point for helmet design.

To be fair, the MET Parachute isn't a smooth shell, we have a 661 in the house which is a smooth downhill lid, bought for downhill skateboarding which looks hot as hell but seems to give decent protection (it's been 'tested' at least once and should probably be replaced really). The MET Parachute is mostly holes and I bought one because a friend who mainly did mountain bike trail riding wore one and it looked sensible for what I wanted. I'd worry that I'd overheat in a smooth shelled lid, I've never had that problem in the MET and I've used it in all weathers, in fact I tend to put a buff on underneath it because it's so cold in the winter. Also, being mostly holes, attaching the light to the back and more recently, bullet cam to the side is nice and easy. If I knew the effect paint would have on the Parachute I'd get my spare painted up bone colour as it would look like a great alien skull thing. Did I mention I don't really care about looking cool?

If getting caught on stuff is your worry, it's not the best lid (lots of holes, see) but I don't ride tight trails with lots of foliage off road and on road I'm pretty happy that the tarmac will be suitably slippy if I'm sliding across it and the chin guard & peak will stop it rotating far left to right (up and down I'll take my chances, but I'm also not about to start riding in a neck brace so...)

In fact, shockingly going back 15 pages to the OP, while I don't love helmets per se, I am very fond of the specific helmet I've ended up with for when I decide I want to wear one.

 

[Mugshot]

Just had a look at the Parachute, if you're going to wear a helmet something like that makes far more sense to me.

 

[Big Nick]

I would love to be able to help here but I can't see anything insulting in anything that Benb wrote.

So you'd be perfectly happy being called dishonest would you Adrian?

 

[ComedyPilot]

I don't know if this clarifies my position/view on cycling 'safety', or muddies the water......I ride my bike in the same manner as people in Germany/France/The Netherlands/Denmark.

I use it for transport, leisure, fitness and as a pastime/hobby.

Cycling is NOT dangerous.

My kit is normal leisure gear, not lycra. My night riding jacket has some reflective element to it, but is NOT hi-viz 'Lemon'. My bikes NEVER go out in the dark or low visibility/rain without adequate/legal lighting. Other than the rare/infrequent likelihood of participating in an event where helmet wearing is a pre-requisite in the joining instruction, I will not wear a piece of pudding bowl/polystyrene piecemeal 'health & safety' derived bollix on my head.

Someone, I don't know who, has injected corporate H&S helmet/hi-viz crap into every day cycling and it fookin sucks - but I would happily do a stretch for decking them - give me a DeLorean and the times/dates and they're going to get the biggest fooking punch to the head......they'll be needing the bloody helmet then......

If I wanted to look like some political tosser at the opening of a new hospital wing, I'd wear a hi-viz tabbard and ludicrously stupid helmet.

I'm not.

I'm a regular bloke, riding a bicycle from A to B.

I'm perfectly safe, experienced and ride according to my ability - no need for a helmet.

Could a pro-helmeter please explain why I MUST wear one?