Non-helmet helmet? Or something like that.

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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I was clipped by a car and slid a good way down the road. All the peak and side of the helmet was ground away by the road. That would have been my forehead and head.
Or maybe your neck would have held your head up without the extra weight as far from the neck as can be (force on a pivot is proportional to weight times distance, more or less, IIRC). Unless we fire a stack of crash test dummies through a similar crash, it's really quite dodgy to use this as a justification for helmet use.

And the standards aren't as strict about the sides of the helmet, so another brand or even model of helmet might have withstood less than yours. Congratulations on your choice.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Or maybe your neck would have held your head up without the extra weight as far from the neck as can be (force on a pivot is proportional to weight times distance, more or less, IIRC). Unless we fire a stack of crash test dummies through a similar crash, it's really quite dodgy to use this as a justification for helmet use.

And the standards aren't as strict about the sides of the helmet, so another brand or even model of helmet might have withstood less than yours. Congratulations on your choice.
Personal choice* that worked for the person wearing it.
Don't condemn others based on your own experience of a similar product.

*We still have that right, and I for one want to keep that choice.
 

CentralCommuter

Über Member
I think Ming sort of implied it, gently, in the first reply, but then the helmeteers arrived.

Can't he have a bit of respect and not use one, then, in your world? She may feel strongly about it, but that wouldn't make her view correct. The above paragraph is just as bad as most other emotional blackmail into helmet use.

She wants him to wear a helmet because she believes it keeps him safe and he will continue to be her alive husband and not die.

He doesn’t want to wear a helmet because …? What’s the compelling reason that is strong enough to worry his wife needlessly?
 
Or maybe your neck would have held your head up without the extra weight as far from the neck as can be (force on a pivot is proportional to weight times distance, more or less, IIRC). Unless we fire a stack of crash test dummies through a similar crash, it's really quite dodgy to use this as a justification for helmet use.

And the standards aren't as strict about the sides of the helmet, so another brand or even model of helmet might have withstood less than yours. Congratulations on your choice.

You could ask him whether he actually tried to lift his head and failed because of the extreme weight the helmet was putting on his neck, or whether your's is just a theoretical explanation dodgily used as justification for non helmet wearing.

He was actually involved after all, not theoretically.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Most head injuries occur within the home, so if anyone really wants to protect their noggin just to be on the safe side... :whistle:
I split my skull open 13 months ago in the kitchen, at home. They estimated, at the A&E I ended up at, that I'd lost over a pint of blood.
Based on what was still on me, and on my clothes. They didn't see what was left on the kitchen floor.
 

Brandane

The Costa Clyde rain magnet.
In 60 or so years of cycling I have had many offs for various reasons. I have had injuries to my knees, hips, shoulders, arms, elbows, hands..... but NEVER my head*. Just saying....
Only in recent years have I started to occasionally wear a plastic hat, mainly to placate the moaning fellow cyclists who tell tales of how these fragile pieces of foam lined plastic have saved their life. Yeah, sure it has...

* In any case, a head injury is no worse than any other injury. It will heal just the same. The serious issue is a BRAIN injury, and a helmet is unlikely to prevent your brain being rattled around inside your head in the event of a serious collision. Helmets are a huge con trick IMHO.. Pro's only wear them because they are paid large amounts of sponsorship to further the con.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
You could ask him whether he actually tried to lift his head and failed because of the extreme weight the helmet was putting on his neck, or [...]
The point is that most people don't have to try. Holding your head up is practised to the point of instinctive, but that can obviously be defeated by strapping on enough extra weight where it makes most difference.
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
She wants him to wear a helmet because she believes it keeps him safe and he will continue to be her alive husband and not die.

He doesn’t want to wear a helmet because …? What’s the compelling reason that is strong enough to worry his wife needlessly?
He'll have to answer if he wants, but he might just be a rational human who sees the net drawbacks and doesn't want to waste more plastic to help motorists deter cycling.
 
The point is that most people don't have to try. Holding your head up is practised to the point of instinctive, but that can obviously be defeated by strapping on enough extra weight where it makes most difference.

Is there any actual evidence from trials of how much practical, rather than theoretical, difference the extra weight makes in real or dummy-test crash situations. The average head is around ten to 15 times the weight of a bike helmet.

Having fallen off bikes a few times, once at speed on the road and several times when mountain biking, instinct rarely comes into it when it comes to a fall...it all happens quickly and usually without warning.

Whether you wear a helmet or not is going to be a balance the individual makes between protecting the surface of the head from contact with a hard surface and having a bit of extra weight/size that may make some difference to whether you can avoid hitting it.
 

Fastpedaller

Über Member
We don't know the day or the hour!
I'm amazingly risk averse and sensible. But every day I meet tossers who drive battle cruisers and are hell bent on killing me and anyone else that impedes their progress.

You might not be planning to sit dribbling in a chair for what is left of your strut on this mortal coil. But there are people out there who will change that.
Also I'd rather go out being able to wipe my own arse.
Wear the helmet.

You do know the helmet might not save you?
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
If I were the OP, get yourself onto Planet X and pick up one of their lids for a bargain, and not worry about a folding lid. If it breaks/get's robbed, buy another, they are cheap. They are every bit as good as the expensive Bell helmet I have - although that's a bit flashier, it certainly isn't worth the price difference.
 
You do know the helmet might not save you?

Fair enough

I'll stop wearing my seat belt in the car for the same reason

anyway
personally I do not think the main point is about whether or not it will save you

the point is respect

I wear a helmet because my wife is happier about be riding around the whole area with a helmet
she trusts me to wear it

plus if I ever have an accident - or some moron runs me over
then I don;t want to wake up in bed with her crying at the side knowing I wasn't wearing a helmet and had told her I would be

that is the main reason
 
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