The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[benb]

I would love to know the proportion of those people who do mountain and road biking and if they are more likely to wear a helmet if they goo off road then on road biking

I wear a helmet when mountain biking. I don't wear one road riding.

I don't think it will prevent a serious head injury, but I do frequently bump my head on low branches, so it's useful for that.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Interestingly they are coming to the same conclusions about ski and snowboard helmets as cycling helmets. They offer protection from minor scalp injuries but not more serious injuries.

"Shealy, who has been studying snow-sports-related injuries at Sugarbush resort in Vermont for more than 30 years, said that could be because those injuries typically involve a rotational component that today’s helmets cannot mitigate. He said his research had not found any decline in what he called P.S.H.I.’s, for potentially serious head injuries, a classification that includes concussion, skull fracture, closed head injury, traumatic brain injury and death by head injury."

 

[Profpointy]

I am a helmet wearer too, it is my choice to do so. The reason for me making this choice was IMO simple;

If my head hit the curb whilst wearing a helmet I think my head would be in most cases better off than if my head hit the curb without helmet protection.

What about your head missing the kerb by maybe 1.5" versus a helmeted head hitting the kerb ?
Serious point - your head is maybe 1.6 to 2 times as big in a helmet, ergo twice as likely to get hit

Could well be an important reason, maybe the key reason, why cycle helmets don't seem to help much if at all on average as illustrated by Australian or Ontario experience. In both places the head injury rate seemed unchanged pre- and post-compulsion despite wearing rates going from low% to nearly everyone.

 

[hatler]

Interestingly they are coming to the same conclusions about ski and snowboard helmets as cycling helmets. They offer protection from minor scalp injuries but not more serious injuries.

"Shealy, who has been studying snow-sports-related injuries at Sugarbush resort in Vermont for more than 30 years, said that could be because those injuries typically involve a rotational component that today’s helmets cannot mitigate. He said his research had not found any decline in what he called P.S.H.I.’s, for potentially serious head injuries, a classification that includes concussion, skull fracture, closed head injury, traumatic brain injury and death by head injury."

Article on this here - https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/01/...met-use-but-no-decline-in-brain-injuries.html

 

[User169]

I saw a Hóvding in the wild today. I was never convinced they really existed, but it seems they do and that at that at least one person has bought one,

It looked very bulky. FIne for a chilly day like today, but a bit hot and sweaty for summer I'd have thought.

 

[theclaud]

I saw a Hóvding in the wild today. I was never convinced they really existed, but it seems they do and that at that at least one person has bought one,

It looked very bulky. FIne for a chilly day like today, but a bit hot and sweaty for summer I'd have thought.

I've got a German friend who uses one, although she mostly rides an electric bike lately. It went off last week when she hit the deck on black ice. Which is all good. Less good is that it went off once before for no good reason when she was just riding along. Scared the bejeezus out of her.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I've got a German friend who uses one, although she mostly rides an electric bike lately. It went off last week when she hit the deck on black ice. Which is all good. Less good is that it went off once before for no good reason when she was just riding along. Scared the bejeezus out of her.

View attachment 450794

Blimey think that would cause me to fall off the bike and possibly also have a heart attack.

 

[classic33]

I've got a German friend who uses one, although she mostly rides an electric bike lately. It went off last week when she hit the deck on black ice. Which is all good. Less good is that it went off once before for no good reason when she was just riding along. Scared the bejeezus out of her.

View attachment 450794

Any idea on replacement costs?

 

[User169]

Any idea on replacement costs?

Full cost. You have to buy a new one.

 

[classic33]

Full cost. You have to buy a new one.

No change there then.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

Any idea on replacement costs?

A crash replacement discount scheme operates in certain countries, Hovding suggests you contact your local retailer for details.
In Germany it looks like you'll get ~20% discount on your replacement.

 

[User169]

No change there then.

Actually, I seem to recall someone claiming that replacement costs can come out of your medical Insurance in Sweden, but not sure if it's true.

 

[mjr]

Actually, I seem to recall someone claiming that replacement costs can come out of your medical Insurance in Sweden, but not sure if it's true.

Why would a German probably living in the UK have medical Insurance in Sweden?

 

[User169]

Why would a German probably living in the UK have medical Insurance in Sweden?

Whatevs.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Why would a German probably living in the UK have medical Insurance in Sweden?

To cover trips to Ikea?