The CycleChat Helmet Debate Thread

[mjr]

"Supported by Boardman". Which, given the eponymous Chris's well-known and trenchant views is interesting.

Sold to half odds and so now prone to flogging stuff for short-term gain even if they're hurting their own target market long-term. Oh well, at least it's an advertiser-supported post, which I think means it'll get deleted once the advert term expires.

 

[rrarider]

Oh no. Another disappointingly rubbish article about cycling, written by someone who doesn't seem to know much about the subject. Not only does it start by trotting out the usual helmet myths, but it also recommends buying 'cycling trousers with chamois inserts'. <facepalm thing>
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/bike-blog/2016/mar/17/cycling-get-kitted-up-with-the-basics

Following a serious cycling accident in autumn 2014, I was pleased to discover that the staff in the intensive care unit at The Walton Centre (a neuro unit attached to Fazakerly hospital) had not cut my shorts with genuine chamois leather insert from my body. My old style leggings and cycle jersey were chopped away and ruined but as shorts with a lining made from an animal skin are really comfortable and irreplaceable nowadays, I was glad to keep them. My beautiful 1984 Raleigh Record Ace also came away with hardly a scratch. Several days of post traumatic amnesia have wiped away all memories of the day of the accident and 4 days afterwards, I have no recollection of events and understand that no other vehicle was involved.

Despite having sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and two types of brain haemorrhage, I suffered no cognitive impairment and have made a full recovery and can say that I did not own a cycle helmet at the time. A friend has since bought one for me. If I had been wearing one, I think that it would have made the effect of the accident less and that wearing a helmet is probably a good idea, although I confess that I don't always do so.

Merseyside police did a first rate job in identifying me as all they had to go on was my mobile phone which had been in the jersey pocket. They also took my bike away and kept it safe in a police station until I was well enough to go and collect it.

 

[mjr]

Hard to tell if a helmet would have helped. The evidence for them isn't strong so why would you think it would? After all, you're yet more living proof of how tough skulls are!

 

[Mugshot]

I've just been checking out the helmet which Lidl are offering shortly, it sounds pretty good actually, certainly the carrying capabilities and I don't think it'll fall off easily.

 

[classic33]

Anyone willing to say how you protect the head in day to day life? Asking as someone who's done more damage off the bike than on to the skull.

 

[ufkacbln]

I've just been checking out the helmet which Lidl are offering shortly, it sounds pretty good actually, certainly the carrying capabilities and I don't think it'll fall off easily.

View attachment 123009

I am seriously impressed with this helmet!!!!!!!!!

A luggage storing helmet with "compartments" and a pocket?

As for the "hip strap".... that is the first time I have seen one on a helmet

 

[PenttitheFinn]

My wife has told me I can drink cider if I wear my cycle helmet to walk home from the pub, it would have saved a few cuts and bumps in the past... that's cider for you !

 

[Racing roadkill]

I took another tumble on Sunday, when person, decided to run across a dual carriageway road just as I reached his position. As per usual, the first thing to hit the deck ( at close on 40 mph) was the right temple side of my lid. It wasted the lid, but I'd rather the lid had the massive dent / crack in it, than my head. My ribs are getting better, and I can move my shoulder again now, head injuries normally take a lot longer to heal, so I'm glad I don't have that to worry about.

 

[mjr]

As per usual, the first thing to hit the deck ( at close on 40 mph) was the right temple side of my lid.

Sorry to hear about your crash, but 40mph when a person is within striking distance, really? It sounds a bit like you're playing injury roulette, as it's beyond the testing of most helmets (both in the temple being outside the test zone and the speed being higher), plus they only protect from impacts to the head, not concussions or the rest of the body. Anyway, GWS.

 

[martint235]

I took another tumble on Sunday, when person, decided to run across a dual carriageway road just as I reached his position. As per usual, the first thing to hit the deck ( at close on 40 mph) was the right temple side of my lid. It wasted the lid, but I'd rather the lid had the massive dent / crack in it, than my head. My ribs are getting better, and I can move my shoulder again now, head injuries normally take a lot longer to heal, so I'm glad I don't have that to worry about.

Sorry about your crash. There's still no evidence to suggest a helmet helped though particularly at 40mph (which is impressive, I can manage that on a steep downhill).

However, and I've failed to understand this all through the thread, why do helmet wearers hit their head first? In the vast majority of my accidents landing on the bars pings my ribs but apart from head first into a truck, I can't remember a road accident where I've banged my head.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Sorry about your crash. There's still no evidence to suggest a helmet helped though particularly at 40mph (which is impressive, I can manage that on a steep downhill).

However, and I've failed to understand this all through the thread, why do helmet wearers hit their head first? In the vast majority of my accidents landing on the bars pings my ribs but apart from head first into a truck, I can't remember a road accident where I've banged my head.

My latest hit was on a very steep down hill, which helped in my 'world record flying through the air before actually landing on my head' attempt. The girl in the car behind me, who stopped, reckoned I made 20 or more feet before landing. Nearly all of the impacts with the ground, I've suffered, have been head first, arms nowhere. I guess it's because the sloped drop position forces the head down when you separate from the bike at speed. I know there's no 'evidence' that the lid helped, but I reckon not enough people have ever done so with a lid, and without, to enable any useful,valid 'scientific data' to be harvested. Personally, I wouldn't want to be the comparison crash test dummy, to test the theory.

That's the lid, before the smash, there isn't much left of it.

 

[theclaud]

I took another tumble on Sunday, when person, decided to run across a dual carriageway road just as I reached his position. As per usual, the first thing to hit the deck ( at close on 40 mph) was the right temple side of my lid. It wasted the lid, but I'd rather the lid had the massive dent / crack in it, than my head. My ribs are getting better, and I can move my shoulder again now, head injuries normally take a lot longer to heal, so I'm glad I don't have that to worry about.

Did you hit him?

 

[Racing roadkill]

Did you hit him?

Yep, pretty hard, but a glancing blow with my shoulder. He picked himself up, apologised profusely, helped me get my bike, then cleared off, so I guess he was okay.

 

[RedRider]

Yep, pretty hard, but a glancing blow with my shoulder. He picked himself up, apologised profusely, helped me get my bike, then cleared off, so I guess he was okay.

Or in shock.
Massive helmet, btw.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Or in shock.
Massive helmet, btw.

The thought had crossed my mind, but it's hard to check someone, when they've disappeared.