thinking of getting a helmet after what ive seen!!

[arallsopp]

I'm pro-choice. Wife wears one. I don't. She feels safer with it on. That's fine.

In my mind, systematically wearing a helmet to ride on a public street is a step in the wrong direction. It moves responsibility onto the victim and away from the source. All too easy to abuse that, as witnessed by "Yes m'lud. I did kill him by driving 2 tonnes of steel into him at twice the speed limit, but he wasn't wearing a helmet so he's at least partly at fault."

In her mind, cars treat her better if they can see that she's safety conscious and not assume she's a second rate pavement ninja who can't afford a car.

As above, I'm pro-choice. If it does all end with @rse wiping, I'd rather she do mine than I do hers.

 

[Cyclopathic]

I don't really want to start a thread on such a well worn path but this is all new to me so can anybody tell me where to look to find the issue of helmets being thrashed out as I am very interested in the helmets issue.

 

[Mark_Robson]

I don't really want to start a thread on such a well worn path but this is all new to me so can anybody tell me where to look to find the issue of helmets being thrashed out as I am very interested in the helmets issue.

Try doing a forum search for the word helmet.

 

[Ravenbait]

Sam

 

[sunnyjim]

Personaly I prefer not to wear a helmet, mainly because of getting hot and uncomfortable. I always just assumed that I was perhaps beeing a little foolish just for the sake of a non sweaty head and that the safest thing to do would be to wear one.
I also am fairly new here and I'm as surprised as the other FM at how intricate a subject this is. What i notice is that although there seem to be a fair few people here who are not helmet wearers when I am out and about it seems like most adult riders, especially commuters and the more serious looking cyclist with really good bikes and lots of kit are wearing helmets.
Just reading the little bit on this forum I think I already know better than to ask what the best thing to do is but I am curious about what other peoples reasons are for not wearing a helmet.

When I was growing up, everyone (male) wore trousers. (almost - this is Scotland) They're still popular today.
Pro-trouser people claim they keep your legs warm & dry - but I've got hairy waterproof legs, so in non-extreme conditions I don't actually need this 'protection' - and when I do need it, I really want full protective heavy tweed trousers, not these flimsy things.
But as everyone else wears them, I just conform. I even had flares once. If I stop wearing them to work, I'd need to give some reason.

When I was growing up, no-one wore cycle helmets, so I conformed. If they'd been common back then, I daresay I'd feel naked without one now. If I stopped wearing it, I'd need to give some reason.

Maybe they're just a passing fad. Nothing has ever happened that made me suddenly think- 'I need a helmet'.

It's not a question of 'reasons for not wearing a helmet' , but reasons to do so.

I don't know, but suspect there may be a correlation between age and helmet-wearing.

 

[Davidc]

If we could shoehorn Lance Armstrong, clipless pedals and the Zen like qualities of fixed gear in too we've probably got a full house.

You forgot to mention headphones.

And whether Shimano is better than Campagnolo or not (it is by the way...<ducks for cover>)...

Please can we add:

Brooks saddles
Red light jumping
Wearing Hi Viz
Bells



Get that lot in a thread together with all the things above and we'd double the total number of CC posts before midnight!

 

[tyred]

What about presta - v - Shrader?

 

[dogfood]

Sorry but I cannot believe the stupidity of this helmet argument. After just having been knocked off my bike yesterday by a motorist who couldnt be bothered to look right when entering a roundabout, the only reason I am here to rant on this forum, is because I had a helmet on. Most of the impact on my person was on my helmet, which is why it is caved in at the back. This was a 2 month £70 helmet. So yes, it is your choice to wear a helmet or not, but only if you decide to live in somewhere apart from the UK which has a free NHS, cos why should I or anyone else have to contribute to your medical expences,or funeral. Pro-choice, wot a joke, maybe you have already fallen too many times on your head

 

[Ravenbait]

Sorry but I cannot believe the stupidity of this helmet argument. After just having been knocked off my bike yesterday by a motorist who couldnt be bothered to look right when entering a roundabout, the only reason I am here to rant on this forum, is because I had a helmet on. Most of the impact on my person was on my helmet, which is why it is caved in at the back. This was a 2 month £70 helmet. So yes, it is your choice to wear a helmet or not, but only if you decide to live in somewhere apart from the UK which has a free NHS, cos why should I or anyone else have to contribute to your medical expences,or funeral. Pro-choice, wot a joke, maybe you have already fallen too many times on your head

Sam

 

[rodgy-dodge]

please feel free to move if its in the rong place


well its was a lovely weekend i was in my lbs buying some spd peddles and shoes untill i was on my way back to the van i seen a lad on his bike get hit by a car he did have a hemet on but he looked in a bad way blood all over the floor made me think about riding with a helmet as i dont have one!!!!! the bike was totaly recked buy that is replaceabl!!

so now im sat on the sofa with the laptop and on sky discovery a fella called james cracknell did a race across america walking-joging-cycling-and swiming but when he was half way throw the cycleing he was hit be a truck the wing mirror hid the back of his head, it showed the remarkable fight back it makes me think how bad thing can be, so more money to spend on a helmet as i dont want some one to have to feed me because i cant lift my arms and think for my self!!!!

James Cracknell was on Alan Titmarsh show last week...although he had a lot to contend with, I felt for his wife!

 

[Clandy]

 

[Jezston]

Sorry but I cannot believe the stupidity of this helmet argument. After just having been knocked off my bike yesterday by a motorist who couldnt be bothered to look right when entering a roundabout, the only reason I am here to rant on this forum, is because I had a helmet on. Most of the impact on my person was on my helmet, which is why it is caved in at the back. This was a 2 month £70 helmet. So yes, it is your choice to wear a helmet or not, but only if you decide to live in somewhere apart from the UK which has a free NHS, cos why should I or anyone else have to contribute to your medical expences,or funeral. Pro-choice, wot a joke, maybe you have already fallen too many times on your head

Which is why others would recommend reading previous helmet threads.

Similar "I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't been wearing a helmet" comments have come up with incidents many times before, and it's a perfectly understandable position to take, and one I probably would have taken had such a thing happened to me in the past.

But then I found out things like how cycle helmets are completely unproven. How they are tested by putting them on a dummy and pushing them over, not in proper car and motorcycle industry-like crash tests. How they are designed for withstanding an impact of 100 joules, and how an adult human skull can withstand an impact of 700 joules.

I then realised it isn't 'stupid' not to wear a helmet, because there is no real intelligence behind wearing one.

I still wear one anyway when commuting, as what little anecdotal evidence there is either way suggests less disadvantages to wearing one than not wearing one.

 

[Clandy]

Here is the Snell B90 a/c Standard for cycle helmet testing. The Snell standard is the 'gold' standard for cycle helmets, superior to the European standard. Only one helmet manufacturer makes helmets to the full Snell standard: Specialized.

http://www.snellhelmets.com/standards/pdf/b90astd.pdf

Cycle helmets are tested to:

'a. For each impact against the flat anvil, the impact energy shall be 100 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, this impact energy represents a 2.2+ meter drop of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.23b. For each impact against the hemispherical anvil, the impact energy shall be 65 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, this impact energy represents a 1.3+ meter drop of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.

c. For each impact against the kerbstone anvil, the impact energy shall be 58 J for all testing regardless of headform size or weight. Given an ideal frictionless mechanical test facility, this impact energy represents a 1.2 meter drop of a 5 kg headform and supporting assembly.


d. If the impact energy for any test impact exceeds the energy specified by more than 3%, that impact shall be declared invalid.'


I'm pretty sure ANY impact when falling from a bicycle or being hit by a couple of tons of motor vehicle is going to exceed 100J. So if people are happy wearing their polystyrene placebos, that's fine by me, but don't pontificate at me and tell me I must share the fantasy that helmets save lives.

 

[dogfood]

so wot you are saying is that my head would have been perfectly fine ,yesterdayif i wasnt wearing my helmet, when i hit the road,even though my helmet is caved in and i received multiple bruising on my legs, back arm, and hip, together with no fingertips on my hand where obviously i cant wear a helmet. Purile argument from self conscious people. Like i said go live in a different country if you cannot be bothered to make even basic attempts to protect yourself

 

[Clandy]

so wot you are saying is that my head would have been perfectly fine ,yesterdayif i wasnt wearing my helmet, when i hit the road,even though my helmet is caved in and i received multiple bruising on my legs, back arm, and hip, together with no fingertips on my hand where obviously i cant wear a helmet. Purile argument from self conscious people. Like i said go live in a different country if you cannot be bothered to make even basic attempts to protect yourself

The helmet is a lot softer and much more easily broken than your head. I've been knocked down three times, each time I was wearing a folded Buff on my head. Buffs saved my life!