Wearing hats under helmets

[mjr]

I started this thread purely out of curiosity about what the manufacturers say. But does it really matter?

Unless you are planning to sue them because you feel that their product failed to protect you from an injury*, and you were wearing "barrettes" or similar, then no, it doesn't matter at all.

Surely it also matters if you are planning for it actually to protect you from a head injury and the manufacturer is correct that their helmet will not stay put correctly in a crash if attached to a shiny buff instead of a scalp with optionally some hair?

Aside from that common sense should suffice.

The whole helmet topic surely demonstrates that common sense is often neither common nor sense. Even leaving aside The Big Question, there's plenty of people who will say a helmet is absolutely essential for protection riding around with it wobbling around, on backwards, and/or dangling chin straps so the helmet is pretty likely to depart at the start of a fall and offer no protection (if they're lucky!). And plenty of other strange decisions besides.

But if you want to wear a beanie or cycle cap under one, well, it's up to you but I would have thought that common sense suggests there is little if any appreciable risk. IMHO, IANAE. Please don't sue me.

Yeah, I can't see how it's "common sense" to use a piece of safety equipment in a way that disregards warnings from its manufacturer, but I agree it's up to you. As they say, on your own head be it!

 

[Drago]

I'm with MJR. If you really believe in the efficacy of a piece of safety equipment then use it exactly as described on the box.

Don't try and be clever and say "oh, but it'll be OK if I do this or that." No, it quite likely won't. If it were safe to wear a sequined ball gown u der the helmet the manufacturers would simply say so.

When it comes to safety the much lauded common sense rarely translates to an actual improvement, and is quite often actually detrimental. If it ain't been proven to bring a safety benefit then it probably doesn't not matter how much good old fashioned common sense might tell us otherwise.

 

[Ian H]

I'm just irritated that the design of many cycling caps has been compromised so that they fit under a magic hat. I have to search for decent ones.