Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Ouch.

I messed myself up right some good on Sunday evening.

No one seems to have actually seen what happened, and this is as much as I can remember: I was coming down a semi-steep hill, hanging a right onto a one-way and then getting my busted ass strapped to a board in the middle of the street. Ouch. I guess I was unconscious for 5-10 minutes.

I heard today that I went head-first into a concrete divider, but no one's really sure. Given the eerie lack of damage to my body or my bike and the total destruction of my helmet, I'm thinking that I went over my bars, carrying my bike over on top of me (go toe straps!), and hit something with the top of my head hard enough to crack my helmet completely in half.

I am the luckiest man alive. Thanks to my helmet, I escaped, death, paralysis or a life in a persistant vegetative state. I walked out of the ER with two stitches, a sore neck and a bad headache.

Please wear your helmets, OK?

http://ckdu.dal.ca/~mcatano/gore2.jpg
http://ckdu.dal.ca/~mcatano/helmet2.jpg

holy shiit.

Ouch, man. Glad you're otherwise OK, though.

Glad you're okay m.

There's another brain poster in that photo, I can feel it.

Ouch, but way to go with the helmet.

Mount it and hang it on your wall!

Ouch, but way to go with the helmet.

Mount it and hang it on your wall!

holy cr4p dude! glad you're ok, and yeah, that helmet is awesome.

jeebus!

good to hear you're OK.

I'm glad you're alive.

I love my helmet.

what kind of helmet is that?

wow. no memory of what happened? that's pretty scary.

Holy cow. Happy to hear that the brain bucket kept you from being a skid mark on the other side of the divider (toe clips carrying the bike over your head?!).

That helmet photo definately speaks volumes.

what kind of helmet is that?

Looks like it was a Bell Metro.

yowerz.

damn dude. ouch. that sucks. glad you're more or less ok and that your bike is too.

welcome to not being able to shave part of your face for two weeks. BTDT.

seriously, glad you were wearing that helmet. unbeeleevable.

PLEASE get your bike checked out. pull the fork out and look for bends or cracks in the steerer. check everything very closely. look for small cracks and bulges, irregualrities in the surface of the paint. I and several others I know have wrecked or had near wrecks due to hiddden damage. those of us who play in traffic can't afford to have things break at the wrong time. I was seriously lucky when my fork broke between two stopped cars. could just have well been moving, etc.

like they told me, stitches build character, and chicks dig scars. except maybe certain chicks about whom we would never make any such assumptions.

maybe you can try some of this stuff, I never did get around to ordering any. but I hear it works good.

http://www.bravesoldier.com

later
dave in dc

not to say you arent lucky

but i think the luckiest man alive wouldnt have crashed in the first place, divine intervention would have prevented it

maybe you are number 2

Wow. That is such a perfect example of, "What would have happened if not for my helmet." I'm glad to read you came out of that crash in one piece. Heal up quick.

...

Financial District in downtown Toronto: I'm hanging out on a corner waiting for the light to change when I see a messenger heading through the intersection. The light's just changed - it's about to go green his way and it's just gone red for the opposing traffic. A mini van runs the light trying to get through before the other traffic starts and guns it through the intersection. The courier didn't even have time to react - he got hit while he was still turning his head toward the van. The bumper hit his foot, the grill got his hip, his shoulder and face went through the windshield. The top of his head connected with the body of the van just above the windshield. The van didn't even brake until after he'd been hit and tossed.

I was the first person on this guy. I yelled at some dude in a suit to call 911 and had another one run and grab me some napkins from a hotdog vendor. I tried to hold the courier still (he was barely even conscious at that point but still trying to radio in to dispatch to tell them he'd need to take the rest of the day off). This guy was mangled. I was literally kneeling over him trying to keep him alert and stable while I held his scalp on his skull with a wad of napkins - I couldn't even tell if there was a fracture underneath because it was just a total mess. The whole right side of his body was blown up and I doubt he even knew what had really happened. I have no idea what happened to this guy but I hope he pulled through without any lingering problems. I had my camera on me that day and I took a shot of the van's windshield before the police towed it. It's a good reminder everytime I happen to come across it (especially the tuft of hair lodged in the van's safety glass).

But hey, helmets make you look like a geek.

- eyefloater

Edit: got my spell on.

no no, you are the luckiest man alive. If you would have not crashed there would be nothing to be lucky about. Helmets are officially the new ULTRA JAM and a fashion must.

now i want a helmet REAL bad. i wish i could find the bell metro in large (in flat balck, of course).

My girlfriend's got a Metro. They're nice helmets and not too expensive. I'm a fan of the Giro Eclipse - I like a helmet with a bit smaller profile. Hmm, I think I might start a thread on helmet recommendations tomorrow. People might be able to swing a few deals around their respective towns now that "cycling season" is almost over.

[Steve Irwin] CRIKEY! You lucky bastard![/Steve Irwin]


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/66/Steve-Irwin.jpg

I think a lot of people don't like helmets because they've not worn one that fits. Basically, you have a Bell head or a Giro head. If a Bell doesn't fit right, don't try the rest of the Bells before you try a Giro or two. All the shops have Bell and Giro so try 'em both!

Today I washed my Giro Pneumo, and it was still wet when I wanted to go to a bike club meeting - spare lid to the rescue! A $30 Giro something or other, not a bad lid at all, looks a bit "amateur" since it has rivet holes where the visor used to be held on, but just as safe as any Giro I'm sure.

did you know bell and giro are the same company? i dont know why i found that info to be so funny.

since this is then "i wear/now i wear (a helmet)" thread.. heres my face to pavement punch... ive been wearing my helmet now.. the lamest part is i get free helmets and i still wasnt wearing them...

http://www.slabco.com/faceplant.jpg

As far as helmets go: I'm a Believer

Glad to see that you're . . . umm . . . err . . . alive compared to that other thing.

ay yai yai.... I'm glad your mind's intact.

I watched a friend of mine take a dive over his bars without the benifit of a helmet. He got a major concussion, couldn't form new memories, and kept asking the same 5 questions in a loop for a few hours. Had to keep him up all night. No permanent damage thankfully.

Maybe you could donate the hemet's remains to your lbs, to be mounted in a prominent place?

Damn, man, that's serious. I'm glad you're not dead.

Are you ever coming back to SF?

Ben


I messed myself up right some good on Sunday evening.

No one seems to have actually seen what happened, and this is as much as I can remember: I was coming down a semi-steep hill, hanging a right onto a one-way and then getting my busted ass strapped to a board in the middle of the street. Ouch. I guess I was unconscious for 5-10 minutes.

I heard today that I went head-first into a concrete divider, but no one's really sure. Given the eerie lack of damage to my body or my bike and the total destruction of my helmet, I'm thinking that I went over my bars, carrying my bike over on top of me (go toe straps!), and hit something with the top of my head hard enough to crack my helmet completely in half.

I am the luckiest man alive. Thanks to my helmet, I escaped, death, paralysis or a life in a persistant vegetative state. I walked out of the ER with two stitches, a sore neck and a bad headache.

Please wear your helmets, OK?

"but they only work for certain kinds of crashes!" I still chuckle about those dips who think that only because it works in certain crashes it's worthless and thus ride helmetless.

I love how that helmet is a real beast too, and it got cracked in half. I wonder what would have happened had you been wearing one of those $200 brain-sieves...

Yoinks!

Way to not die.

The brain sieve and Metro are held to the same standard, so I would expect similar results apart from the potential for torsional injuries related to the shape of most other helmets.

Thanks everybody for the kind words - I appreciate it. I'm back at work today, feeling pretty good. I can't shave for a week, due to the stitches on my chin, so I'm going to be pretty burly by the time they come out. Scars and a beard. Watch out.

We should start a "helmets are good" photo sticky. We can all post our head wounds.

heebro: I did make sure to take my bike into my LBS for a good post-accident once-over.

Ben: Francesca and I should be back in California over Christmas... we'll be back more permanently whenever either of us can find a halfway decent job.

Again, thanks everyone!

I love how that helmet is a real beast too, and it got cracked in half. I wonder what would have happened had you been wearing one of those $200 brain-sieves...

bike helmets are supposed to crack in half, so that your skull doesn't. the reason why a $200 brain-sieve costs $200 is mostly because of the research and design that went in to making an ultra-light, ultra-ventillated helmet that will still protect your head as much as any other helmet. and, i suppose, because of the advanced materials needed for such things. doesn't the atmos have a carbon fiber skeleton?

anyway, now's as good a time as any for some bike helmet safety lessons:

-put your helmet on. without buckling the chinstrap, shake your head. if it wobbles, it's too loose.
-is it over five years old? get a new one. light and air degrade the foam to the point where it won't do what it's supposed to--protect your head.
-has your helmet had an impact? no visible damage? get a new one. helmets are one-time machines, even if there's no visible damage. it's ability to protect your valuable noggin is comprimised.

yikes.. yeah, you need to get that helmet bronzed or something. :)

Lately for some reason when I've been just popping down to a friend's place or something I've been thinking about not wearing my helmet, but I still continue to every time I ride. Thanks for the reminder to not be a dink, and just put it on!

glad your okay dude, thats a scary crash when you pass out and not know what happened. I still forget to wear the helmet from time to time, but I wear it much more often than before. I just have to remember to wear it everytime I'm on the bike.

I heard that the cheap helmets are actually better than helmets like the atmos because the cheaper ones have more foam from the lack of ventilation. Makes sense, they use the same foam but just not as breathable as the atmos and look a bit like a mushroom.

for some reason, i want to shout:
GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

glad you're still up to snuff, m :P

glad your okay dude, thats a scary crash when you pass out and not know what happened. I still forget to wear the helmet from time to time, but I wear it much more often than before. I just have to remember to wear it everytime I'm on the bike.

I heard that the cheap helmets are actually better than helmets like the atmos because the cheaper ones have more foam from the lack of ventilation. Makes sense, they use the same foam but just not as breathable as the atmos and look a bit like a mushroom.

i've found cheaper helmets way more comfortable than some higher-end helmets, for exactly that reason (my rambling and experience is because i worked in a bike shop recently, and had a lot of down time to jerk around trying s.h.i.t. on and whatnot...)... but thar varies head to head, helmet to helmet, size to size. but cheaper helmets definitely have more generous padding. atmos has almost none. however, low-midrange (and up) helmets have coolmax padding, which is definitely a plus. i hate pressing down on my ordinary-foam-lined helmet and squeezing/sponging my sweat down my face, all over my stem...

for a good middleground, Bell's Furio is like 55 bucks. well ventilated, 3 sizes (as opposed to one "universal), comes in a neutral gray... fairly comfortable for many. not a bad helmet.

The brain sieve and Metro are held to the same standard, so I would expect similar results apart from the potential for torsional injuries related to the shape of most other helmets.

Very true, the same standard is upheld. But then again, the same standard is met by a Volvo and a Neon. Which would you rather have a face-crushing wreck in?

hot damn! you made it! that's what counts.

hang that helmet up as a trophy.

Yeah, but unlike Volvo, Bell doesn't make any claims about exceeding standards for the Metro. (Interestingly enough, Volvo has run into problems trading on their safety claims since being bought by Ford--the parent company doesn't like Volvo claiming by ommission that Fords aren't as safe.)

I love how that helmet is a real beast too, and it got cracked in half. I wonder what would have happened had you been wearing one of those $200 brain-sieves...

seems like middle of the range (~$70) is the sweet spot- you get the fancy adjustable head retention systems and sufficent venting, but they're still using a good bit more styrofoam than the high-end lids.

That said, i really like my giro xen- a bit more coverage than standard, and no stupid horns on the back to get caught in a crash and break yer neck.

fatbat

Anyone here rock a size XL helmet?
If so, what kind? Because I've always had trouble finding a helmet that fits.

I wear an XL size helmet. It's by Pro-Tec and they're mainly designed for skateboarding, but are also sort of ment for biking. They're big helmets though, and make your head look huge. The big advantage over a normal bike helmet, is supposedly with the pro-tec helmets it can take a few hits before it needs to be replaced (because skaters land on their heads alot?).

Yesterday, when I was carrying it in the check out line at the grocery store, the clerk asked me if all the scrapes were from accidents. I said "yes." though so far it's mainly only protected me from low hanging branches.

I wear an XL size helmet. It's by Pro-Tec and they're mainly designed for skateboarding, but are also sort of ment for biking. They're big helmets though, and make your head look huge. The big advantage over a normal bike helmet, is supposedly with the pro-tec helmets it can take a few hits before it needs to be replaced (because skaters land on their heads alot?).

Yesterday, when I was carrying it in the check out line at the grocery store, the clerk asked me if all the scrapes were from accidents. I said "yes." though so far it's mainly only protected me from low hanging branches.

Yeah, I've been playing around with the idea of getting a Pro-Tec.
Where in Milwaukee are you?

East Side, and you?

East Side, and you?

I just PMd you.

did you know bell and giro are the same company? i dont know why i found that info to be so funny.

since this is then "i wear/now i wear (a helmet)" thread.. heres my face to pavement punch... ive been wearing my helmet now.. the lamest part is i get free helmets and i still wasnt wearing them...

http://www.slabco.com/faceplant.jpg

That's because you're a rockstar.

I saw this helmet last weekend. It's made from a turtle shell the guy found on a ride last month. I think it might even work. He mounted the plastic suspension from another helmet inside the shell using pop rivets. The only problem is for some reason he mounted it backwards, so the adjusting knob is in the front. That's me in the first photo, and the creator in the last one.

http://www.davewilson.cc/Hash/2005Hashes/BikeHash091105/Image001.jpg
http://www.davewilson.cc/Hash/2005Hashes/BikeHash091105/Image002.jpg http://www.davewilson.cc/Hash/2005Hashes/BikeHash091105/Image004.jpg

yes i'm sure a turtle shell will work just fine.

durrrrr

that's wrong on so many levels

I'm replacing the smashed one with this:

http://www.digitalfox.com/digitalfox/johnf-ingkerry/foilhat_files/foil5.jpg

It's no turtle shell, but I think it'll hold up OK.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/gally99/Untitled-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v115/gally99/Untitled-1.jpg

bahhaahahahahha... you're now in my list of "5 people I've never met" for that. :P