I think the missing piece is that it's more difficult to balance on a bicycle than on your own two feet, so there's a greater chance of falling and needing the helmet.

Roger that. It comes down to risk assessment. If you don't think wearing one is worth it, that's a choice (providing the law doesn't state otherwise).

If you do think wearing one's worth it, that's also a choice (a much better one, in my opinion).

I've already gotten into the habit of wearing mine each time I roll the bike out of my apartment. :O)

Roger that. It comes down to risk assessment. If you don't think wearing one is worth it, that's a choice (providing the law doesn't state otherwise).

If you do think wearing one's worth it, that's also a choice (a much better one, in my opinion).

I've already gotten into the habit of wearing mine each time I roll the bike out of my apartment. :O)

That's quite true. I'm risk averse so I almost always wear one. At this point it feels weird not to wear one.

Still, there's an old biker adage that's apropos to cycling as well: There are two types of riders, those who have gone down and those who will. One question is: When you do go down will a helmet help, and is it worth wearing? I know folks who've been killed while wearing a helmet and folks (like me) who've crashed and broken various bones without one and been fine (wrt head injuries).

You just need to know that it doesn't take much to damage your brain. When I took my motorcycle safety course one of the instructors told us of an acquaintance of his who recently died after hitting a patch of gravel in a parking lot on his motorcycle, falling, and just hitting his head wrong (no helmet). You might only be going 10 or 15 miles an hour and get right hooked, but that could easily cause a potentially fatal injury. It is all about risk aversion, but it's crucial in making that informed decision that you actually are informed about what the costs and benefits of wearing vs. not wearing a helmet are.

Ultimately it's up to you, and I sincerely hope that none of you ever do need a helmet.

While I do think it is stupid to not wear a helmet, I admit that I can be pretty stupid at times. I wear one 80% of the time but often will take off to the store or whatever without wearing one, when these short runs are often through the most heavily traffic'd areas I ride through at any time.
Trying to do a risk assesment on something like this is pretty arguable as there are way too many variables to what might make wearing a helmet more risky, what kinds of crashes might result in a head injury, etc, but I find that if you cost benefit analysis it, a 30 dollar helmet that barely weighs anything is pretty easy and cheap insurance for your nugget.

I prefer to keep my brains on the inside of my skull, thank you very much.