General Cycling Discussion - City biking calls for Full Face helmets?

The face:
http://MeHT.wolfenstein.ru/face_meets_car.jpg
The bike (steel, btw):
http://MeHT.wolfenstein.ru/b1.jpg
http://MeHT.wolfenstein.ru/b2.jpg
http://MeHT.wolfenstein.ru/b3.jpg
The story:
Well, I was going down a central street downtown at about 30kph. As usual, there was a line of vehicles at the light. I was going between the right lane and the curb and I nearly passed a bus when at the very moment a car came out in front of it. It was crossing from the opposite side of the road to the parking lot on my right. WHAMMY!
I hit it slightly to the right of its front right wheel. If I were half a second earlier, it would hit me and I'd go flying on the sidewalk or head-first in one of the lightposts. :\ But riding a roadie and using the lower part of the horned handlebar, I didn't fly over my bike - I think I hit the cockpit or the car with my face. All in all, I got off quite lucky, I think.

The cop said it's really no one's fault as we couldn't see each other.

Yeah, a full-face helmet will do it. That's some crazy damage to the bike and the rider! Is the bike steel? It's a bit too much of a bending for a 30kph hit, I think.......... I hope your face gets better soon. Look at it on a bright side! You’ll get the new road bike and chicks dig the scars ;)

Wow! I almost did the same exact thing yestarday! Cruising down between the right lane cars in traffic and the curb. A car turned through and I had to slam on the breaks, missing the car by about 2 feet. I guess it was my fault for not stopping with the cars. Sorry about the bike and the scratches, get well soon.

Yes, it is steel. Maybe I was going a bit faster, but not a lot.

P.S. Òû ðóññêèé?

I'm sorry to hear about the accident, those look like some nasty abrasions. Having said that, I've never felt a full-face helmet is necessary. In fact, I think in the climate around here, they would probably do more harm than good (i.e. fog up when you sweat, obscuring vision). If I'm passing a bus or anything else that's likely to have cars pull out in front of it, I generally give it a fairly wide berth to ensure that I can see those things.

I think 30 MPH is too fast for city riding. In fact, 20 MPH is too fast.

Here in New York City, riding at 30 MPH down Madison Avenue with all those buses would end up in a quick trip to the hospital for plates and screws. Seriously. You have to slow down.

The other day I was at the light with a bike messenger. We were about to cross 42nd street and were waiting for the light to go green as the intersection was completely blocked with cars. The second the light went green, he took off like a rocket right into that pack of cars. I was amazed. He squeezed into some realy tight spots and just dissappeared on the other side.

I waited more or less and went around the pack slowly, making sure the driver saw me. After crossing the intersection, the bike messenger was ONLY a block away! He took all those risks and saved himself about 20 seconds.

I hope you're not doing the same thing. Ride carefully.

Thats quite a well documented type of collision, and a good reason for travelling on the outside of a line of traffic. By travelling on the inside, you yield your legal and well as practical right of way to cars turning into the side road.
You have to assume that any junction could harbour cross traffic, and if you are hidden from the approach, they wont see you, so dont blast past.

CroMo or HiTen steel?

He said kph, not mph.

Full face MTB helmets don't have shields to fog up.

City riding? I'd wear the full face + full downhill armor. Also a flag on the bike so as to be seen from a distance in traffic. It's a battlefield out there.

Originally posted by MeHT
I was going down a central street between the right lane and the curb and I nearly passed a bus when at the very moment a car came out in front of it. WHAMMY!
The cop said it's really no one's fault as we couldn't see each other.

You don't need a full face helmet, you need to use your head and don't put yourself or anyone else in this type of situation again.

The cop was wrong. It's your fault. When you ride, you should be able to see what's coming up.

Count your blessings that it didn't end up worse.

Appears to be a carbon steel bike & not cromo - more easily trashed.

What do you mean by the Professional idiot?

Sorry to hear of the crash.

I mean that I take idiocy to a professional level. :p

I'm not sure what kind of steel that is. I got the bike for free - it was lying around unused from God knows when.

Ottawa bylaws state that a cyclist should be as close to the curb as possible. Thouroughful examination of the rules revealed a remark that there is an exception when you're overpassing a vehicle. Now I know better, the hard way. :\

Hi MeHT. Often you will find a decal or sticker on the front of the seat tube indicating the type of steel - mild (low carbon) steel often goes under the name HiTen (High Tensile) or similar names.

I crashed my CroMo Peugeot at about the speed you were at into the side of a car that turned in front of me. My front wheel was trashed & the steel fork was bent, but that's it. I didn't get even a scratch.

Cheers,