Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - Poll: Helmets...yay or nay?

So who here rides with a helmet? And if so, what style...road, mtb, bmx, etc....just curious.

edit: sorry, I couldn't figure out the whole Poll thing so this is all ya get.

I guess I'll start...

Old Specialized mtb helmet with the visor, as well as some lower end Bell BMX helmet. Rode without a helmet as a kid but that was back when playgrounds had monkeybars and your mom yelled at you rather than sueing the playground maker and the city when you fell off and broke your arm.

Rode recently without a helmet on my lunch hour ride and felt naked and a less aggressive. Weird?

bmx. used for climbing as well. thrifty? nah, cheap bastard.

Ya, always, BMX helmet, being a good example as well and preventing a second head injury. Memory loss sucks, you never know whether you remember everything or not becasue you can't remember it. Screws with you head. Helmets are good.

Helmets are a must. I had a bad crash when I was 12 - the front wheel fell off when I was going down a hill and applied my rear brake. I did a nasty face plant and got to do some time in the hospital eating Jello. If it hadn't been for that dorky helmet that my mom made me wear, I probably would not have capacity to type this message. Love you mom.

Rode style. Though the BMX is cool looking, I wonder if it is very cool temp wise. I'm sure I could've made a witty pun, but my blood sugar is a bit low right now and I'm just not feelin' it.

Nope.

A helmet saved my ass when I got hit by that car a few months ago. Split the damn thing in half! I always wear one now.

ProTec BMX and snowboard helmets.

The snowboard ones have ear flaps for winter! Dunno how'd they'd do on asphalt though....

Thankfully, I haven't had to find out yet ;)

at the moment, no. i always end up buying a new part for the bike instead of a helmet. when i do get one, it'll probably be road or that bell metro (like its looks and functionality).

Always wear my helmet. It's a Bell Furio and when I'm riding it makes me feel oh so FURIO!!!

The snowboard ones have ear flaps for winter! Dunno how'd they'd do on asphalt though....

Ear flaps! Nice! I wear a bmx helmet, but something better ventilated would probably be nice. I didn't wear any helmet at all up until a few months ago, then I started getting this paranoid feeling that I was going to just...fall over. It hasn't happened yet, thankfully.

Goatmeal's got a great snowboard helmet that has ear flaps that are both cloth and plastic. Plus, it has closeable vents on the top so you can control the amount of flow.

Way nicer than mine. I think he got it at TG Max downtown...

I have some generic pos helmet that i always wear in the snow but had stopped wearing. Then about a few weeks ago i started thinking after reading the posts in this forum. Started wearing it. The main reason i wear the helmet now is because i have a low opinion of the car drivers in my town. I wear a helmet because of the idiot factor.

Truthfully, on a sunny day, if there were no cars i prolly wouldnt bother with it but a good healthy paranoia seems advised.

I accidentally left my house this morning without my helmet, halfway down the hill I got a feeling that something was just wrong. Realized my mistake and headed back up the hill to grab it. I may have not went back if I just going to work and back, but with the additional after-work ride I decided it would be a good idea.

pro-tec bmx helmet. always. it gets a bit hot at times, but it's better than nothing.

Never have, never will.

I wear a helmet 95% of the time. Either a Hockey helmet or an old 1990 Bell hardshell.
The other 5% of the time I'm usually just riding very locally near my house - but I also want to know that I'm using the helmet 'cause I want to be safe, and not out of fear...before that I rode for 25 years w/o one ('til ~ 1988)

I usually wear a helmet. I guess its a mountain helmet. It was the cheapest one the shop had that felt comfortable.

Cheap Giro Idunnowhut.

Until this past March I wore a helmet about 50% of the time. Then I had an incident where I took a sharp turn in traffic and decked a pedal...threw me over the bars. I always thought that in those situations I would catch myself with my hands. Well guess what--my hands were unscathed, but the helmet I happened to be wearing was cracked in half! No concussion (or worse), but a nice little cut over my eye from my glasses. And a seriously stiff neck and shoulder. Now I wear the brain bucket every time I ride.

I wear a helmet, an old Bell that's partly melted from some overspray. I ride fairly aggressively and am not particularly co-ordinated... My girlfriend endoed and split her helmet.

I cringed when I saw this thread - helmet use is always a guaranteed troll on rec.bicycles.tech, and people can get pretty foamy, so it's nice to see people being rational (so far) regardless of their viewpoint.

...so it's nice to see people being rational (so far) regardless of their viewpoint.

If you don't wear a helmet, you must hate America. :)

661 Mullet I got on the cheap from PricePoint. Since it has heated up outside I've been leaving it behind more often.

If you wear a helmet the terrorists have already won.

If you don't wear a helmet consider yourself the fourth point in the Square of Evil ( Directly across from North Korea of course).

I wear a helmet. Was wearing it on 2 of my crashes that involved my head meeting the pavement. I can't imagine how my head would have felt without the helmet.

my reasoning behind a helmet is that its not to protect myself from myself (riding abilities), but to protect myself from OTHERS (ie 3000lb CARS)

same reason why i wear a seatbelt... i know im not going to slam into a telephone pole anytime soon... but a dumbass can t-bone me running a red anytime i cross an intersection.

you dont have to be at fault to get involved in a collision


oh, and lastly, my friend was going with me on a ride last week. he had just built up a beater around an old frame... went downhill, hit a bump, the headtube lug came apart a bit and the fork bent back, slamming the tire into the dowtube, and he went flipped over the handlebars landing head-first

thanks, ill keep my helmet on from now on

helmets?

Yes, mostly.

I wear the BMX most of the time, the Giro Pneumo when doing longer rides in the country (at least when it's warm).

Sometimes, when pottering around on the cruiser or the grocery bike, I wear a nice straw hat (in the summer) or a tweed touring cap (when it's cooler). I know that I shouldn't, but sometimes I just need the guilty pleasure of a fine hat. A pleasure I discovered, mind you, when it became clear that I was never again going to have much in the way of hair (on top at least).

Who makes a good low profile helmet? My bell helmet now sits really high on my head and its plain fugly. I haven't had any bad crashes, but its better safe than sorry.

check out giro. they fit nice and snug and don't make you look like a conehead.

i think helmets are a great idea. i just dont wear mine in the summer, i cant stand it. i know its stupid. but in 5 degree wheather when your covered in crap, it doent feel like much of a difference. in summer, man, i cant ride 9 hours with that bucket. i like my lil french prole hat just fine :-D

I wear a helmet for any ride further than a mile or so. Right now it's a 10 year old Trek POS. I'm currently in the market for a new one; any suggestions?

I wear a helmet for any ride further than a mile or so. Right now it's a 10 year old Trek POS. I'm currently in the market for a new one; any suggestions?

I think this is the one skitbra wears

http://www.villagehatshop.com/media/viking-horns.gif

there's this tiny guy who delivers for Potbelly's on Southport who rides in leathers and a full-face motorcyle helmet.

I'd get a jason mask.

I always wear my helmet, I have the Specialized Airforce, which I think looks awful (it's humongous), I'm saving up to buy something a bit more sleek, a Bell or Giro.



So who here rides with a helmet? And if so, what style...road, mtb, bmx, etc....just curious.

edit: sorry, I couldn't figure out the whole Poll thing so this is all ya get.

I guess I'll start...

Old Specialized mtb helmet with the visor, as well as some lower end Bell BMX helmet. Rode without a helmet as a kid but that was back when playgrounds had monkeybars and your mom yelled at you rather than sueing the playground maker and the city when you fell off and broke your arm.

Rode recently without a helmet on my lunch hour ride and felt naked and a less aggressive. Weird?

I wear a helmet most of the time, though not always when I'm just making a short trip. Current helmet is a Giro Atmos. This helmet is very lite, very cool and very low profile which is why I like it. It's also obscenely expensive at retail, but working at the LBS I can get them for a pretty good discount so the price wasn't too bad.

i wear one when i'm going on longer road rides but usually don't wear one when i am commuting which makes less sense since i ride more aggressively on my fixie. i want to find an old protec but alas, the bmx store back home gave me a 'locals only' vibe and i left. maybe i should start wearing a full face just to think i'm riding a downhill bike as my commuter.

i use a specialized m1 now since my s1 cracked from throwing it around too much. consider it a plus if you get a protec that you can throw against the wall when you get home. both of my specialized helmets have been low profile as well. i would like to add a shark fin though.

I'm currently planning on buying a Giro Eclipse for the road and a bmx/skate helmet for the trails...but as of right now...I dont wear a helmet for commuting :( <knocks on wood>

nope.

I've got a Giro something, fits well, doesn't get in the way too much, wear it 99% of the time.

I never wore a helmet until I moved to Oakland. The drivers here seem to try to hit you.

Who makes a good low profile helmet? My bell helmet now sits really high on my head and its plain fugly. I haven't had any bad crashes, but its better safe than sorry.

catlike kompact2. great profile, light as air...

http://www.catlike-usa.com/images/helmets/large/silver.jpg

If your decide not to wear a helmet, make sure you sign an organ donor card!

I use a bell metro, it's fairly low profile and well ventilated.

The last time that I went to my local critical mass I saw a dude wearing full chest and arm armor (the kind that extreme mountain bikers wear) and he was on a fixie, I though it was overkill, but to each his own...I guess. Who knows, maybe this guy got doored one too many times.

I wear a helmet, especially in the winter (like HereNT said), in the winter it not only protects you, but keeps you warm as well. I guess I am getting older, and have seen too many friends get messed up not wearing helmets. Plus I have a helmet which matches each of my bikes, gotta keep in style you know...

Phil

catlike kompact2. great profile, light as air...

http://www.catlike-usa.com/images/helmets/large/silver.jpg

Where do you get a Catlike? I've never heard of them - went to their site, couldn't find any dealers. They look interesting. Anywhere online?

that looks coool.. how much does it cost? looks like a limar but less busy

Where do you get a Catlike? I've never heard of them - went to their site, couldn't find any dealers. They look interesting. Anywhere online?

here's one I found..

http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=7&major=4&minor=4

most of the topics that come up when I searched were for some helmet recall..so make sure that's not the one you're buying ;)

here's one I found..

http://www.excelsports.com/new.asp?page=7&major=4&minor=4

most of the topics that come up when I searched were for some helmet recall..so make sure that's not the one you're buying ;)

I saw the helmet recall thing too - on the kompact, the one pictured is the kompact2, undoubtedly the fixed version.

Even with the bulkier higher profile redesigned kompact2, I still feel like I'm wearing a baseball cap with a chinstrap.

If you're worried about catlike not being a brandname like giro or bell, you'll notice about a 3rd of the peleton at the Tour is using kompact2s, notably most of Tyler Hamilton's Phonak team and all of Eban Mayo's Euskaltel - Euskadi team.

there's this tiny guy who delivers for Potbelly's on Southport who rides in leathers and a full-face motorcyle helmet.

Used to. He messengers again. Joey Love. No-one skitches like him, no one ****s with him, and hes also got a boxing helmet, and a hockey helmet with a flame paint job, a spiky hockey helmet. this guy always has at least 2 helmets on him, but sometimes wears neither.

he used to messenger on a bmx before he got his triathlon bike. thats hardcore singlespeed. not that he pedals much, just holds on to moving objects.

I bought a Giro Monza helmet on Thursday, it's great. 24 vents and it feels like I don't have one on at all, so much cooler than the $35 helmet I had been wearing, looks a million times nicer too.