Fifty Plus (50+) - Poll: How many 50+ Wear Helmets?

Do You Wear A Helmet?

1. Always have
2. Just recently started wearing one
3. Sometimes
4. Never have

Would not think of riding without one, regardless of age! It's the last thing I put on before getting on my bike to ride.

I started riding when I was a kd - long before anyone thought of wearing a helmet . Then when I returned to cycling I really din't think there was much reason to wear one now.

Then my kids started bugging me to wear a helmet
And my friends started bugging me to wear a helmet.
So I figured it was time to just do it :o

I never wore one as a kid but voted 'always have' since I have now grown up. Besides- this is a 50's forum.

I voted "Always" but it's not quite true. Helmets weren't available when I started riding. I bought my first helmet in 1983... an ugly white Bell helmet... and have been wearing helmets since then.

"Always have" since my return to cycling 11 years ago.

Came in handy last January when I crashed on a fast descent, broke pelvis, rib, collar bone, collapsed a lung. Right side of the helmet crumpled, never lost consciousness, nor even had a stiff neck from whiplash. Works for me!

"Always have" since my return to cycling 11 years ago.

Came in handy last January when I crashed on a fast descent, broke pelvis, rib, collar bone, collapsed a lung. Right side of the helmet crumpled, never lost consciousness, nor even had a stiff neck from whiplash. Works for me!

Yuck!!! Unca, hope you're fully recovered now. I always feel these bicycle helmets are flimsy and don't offer enough rear lower head coverage compared to the Bell full face I wear on by CB-1100-F Honda road bike. Sounds like yours did the job, though. The famous 1970's era University of Southern California "Hurt" study of motorcycle accidents showed that even a $5.00 helmet did wonders toward saving your life compared to none at all.

Tyson

The statistics are tough to argue with: the vast majority of cycling deaths could have been prevented by wearing a helmet. Certainly no guarantee, but I'll take the odds.

Have a friend who lost 6 months work over no helmet on American River Bike Trail...

I guess I should admit I did not wear a helmet back when no one had thought of them, but I have since they have been available. My dad was one of the first in our neighborhood to put in seatbelts, too...

There was no appropriate category for me. I started cycling in 1962, at age 12, when I finally had good enough physical coordination to balance a bicycle. In those days, no one wore a helmet, or even thought to do so. In 1970, I bought a vinly/leather "hairnet" helmet, the moved up to a heavily padded Kucharik version thereof in 1973. http://www.whipcareandrepairs.com/items/7105788457.html

In late 1976, immediately after my one collision with a motor vehicle (concussion, double fracture of left clavicle, permanent facial scar over my left cheekbone), I bought a Bell Biker. Over the years, I have used various Bell helmets, and more recently tried a Giro.

During the 1972 Los Angeles Wheelmen Double Century, I lost a valued friend to traumatic brain injury, the result of his hitting his head on a curb during two separate moderate-speed collisions about 50 miles apart. (In both cases, he struck the rear wheel of the bike in front, during some aggressive drafting.) These are the sorts of brain injuries against which a helmet can be most effective. My memorial to him is that I always wear a helmet, my sons always wear helmets, and I recommend helmets to fellow cyclists. I also maintain a following distance on group rides, even though this means I have to "break my own wind" (so to speak) ...

I bought my first helmet before I bought my first bike! Been wearing a helmet since 1987.
Tom

I have broken 5 helmets since my return to the sport in the early 80's. So, yeah, always. Well, no, that is not true. I test ride the repairs and new bike assemblies w/o one in the parking lot.

Started protecting the noggin with a rock climbing helmet 30 years ago. Always wear a biking helmet now.

There was no appropriate category for me. I started cycling in 1962, at age 12, when I finally had good enough physical coordination to balance a bicycle. In those days, no one wore a helmet, or even thought to do so. In 1970, I bought a vinly/leather "hairnet" helmet, the moved up to a heavily padded Kucharik version thereof in 1973. http://www.whipcareandrepairs.com/items/7105788457.html
.


That's pretty much almost "always." Maybe I should have added "for quite some time" or most of your adult life? :o

Stacy

Yuck!!! Unca, hope you're fully recovered now.Thanks for asking! OK except for some residual rotator cuff problems that are more problematic off the bike than on. The helmet hangs in a place of honor in the store room, where I give it a pat of thanks every once in a while (and then gripe that they don't make that model in red anymore so I had to settle for a white replacement).

A True helmet story: :D

When I was about 19yo, industries and businesses were just getting into the usage of helmets for safety (about 1958).

I worked as a summer firefighter for the US Forest Service in San Diego County (Cleveland National Forest) on a crew of three in the extreme back country in Corral Canyon near Lake Morena and Los Pinos Lookout (Both the fire station and the lookout are now gone). We had a small "slip-on" unit with a "live reel" on top to make our 1957 Chevy one-ton into a fire truck. I was the driver.

That was the first summer we were required to wear a helmet AKA "hard hat" - it was aluminum.

One day we were dispatched to a brush fire about 30 miles away, also in a remote area. We were making an attack on the fire, and we ran out of water. Fortunately the other two crew members had left the truck as I was returning to a nurse tanker to fill up on water. As I was returning, the smoke became very dense and I missed a turn on the dirt road and the right front wheel went off the very soft embankment and the fire truck followed and rolled over 360 degrees (the "live reel" kept the truck level as it rolled), into the fire, landing on its wheels. I was wearing my "hard hat" and tumbled around the cab of the truck, breaking a window with my head, and ended up with absolutely no injuries. A D-7 caterpillar tractor was dispatched, I put out some of the fire with the hand extinguisher, and the Cat pulled me and the truck to safety.

The net result: I had my picture taken because the "hard hat" likely saved my life or at least saved me from serious injury, had an article in the local (Alpine) and San Diego paper, and received an award at a ceremony - the "Turtle Club Award" and my very own special hard hat to keep - I still have it!

I was never reprimanded nor talked to in any way about flipping the firetruck. :D

The things we do as kids! Amazing any of us make it past 19yo!

I don't believe that I would have survived my crash (http://denise2004crash.crazyguyonabike.com) during my bicycle commute to work back in May (2004) if I hadn't been wearing my helmet. I had a skull fracture and a brain injury (plus other odd assorted injuries) even with my helmet cushioning my head-first impact with the nonmoving pavement.

Yuck!!! Unca, hope you're fully recovered now. I always feel these bicycle helmets are flimsy and don't offer enough rear lower head coverage compared to the Bell full face I wear on by CB-1100-F Honda road bike. Sounds like yours did the job, though. The famous 1970's era University of Southern California "Hurt" study of motorcycle accidents showed that even a $5.00 helmet did wonders toward saving your life compared to none at all.

Tyson
I have found,to the detriment of my wallet, that Cycle helmets work on 3 occasions in the last 4 years. Latest one only a couple of weeks ago, and that received a big chunk out of it when I came off on a brick strewn path. the other two had received grazes in them that would have caused a little bit of pain if I had not been wearing them.

A friend of mine had a big off about 7 years ago and required stitches to his cheek, 64 of them to be precise. He had a straight over the top of the bars, up in the air and land on his face. When he got to the hospital, they stitched him up and sent him for X-rays. They had 4 attempts to find a fractured skull, as he did not arrive at the hospital with a helmet. They then gave him a 5 minute lecture on how much damage can be done by idiots like him who do not wear a helmet. Eventually he manage a get a word in and pointed out that the reason he did come into hospital with his helmet, was that it was littered all over the local hills where he had his accident. It may have shattered on impact, but it definitely saved more serious injuries.That helmet is still doing the rounds of local schools to show what damage can be done to a helmet. Just imagine what his skull would have been like if he hadn't been wearing it.

I started riding when I was a kd - long before anyone thought of wearing a helmet . Then when I returned to cycling I really din't think there was much reason to wear one now.

Then my kids started bugging me to wear a helmet
And my friends started bugging me to wear a helmet.
So I figured it was time to just do it :o


Aaaaahhhhh, a sign that you did an excellent job of raising your children is that they are smarter than you !!!! ;)

[QUOTE=stapfam]I have found,to the detriment of my wallet, that Cycle helmets work on 3 occasions in the last 4 years. Latest one only a couple of weeks ago, and that received a big chunk out of it when I came off on a brick strewn path. the other two had received grazes in them that would have caused a little bit of pain if I had not been wearing them.

QUOTE]

I've haven't yet had to find out that the price of the nicest helmet is so much less than the bill for the hospital treatment, and I hope nobody here has to either.

I won't ride without my helmet since the day I landed on my helmeted head and heard the sound of the helmet sliding across the pavement.

I'd have gotten up and back on the bike, except the wheel got bent.

The only time I spend on by bike without a helmet is on the trainer. Also a habitual seat belt user when driving or riding in a vehicle..

When I was a keen cyclist as a teen in the UK we never wore helmets ,wer'nt even thought of then ,only the leather hairnet type mainly for the track fraternity,but since I took up the obsesion again here in NZ I've worn a helmet because its the law to wear one here BUT when I came out of hostpital after my hip breaking crash I took a look at the helmet I was wearing & the form moulded outer shell was badly gouged & the EPS inner was compressed & split right through verticaly about 2.5 inches above my left temple ,if I had'nt been wearing it I would, Im sure have been more seriously injured, maybe permently impaired ,as it was I had a slight concusion . So now I wear a helmet 'cos I want to not just because I have to.But of course its a personal thing if its not mandetory were you live :eek:
PS I have the damaged helmet hanging up in my bike shed as well to remind me to put one on even if Im just going on a short test ride !!

You've got to be kidding!. Always! I was bicycling over Vail pass with my wife several years ago and she slid on a wet bridge trying to avoid a bicycle that someone had laid down across the path. She flew off her bike and landed on her shoulder and head, breaking her collarbone in the process and splitting her helmet. Other than the collarbone, she was uninjured. Need I say more?

Jim Shapiro

I have a friend who I ride with sometimes. I never wear a helmet on a bicycle and he always does. He recently had to have a hip replaced. He will need a new knee soon too. That has taught me a lesson.

:lol: :roflmao: :lol:
I have a friend who I ride with sometimes. I never wear a helmet on a bicycle and he always does. He recently had to have a hip replaced. He will need a new knee soon too. That has taught me a lesson.

If he continues to wear his helmet ,how long will it take for him to have his whole body replaced (exept his head of course) :D :D

I started wearing a helmet a few years ago. I started riding motorcycles in the '60s, and I mostly wore a helmet even then, although not always. Nowadays, I would feel naked on my motorcycle without a helmet, gloves, padded (or leather) jacket, padded pants (or at least jeans) and boots. It's all protection from road rash if you go pavement surfing. If you crash into something, that stuff won't help much.

I now wear a helmet and some sort of gloves on the bicycle. I'm not as protective about the rest of my body, but maybe I should be. Most of the people I see doing serious riding though, don't seem to wear any protection other than helmet and gloves. The available helmets that I have seen (including the Giro that I wear) seem really skimpy to me, but I assume that bicycle helmet design has evolved over time, and that they DO work when needed. Is that a naive assumption?

Looks like I'm asking a lot of questions about safety. Maybe this is the wrong thread.

Bob

The available helmets that I have seen (including the Giro that I wear) seem really skimpy to me, but I assume that bicycle helmet design has evolved over time, and that they DO work when needed. Is that a naive assumption?

Bob

Yes.

Stanley

Anyone who believes that a bike helmet will give major protection in a real serious accident fails to understand the laws of physics and has never carefully examined a bicycle helmet.

Given that, I still always wear a helmet, just to increase my chances a bit!

I have worn a helmet since 1981 when I started commuting by bike.
A friend of mine did a slow sideways fall into a street sign which cost him about 20 stitches due to no helmet, that was the impetus for me to buy a helmet initially.
I got sideswipped by a car (hit and run) and one of the things I noticed after sliding down the side of the car was a large cut (scrape, gash?) on my Bell helmet (first generation). I figured that it would have been my scalp so that just cemented the issue with me.

Denver, I have no doubt that in a serious crash it won't help alot, but the minor
ones they are a godsend.

Marty

Denver, I have no doubt that in a serious crash it won't help alot, but the minor ones they are a godsend.

Yes, mine saved me from some serious road rash when I decided to play mtn biker on a steep hill and had no clue what I was doing and went over pretty good at a slow speed - landing on a cactus!

If I'm riding my back country roads, I rarely wear a helmet. I wear one mountain biking when required, and I'll wear one when I get out into busier highways on group rides this spring. For now, I just cruise along with very little traffic, so I enjoy not wearing one. I just wear a lot of orange.

I had a bad accident on my bike in 1992. I was hit by a car. I broke three ribs, broke and dislocated the shoulder(Right), and a concussion with a fractured skull. I did not have a helmet. Macho Man. Now I always wear a helmet. My worst injury turned out to be the head injury. PROTECT THE NOGGIN!!!!! :)

I started wearing a helmet a few years ago. I started riding motorcycles in the '60s, and I mostly wore a helmet even then, although not always. Nowadays, I would feel naked on my motorcycle without a helmet, gloves, padded (or leather) jacket, padded pants (or at least jeans) and boots. It's all protection from road rash if you go pavement surfing. If you crash into something, that stuff won't help much.

I now wear a helmet and some sort of gloves on the bicycle. I'm not as protective about the rest of my body, but maybe I should be. Most of the people I see doing serious riding though, don't seem to wear any protection other than helmet and gloves. The available helmets that I have seen (including the Giro that I wear) seem really skimpy to me, but I assume that bicycle helmet design has evolved over time, and that they DO work when needed. Is that a naive assumption?

Looks like I'm asking a lot of questions about safety. Maybe this is the wrong thread.

Bob


I also rode motorcycles in the '60s and 70s with a helmet - as required by state law. After I took a spill at 65 mph and got up with a headache, road burns than ran straight through my jeans and leather jacket, and an arm that swelled to twice it's normal size, I was far less eager to ride with any bare skin.

I agree bicycle helmets always seemed a bit flimsy by comparison but they're still better than nothing. Needless to say I prefer wearng jeans over my cycling shorts.

Stac

It was the Spring of 2002 that I had my worst bicycle crash ever. I was "only" 56 years old then (almost 59 now). Anyway, I was headed home from work, and decided to go through a town center area where there are a lot of shops with parking lot roadways coming out to the main road. The main road has a great bicycle path, but the road curves right, and is on an incline down to another road, where there is a red light. I was approaching a roadway, and needed to go to the inside lane for a turn at the bottom of the hill. I remember looking back to clear myself, signaling a left turn...then waking up in a hospital across town about an hour later with a headache and dizziness. The docs had just given me a CAT scan to see whether I had brain injury (other than the concussion, I did not). In a plastic bag beside me was the remains of my cycling shorts and T-shirt, and my helmet. Actually, my helmet had ceased to be a single entity--it was in pieces in the bag.

I eventually recovered; scrapes on my elbow, shoulder, arm, a cut in my head (it hit twice, once with and once without the helmet), a sprained left thumb, and a huge hemotoma on my right hip. The hemotoma would need draining every week for a month, then every two weeks for two months. I still have a lump of material there, but at least I now have feeling to the area (it took about 6 months for that to start coming back).

Now, I've written about helmets elsewhere here (on these forums), but it is worth seeing my helmet here too. Some of you may have missed it elsewhere. I was riding my old, Schwinn LeTour, and it was relatively undamaged (a few scuff marks). Piecing things together, I apparently tried either to keep from hitting someone coming out from my right onto the road in front of me, or I actually touched the car with my front wheel. There are no witnesses who left statements. But I went violently went upside down, and hit on my head. Then I fell onto my shoulder, arm and hip. I apparently sprained my thumb trying to brake.

About my helmet. The doc told me, and he was a good, trauma doc, that if I had been unlucky that day, and was not wearing a helmet, I would have lived.

I have made some changes; I no longer ride Fridays (twice in the hospital on Fridays in enough tempting of fate); I ride a recumbant (much better overall visibility of traffic, more stability, better ergonomic positioning, better mirrors, better protection since my feet are forward and not my head); I ride different routes (I have not ridden that particular route since the accident); and I ride trails a lot. I bought a new helmet, one with a sealed plastic that adheres to the foam (rather than a taped one that came apart in my accident). I also ride with my blinky light both on my bicycle, and on the back of my helmet.

I urge all riders, no matter their age, to wear a helmet. Have it fitted, wear it correctly, and adjust it if it becomes loose. The fact that I can type these words into this box is a testimony that helmets work. They may look flimsy, but they will cushon one hell of an impact.

John

It has always seemed to me that there are easier ways to commit suicide than not wearing a helmet while riding a bike. All the excuses used for not doing so are really meaningless. And worse than suicide is the possibility John C. just mentioned: if I had been unlucky that day, and was not wearing a helmet, I would have lived.

I wear a hard hat at work. I wear a helmet while cycling. I know just how tough injection moulded polystrene is from another hobby.

Slide you lost me here.

I ride a Catrike Road and wear a helmet.

Catrike Road #116

If you are eligible to post on this forum, you started riding a bike before there were bicycle helmets.

That said, I 100% agree with the rule the President of my recumbent club enforces: nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle while wearing a helmet worth more than his head.

If you are eligible to post on this forum, you started riding a bike before there were bicycle helmets.

Depends on when you started riding :)


Stacy

I crashed in traffic several months ago when the front wheel entered a sanitary sewer cover (they used to call them manhole covers). My bike was a wreck, but I got up and walked away without injury. Later I realized I'd got over the bars, so I checked my Bell helmet. There was a small abrasion on the plastic shell, but one of the cracks in the foam went right through. I'm glad it was the helmet that took the hit.
New helmet; $50
Life: Priceless

I crashed in traffic several months ago when the front wheel entered a sanitary sewer cover (they used to call them manhole covers). My bike was a wreck, but I got up and walked away without injury. Later I realized I'd got over the bars, so I checked my Bell helmet. There was a small abrasion on the plastic shell, but one of the cracks in the foam went right through. I'm glad it was the helmet that took the hit.
New helmet; $50
Life: Priceless

I understand that some companies will give you a free helmet if you turn a cracked one in (or something like that).

I have been riding my entire life almost, and bought my first helmet when I bought my new bike last summer. I didnt used to wear a seat belt in my car, but now I do. I wear safety goggles when I cut the grass, as well. So, I guess its part of being a little bit older and a little bit wiser. I took a lot of spills when I was younger, so I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have been told that you have about 6 inches between your head and the ground, and more than that you probablyl will suffer serious head and brain injuries.

Im responding for my dad, I am not over 50 but my dad is 55 and he always wears a helmet, the thing is realllly old but he always wear it.

I have been wearing a helmet since 1982. The one I wear now is much better and a lot lighter.

A couple of years ago I was riding my mountain bike and went over the handlebars, coming down on a large tree root. I was dizzy for a while but the helmet prevented any serious brain injury. I never ride without a helmet or a bicycle.

I still see it in slow motion. Sharp right turn, corner covered with snow and ice, bike front wheel sliding, elbow and shoulder hitting hard can’t hold up head, head in ‘70’s era helmet smacks pavement hard. Got up, thought no damage and rode on to work. At work found I had chipped a bone in elbow. Medics put me in a half cast. Rode one handed for 2 days and then I threw the half cast and sling over my shoulder and was riding fine. Only wore it when off the bike. Not even a headache.
I should have replaced that helmet but I used for several more years. Helmets are a must. When I try to test adjustments and ride without one even on the driveway I feel naked.
Phil Lux

... Helmets are a must. When I try to test adjustments and ride without one even on the driveway I feel naked.
Phil Lux

I agree. Except that I wear mine even when testing adjustments. In fact, that may be an even more important time to wear it, as you have something to distract you when testing the bike.

Cheers...Gary

I always wear a helmet. If I were to crash and sustain any sort of head injury, my wife would kill me. That's reason enough for me.

Always. Wearing a helmet on a bicycle is similar to (and as important as) wearing your seat belt while driving.

You have to be a nutball not to wear a helmet. Even where there's no traffic. One blowout or suprise hole in the pavement, and you're a rutabaga.