LesterOfPuppets

I have toe straps on three of my bikes. Do they count in lieu of seatbelts?

I dunno about training wheels. It's difficult to corner with them above 5 mph.

sudo bike

...

Juggler2

Do you have any studies to back that up?

NCbiker

Okay, so you think there is no situation where a cycling helmet might save your life and I think there might be. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree.

LesterOfPuppets

I dunno about studies but I work at a non-profit bike shop and tomorrow I'm sure I could have my cohort shoot some video of me attempting to corner with training wheels @ 15 mph

I rarely wear helmets but I'd want to don one for that occasion. I think we have some elbow pads in the shop also.

LesterOfPuppets

That's about the 5th version of the helmet thread, also. Dunno if any of the previous locked ones are still up or got deleted.

I only wear them for special occasions, like going really fast or on sketchy terrain these days. However I wore one any time I was on two wheels from 1988-1998 (or therebouts).

I think they're optional. Good for beginners or aggressive riders, or anyone else who wants to wear one.

Kinda like some horse riders wear helmets and others don't. Some automobile drivers wear helmets but others don't. Short track speedskaters wear helmets but Longtrack speedskaters don't, etc, etc.

sudo bike

I think if a helmet saves your life, it's by fluke and not design. I think the position that helmets will save your life in a collision is based on shaky evidence, and it doesn't seem logical to assume they would in lieu of less conflicting evidence. I think they can help mitigate some injuries and save you some stitches, sure, but save your life? No... I don't think current designs do this, and I think the lack of firm evidence confirms this.

TrojanHorse

Helmets are a fine idea if you're riding in an area that might result in an unexpected tumble, whether from road conditions or other drivers or whatever.

They're hardly a panacea but then again, they're better than nothing if you accidentally bonk your head.

prathmann

I wear one on club rides (where unfortunately there's a mandate), but not for most of my utility riding.

Mark Stone

In the summer I wear one, but in the winter I don't because of a big, thick wool cap I wear for warmth. PhotoJoe, have I ever told you that your dog is ugly?

LesterOfPuppets

I used to have a winter helmet with no pads that fit great over a toque. I might have to demote my current only helmet to winter helmet status if we get a cold winter this year.

I REALLY like having a helmet for snow/ice days.

Mark Stone

That's what I used to do. Take a helmet and remove the pads and just wear it over my wool cap, but this new helmet doesn't have removable pads. So, in the winter, no skid lid for Trac!

rdtompki

The utility riders I see around town don't generally wear a helmet. The cyclists I see almost always have helmets on. 18 and over it's their choice of course, but under 18 helmets are mandatory in California.

chefisaac

It's sad that we (BF) cannot have a civil conversation about helmets. I think its one of those things that is best answered for oneself. This would work only if others would not attack others for their opinion on what works for them.

Mr. Beanz

I'm betting troll. If not, delete the thread and let him read the other ten thousand helmet threads.

Daves_Not_Here

Oh no, you can't agree to disagree. You must bicker.

Here's how it works here: I intentionally misstate your viewpoints and demand that you answer stupid, insincere questions. Then I demand that you provide independent statistics and studies, all of which I immediately dismiss. I use this emoticon to indicate I have just said something so unbelievably stupid that it warrants designation by an emoticon. If you ignore me like the twit that I am, I call you a troll.

So, getting back to the pity party, do you have any statistics to prove that we have to agree to disagree?

sudo bike

It's really not that bad as far as forums go. Been surprisingly civil conversations lately, the ones with mconlonx come to mind...

chefisaac

Oh Mr Beanz... remember the saying: Come as you are, you will be loved.

But if your a troll we will hunt you!

OiS

Personally, I wear one when on my road bike, but for social rides at slow speeds on my "social" bike, I do not.

Mark Stone

Back to the OP . . . The term "most cyclists", do you mean most "serious" cyclists or most people on bikes? In my town the vast majority of people on bikes, especially those using bikes for their basic transportation, don't use helmets. But they ride in street clothes, ride BSOs for the most part, ride on the sidewalks when they can. It's really an interesting sub-culture of bicycle users, and most of them are downtown within a few blocks of the Mexican border (El Paso/Juarez). A lot of the bikes are elaborately set up for utilitarian use, and there's even some cargo trikes in use by a bunch of people riding around looking for items to recycle, especially cardboard. A lot of these riders go back and forth between El Paso and Juarez, and I think some of them use bikes because they don't have to wait in the huge lines of cars.

On the other hand, those of us that consider ourselves "serious" cyclists usually do wear helmets. But I think in this dusty little West Texas town we are by far the minority of cyclists, and it feels a little arrogant to me that I claim to be a "serious" cyclist while dismissing my helmetless bicycle friends downtown.

Some day I want to just hang around downtown with a camera and take pictures of some of these bikers. You would see a most interesting array of machinery. But these people are not interested in looking like Lance Armstrong . . .

mprelaw

I always wear one. The reason I always do, is the worst fall I ever had took place where I least expected it to happen, riding at about 3 mph. Crossing from the road to a MUT, via a parking lot, wandered off the cement strip between the lot and the MUT onto the grass, and trying to edge back on, I caught a raised edge of cement flush against my front sidewall. You guys old enough to remember Laugh-In, where Arte Johnson would tombay? That's exactly how I went down. Hit flush on the helmet, and cracked it.

In winter, I have a helmet that has an adjusting wheel for the band liner. Easy to enlarge the band and slip it over a skullcap.

cplager

I don't think we disagree too much. And I really like this image you have:



Here are a couple points that I think are important.

* Statistically speaking, I think that if somebody is making the choice between riding a bike with no helmet and not riding a bike, that person is better off riding a bicycle than sitting on a couch not doing anything. I think that this is a very important point from a public health point of view and strongly suggests against helmet laws for adults. Note that this is quite different than seatbelt laws: If you refuse to ride in a car because you have to wear a seatbelt, then that is actually an upside of seatbelt laws (I think less car traffic is a good thing). So in this way, I think that seatbelt laws are different than bicycle helmet laws.

* As a bicyclist, I think people on bicycles will be safer the more people that we have out there riding bicycles. If passing helmet laws reduces those numbers (and there is some reason to think that it would), then passing helmet laws will make me less safe. Another reason against helmet laws for adults.

* There are instances where one is better off not wearing a helmet than wearing a helmet. I believe the evidence suggests, however, that statistically speaking, you are better off wearing a helmet.

So when people ask my opinion (or are riding on one of my bicycles), I tell them to wear a helmet. Always. My 3 year old asks me with a worried tone why that person over there on a bicycle isn't wearing a helmet.

Cheers,
Charles

NCbiker

I'm sorry, I missed the page on rules. Oh wait, I'm I allowed to say I'm sorry?

mconlonx

Yes please!

Wuss...

mconlonx

Hmm. I must be doing something wrong...

I have little patience with the screeching harpies who form a fanatic but overly vocal minority on either end of this argument.