Originally Posted by
mtb_addict
I saw this video of girl in Europe (Nederland maybe)...she took a turn on the park walk path, going walking speed (like 5 mph)...front tire slipped on wet leaves or something...she went down...no big deal except her head barely missed one of those brick raised flower bed. Would have been real bad for her head if she was just a few inches closer.
Like the few inches of a helmet? Not hitting the head is a reflex developped from a young age. I've witnessed many falls, mostly in bad weather conditions, but never seen someone landing on the skull.
Originally Posted by
RubeRad
Right. Context.
Cornering at 15-25mph is dangerous and helmets are a really good idea in those situations.
Tooling around at gentle speeds is less dangerous, and helmets provide less added value.
Last year I saw a guy taking a very sharp corner with slightly negative cant on quite slippery cobblestones at about 20mph, he was really in a hurry in a part of town where everybody rides calmly. He fell hard but didn't hit his head. He was on an upright bike, and that makes probably a bigger difference than the speed.