Originally Posted by Six jours (Post 17290453)

The Bicycle Club of Irvine is one of the oldest - and certainly one of the largest - bike clubs in Southern California. Hundreds of riders show up for their weekend rides. I once showed up without a helmet, and took all kinds of abuse, including foul-mouthed insults. One guy put his face about ten inches in front of mine and yelled (literally) that riding without a helmet was against the rules and that he would not allow me to ride. Other people intervened before it came to blows but everyone did insist that the club forbade bare-headed participation, and several people claimed that the club would lose its liability insurance if I rode without a helmet.

Eventually, the club founder and president had to stand up and make a speech about the fact that the insurer had nothing at all to say about helmets and that the club had no rule about it one way or another. The entire experience sums up, for me, the level of knowledge (and manners) of the typical cyclist around here. It may also explain my attitude toward the "Just buy a helmet and wear it" posts on BF.

Originally Posted by rydabent (Post 17292595)

i like

Wrong!!! Our club insurance co demands that any formal club sponsored ride states that all rider will wear helmets.

Originally Posted by Six jours (Post 17292060)

Oh, and just as a side note... The ride is a crash fest; a total free-for-all with no rules and no pack manners. I was a complete fool to do it without a helmet, and a good argument can be made that one is a complete fool to do it at all. It's a very good example of the idea that "You have to wear a helmet, bicycling is dangerous!" is a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don't know what you're doing, bicycling can be very dangerous. The mistake is in assuming that nobody else knows what they're doing either.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 17292743)

I can believe that club rides as you describe are risky business and provide good opportunities for cycling fools to show their "stuff."

I wonder what a bike club insurance policy would actually pay out for injuries to the helmeted club participants on a club ride. I suspect the policy only covers club officials from lawsuit against them from its own club members and/or the ride participants.

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17293262)

Our club has insurance and requires a helmet be worn since the insurance is for the rider.

Originally Posted by rydabent (Post 17289854)

Can any of the anti helmet types here explain why almost all bike clubs demand that all riders wear helmets on their club sponsored rides?

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 17286256)

Assuming that helmet wear "could" help mitigate the severity of some injuries to some degree, what do you think explains the absence of injury statistics that demonstrate this mitigation effect when comparing bicycling populations where the percentage of helmet wear is relatively high as in North America or Australia vice countries where helmet wear is low as in NL or DE?

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 17293541)

Have you read the policy and is the requirement for competitive rides or any ride at any time?

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17294776)

There are no competitive rides.

Originally Posted by mconlonx (Post 17296128)

Wut? Try telling that to participants of the Wed night hammerfest in my neck of the woods...

Originally Posted by Tiglath (Post 17284441)

Such a fine argument... since my thinking differs from yours, I must be an incompetent rider, right?

If traffic around you was as kind as you are to strangers, you would be lying in pieces. Buzz off!

Originally Posted by Six jours (Post 17290453)

The Bicycle Club of Irvine is one of the oldest - and certainly one of the largest - bike clubs in Southern California. Hundreds of riders show up for their weekend rides. I once showed up without a helmet, and took all kinds of abuse, including foul-mouthed insults. One guy put his face about ten inches in front of mine and yelled (literally) that riding without a helmet was against the rules and that he would not allow me to ride. Other people intervened before it came to blows but everyone did insist that the club forbade bare-headed participation, and several people claimed that the club would lose its liability insurance if I rode without a helmet.

Eventually, the club founder and president had to stand up and make a speech about the fact that the insurer had nothing at all to say about helmets and that the club had no rule about it one way or another. The entire experience sums up, for me, the level of knowledge (and manners) of the typical cyclist around here. It may also explain my attitude toward the "Just buy a helmet and wear it" posts on BF.

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17296842)

There is a Saturday AM ride with another group, most of them racers and then there is a PM ride out of a local park that is a hammerfest but with us we just go and enjoy. Just got back from a 62 miler with 42 of those miles riding with 3 other guys, 67 year old, 66 year old, me a 64 yo and the youngster at 53, at a 21.7mph average just a bit slower than Saturday's AM ride of 32 miles at 22.8mph average. No sprinting going on, just good old fashioned long uninterrupted miles.

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 17297238)

Was that good old fashioned ride accomplished by long stretches of peloton type drafting/tailgating of each other in order to maintain that pace for those distances? I might wear a helmet too if I was forced to participate in that type of cycling which I consider far more risky than riding properly, albeit slower, with a safe distance between cyclists.

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17297478)

Not much of a peloton when there's only 4 or 5 riders working together.

Originally Posted by chipcom (Post 17297108)

Until about 5 years ago the Hancock Horizontal Hundred, which started back in the 70s, did not require helmets.

Originally Posted by 3alarmer (Post 17298849)

...I always thought the horizontal 100 was done in the nude ?

Originally Posted by I-Like-To-Bike (Post 17298584)

"Working together" means drafting/tailgating each other for 30 or 40 miles doesn't it?

What would happen if a non-helmeted rider asked to join in the old fashioned fun? Would you or your pals tell him to scram? Would the club insurance be cancelled if you guys did not comply with the insurance company/bike club edict?

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17302420)

In August, a member showed up for the Tuesday AM ride with a friend who didn't have a helmet. Our ride leader asked him not to ride with the group because of the helmet required rule. Both riders took off on their own and the group continued with the ride. He accepted the rule and chose to comply.

Originally Posted by OldTryGuy (Post 17302420)

In August, a member showed up for the Tuesday AM ride with a friend who didn't have a helmet. Our ride leader asked him not to ride with the group because of the helmet required rule. Both riders took off on their own and the group continued with the ride. He accepted the rule and chose to comply.

Originally Posted by njkayaker (Post 17306097)

Here's an "idea" (new helmet concept):
smart-hat