The comment about a passing glance is good. The same year I got hit by a car, I tried to push my friend riding next to me, and I put too much force on my own handlebar and forced myself down. My head hit the pavement, and it HURT! I'm sure I would have survived without a helmet, but it would have hurt more, and I would have bled. So no regrets for wearing a helmet!

I think helmets shoud be used/I dont think it should be the Law/and in 60 plus years of bikeing I used my new helmet once./Kenneth

in 10th grade we had a egg drop contest from 3 stories..only a few eggs survived and one was only in a Styrofoam cube. I was very impressed at the absorbtive power of a helmet.

I landed on my head once doing a jump on a mtb, my head was the only thing that didn't hurt and the helmet was cracked.

Even with these experiances i am not sure how well once would fare in a headon collision with a car ( i assume the helemt makes little difference), but even if I fall down the protection of my head from road rash alone is worth it.

I never said they didn't help at all, but a lot of pro-helmet people, who know nothing about the dynamics and physics of a bicycle crash, state whenever a bicycle crash happens, "the helmet saved your life", even when the part of you head protected was not impacted in the crash.

Look at this photo, http://i146.photobucket.com/albums/r...l/IMG_4703.jpg, can you tell what part of my head I landed on, uh yeah, the one NOT protected by the helmet I was wearing at the time.

:eek:



daaam,......you got knocked the f'ck out on that one.



Me?.....I always wear a helmet. If the higher authorities think I should wear one, who am I to refute their wisdom. Besides, I got a real perdy red, white, and blue Rudy Project helmet I like to show off. :D




ummm......sorry 'bout your spill, man

Ah, I see the confusion: you're not clear on what a regular bicycle helmet is supposed to do.

A regular bike helmet is not designed to prevent facial injuries. I would think it should be obvious to most people that since the helmet doesn't provide any structure in front of your face, that it isn't designed to prevent these types of non-life threatening injuries. If you want to prevent facial injuries, you need to wear a full-face helmet.

What a typical bike helmet is designed to do is to prevent, or at least mitigate, catastrophic injuries to the skull and brain. In the accident pictured above, did you fracture your skull? Were you in a coma for any length of time? Did you experience bleeding inside your brain? If not, you might want to give at least a little credit to your helmet and consider the possibility that it operated exactly as it was designed...

If I'm out on the bike the helmet is on. I was doored once. Hit the ground rather hard. Road rash, cuts and bruises and a big deep dented spot on the helmet. Thankfully that was all that was dented.

Here in NYC it's the law for children under 14 ( I think) to wear helmets. It surprises me when I see kids out with their parents and no one wears them.

Some of this debate reminds me of a contoverial issue in my youth.

See, I still remember when most hockey players didn't wear a helmet, and I'm about 5 years too young to remember when the goalies didn't wear masks. Point is, I def remember the HP's saying helmets did them no good, messed up their sightlines, and/or were useless. Story goes, the goalies said pretty much the same thing about the mask back in their day.

I just leave it to all ya all's imagination on where I am going with this.....:D

I always wear a coconut cap now, but never did when I was a kid... when my brother and I were just starting out in biking about 14 years ago we never wore coconut caps. On a whim we decided to get them because we were hearing about how they helped protect people in falls. About two months after our purchase my brother fell off his MTB going down a small rocky embankment onto a bike path. He landed forehead first and cracked that sucker from front to back. We picked up a new one for him the same day, but we always wore our caps after that, no exceptions, and still do.

V

I mountain biked for probably 10 years without ever wearing a helmet. It was the typical "that is gae" childish mentality. I recently purchased a 09' Giro Atmos helmet and it should arrive tomorrow. Helmets definitely save lives, and most of the helmets look pretty decent now too (like my atmos). I'm watching the Tour of Flanders as I write this, and I certainly would not want to take a digger on a road bike going 20+ mph.

I never wore a helmet until I started doing group rides last year. It is a requirement for all of the group rides and races around here. Now I would not ride without one.

Thanks guys, It's interesting to see the difference in opinions. What I find funny is all the guys ramping on about how useless they are but then adding that "but I wear one anyways". Might just go out later this week and get one.

Cheers,

Eric...

its not death that worries me, its having my 70+ year old parents, spending the rest of their lives changing my diapers and feeding their son, who now resembles unpicked broccoli.

helmets are light and if fitted properly very unobtrusive. theyre cheap insurance, compared to the financial and emotional repercussions, of a serious head injury. one coma per child is enough for parents and ive already cashed in my chit.

light and flimsy? huh, theyre supposed to break up, so your head wont.

btw, as laurent fignon if he wishes he wore a helmet.

edit: and theyve saved my arse 3 times.

Always! And, on two occassions I've put them to good use! Once mountain biking I endo'ed right off the low side of a switch back and more or less stopped my dowhhill progress by smacking my head into a rather large rock. The other, I got my bars wrenched between a city bus stopped on the curb and an interccity coach that decided to attempt to pass while I was over taking the other bus. I woke up stairing at the bottom side of a car's oil pan. Both helmets were happily replaced under their manufacturers "crash replacement" policy. They both did their job by cracking, crushing and absorbing the energy, instead of my skull.

Always....
FWIW:
Professionally, I'm a Life and Health Insurance agent. A helmet is very cheap insurance.

I always wear a helmet. I have broken two helmets in my time.
The first time I was hit by a car, they T-boned me. I slid across 3 lanes and landed in an island that had a cement barrier around it. I only remember the car hitting me and when I slammed my hand down on the hood of the car. I then remember being put into the ambulance. That helmet was toast. My bike frame was bent at a 45 degree angle and the back wheel was a taco. The doctor said that he was amazed that I was able to walk away. He was very surprised because of the way my helmet and bike looked (I had the ambulance take the bike with me.)

The second time was on a mountain bike (I mostly ride road). I was going down hill and had to go over a log and slowed way down. I crashed (going slow now) and fell off the bike. My head slammed (it was hard) into a large rock. It broke my helmet. I had just gotten it 2 weeks prior. I was so mad. The friend I was riding with made me feel better because the hospital bill would have been so much more.

I'll keep deluding myself that the helmet is doing some good and continue wearing one.

where oh where is chipcom when you need him?

I sometimes wear a helmet other times not, same for the motorbike.
It really depends on the conditions and situation.

I've crashed a fair few times over the years, both on pushbikes and motorbikes.
I've never once been seriously injured while NOT wearing a helmet, but have been seriously injured when wearing one.

Part of the problem i've found is if your all kitted up with protection you tend to ride harder and take more risks.
If i go out without a helmet i tend to just cruise and be extremely cautious.


Again though it really depends on the situation.
If i'm nipping out to a mates or to a shop then i'll not bother with a helmet most times.
If on the other hand i'm out for a day ride then i'll also wear a skid lid.


I think it's extremely easy to judge people you see riding without helmets, the problem is unless you know ALL the facts you really have no right to an opinion.
If these are grown adults, then really as a society we have to accept that they HAVE to take a responsibility for their own personal safety so it's really no business of anyone else.

*exceptions are minors and in countries where it's a legal issue.

I've never hit my head but have went off the bike a few times. Wearing a helmet is ones choice but I wear one. Heck I wear it because I think they look cool and someone wearing one looks more professional. I am on executive of local cycling club and I always preach wearing helmets. I know lots of riders who tell the same stories as above about how it saved them medical problems.

i do agree with wog that most docs and people reciting stories of crashs often tell the "helmet saved the life" side when they really don't know. but I do feel that everyone that has landed on their head was glad thay had their helmet.

Always.

+1,000,000 The helmet laws fall into the same category as seat belt laws. While I wear both, it is not my governments business if I don't.

When I was younger I didn't wear a helmet on my motorcycle, not that I'm older I wear a helmet on my bike. The city has a helmet law, but the county doesn't.

If you are a cager try wearing you bike helmet in the car and you will find you get the right of way more often:lol:

For me, any inconvenience from wearing a helmet is greatly outweighed by the possible inconvenience of a serious head injury. My father was wearing a helmet on his motorcycle when he was t-boned in an intersection when he was 17. His open face helmet cracked in half - I doubt I ever would have existed if it wasn't for that helmet. Such a scenario is certainly possible with a bike, eh? For $15 a CPSC-rated helmet is cheap insurance.