Do all you guys wear helmets?
 

I mean cause I remember riding from when I was a kid and we never wore helmets. I wore a helmet whan I played Hockey, I wore a helmet whe I was out on the trike but never on a bike. I just don't get it. I know it's not the law here in Korea and most people don't, but is it a law out where you're at? And if I do decide to come home, will I have to wear one? So I might as well get used to it now... Just wondering...

Eric...

It's not the law here, though if you're under 18 it is. But I wear one. One extra bit of safety gear isn't a bad thing. My wife has had a fall or two where the helmet cracked, likely saving her serious injury.

Wow, that's cool about the helmet. Not about the fall though. What caused the fall. Road conditions, off road, just fell?

I always wear a helmet, because i'm not as tough as i was when I was a kid. I also work in an emergency room and see cycling accidents all the time. Helmets definately save peoples lives.

Always!:thumb:...It's the law for youngsters out here. I cracked a helmet once, from back to front after a 24 mph bodyslam on some hardpacked red clay type terrain while offroading. Confirmed my intelligence of wearing a helmet.

Helmet was cracked back to front, suspension ripped out from the inside of the helmet. If it had been my head taking the impact, I'm sure I wouldn't be here right now, then you guys would miss me!:p

:deadhorse::bike2:

I DO WEAR A HELMET !

I always wear one on my road bike, never on my comfort bike.

yes with out a doubt!! everytime i ride. any type of bike. Motorcycle or bicycle. I had a friend who was doing and this is no exageration. 3-5mph on a motorcycle. someone pulled out of a parking spot and bumped into him. he simply fell off of the motorcycle with no increased velocity other than just falling. He hit is head on asphault and died 3 hours later at the emergency room, from head trauma. The docs said that had he been wearing a helmet he wouldnt even had as much as a headache.

Always wear a helmet!!!

BIG LUG

Yep...make sure the kids do too.

Jerry

I wear it on Tuesdays and Saturdays....

Seriously: I wear it all the time when I ride a road; all the time when I ride my fast bike; all the time when I am on the mountain bike; and never when I ride the comfort bike w/ GF on MUP.

However..as a piece of advice to someone who has not ridden a bike in a very long time and who is admittedly out of shape, I suggest wearing the cap. Your reflexes are not what they once were, trust me.

My feeling is that bicycle helmets are too light and flimsy to do any significant good, but that they are also so light and flimsy that they don't pose any significant hazard. Where I live (Seattle), they are required by law for all riders, regardless of age, so I always wear one.

I think they are light and flimsy, but if worn properly, they will help most people most of the time when a head impact is involved. Much better than a baseball hat, or stocking cap. Or just the thin layer of skin that is protecting the skull, which is protecting the brain.

Always, every time. I disagree that bicycle helmets are too light and flimsy to protect your head. For the speeds you will get on a bike, they are fine. Remember, helmets are a disposable item. The styrofoam inside deforms on a hard impact as it slows the deceleration rate of your head ( and your brain) when your head whacks something hard. You are supposed to toss it and get a new one after a hard bump. That goes for all of them. $50 bike helmet or $500 motorcycle helmet. Helmets wont protect you from any possible head injury, but they sure help with the most common ones. I had my life saved twice by wearing a motorcycle helmet. So far all my bicycle crashes have been unspactacular, just scrapes on knees and elbows. If I ever do whack my head on the pavement, or a parked car, or whatever while pedaling to work, I want it wrapped in styrofoam.

I stood on my head after a 30+ mph OTB and walked(rode actually) away with bruises and light road rash because I broke the fall with my helmet-clad noggin and rolled into a soft ditch. The helmet was not so lucky, broke in half and shattered the rear part but my head made it without permanent injury. They seem flimsy, but can handle a serious beating as long as your head is in it, think of it as a double cage with your skull supporting the helmet.

[edit] fixed spelling

The statistics show that they don't help much. But I have been a statistical outlier. I got hit head-on by a car and was knocked out so badly that I don't remember the impact or the ambulance ride. I was wearing an original Bell Biker, which was hot and weight 17 ounces. The liner was crushed. It either saved my life or lessened my injuries. This was in 1982.

So while it probably won't save my life again, I'll wear it. I don't find that it's burdensome to wear. If you don't wear one, I don't think you're crazy. It's up to you.

Donning flame ******ant suit....

This is the problem, lots of people credit helmets for far more then the helmet actually does. I had one bike accident, ER doc said without the helmet I would have been dead. There is one problem with that, the helmet protects the back and top of the head, I landed on my face (I have the pictures to prove this), the helmet was not visibly damaged, but my face sure was. :twitchy:

There is no proof that helmets accomplish anything in the majority of bicycle accidents other then lighten the riders wallet, before the event. The test for a helmet is to put it on a specified weight, and drop the weight from a specified height. Maybe in a clipless 0MPH fall the helmet would protect your head fully, but outside of that, nobody really knows and that includes ER medical professionals.

The only way to fully test the effectiveness of a helmet in a collision, is to repeat the event with and without a helmet and compare the injuries. If the helmet wearing rider has less injuries it can be attributed to the helmet, but the events must otherwise be identical. There are ways of less effectively testing this using a crash test dummy and known data from car crash testing, but the helmet industry doesn't want to do this type of testing, because they are afraid that it will prove their product is ineffective in most crashes.

Having said all this, even though not required by law, I wear one anyway, modern helmets are light and easy to use, so why not.

Always.

I wear mine, it's not required but a little extra protection on my most valuable asset is a plus in my book.

I don't think it would do a whole bunch in a direct concentrated impact, but the type of crash where you wipe out and your head does a glancing blow off the pavement (probably more likely to have this type of crash vs a head on with a mini van) I'd bet it would do great. Remember when you are looking at a helmet and deem it to be flimsy or insubstantial, this isn't a football helmet designed to take multiple blows. It's a one and done disposable item. Never ever reuse a bicycle helmet that has sustained an impact or otherwise had it's structural integrity compromised.

What did the poor horse do to deserve being repeatedly smacked in the junk with a 2x4?

Here locally, the City of Dallas has a bicycle helmet law. None of the suburbs do for adults, though some do for kids. But because I started riding some in Dallas, I got a helmet, and now pretty much use it all the time.

I never used one as a kid, and don't think they existed. Of course, we never used seat belts when I was a kid, either. On the other hand, I rode my bike a mile to school, and felt like that was a long ways, and I drive more every day than my dad drove in a week (in his car, at least). So it's hard to compare.

On most organized rides, they'll want you to wear a helmet.

Given that massive head trauma/brain damage can easily happen in moderate/low speed crashes, I see no reason not to wear a helmet. I mean, I think it depends on who you are and what you do. I'm an academic, have been all my life. Brain damage would ruin my career, my hobbies, and my life. If you're not too bothered (I dunno what you do professionally) about brain damage, skip the helmet imo. Just extra weight then.

A little slide show, including the helmet damage from my crash last May. Yeah, I wear one.

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...DSCF0001-1.jpg

Click the pic for the slide show.

We are more aware of the dangers that have always been there. Plus there are more drivers per mile of road, and they drive faster (and probably worse) than before. Thus a helmet is a good idea, even though statistics don't prove it.

Despite what the wogsters of the world may think, helmets do provide protection for your skull and they do save lives. I always wear a helmet when riding a bicycle or motorcycle.

i always wear my helmet... but, i've almost always have managed to catch myself in a fall. so not certain how effective the helmet is...


it is a dead horse, as in "beating a dead horse"