I am about to start commuting to work in Orlando, FL. It is about six and a half miles each way. I am in my early thirty's and just started riding again. I ride a '06 Specialized Rockhopper. I haven't seen anyone riding a MTB wearing a helmet. Usually it is just the Roadies wearing them.

My commute is almost entirely on residential side streets. I have to cross, but not ride on one major street.

So should I wear one? I have a brand new one, and it is just a matter of slapping it on.

It's a personal choice. Residential streets, in my experience, are dangerous because cars are pulling out of driveways and "getting ready" for the commute ahead (fiddle with CD player, light cigarette, put coffee in cup holder, scream at kids in the back seat etc.) - major lack of attention, easy to plow into a bike. You'll see arguments for and against helmets, but my argument here is: in some ways it's safer on a mountain bike trail than it is on a street with moving cars, so do whatever you would do in that situation.

I wear a helmet on all rides.

My commute is somewhat shorter and I always wear my helmet.

I don't ride ANYWHERE without a helmet. That includes riding half a mile around the subdivision with my kids, which is all 25 MPH, widely spaced houses, huge open road, rural sub with no sidewalks.

I can live with a broken leg, or even no leg for that matter. I can't live without my brain. I always wear a helmet....even for a short ride to the coffee shop which is less than a mile from my house.

I always wear a helmet, even on my half-mile commute.

I would think it would matter how fast you are going. Roadies generally are really moving, people who are Freds just are poking along, a little faster than a walk or run. I haven't noticed a lot of joggers with helmets - but if you are ripping down a hill at 40 MPH without a helmet - you might not have anything to worry about since it just might be that your brain isn't working that well anyway.

A bike to me is on the edge - at lower speeds, not much to worry about - but at high speed - you can crack your noggin good.

I personally don't wear a helmet very often (almost no one does here) - and I keep my speed to no more than 20 MPH. I suspect overall, that is safer than having a helmet and going at speeds that are much higher than I am comfortable with.

I think a helmet is a tool that you should use as you see fit. I wear one about 75% of the time. Think about your commute and about wearing a helmet. Make a decision and ride your bike.

Helmets can help in some accidents, but in others they are worthless.

They may even cause accidents: https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...et/5334208.stm

I respectfully disagree. The purpose of the bike helmet is primarily to protect your bean from the inital downward fall off the bike. Even at low or no speed, if you fall off and whack your head just right, it can kill you.

However, the effectiveness of helmets seems statistically debatable; I prefer to wear mine, but I don't try to convert others.

You're all grown ups, so you can decide for yourselves. For me it's not the length of the ride, or type of riding that affects my wearing a helmet. A helmet is for an accident you won't ever be able to predict.

Whatever you decide, don't dangle the helmet from your handlebars. I see that all the time & makes me laugh. What is the helmet doing there? Is it a bike ornament? Protecting the handlebars? Or did the rider feel some pang of guilt & decide to take the helmet along, but not to wear it. Bizarre...

I've yet to see a convincing reason to not wear a helmet. Your choice, though.

LMAO

Since becoming a father nearly 2 years ago I've been wearing a helmet every single ride, even if it's a 5 minute sprint up the street to my buddy, etc. I lock my helmet in with my ULock so I never forget it, and it prompts me to put it on as part of my routine (unlock bike, put helmet on, carry down from the deck, put cyclocomputer on, lights if required, buckle helmet, get on and ride).

My outlook changed a lot at that point. Previously it was inconsistent use, often with really long periods of never touching the thing - my maturer mind now wonders how I ever survived my childhood/teen/University student years of craziness on a bike.

Worse than this, IMO, are the folks who WEAR the helmet but keep it unbuckled... WTF? Seriously...

Now, I don't know if this is classed as dangerous, but I do sometimes (very rarely) take my helmet off if I'm stopped at a long light change - this is only to ruffle my hair and get rid of some heat, wipe my brow, etc. - in the summertime of course. I do wonder about being rear-ended at this point...

I've been mocked by people (both friends and cagers) for my helmet, but I just brush it off - it's a safety device, not a fashion statement - and IMO, fashion is all a load of shallow BS anyway

I was going to post a flip, sarcastic answer but the OP seems sincere. So, here's my sincere answer: It's a minor inconvenience (hot and unfashionable) to help prevent a statistically small but very real possibility of a catastrophic injury. To me, it's a no-brainer (if you'll pardon the expression).

But I'm the kind of guy who always splits a chip on 0 and 00.

Safety device?! Mine is partly red, so it makes my bike go faster.

Apologies to the OP for my initial comment. It's just that the helmet question is a bit of an ongoing thing that often becomes a flamewar... (but for those that know the history of this kind of thread, ya gotta admit: That's a funny picture.)
In all seriousness, I wear a helmet on my commute but I'm known to leave it behind when I'm just going across the street to the grocery store. My commute, although mostly MUP, is also mostly in the dark (in the morning) so I'm more comfortable with the brain bucket on my head. My grocery run means cutting through the parking lot of my apartment complex and crossing the street to the grocery parking lot. I'm not too worried about that one because I'm not going far or fast.
If I'm going anywhere else that requires I'm on the street for a while, then I put on the helmet.

I've seriously damaged three different helmets in three different bike accidents by hitting my head hard on the ground. I would have been hurt pretty badly in all of the accidents if not for the helmets.

I have a 5 mile (each way) commute and I wear my helmet every time. For leisurely trips of a quarter mile or so, I only sometimes wear a helmet.

I do ride my bike at speeds of up to (i'd guess) 30mph if the wind and hills are favorable, but for any speed beyond what I could run I consider a helmet necessary.

I wear one nearly all the time...I used to only wear one when MTB'ng and it took me a couple of concussions before I began wearing one off road. It's funny I live in a state with no helmet law for motorcycles and roughly 98% of the cyclists I see wear helmets.

The key to me on the helmet thing was a lot of trial and error. I tried numerous helmets over the years and I will say they have come a long way from the Lycra covered styrofoam cookers that I hated to wear. Now I still hate the thing at times in the summer...but since I have begun using a helmet I have never had a crash(knock wood)...whilst commuting anyway...offroad that's another story.

I think any sensible bike commuter would and should wear a helmet...it's common sense...but to each their own...I do ride a fixie every-so-often without a brake so who am I to say.

If falling off the bike is the issue to hit your noggin, why in the world don't you wear one all the time? Not sure, but my head seems to be a lot further from the ground when I walk. If you take it to the logical extreme...

By the way, the only time I have wiped out serious was in suburbia - got hit from behind from a car.

Of course, down this way, we have sidewalks, roads, etc. that disappear over night - you always assume the worst with your fingers on the brakes. You keep your speed down too if you have any sense.

I feel much better without the helmet - the helmet irritates me, distracts me and perhaps might encourage me to do things I shouldn't. However, this is not saying it might not be a decent idea to wear one.

However, I am also aware that people think you need hand rails on all stairs, sidewalks with no cracks, etc, etc, etc, none which seems to be critical to survival.

At some point you just assume life is fatal. However, take my statements with a grain of salt, realizing I moved from the first world country to a third... I might be a little more risk tolerant than most. ;-)

I must live by a bunch of dumb-dumbs then since I almost never see adults wearing helmets. That is why I posted the original question. If i do see someone wearing a helmet they are cruising on a road bike. The fastest I have been on my MTB is 22 mph...no real hills to take advantage of by me, and I have meaty knobby tires. I usually cruise around 15 mph. I probably could have answered my own question without even asking. A head hit at 15 mph could certainly be fatal.

Most of the people in my area don't even wear helmets on motorcycles. Helmets on bikers are even rarer.

Thanks for all the input.

It would be a shame to say I knew better ... after the fact.

Always wear a helmet when riding. The human skull can be damaged in a natural fall, add 14 - 20 mph to the equation, asphalt or gravel, and complicate it proximity to moving automobile and it is dangerous enough. Reduce the seriousness with a helmet. Concussion, broken collar bones, and scrapes will heal. Permanent damage is what you need to prevent.
I took a tumble with other experienced group riders a month ago. I'm told there was nothing I could have done and it wasn't my fault. The scapes are nearly all healed. The styrofoam broke all the way thru in 1 place and cracked 1/2 way thru in another. After I got our location wrong 3 times and not being able to remember my home phone they would not let me ride to start point. Also have ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact information on you.
6 1/2 miles or 6 1/2 blocks ... wear your helmet ... ride longer.

The proximity to moving autos is the real helmet deciding factor for me. I'm more likely to get in a fall situation if I have to make an emergency manouver to avoid getting doored, hooked, etc. I always wear my helmet when street riding.
The speed factor is why I wear my helmet on the MUP. I've been in some high speed wrecks, and feel that the damage my brain bucket took was better than having smacked my bare dome on the pavement.
If I was worried about "natural fall" damage while riding across the parking lot to the grocery, I'd also wear my helmet when I was walking to the video store, in case I tripped on a crack in the sidewalk.

Not sure it is fair to call people dumb-dumbs when wearing a helmet hasn't been proven to save lives or protect from injury. Do you research and see if there is a clear case that helmets save lives. I suspect you are reacting more from propoganda than from research. This is why this issue is debated. Notice there is a lot of debate on whether brakes are a good idea.

Lots of pros and cons on this issue - if you get out of the USA - you will find most people don't wear helmets.

However, I suspect you should wear a helmet since you are more comfortable with the idea.