They where helmets sometimes don't they?

BLASPHEMY!

Interesting Bek...you always use Europe as an example when it comes to facilities, but how many of the Europeans that use those facilities wear helmets? Don't they crash over there?

Of course, it's pretty much required in all events for the last couple of years. Ever see any of the pics of the training rides of some of these teams, including Discovery here in the US? Not a lot of helmets.

Of course NOBODY is saying not to wear a helmet (well cept maybe that silly study that prompted this thread)...you gotta do what you feel is right for you. What is irksome are those who think they are somehow smarter or superior to those who make the choice not to wear them...so I tend to return the same attitude in kind...ya know, the old treat people as they treat you. Get all high-n-mighty and uppity and I am gonna laugh at you and not take you very seriously.

+1 for what Chipcom said. If you want to wear a helmet - cool, your choice. If you want your kids to wear one - that is fine too. If you think the whole world should wear one - fine too - you have the right to have your opinion.

Just understand that if you include the whole world, you are a MINORITY - and realize that the USA is where people don't depend on bikes normally for transportation.

Perhaps the real thing is that most people in the USA are lousy cyclist?

or maybe the majority of people in America can't see the forest through the trees? They focus on one thing, and miss the big picture.

They focus so hard, they will it to be so, even if it has little merit to be so. It's that American never give up, stay the course, I'm right, even if no one else understands focus that plays well when success follows, but no one looks at when it doesn't work out well.

well maybe a helmet works out well for bek because, as I've posted before in this link https://www.cyclehelmets.org/papers/c2023.pdf , cycle helmets are made for 5 to 14 year olds. Seems like a good fit for bek.

I would think that threads like this prove without a shadow of a doubt that for most of us, are heads are hard enough to survive just about any impact...

post #56

your insults roll off my helmet shielded brain, closetbiker My, you can be rude and insulting!

Chip, all I know is, I CRASH, sometimes when I'm least expecting it and usually the helemt has some protective effect. not magical, mystical effects, but actual, felt (or not felt) effects.

So, I'd recommend to wear a helmet. it hurts less when you crash, as far as I can tell. When I crushed the windshield of a Jeep, then went down and hit the pavement hard enough to black out and come to, with the wind knocked out of me and a broken hip, I am confident the helemt protected me from more serious injury.

And all the times I rolled it while drunk biking- those darn curbs jumping into the middle of the road!

I am confident my helmet use has been beneficial over the last 20+ years.

My opinion, my advice is: ALWAYS wear your helmet. It's not IF you crash, Its' WHEN you crash. You don't get to predict the when.

How about using a little more common sense - don't ride your bike while you are drunk? You come off like those of us who don't use a helmet are stupid or something - and then the truth comes out - you ride a bike drunk. Guess which one is more dangerous?

Give me a break.

My advice - don't drink and drive, either on a bike or a car. A car, you might kill someone else, on a bike, you might kill youself.

bosh, I used to drink and bike. its not like that's uncommon. Give you a break? OKAY. you are certainly free to ride helemtless in lightly travelled Costa Rica, avoiding the oxcarts and the substandard bridge photos you post. American Suburban and city riding is a bit different, with different operating and safety parameters. There's your break.

I'm recommending riders wear a helmet.

Its not IF you crash, its WHEN you crash.

myopic tunnel vission

Dude, below the belt! Bek is good people.

blahblah blah. myopic? hmmm......that's what the data shows, eh? the vast majority of bicycling deaths in america were among helmetless cyclists.

for safety's sake, always wear your helmet, because it's not IF you crash, it's WHEN you crash, and the cyclist doesn't get to predict the "when".

I'm cool with your recommendation, caveman biker dude! That don't mean I gotta listen though.

and that is so true, chip. I'm no helemt nazi, just a "have crashed plenty" road rashed old fart.

And I have no issue at all with you recommending to whoever you wish - but I will take issue if you act like wearing a helmet protects you from doing dumb things like getting drunk and riding your bike.

Do people do it? Sure. Is it smart? No. After all, your noggin isn't the only thing that can get hurt. But, each person has their own issues that bother them. Me, riding sober without a helmet makes more sense being drunk with one. You can add going at 40+ MPH on a bike too.

Chipcom is just an old out of shape guy, he doesn't have to worry about going to fast... (sorry dude - couldn't resist )

I've always liked to think that, the day we finally meet, it will be because you have become my hood ornament. OK, now I'm just getting sentimental...talk amongst yourselves, I need a moment...

This from a guy who gets dropped by burros ridden by mamacitas!

actually, crtreedude, my helemt DID protect me in more than one drunken crash when the curb jumped right out and bit me! and the times I crashed without the helemt, wow, the blood and the hospital bills.

Now, I am NOT recommending helmets as a panacea to drunk biking.

When I got hit by a guy's trailer last Sunday while riding at 40 mph, my helmet took most of the impact when I hit the road.

Thankfully, the helmet did its job and dispersed the energy that would have been transmitted to my skull. I didn't get knocked out, nor did my pretty bald head end up with a bunch of nasty road rash.



What's not shown is the cracked and buckled styrofoam pieces on the inside of the helmet.

FWIW, this is the second helmet I've wrecked (the previous was about 10 years ago in a mountain bike accident).

Based on my personal experience, helmets work. They may not be perfect (nothing is), but they're cheap insurance, and they do their job in most accident scenarios.

Hey, some of the burros can dial it up to 400 watts and drop you like a bad habit!

I believe the vast amount of data shows that the vast amount of brain injury were not amongst cyclists and that cycling could make a significant reduction of impact on those brain injuries. What was the quote from the piece? Oh yeah,
and from https://www.elbowvalleycc.org/evccbhl.html

80% of brain injury is due to aquiring brain injury, primarily through heart attacks and strokes. Around 1% of brain injuries are due to bicycle accidents

if the vast majority of bicycle deaths in America are to helmetless cyclists (where the vast majority don't wear helmets) what do you think the vast majority of deaths in a country that have a vast amount of cyclists that do wear helmets is for helmeted cyclists? What's the common denominator? Collisions with automobiles. What's the mortality rate for those that commute to work on a bicycle and those who commute by car? It's pretty clear. Ride your bike, you'll be just fine.

Thanks for the signature, finally found one I like!!