On my way to work this morning, coming down the West side river path approaching ground zero (never forget) when this guy zips past me.

Now let me be clear I am an advocate of Helmets, but I also think everyone should have the choice, and I try NOT to be preachy. But isn't carrying your helmet and NOT wearing it kinda ridiculous. Think about it,,, how stupid would you feel if you crashed, hit your head and your helmet was hanging from your arse or your handlebars? Talk about embarrassing.

oh yeah.. I see several helmets hanging from handlebars every day. Anyone do this? why?

I don't.. Looks like a good way to scramble ones brains and bruise a hip..

Agreed, of course it's stupid.

But riddle me this Batman, isn't taking a picture while riding a bike in a busy urban environment equally dangerous.

That's to let you know they at least have a helmet, and maybe have thought about using it.

I took my first tumble off my commuter two days ago...even though I tucked and rolled (either through instinct or dumb luck) and came away with a few scrapes and muscle pulls, there was a nice little roughed-up spot on my helmet where it struck a glancing blow off the pavement as I rolled. I much preferred the helmet getting scuffed, rather than my head. This was only at about 15 MPH, too...

My friend was riding her bike to work one day. She didn't want to mess up her hair [her own words], so she had her helmet on her pack, not her head. She didn't feel safe riding along the residential streets without her helmet on, so she rode on the sidewalk instead. A car backed out of a driveway and shhe hit it, and subsequently fell to the ground. She had an abrasion high on her forehead, in a spot that would have normally been protected by her helmet.

I gave her a lot of grief over this, including a finger-wag. I bet if she were back in Montreal, she would ride her velo sans helmet in the many bike lanes without ever thinking about it.

Well...that's dumb for sure. It would be much easier to just wear it imo.

Hell yeah... but I'm cool like that, riding my Mongoose BMX, leaning back and relaxin! But I drew the line at trying to post this from my BlackBerry while I was still riding.

Maybe their helmet use is situational?
Only when they leave the house because gf/bf/parent/spouse make them.
Only when on the open road in traffic.
To use when a cager commits an offense that isn't quite u-lock justice level so a swing of the helmet will work just fine.

Or maybe they just like to take helmet non-usage to the next level and really flaunt that they don't need one.

Actually I do see this.. On weekend mornings you will often see the road racers going home from an early morning race in Central Park, they stick their helmets in their brake cables and sometimes have a race wheel over their back. These guys probably don't choose to wear a helmet on a daily basis, which is fine, their choice, but they need one for the race. But still, it they get hit by a car with the helmet on the handlebars.. embarrassing!!

It's for when you pick up a passenger.

Much more so, I'd say. Glass houses, stones, stuff like that...

Someone could make a lot of money selling robes and gavels here when there is a posting about helmets.

Gay people have issues with helmets.

Brokeback Mountain "tough-guy" hollering *****exuals in pickup trucks whom are insecure with themselves have issues with cyclists, cyclists wearing helmets AND cyclists wearing spandex.

I see this alot... usually among younger cyclists who might very well be heading off to some social event.

In the circles I travel in, helmet head is considered to be damn sexy.

Really ?

He must be speaking from personal experience.


And to the OP, i see this all the time with motorcycles, too. Whatever. It's no business of mine, nor do I care.

Nut with a grudge.

Try harder.

Just think, had she been wearing a helmet you could have come on here and talked about how the helmet SAVED HER LIFE.

I think somebody's taken one to many knocks to the head without a helmet...

Yes...anytime someone wearing a helmet has an accident another helmet-saved-my-life story is added to their repertoire.

I have some, and I plan on having many many more. And glad to be around to tell them.

Maybe you saw a bike thief making his getaway and you as an idle citizen did nothing to stop him.

Yes, and they do it for all the same reasons above - as well as for when they cross into states that require helmets.

I do it when I go between the train and where I parked my car about 1/2 mile away. I take my helmet off when I get on the train. The ride afterwards is on a slow MUP. I don't break 10mph on it. If I were to interact with traffic at all I would put it on immediately.