isn't it lovely to have the helmet haters cluttering this thread? Back to the OP's questions:

I paid $50 for a Specialized Air Force 3 two years ago. The padding has worn out, and the ventilation was never great. But it mounts a light nicely, and I have taped up the vents for winter use.

In summer I use a Bell Volt ($112). Same helmet Cadel Evans wore on the tour. Unreal ventilation, keeps the sweat out of my eyes, overall fantastic summer helmet. Tried the Giro Prolight but didn't like it nearly as much.

Is there real science behind helmets turning into pumpkins at ~5 years, or is that marketed obsolescence ideas so companies stay in business?

I totally understand the one-good-smack-and-you're-done aspect, but not the shelf life.

I'm surprised at the surge of non-helmet users here, and pleasantly surprised at the civility of co-existence of alternate viewpoints here. Vive le diference is an e-rarity in these forums. Though of course those of you who don't do as I do are destined to burn in hell for eternity, at least we can be nice about it for your short time amongst the living.

1) Airius http://www.amazon.com/Airius-Furius-...436232&sr=8-17
2) $30 - it was the cheapest helmet at the LBS that fit over my bun. (I have very thick hair that went down to my backside before I cut three inches off, so my bun is pretty significant)
3) A crash where it absorbs a good deal of impact, and/or finding one for under $50 that matches my bike. (Gawd I'm shallow.)

Ha ha, I'm a paramedic and I work in the local ER...all it takes is imagining the looks of disgust on my co-workers' faces if I'm ever brought in after a sans-helmet accident to make me pop it on, even if I'm just toodling around the parking lot.

Then again I'm clumsy enough that I probably shouldn't change lightbulbs without full PPE. :p

ditty-dit-dit-to

Glad you clarified that. I was scratching my head for a second trying to figure that one out.

I used to run a neurosurgical unit, but I've drawn a different conclusion. People assume that helmets save a lot of lives and even more brain damage - something must be better than nothing, right? - but actually the evidence seems to suggest otherwise. Counterintuitive, I know, but as more people have worn helmets we have not seen a commensurate decline in the number of head injuries per mile cycled. So while I have no objection to other people choosing to wear one, I am concerned that too many overestimate the protection a helmet can provide.

Not trying to start an argument here, there's a thread for that purpose in A&S. Just pointing out that knowing the consequences of head injuries doesn't necessarily equate to knowing what works in preventing them.

Meh. I'm a mechanic/salesmonkey, not a buyer in our shop. Like I said, I'd switch to Nutcase in a heartbeat if we carried them, especially the Glo-Brain model with the brain painted in glow in the dark paint. Visibility!

http://www.differentbikes.ca/images/...seGloBrain.jpg

mtalinm -- very little little angst from the haterz, especially in light of the few evangelical pro-helmet comments. I agree more with slcbob. I commend those who choose not to wear helmets for their restraint in this thread. Maybe YOU should lay off the haterade a bit or take your negativity to the "Helmets n+1" thread in A&S, where it belongs?

Hmm, it seems those who don't wear a helmet merely answered the OPs questions honestly and without further comment up to around post 60 and the first posts that went beyond that and into the realm of moralizing horsepucky were posted by a few who wear helmets...then you, of course. What we don't need cluttering this thread are holier-than-thou, busy-body, nanny-state morons looking to start a fight. Like you, for example.

1, schwinn brand
2, cheapest at walmart
3, probably never since its main use is carrying in to work to avoid those "where's your helmet" questions. And an excuse for walking in anywhere drenched in sweat.

edit, main use for me that is. Not to cast aspersions on those earnest individuals desiring to keep their brains unscrambled.

ding, ding, ding. Round over, dont start bickering. Commuting is a happy place.

LOL. Tell that to those in cars or on trains.

I wear a (usually) wear a helmet for three reasons:

• It gives me a convenient place to mount my mirror
• With a cover, it keeps me warm in the winter
• I avoid road rash on the scalp - that just sounds bad

I'm under no illusions about brain injury. Most bicycle helmets won't protect the face either - that scares me, but I don't want to wear a full-face helmet.

Get the full face helmet, your face scares us too! :twitchy: :D

1) Giro Hex
2) 60 washingtons
3) got it cause it beats a cracked skull. Will probably replace it when i feel that it is "worn out"....a few years since It has some dents and scratches.

I had:

Bell Agressor II, bought around 2001
Paid I don't know, maybe $35 for it?
Got hit by a car 3 weeks ago, it's cracked pretty bad, time for a new one.

So if I smear my face on the pavement it's an improvement? Then you don't really want me to wear full-face....

:)

1. Bell Steve McCann Skate board style helmet. Charcol grey

2. About $35

3. I needed a helmet since I commute but I look stupid in the aerodynamic bicycle helmets. Plus I don't go fast enough for aerodynamics to really make a difference. I went with my teenage kids and my wife so they could help pick out a helmet that didn't make me look like a 47 year old dweeb. At least with this one I actually look like I could be a S.W.A.T. cop.

I Have 2. A Bell Furio I bought in 2008 for $30 and a Bell Sweep I won last year in a club drawing. I use the Furio for cold weather riding, the Sweep for warmer weather.
I guess I'll replace them after a fall or if they start to look a little rough around the edges.

Bell Alchera
$50 at Performance
Crash or end of season

I bought this in 2003, put a couple hunred miles on it and then my knees gave out. I started riding again in 2009 by commuting. I'm not sure how to tell when a helmet needs replacing, but I don't want to risk my life for $50. Actually, I fear brain damage more than death.

For everyday commuting etc:
1) none
2)£0
3) N/A

For riding in ice/snow or off road, I have a fairly old helmet somewhere. It's a while since I last wore it so I can't remember the manufacturer. It's probably not the best, but I don't do enough riding in poor conditions to warrant a replacement.

I wear a Giro, don't know model.
I think it was around $80 at REI
I'll probably replace it in the next year or so (it's about 3 years old now) with something TBD. I'll try on a few and find one I like.

Paul

1)Bern Watts

2)$35 shipped
3)Same one or similar

Brimmed Trek.
Paid $40 I think.
When I crash it, it gets too grungy, or in 2015 (Bought it last year).

One of the NYC DOT helmets, the green ones
Free
when the padding goes bad

Bell Citi
On sale
Pretty soon, as it's grungy and falling apart inside and dinged up outside

I have stopped wearing a helmet.

Last summer, after being attacked by two friendly, won't hurt a flee pit bull mix dogs and then laying in the rode with a broken femur sticking through the side of my leg as a result while the "friendly" dogs continued to attack me. Oh, so, after fighting the dogs off and passing out several times in shock and after laying in the rode for at least 30 minutes in 110 degree heat before a person came along and another 15 minutes before a cop showed up, guess what, did he ask me how I was, where it hurt, could I move my leg? Noooooo! Did he ask me if I was in pain, if I needed water, if he could put something between my head and the burning hot road, nope! Guess what he asked me as if to blame me for my broken leg, yep, he asked me if I had a helmet on!!!!!!!!!!!! WTH, the helmet I had used to whack one of the dogs and it came off my head anyways.

Why is it no matter what part of you is scuffed up the first question is "did you have your helmet on" and I am like if you notice it is my aXX and leg that is scuffed up, my head is just fine. What the heXX good would have a helmet done me?

Helmets make my head itch and as for the friendly pit bulls, I got something for them and it is not a helmet.

LC

My co workers ask me why I carry a frame pump when I use CO2 cartridges for flats. I tell 'em it's my dog whackin' stick.

Because a head/brain injury could be life threatening. A compound femur fracture, in comparison, not so much (provided the femoral artery hasn't been severed).