This, boys and girls, is how one amasses over 45,000 posts

I made a panic stop at over 15mph and endoed head first into the back of a motor home. Even though I walked away with probably a mild concussion (no ER visit), my ball cap had a huge dent in it...thank god for that ball cap, I would surely have died without it.

Dude, if you feel like you need to wear a helmet, wear it, if you don't, don't, and quit worrying about BS or what others think.

I'm amazed this thread has got so far without descending into a flame war. There's over 120 pages of debate on this issue in a single thread in A&S, if you're interested and have half a day to spare.

The world is, apparently, full of people whose lives have been saved by their helmets. Which is puzzling, because in the places where helmets have been made compulsory they seem to have had little or no effect on the number of serious head injuries to cyclists. There are endless links to the evidence for this in the aforementioned A&S thread. My favourite post in that thread ( it isn't mine, I think it was SixJours) goes something like this:

"Years ago, when cyclists fell off and bumped their heads, they got back on their bikes and tried to avoid doing it again. Now they rush off to post in Internet forums about how their helmet saved their life."

Wear one if you feel the need. But in the sort of accident that might kill you or leave you on a ventilator, they probably don't make much difference.

I like 'em. They work in many cases, but not all. I'm typing this because two years ago, one worked for me.

Maybe mosts bicyclists that crash don't need to go to the hospital because they were wearing helmets, so you don't encounter them. Motorcyclists are going so much faster that I expect they end up in hospital much more frequently after a crash.

As for fashion, there was a lot of resistance to helmets. It's taken decades to become the norm, after finally being mandated for racing at all levels.

It is not the norm. Helmet-wearers are in a minority in Europe, quite a tiny minority in some of the most cycling-mad countries. And most of the pro peleton don't wear helmets when they are out training, they wear them in races only because they have to. Again, I'm talking about Europe, don't know the American scene.

That's argument #1 against. Honestly. Driving a Ford Pinto from A to B will make you look stupid and probably not get you far with the women but it does it's job.

Maybe you're not wearing it right.

Given the physics involved, eventually it will stop being effective.

A) I think we need data supporting your claim please. I've scraped people off the road that would have lived had they been wearing a seatbelt.
B) I guess it's safe to say that the reason my body hit the ground during my wreck and I didn't land on my feet is that I'm bulky?

Congratulations on surviving this long. What do you do when you crash and you're heading towards a wall? Hmmmmm...

Someone's already commented.

Thank you for making that point.
As for me and my crash story, had I not been wearing one I'd be missing parts of my scalp. But to each their own. Someone once asked me what was the real point in wearing a full face vs skull cap helmet on a motorcycle(I don't ride btw), and I replied, "Open vs closed casket." I am a firm believer that wearing a helmet never killed anyone though.

Helmets are definitely "the norm" here in Australia ... most people use them. It just looks normal to see cyclists with helmets. And both Rowan and I have numerous helmets to match our different bicycles or jackets.


We were in Canada for 3 weeks recently, and most of the cyclists I saw were wearing helmets, but not "most" like in Australia. "Most" in Australia = 90+% of what I've observed. "Most" in Canada = maybe 60% of what I've observed. Just my observations. BUT I had a bit of a chuckle at my reaction when I saw the first Canadian cyclist without a helmet ... my thought was, "What are you doing?? Do you really want to risk a ticket like that??" but then I remembered ... it's not illegal to ride without a helmet in Canada.

It's so easy to get into the habit of using a helmet, especially if everyone around you uses a helmet, it seems perfectly normal to wear one.

You may well be mistaken about that, there are suggestions that wearing helmets can in some cases increase the severity of brain injury because the sort of injuries that do real damage are rotational, they cause your brain to bounce around inside your skull. And your reference to losing parts of your scalp is relevant here, because one of the good things about scalps is that they tear, thus allowing your head to slide along the ground rather than catch on something and rotate. Messy, but less likely to kill you than a helmet creating friction and twisting your head around.

Nobody can prove this. However, there must be some reason for the fact that increasing helmet use has made virtually no impact on the already low incidence of head injury to cyclists. If helmets really worked as people assume, that could hardly happen, could it?

I crashed and burned in a race in '09... walked away a believer in their value.

Here's a few aftermath photos. Entire bottom right section of helmet blew out, crumbled and cracked in 5 places iirc. My head would have absorbed that impact; how can anyone see this and say my helmet didn't help?

If the Lord himself stopped time in the instant you knew you were going to crash hard and offered you the chance to strap on a helmet, every single one of you would put it on.

Deep down, we all know they are safer. That doesn't mean we have to wear them.

We all know 1500 calorie per serving Triple Chocolate Delight is not good for us, but we eat it anyway. If the Lord stopped time and told you this was the piece that was going to give you a heart attack, we'd all put the fork down.

You may be a surgeon but doesn't the E.R. doc see the patient first? Or were you an E.R. doc and then a surgeon later?

I'd wear a bicycle helmet.

Unfortunately, there's not very many bicycling companies out there that design gear that doesn't look like it was fished out of an alien's anus.

Double post.

Not to knock this guy after reading his horrible story...



But with posture like that, he would have been crippled by the time he was 50.

i understand both sides of the argument. when you look and see that a bike helmet is just styrofoam, it's hard to believe it does much. but i went over my bars at 25mph 6 weeks after getting my bike last year, landed on my shoulder but then smacked my head REALLY HARD. My first thought was "that didn't hurt at all" if I didn't have my helmet on, I would have been in big trouble. I do think there are some types of bike accidents where a helmet wont do a damn thing because they don't cover the whole head the way a motorcycle helmet does. At the end of the day unless the anti helmet people can show some evidence that wearing a helmet is actually MORE of a risk than not wearing one, I'd rather wear one with the understanding that it may not actually help at all.

When I got my bike last year I wasn't going to get a helmet "we never wore them as kids, they weren't mandated back then, I turned out alright" but then I decided that as a kid I didn't live in NYC either. I lived on a quiet, dead end side street in a town of less than 10,000 people. There was a lot less risk there.

I feel a little naked on my road bike without my helmet. But having said that I think I have ridden longer helmet-less. I've only been using a helmet for the last 19 years.

I've come to think helmets can mitigate damage not eliminate it. A really powerful head blow is gonna do some damage.

I've ruined three helmets in the time I've been using them. Once when I hit a big pothole at speed while drafting a Jeep. I broke, I mean crushed four ribs in this accident and had no clue that I could have hurt my head until I removed the helmet and it fell apart in pieces. I really do believe the helmet saved me from a serious head injury.

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the comments and thanks for keeping it somewhat civil.

Like I said before, I wear a helmet now and will continue to do so. It doesn't bother me like I thought it would, so why not?

My question was really just about how effective the current design is. It just seems to me that unless the impact comes from the top it wouldn't be that effective at actually protecting your skull. My temples and the base of my skull are pretty much exposed. Seems like if I crashed and my shoulder or back hit the ground first, my head would hit the ground at an angle where the bottom edge of the helmet would catch the ground first, and the helmet would just need to rotate a tiny bit for my skull to be susceptible to injury.

Isn't wearing a helmet required by law there in Oz?

That is why fit is crucial.

Incorrect, at least in my case. But then again, I am the Lord himself.

Yes.

Of course that doesn't mean that everyone wears a helmet, but most do. They're almost a fashion statement.

There are obvious compromises between "effectiveness", comfort and style in bicycle helmets, otherwise not as many people would use them. A truly effective helmet would be hot, heavy and maybe even uglier than they are now.

Yes, but even with a properly fitted helmet it's still essentially a cap on a dome. It can still rotate/pivot out of place with enough force. Mine fits me perfectly. It has the adjustment knob on the back and when I start cranking it down the helmet feels like it's attaching itself to my head. However, unless I crank down the chin strap so tight that I can't open my mouth to eat, it will still be possible for the helmet to shift under impact.

I'd rather wear it and never discover if it works than not wear it and discover one day that I would have been better with one.

If it shifts under impact by definition it's already absorbed as much of the impact as it's intended to. Having gone head first into the ground at 35mph I can attest to their effectiveness.

If you still feel unsafe strap on one of these