I see more ladies than men, the guys tend to look often like work commuters, boots= like they might not even OWN a helmet.

The ladies however are often young, on cruisers or classics, doing the 'hair show'.
Less cyclists than voyeur -gers.
I find it has the reverse effect, I think of 'unprotected' riding as uncool, not sexy.

"When cycling...or in bed =put some protection over your head."
The babe in town that rides a Ritchey..she had a helmet....stone fox.

Maybe on the MUP or 'country lane'...city riding minus a lid is not so smart.
I've rarely seen a mtb'er offroad without.

Most KIDS are smarter than some adult cyclists.
It was nice to see so many riders today though. ....even the dumb ones.

My little bike+rant for today.

I didn't realize that comas and persistant vegetative states were fashionable. Who knew?

It's all the rage now. Haven't you been watching any TV, man!

Next you'll tell me that feeding tubes are out.......

i saw some statistics showing that in the UK only 18% of cyclsts wear helmets.

I never use my helmet, but i always wear it

i have not hit my head from cycling since i was 10, that was 1 of those- get on brothers bike-brakes very strong-brake to darh downhill-go over handlebars moments, it was offroad so i think i was shocked more then hurt!

Did you know some cyclists, now im not llaking about bike riders, actual proper cyclists like you and I, decided not to wear helmets because they think they are 'counter intuative' you have a full sense of security with it on so are more lightly to crash. well lets hope for there sake that the lack of a sense of security will help protect there head when they hit the ground after 3000 pounds of steel strikes them at 30mph

I wear a helmet. It's politically correct. However, IMHO, it's protective merrits are suspect.

I'm usually not one for trying to divide cyclists into different groups but I find this to be an interesting thing amongst those who consider themselves as MTBers as opposed to those who consider themselves to be roadies. Coming from the MTB culture, even though I also am a roadie, I find that in MTBing, helmets are regarded as cool whereas that's not so much the case amongst the roadies. I think it's because as MTBers, we crash often and we crash hard so we've become more aware of the advantages of protection and we tend to know more about what works and what doesn't in that regard.

Once did a slow-motion endo on my mountainbike - planted the front wheel in a small ditch. Felt like I was ballance strait up and down on the front tire for ever before falling forward and landing strait on top of my head on the far streem bank........ saw stars for a few seconds...had a helmet

Not without a court order they aren't!

my thought exactly...untill a week ago. As i am now switching to road, although will still do some mtbing, well i ways talking to some one, turns out well yeah on offroad its obvious you crash more, but on road when you crash you really crash! How does hitting the road whilst going at 50kmh sound to you. You may not come off every other week like oyu do offroad but a lot of the roadies have a very serious crash every year or 2!

Good one, and timely too

Enjoy

The Pope is on a feeding tube now.

Stigmata

Then there are those, like myself, who think xc helmets looks really dumb but wear them anyways, so my brain stays semi intact. I wear more than just a helmet though, I usually have one other pieces of armour as well. Never know when that drop or jump will call my name

A mind is a terrible thing to taste.

Enjoy

The cute girls I see puttering around the USC campus on their cruisers are probably not at much risk for a head injury at the just above walking speeds that they use. I for one am all for those long blond locks flowing in the wind, not to mention the short shorts showing off those cycling legs. There has to be some benefit to living in this terrible city.

I mean if they were on a road bike doing 20mph then yeah, I would agree they look pretty stupid. But doing 8mph on the sidewalk for a 1/4 mile you'd be hard pressed to even skin your knee if you went down.

If you are looking at a beautiful girl on a bicycle and the first though that pops into your head is, "she should be wearing a helmet." maybe you should check if you didn't already fall on your own head?

I watched a little girl, about 8 or 9, fall off her bike from a dead standstill. Her head hit the ground, and her helmet broke into two peices. This fall was from an 11" frame 20" wheel bike! At a stand still! She did skin up her elbow.

This whole hair thing is the major impediment to my convincing my wife to commute to work. She knows I won't let her ride without a helmet and she thinks it's too inconvenient to do her hair when she arrives.

It's a girl thing, I guess.

My favorites are still the ones who ride with the helmet hanging off their handlebars like the handlebars need protection! Why even bring the thing along if your not going to wear it.

As far as other people wearing them or not, I figure it's their business not mine. I wear one and my kids wear one, that IS my business!

Although we have donated our bodies to science (back in the 70s, before it became 'fashionable') we always wear helmets while riding our tandem or single . . . why rush your demise?

Hair doesnt grow through scar tissue.
I've 2 little bald spots on my head that are 25yrs old from a ground strike while jumping bikes, no helmet.
I had the wheel come off at the top of the ramp and I endo'd headfirst onto the road...say 6 foot fall.
Some little road rocks clipped the follicles out and punched indents into my skull.

Having blood flushed from your ear canal is pretty nasty too.

Falling the wrong way even from a standstill can mess you up badly, I cycle offroad, have very good ballance skills and having skateboarded for years =know how to fall, distribute force. I almost never hit my head, the times I do -I have a lid.

I doubt any cycling novice on a cruiser is going to pull of a ninja roll to save her knoggin.
The people I see not wearing helmets are not serious cyclists, lack skill and are the most likely to be injured as they often ride sidewalk onto crosswalks, and have little plan as to deal with bailing off a cycle.

I'm just not able to fathom unsafe as cool, driving without a seatbelt isn't cool.
Rockclimbing without a helmet isn't cool.

We all need to learn Shaolin Cycling.

Sounds to me like the real problem was not tightening the wheel properly...

I overshot the landing ramp first try and broke my rear spokes.
My friend who modded his bike to run like mine (pre-bmx, you had to make jump bikes),
lent me his for a second try. No I didn't check the bolts.

Evil Knievel was a bad sports hero for me to choose.
Back then we used to skate ramps without helmets too.
Crazy kids.