:(

Like, for example, writing posts that make you come off as SUCH A BADASS, BREH?

Giving me epic ******chills.

This is the best helmet thread ever

Keep this thread low profile, all hell breaks loose when S&A discovers this.

Too late!

I don't wear a helmet, not because they're uncool but because they're unnecessary. Yes, I've heard all the stories of "if I hadn't been wearing my helmet I'd be dead" - they're sincere, but mostly mistaken. Ordinary cycling helmets aren't rated to give protection against the impacts that are REALLY going to crack your skull - they'll save you cuts and bruises, but rarely brain damage. Cycling is pretty safe and helmets haven't made it safer. As helmet use has increased, the already small incidence of severe head injury to cyclists has not declined. So they are, in my opinion, pretty much a waste of time.

Were I a downhill MTBer, I'd wear one, but it would be a full face helmet that gave meaningful protection. On the roads, I can cycle well enough that the only thing likely to do me serious damage is being hit by a motor vehicle with an inattentive driver. In that event it is unlikely that a helmet would give me much protection. No helmet.

"Only on a long ride. Not on commutes." comes the closest, but it's not length of ride, rather severity of ride that dictates my helmet use. Ice, snow, doin' tricks, riding off road, etc.

My only single speed at the moment is a heavy old cruiser, so I never wear a helmet on that thing. So I went with Safety Fourth. Safety Next.

I'm in the "All the time" category. I figure it's better to wear it and not need it than need it and not wear it.

/thread

Depending on speed or force of impact, a helmet may or may not help you. A seemingly innocuous impact can have dire consequences. Knowing that, isn't it better to err on the side of caution?

I understand the argument that a helmet provides a false sense of security. Do you wear seat belts in a car?

Not ragging or lecturing, just trying to understand the rationale.

Seatbelts work. However, I agree with aMull. There's enough debate about this in A&S without helmet threads metastasising throughout the forums.

Just because a helmet may not protect in life-threatening situations (according to you) doesn't mean it still doesn't help.

In both my case and a friend's, we both had (separate) accidents while wearing helmets. Had we not been wearing them, no, we wouldn't have died but probably would have at least gotten a concussion and a nasty cut/bruise. And in my case, I would have lost a great deal of my hair and scalp sliding sideways down a paved road at 20mph, so yes, I think helmets are useful.

NOW /thread.

Cool story bro.

I couldn't wear my helmet today because I left it in my girlfriends car.

Im not going to agree with you here but I wont exactly tell you wrong either. I have a friend, this friend snowboards 3-5 times a year. (Being from Mississippi thats alot) Since he was 15 years old (21 now) he has had 6 concussions all taking him to the hospital 3 of which required multiple day stays and 1 of which caused an airlift off the mountain and took him 2 weeks to learn to speak again. All happened while he was wearing a very nice very safe snowboarding approved concussion resistant helmet.

Now, I know hes not a wreckless rider (ive ridden with him many occasions). Just ambitious sometimes. Did his helmet fail? No. It was fine. All doctors can say is he is more apt to having these neurological occurrences take place than others. Long story short, will a helmet save your life? The correct answer is maybe. There are just too many variables for you, or the helmet company so say with any kind of reasonable perspective to say what those percentages are. But you know what? I want to be on the right half of that equation if I ever have to be.