Guys and Gals,

Talk to me about helmets. I noticed at the Monster Track gathering that very few ppl wore helmets and a few were sporting the oh-so-nicely-retro hairnets. ( as well as more layers of clothing than I actually own. Poor Northern Hemispeherians )

What's the general attitude towards helmets amongst you groovy 'Merican urban fixie types? Too ugly? Too sportyboy-lycra? Not 70's enough? It's not illegal not to wear them so you couldn't be arsed? Just a rebel looking for head trauma?

If you were to dream of a helmet that rocks the fixie way-of-life, what would it look like?

( Or, if you couldn't be stuffed and think all these questions are lame and would rather actually bang ya head to some music, check out www.thegrates.com )

i wear a helmet if i'm gonna ride more than a few blocks, and i'm trying to be better about wearing it all the time.
my brain works pretty well most of the time, and i'd hate to break it.

I'll speak as someone who has recently returned to the helmeted fold.

When I first started riding around here, I was a good doobie and wore my helmet like I was always told. Ultimately I found that the lid provided enough of a disincentive to riding that I would lose interest in going out when I thought about suiting up. I finally decided that the feeling of wind in my hair and keeping it simple was worth the possibly marginal increase in risk.

The fact is while there are tons of studies that seek to establish a correlation between helmet use and lives saved, the fact is that they're pretty much all flawed in various substantial ways. Further, there's no evidence reflected in the macro statistics (annual death tolls) that shows that the dramatically rising rates of helmet use have had ANY effect whatsoever. That's a pretty remarkable deficiency giving the supposed efficacy cited by the pro-helmet crowd, wouldn't you say?

But I finally returned to wearing a helmet late last summer after I got my mountain bike. See there was no way in hell I was gonna go banging around the rocks with my noodle out there in the open. Well, while I was at it, I figured that while I wasn't convinced that helmets were really all that I also couldn't see a good reason not to wear one. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary, common sense seemed to suggest that a helmet could do at least some good and I was a pretty intrinsically motivated rider at this point, so why not give it another whirl.

And here I am now. I go out the bucket goes on and I'm pretty happy with that setup.

i wear my helmet all the time. i used to only wear it when i was going to be playing around on my BMX, but then i got wise.

i own two helmets. an old protec skateboardy helmet that i wear to and from work and to bars and such. mostly because it's designed to take multiple impacts, unlike my new bell furio. i only wear that when i'm out for a road ride. i got tired of being looked at like i had six heads when i was out riding in my jersey and shorts and this big, giant relic of a helmet. the old one was also too hot for longer rides.

i wore a helmet at MT, and i i'll try to wear it more on weekend rides. but i'm a messenger, and i have to take my bag on and off all day. plus, i use sunglasses with the strap that goes around my head. so if i had a helmet, i'd have to take it off every time i entered a building. no way. not at work. no brainbag.

I try to always wear mine. I think it looks stupid, but I already look stupid to most people since I'm on a bike and I'm older than 5. Yeah, it's true that it may not necessarily help but it certainly isn't going to do anything bad. I have enough trouble holding onto knowledge and whatnot without major trauma. I see quite a few people riding down the wrong side of the road without helmets. Geisterfahrad. My German sucks.

I used to not wear a helmet because it was uncomfortable and uncool. Then my mom bought me a nice quality helmet when I built my first fixed gear and asked me to always wear it. And I have been ever since. When I ride around now without it I really feel that I should be wearing it. How can I break a promise like that to my mom? Come on, shes so nice.

I only wear one when I'm hitting the trails with my SS.

It'd be much appreciated if the helmet nazis kept their collective mouths shut.

I will never ride a mountain bike without a helmet. Because I know how often I eat it doing that. Lame excuses I know, but when I'm on the IRO, I have this feeling that me vs. 2 tons of improperly controlled steel and plastic, well I'm going to lose lid or no lid. So since I don't fall, and I don't feel threatened in a gridlocked traffic, and the only place with moving cars around me is usually when they are moving at about 40 mph or higher. I figure the helmet wouldn't save me, and if it could, then I'm okay being an idiot for not wearing it. I mean, I keep hearing I'm an idiot already for not having a break, so this is just the natural evolution.

Feel free not to wear a helmet - I'll gladly let you have my share of brain damage.

As someone who has broken several helmets, I won't ride without one. Absolutely moronic risk, if you ask me.

Edit: Oh yeah....specifics. I'm riding in a Specialized Decibel. Light, airy, and I maintain that it looks very cool. Much cooler than a bare head or a bloody gash and a respirator...

It's difficult to say long term. In the short term, mandatory helmet use actually lead to an INCREASE in per capita head trauma, because overall bicycle usage declined dramatically initially. What we're seeing now is an institutionalisation of helmet usage here in Australia and it has shown to decrease the possibility of suffering from head trauma ( helmets protect your head, who woulda guessed ). I do agree though - a riders chance of actually suffering from head trauma is very low, and I can understand the 'calculated risk' crowds' attitude fully.

From a personal perspective as a guy who's banged his head numerous times, I think the benefits outweigh the negatives for me. Still, as a 'commuter' and inner city type, I don't feel like there's a helmet out there that suits what I do.

somtimes common sense is good. if i fall on my head, i want my helmet to be in between my head and the ground/car/wall.

i wear my helmet all the time. picked up a catlike kompact for about $50 off ebay about a year ago and have loved it. before that had a crappy bmx helmet that made me sweat like a dog's tongue.

My understanding was that the decrease in ridership exactly offset the decrease in casualties such that per capita injuries for cyclists (not the general population) remained essentially unchanged. I assume we're talking about...umm...NSW I think it was. Anyhow, your side of the planet.

Interesting. Any links to studies? Helmet use here has climbed from just a few percentage like 15 years ago to something like 40% (my dates and figures may be a little loosey goosey but they're on the order of what I'm claiming which is all that really matters for this exercise) now and yet there has been no shift in annual fatalities that can't be accounted for by the continued decline of youth cycling.

The funny thing is, is that studies have shown that fear of injury is less of a factor than peer acceptance, although it doesn't seem the case with you guys, which is interesting. ( not that 12 responses exactly qualifies as 'statistics'! )

Trevor, I currently have a 15 page bibliography on this stuff, but the Australian Studies were done by Carr, D et al. 1995, and McIntosh, S. 1995. Hard to believe those studies are now 10 years old; I'm suprised someone hasn't exapnded on them ( which they probably have because I'm resonably new to all this ).

I have children. I wouldn't want to explain why they have to wear helmet if I don't. Helmet goes on for a ride, always.

Well say you get hit by a car, go flying, land on the ground and have the possibility to avoid a 2nd disaster by rolling out of the way. Had you bumped your head the 2nd disaster could possibly not have been avoided. I have hit my head on concrete enough times on a skateboard to know that i dont want to do it on a bike. Speed kills!

i wear mine all the time. i've spent way too much on school to have it leak out onto the pavement. i don't like it, especially in the summer, but to tell the truth i mostly forget it's on once i start riding. it's only taking my bag on/off that becomes troublesome.

i used to ride without a helmet sometimes but one day i was luckily wearing my helmet and i cracked my helmet in half ina car accident. now i know that helmets are the way to go

I hate wearing a helmet, but I do for the following reasons:
1. obvious brain protection
2. no insurance
3. I would hate to have "cyclist not wearing..." on my epitaph
4. makes me less of a hypocrite when I rail on light-less night riders
5. provides immediate explanation for hipster rolled cuff pants

I wear a Giro Eclipse which fits perfectly, but isn't all that when
it comes to style. I've tried skate style helmets like Bell & Protec
which looked cooler, but required XL sizes for my odd shaped
melon. Any reccomendations people?

jeff

oh & if you don't wear a helmet, i could care less.
if you wear a full postal kit i'll call you lance. :)

Oh, #5 is a good one. That's definitely one of the advantages, especially for a guy like me who rolls 'em up to the knee. I still look like a dork prancing about in knickers, but at least people have SOME clue as to why I'm a dork. (Or maybe just how I'm even dorkier...whatever)

I hate road helmets, I think they are ugly and tacky with their multi-colours and zillions of air vents. I spent a little money on a plain black BMX helmet and it is a joy to wear. Really comfortable. I don't feel as confident zipping through traffic brakeless if I don't have it on.

thats my deal too

I always wear a helmet, Pneumo or Spec S1. The Bell Metro is cool retro looking helmet, might get one of those.

For those that believe they are so good they will never fall and or get hurt, one of our long time customers, Ray Lassiter, a very experienced rider and racer, showed up for a group ride and had forgotten his helmet. He always wore one but figured he never crashed so he went without, and had a freak single bike accident, not a scratch but he hit his head and it killed him dead. We have a memorial in the North Raleigh shop.

I ride with a full face helmet, but that's because I have more money invested in my grill than people in the Roadie forum sit on, as a result of a few crashes. I get weird looks on the street, but I get to pretend I'm the Road Warrior. Now all I need are a pair of those 661 downhill gloves to complete the look.

I just picked up a helmet too. Just decided it was time. Now the hard part is remembering it all the time when I ride...