Righto Joe, didn't know that, but yup, my intention was really just how much more wearable they are over the years of me riding.

Re visors, I guess they do look mountain bikey and along with my helmet mirror and handlebar blinkie white light I stick on the visor also, they aren't very aero (reducing my top speed attempts by a few kph I'm sure), but I have to say it's great keeping the sun off your forehead and out of your eyes when riding into a lowering sun.
There are a few times i wish I didn't have one when really down in the drops, but for the vast majority of the time they are great in my opinion. Kinda like driving a car without a sun visor.

I've got a cheapie Schwinn branded from a regional big box Wal-Mart competitor. Think it cost $18, it is incredibly comfortable and cool. It is quite amazing how much better it is than what I used (or didn't) as a child.

The Netherlands is a different beast. First off, nearly everyone rides a heavy, step-through city type bike. While I'm not naive enough to say you can't wreck one, the things are dang stable and people generally aren't sprinting out KOMs on them. Secondly, the bike is simply part of their life, like our cars. It is how many people get around, how they go about their lives. You don't see anyone in the Netherlands in cycle clothes, either, skirts and peacoats for the women and suits for the men are far more commonplace. Carrying around a helmet to everything you do would make it a hassle that many people would simply give up, it is a large part of the reason everytime a helmet mandate comes up there, it goes nowhere in a hurry. The government has decided the benefits to the majority of the population regularly riding bikes far outweighs the few dozen people a year that could have avoided serious injury or death had they worn one.

Tellingly enough to how our uses of cycles differ, though, nearly every person we saw over our week on recreational rides kitted out on a road bike had a helmet on, we were some of the few on road bikes without helmets.

I'm actually the opposite. I love my helmet in the heat, far cooler to wear than my ball caps. When it drops to 60F or lower, I switch to my wool blend ball cap.

And Spain supposedly mandates them.

I'd very much doubt a visor drops your speed a few KPH. Agreed on the drops, they aren't great when I am pounding something out with my head down, but the other 99% of the time I love them. I don't really care if I look mountain bikey, I am far more concerned with what is effective FOR ME than what "looks" right. They fit right in with my MTB shoes and baggy MTB shorts and unbranded polo-looking jersey on my road bikes :)

I have a Bell Piston, a Bell Solaris and had some trek helmet that 'got lost' on this tour as I just didn't use it.

The thing about hats vs helmets in hot weather is that you can dunk your head in water, then dunk the hat in water and when both get dry, repeat. Much nicer than ventilation that's still goin to be inferior to having no hat at all or a wet hat.

Molded plastic grid on the lots of air flow designs, is now added to the mold then the EPS is put in, around it.

and the thin, Thermo plastic shell is also Placed in the mold , prior to the foam being injected.

Some helmets do Both

Only works if humidity is pretty low. In my area, you'll just get even more sweaty and disgusting if you try that route. There's also nothing stopping you from doing something similar with a helmet.

Me too. My Giro is great when it's hot. Ventilation is like nothing's there, plus I get some shade, and even a bit of sweat band. Old helmets were very hot by comparison.

I have had or worn at various times:

Skid Lid - not hot but not great protection
Bell Biker - hot and heavy
leather 'hairnet' - it is what it is, cool looks not much else
Brancale - hot but decent protection
90s style foam with lycra cover - less hot and totally dorky
early microshell - marginal improvement on the above
modern Giro - not not, not heavy, could look better


WRT fashion, I think modern helmets like modern sneakers are grossly overdesigned by fresh out of school art center grads. They have all sorts of pointless useless swoopy shapes and pointy things, and for the most part are covered with hideously overdone tasteless and gratuitous graphics.

So a hat AND a helmet. Like I said, the weight is an issue when pushing 700km in seven days. I'd rather not get my neck sore because of the few hunded grams. There's a limited time I can wear a gopro even and that's much more important in my opinion

My first helmet was a Skid Lid, around 1980, I think...

My Dad had one of the hard shell Bells.

My first, I think, was a fabric-covered type. I got it as a teenager. I don't remember having one as a kid. My 80's childhood was prior to the rise in popularity.

For maybe the last 20 years since they got polycarbonate shells they have seemed substantially the same.

I too appreciate the sun protection of a helmet compared to wearing a hat because of the air moving better through, but hey, whatever works for you.
Personally, the weight of my helmet doesn't give me any sore neck issues, even after a 600 or 700 km week, and I'm a pencil neck sort of guy--again, that's me.

FYI, at least on the helmet I have, the visor is removable. In rainy, cold weather I take mine off so that I can put a helmet cover on.

I knew this was going to go through the whole belittling phase. FIY, it's not that I can't, it's because I 1) don't want to and 2) because at the end of the day the extra weight is still more uncomfortable than if the weight wasn't there, especially if looking up at the sights/mountains a lot. If you keep your face facing the road I suppose it's not as big of an issue.

Next we should start comparing deadlift results and body part sizes to determine the tougher guy, eh?

Hardly belittling, just many have a hard time understanding a few hundred grams causing neck pain when no helmet does not, especially when a soaked hat is hardly lighter than many of today's helmets. All of us understand perfectly well the answer "I don't want to wear it". I didn't personally want to wear a helmet on my last tour, so I didn't. Granted, crashing changed that outlook for the future, but for that particular tour I didn't wear one out of nothing more than not wanting to.

In any case: GoPro on your handlebars takes care of that issue of yours! Plus, frame grabs make contributing to the "Behind Bars" photo thread much easier :)

...you must have the neck strength of a toddler.

I like my helmet - light and vented. In fact, i wish it were *more* vented! Alas, i'm too cheap to buy another one that is better vented.

I cannot feel the weight of my helmet *at all* - though i do wear a 19 1/2" neck size dress shirt so a dinky little styrofoam helmet isn't going to cause me any discomfort. Even with my "Take-A-Look" Bike Peddler mirror attached I can manage the weight.

Crux, that's unfortunate you took my answer that way, nothing was intended.
Safe riding

Aren't you giving a mature impression..

How do I feel that every time there's a helmet discussion and someone prefers not to use one, a fanatic gets all twisted inside and starts throwing insults. It happens all the time in the helmet thread.

Come to Europe, where cycling is safe enough for no protection is needed. It might open your eyes and you may also grow mentally a few years (because when speaking of toddlers and your attitude, well....)

I would ask everyone to please keep the topic and tone to the reason I started the topic, which simply came from having memories of my first bike helmet while touring and how they have improved so much.

If you have other contributions, feel free to add.

I would add that the strap systems, and especially the rear "cradle with tensioning ratchet" systems are great for both holding a helmet on properly compared to the older systems, and especially for quick easy changes of adding or removing warm head gear depending on the temps--which I do a lot in the beginning and end of season riding.

The manufacturers really have to come up with great adjustable strap systems compared to the older stuff.

I wear mine all the time, don't even think about it and also gives a place to mount one of those small mirrors so I can tell what color car is trying to run me over. I've mentioned this before on here- one problem I have with my Giro helmet with all those fancy vents is that I was getting a really funny sunburn on my head due to my thinning hair (hey, I'm 63 so it's OK). Now when it's sunny out I put on a do-rag before my helmet. It makes it fit a bit snugger and a little hotter, but better than having my family laugh at my sunburned spots on my head.

never wore a helmet growing up. would jump the old
murray 10-speed over ramps, down gravelly dirt trails,
never a care.

first tour decided on a helmet....cause of those crazy
drivers in europe....had the golf-ball style bell with
clip-onto-glasses mirror. (cotton shorts and athaletic
socks, too!)

at one time had one of those freaky alien-looking
aero helmets. (on sale, $5 closeout from nashbar)
made a hell of a racket in hail storms.

really liking the new style, dial lock fit, super light
weight, excellent ventilation, sun visor....just need
to wear a doo-rag to prevent sunburn.

I'm not bald, okay? I shaved my head. Do you under stand?

How come I always have to get the sake?

I was just in Europe. I just crashed in Europe. It hurts as much as when I do it in America. Luckily I managed to keep my helmetless head up and off the very hard cobblestones, but I don't presume I will always be able to do that.

Re sun, I recall reading a cgoab trip journal of a fellow biking in Mexico using one of those "da brim" thingees that goes over your helmet and recreates a wide brim like a big cowboy hat, or a big straw hat, or an Asian peaked "workers in a rice field" hat--basically the whole idea of keeping the sun off your face and neck isn't new, and being genetically British, I do have to be careful, so I do appreciate even a front visor (and am careful with applying sunscreen, at least 50, it works great)

When I was going through nursing school some time ago. I spent a bit of time in the head trauma ICU. Very sad to see those kind of injuries. Most people never really fully recover.
Helmets are a good thing.

Sitting in my basement is an old big fat leather "hairnet" helmet. Late '70s? Kirkland?? Kirkxxx (something)
The leather chin strap needs replacing as well as the the chin strap snap. I really should get it fixed. With a Retro wool jersey!! Break out the toe clip pedals too!!