I know kids have that habit of sticking peas up their noses, but your habit of sticking gravel in your ear is a perplexing one, you might want to reconsider doing this sort of thing.

(touch wood for both of us when jesting)

So who's interested in crowdfunding development of an aerodynamic, Teflon coated carbon fiber scrotum for the unlikely possibility that any of the "helmets are too heavy" crowd ever decides to grow a pair?

What happened to the reply I sent earlier this morning?

The prblem with an aerodynamic helmet or any helmet much longer than it is wide is that it can greatly increase the chances of sustaining a rotational head injury. A round helmet reduces that chance.

Cheers

Now that I think of it my dislike of helmet weight likely stems from wearing a composite helmet when I was in the army. That thing can get your neck really sore after a few weeks, but also does grow some nice neck support muscles.

Still don't like to wear a useless styrofoam pot that still has worse ventilation than no helmet at all.

People here like to rave about useless weight but no one questions a helmet. If touring was a dangerous form of cycling like DH or Freeride I'd get it but usually it's not. My touring is typically relatively slow with a ridiculously stable loaded bike. It's safer than my commuting, which also is extremely safe

Good luck staying out of the ICU.

My first nice bike was a Bridgestone I bought in 1986 and I was doing a turn on a country road and went down. Granted I was going very slow but my whole body slid down like butter and all the centrifugal force went to my head taking the full force of the blow. What a jarring hit I took. I have no doubt I would of suffered a horrible head injury if I hadn't had my helmet on.

Made a believer out of me. As a critical care nurse I know if the brain is injured it doesn't matter how healthy the rest of your body is so its smart to protect it. I never wreck on my road bike now and was smug about it til I was riding my Bridgestone again 2 yrs ago and the chain got caught in the front derailleur while I was standing on the pedals. This time I went sliding down the road protected again!!

So no matter how good your bike handling skills are you can have a mechanical. My fav helmets are my sworks(bought by accident) and my las. They both adjust by a dial in the back and are super comfy. I wear a wide lulu headband under as it seats better and is more comfy.

Has anyone tried those brims? Like to get one of those from adventure cyclist.

We believe in safety first at my house. As far as others not wearing helmets I strongly believe in children wearing them even in trailers and as far as adults 'thin the herd!'

Squeezebox your a nurse? Where do you work? I've worked icu in stL 86-15.

Took this last night of a friend of mine at a Nite Ride. I can't tell you how many decades old this Bell helmet is but "Fred" loves to flaunt it at times, Ha

"Image is everything"

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/m...obow7/011a.jpg

rbow:

He needs to adjust that helmet. It is tilted too far back ;o)

Joe

Perhaps the mounts could have a break-away binding system. I haven't used a front helmet light but they seem to give a good safety advantage in some situations. On a cold rainy day I was envious of another rider's helmet that had cooling slots taped over with tent tape. Technically applying adhesive stuff can void warranty but actual contact area was minimal. Couldn't helmets have cooling slots that channel rain away & also block direct sun?

Camera mount, yes. Besides vanity, camera could be valuable evidence for car/bike accidents. On USA tv there's ads for a cheap car dash cam--in Russia supposedly dash cams are required equipment due to large amount of insurance fraud.

I now wear my helmet everywhere in large part since the SafeZone helmet-mount mirror obviates needing to rotate head to look behind. Actually I think the SafeZone mirror contributes more to safety than the helmet itself since it allows one to view both front & back near-simultaneously unlike other mirrors I've tried.

Ignoring the completely racist undertones to this question: millions of people in the Netherlands ride rickety bikes with no helmets. I can't wait to finally get my GoPro footage edited and compiled into a video, but one person I was following had their back wheel on so loose it was wobbling sided to side a few inches with every pedal stroke. When one gets around on a bike exclusively, helmets become more of an annoyance than when doing point to point riding. Plus, all the same thoughts ElCruxio is displaying about people thinking what they are doing is safe, so a helmet is pointless. When one is biking out of necessity, rather than pleasure, maintenance and prestige of chosen bike is as careless as comparing an average motorist to a vintage car enthusiast or weekend club racer.

I've had two "bad" crashes. Worst was mountain biking on a track I had no business being on (your first example), and the other was on my slow tourer in safe Europe biking back to the hotel after dinner (your second examples), that nearly ended the trip the night before it began and did end up cutting out some distance and sights we had planned on. Thing about crashing? You don't generally expect it to happen, or you'd take measures to counteract it in the first place. I've had the fortune of learning my helmet lessons on both bikes and motorcycles without any permanent damage, but it isn't hard to see how all those situations could have turned out completely different.

I'm not sure how much the necessity vs pleasure thing affects their helmet usage. I see that the Netherlands has a fairly high rate of seat-belt usage. Seems that biking w/o helmet (or even with one) would be more dangerous than driving w/o belts. True, they have lots of bike paths/lanes but in Amsterdam some of the bike lanes are a thin strip crowded between parked cars & passing traffic. Driver are used to bikes but folks make mistakes.

Dutch have their cycling tradition but I'd guess that in the future they'll start to use helmets. In the USA it took a long time to increase seat-belt usage, now we have high rates. In 2013, 184 Dutch cyclists were killed in traffic accidents. A low # considering km's ridden but still it makes one think. BTW I find it interesting that while tens of thousands of Americans die in auto accidents (presumably a large % of those due to head injuries) there's no movement to encourage helmet use by car drivers. Yet American parents make their little kids use helmets to ride 5 mph on sidewalks. Might as well require helmets on kids all the time since most of 'em can run just as fast.

Not that I particularly preach this myself, but it isn't hard for me to see how taking it on and off and carrying it around or stashing it as you go about your daily activities is a bit more tedious than clicking in and out of a seatbelt that never leaves your car. Did it on my motorcycle, and it just is not fun having the thing sitting on tables, on the bar top, in your hand as you're walking through a store, sitting out hoping it doesn't get stolen, popping the seat off to store it on the motorcycle helmet mount, etc.

The folks I talked to in the Netherlands also told me every few years a mandatory helmet law comes up for debate, and is almost immediately scrapped because of fears that large numbers of people will quit riding if they are forced to wear a helmet. The gov't sees far more health and infrastructure benefits from a public that largely cycles than saving a few dozen lives by mandating the helmet. Short of the elderly and group riders on go-fast bikes, people simply do not wear them there. Maybe someday it'll catch on, I doubt it. Seatbelt usage never really got high here until it was mandated and tickets started getting handed out (and some of haven't even learned our lesson even with a couple of those :rolleyes: )

Race with a hairnet helmet in the 70's, I switch to the Kucharck because it was the best out there and only slow racers used a Bell. Had a Skid Lid in the 80's. Never had a Bell, they were Fred before Fred was Fred. Brancale was another popular hard shell in the 70's.

Used to see a woman on the bike path who wore a motorcycle helmet, perhaps she had a medical condition requiring extra protection.

Don't know if any of you follow GCN videos, fun YouTube channel to keep up on bike stuff, roadie and race stuff, but they just did a comparison with a 1998 and 2016 helmet to see which is cooler.


As I started this thread more with my memories of very early 1990s helmets, it's pretty evident that this 1998 one would be a heck of a lot cooler than my first helmet from 91 or 92.

Anyway, figured it might be fun for you see this video.

Thomas Stevens and Frank Lenz both wore helmets during their world tours (1884-1886 & 1892-1894, respectively). Mr. Stevens credited his with sparing him a nasty injury.

first thought it was a typo, then the names began to ring a bell (more Lenz)....
made me think of a fellow who on crazy guy rode a penny farthing on (I think) an around the world trip, sometimes wearing a Pith helmet--which while completely goofy (the helmet I'm referring to) totally fit the part and looks great with him perched up there with it on.
Now riding a Penny Farthing around the world, thats pretty goofy also, but also totally wackily cool....

Whew, 'round the world on a Penny Farthing sounds tough! Saw an exhibition by some L.A.W. guys, just mounting (on level smooth ground) takes some finesse.

Yup, I've ridden one and while it was a totally cool experience, the miniscule downward slope on it gave me but a hint of how any sort of downhill would be absolutely terrifying.
I just had a flashback of one of his vids, going down a hill into Death Valley, his legs up over the bars cuz of the fast cadence.

Meant to say, " the miniscule downward slope I went down on it", being a fixie, no brakes, your cadence speeds up and you can only use your legs to try to slow the pedals and hence your speed down.

Here's the death valley vid

When my girls were young we bought some of those kiddie seats that go behind the rider so they could ride with us, seemed like a good idea at the time (late 80's into maybe '90). Part of our regular ritual was to load them up with those giant white styrofoam helmets (from Toys 'R Us or somewhere) and we would all ride into town to eat breakfast at a local greasy spoon. Walked in one day with their helmets still on when the waitress asked why our kids wore bedpans on their heads! I will always think of that when I think about early helmets . . .

Today I wear a Giro, probably the cheapest one on Amazon that wasn't pink. I'm happy enough although may "upgrade" some day. My girls wear the same I think now that they are adults.

Those old kiddy helmets made 'em look like mushrooms to me. OTOH little kids now usually ride in trailers but they still have helmets despite that the trailers seem pretty safe. Plus kids wearing helmets in trailers often seem a bit uncomfortable w/the helmet against backrest.

My 15 or so year old helmet is really no different than what's current today. I guess you'd have to go further back to see any real difference.

Unless you have the price tag. I had to replace one last month, and my wallet still trembles from the experience! (My head can't tell much of a difference.)

LBS, here, stocks $50 'ish' helmets.. to get the high end, just like the Pro's wear,

you have to go to the upscale Shops in the big cities... Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Olympia.

Helmets can be expensive & it's not esp clear that more $$ ones have better safety. Lighter is more comfy but since (AFAIK) most helmets use similar materials isn't there less protection?

I raced a hairnet my first year, 1976. Started racing open races the next year and bought the Bell just so I'd be wearing it in the next Cat 3,4 pile-up. No sprint here; there was no way I could "ride the front" all day to stay ahead of those crashes. That pile-up never happened (well I rode around quite a few), but that decision saved my life a month after the season ended. I got to be Bell's poster boy for the Boston area cycling community. (I had fun with this years later. I was then living on the west coast. When I went back, I would go to a bike shop I have never stepped in before, go to the helmet display and wait for a salesperson. That salesperson would start his pitch citing my accident.

Another poster said that only slow folk wore the Biker. 1977, two of us wore Bikers in the Maine International and finished in the lead group, in the money and under the old course record.

Oh, those hairnets? The word in the peloton was that we were wore them so we could have open casket ceremonies.

Ben

And as for expense vs safety for modern helmets: think about who the manufacturers are marketing the expensive helmets to - racers and wannabe racers. Racers pay big bucks to be fast. That means the best possible balance between weight, aero and comfort/heat dissipation. Notice that safety does not show up. CPSC standards must be met for a US sold helmet. So manufacturers are burdened with making the CPSC limits while finding that optimum blend of the important stuff. Improving safety would come at the cost of at least on of the elements of weight, aero and comfort/heats dissipation. Those high end helmets are going to toe closer to the CPSC minimum than the Walmart job because real engineering time is spent to get there.

Bottom line - if you want safety, stay away from big dollar helmets. (Except that the MIPS technology may radically lower your injuries under the right conditions.) I paid real money for the POC Trabec. Better safety at the cost of aero and weight. (Surprisingly comfortable, even in hot weather.)

Ben

Here in Montreal, it seems to me that the difference between a $50 ish helmet and a $100 one is in the mounting hardware, ie more comfortable ratchet system and foam cloth stuff. As someone who rides as soon as ice is gone to when ice appears, a better quality adjustment system is nice because I often change what I wear under the helmet, varying layers etc. Plus a nicer fitting helmet in warm weather is nice too, so worth it to me to spend a bit more.
That said, I don't feel there's any real difference in protection, although I think it's fair to say that a better mounting system that holds the helmet on your head properly better will be an advantage in a crash. I have neighbours who rides with their helmets tilted back poorly on their head, not very effective..... That said, I think most new helmets have reasonably designed rear support systems to hold them in place, even the 35 buck ones, the materials just feel more chintzy, the turning ratchets for example.