I've noticed the same thing in my area. Especially if I'm just out for a quick rip and I'm not wearing my helmet (I know I should always wear, but I don't) I get cold shouldered by all the commuters. Nothing but smiles and greetings in passing when I'm wearing a helmet though.

screw 'em. I'm not going fast enough to need a helmet when I'm hauling supplies. The point where I need a helmet to go 10mph is the point where I need a helmet to walk around too.

It is a fine line between passionate and crazy, sometimes we all cross it…

Hey Sean... it's good to see another Edmontonian here.

I see quite a few folks riding around without helmets... many of them are younger ladies who are riding old cruisers with baskets and although I would like to frown on this... it can be a little difficult.



I wear my lid 99.9 % of the time.

I almost never wear mine. I'm young and very meticulous about matching. I'm working on my Utility bike and trailer right now. A '68/'69 Varsity, and an '06/'07 Burley Flatbed. THe Varsity is green with green bar tape. When my cetma rack arrives I will wrap the tubing in green bar tape along with the trailer's tubing, LOTS of bar tape. I also have a set of green pannier's from Velo orange in mind. I always wear a green polo when riding this bike + green COnverse Shoes. Hopefully all of this bar tape and rack will arrive in time for Critical Mass this friday

Here is what I want it to look like eventually + a trailer

An image of a utility biker captured by my digital camera today in Washington DC.

x2. Pretty much what I was thinking.

That's because of this:

Majority of roadies I have ever met were snobs, weekend warriors with superiority complex, cagers-on-bikes, etc. and yes, that projects back at them. When I ride my commuter/utility bike and I see a roadie I just automatically assume he'd think low of me and I just don't bother greeting them.

EDIT: Oh, one more thing: IMHO most roadies are into cycling either as a recreational activity or a sport/exercise. I said "IMHO" and "most", I know there are roadies who are into other types of cycling as well. It hardly ever affects their lives in general (unless they're serious sportsmen). They don't commute by bike. They drive shopping. They ride indoor trainers in Winter or don't ride at all.

On the other hand, by definition, utility cycling becomes a part of your life, year round, it affects your life or is affected by your life. You don't have the time nor the need to change into fancy clothing to do a run to the supermarket or pick up your kid from school. So, when I come to think of it comparing roadies to utility cyclists is "apples to oranges" type of comparison. We're even further apart than the guys in the Ferrari and an old pickup truck.

***

I like to project an image that says: "This is an un-cool, slow and heavy bike that will be useless to you and it belongs to a nutcase, STAY AWAY!"

On a serious note, I don't shun any type of clothing as long as it serves its purpose and doesn't have too many logos. I might wear cargo pants and wool sweater one day and a bike tights and a bike jersey the other. - it depends on the weather and type of ride/job/destination. I often mix all kinds of clothing: working, hiking, beach shorts, basketball tops, with more typical bike clothing that often results in really weird look but it's comfortable.

Adam

/don't mean to start another helmet war, just a comment!

I started wearing a helmet more religiously since my front wheel skidded on ice at about 3mph going up the bridge and I slammed the ground in a nanosecond, so fast that when I was lying sideways on the pavement I still had my hands on the handlebars. I had a bump above my eye the size of an egg cut in a half lengthwise. The helmet was cracked. I believe the helmet save me a trip to the ER and several stitches.

So, my belief is quite the opposite: a helmet can help you more with minor incidents at low speeds where you might end up with a bump instead of open cuts and road rash on your head. If you slam into a lightpost at 25mph I doubt a helmet would make much difference. Much less when you're hit by a car. I don't wear a helmet when touring, because I don't believe it'd do much when I'm run over by a vehicle going 40+ mph.

Based on my experience working in an ER, and having talked to the ER docs about this subject, the consensus is that helmets are fairly worthless over a certain speed. Maybe 30-40ish. At highway speeds, such as on a motorcycle, the consensus where I work is that helmets keep you alive perhaps, but your brain is mush so you are basically kept alive by machines indefinitely. Now, you get down into the 10-30 mile per hour range or so, and the consensus in our little ER world is that helmets definitely help you, and prevent significant injury. There is a definite difference in the severity of injury between helmetless and helmeted at under 20 or 30 mph when your head bounces off the pavement. Hence, I wear a helmet. To each their own, and you can quote whatever studies you want. I see it frequently at work, so while my experience is anecdotal, I've seen enough head trauma to wear a helmet myself.


15-20 mph wipeout from moving bike, definite advantage to helmet.
80 mph wipeout from sportbike, eh, you're probably meat anyway at that point.

Agreed...no helmet war. People get way too upset about it. I can only go by what I see on a weekly basis.

Agreed. And yeah, that ought to be an awesome thing to be a part of! I'd love to be a part of something like that. I never heard of anything like that in NYC NYC appears to me more lame every day And you'd probably need a freaking permit in NYC to do something like this

I don't want to search the net right now but I seem to remember reading that cyclists fatality rate is 100% if hit by a vehicle moving over 45 or 50mph, don't remember exactly, regardless of whether they were wearing a helmet or not compared to something like 10% (again, don't remember the exact number) when hit by a car moving under 30mph, and 0% if the vehicle was moving slower than 20mph and at those speeds those with helmets are less likely to sustain life threatening, disabling or long lasting injuries. Therefore, in slow-traffic urban setting helmets are more useful than on a road with fast moving traffic.

I also know people who worked in ER (I work for a medical school and a large medical center and many of my users are doctors, residents, medical students) and they said that most cyclists who died from being hit or run over by a fast moving car had such massive internal injuries that they would have died from those alone regardless of their head injures.

Cargo biking without style?....

What about a roadie who is riding his utility bike and wearing street clothes?
What about a utility cyclist that is riding his road bike with bike clothes?

You think a roadie would think low of you? That's in your head not on a bike.

You can't tell what someone is thinking by looking at what they ride that day, and what they are wearing, it's absurd.
If one rider has a lots of coffee he may be happy if you don't wave. If the same rider has no coffee, and is feeling low, the same actions will seem negative.
Negative people will have one opinion, positive happy people will think differently. What about a MTB rider when he is riding his track bike? Or the opposite? I'm all of these things and many others. What about the family recreational rider on his touring bike? What about the tourist riding his slow trike with a dog in the back. Does that make him more friendly? Does that mean he does not have Two Litespeeds?

The look and the bike does not tell you what someone is thinking of you. Get a grip guys.

Flame on!!

Bailey don't need no steenking helmet.

Disagree. Many, if not most, roadies are just roadies. They don't ride anything else and they despise other types of cycling and anything that's heavier than 20lbs. Sure there are people that ride all sorts of bikes. But that's not the kind I was talking about.

I spotted this guy today who looked a little down on his luck, but maybe he's just dressing down.


Maybe he's moving his stuff.

someone give that man a pump.

Biking on a big dummy has so much style it doesn't matter what you wear, though I would like the deck accessory in the first picture.

I guess not, judging by the silly hat and purple capri pants.

There are plenty of people like that for sure. It partly depends on where you live and who you know. I know only one guy like that, and plenty of multi bike people. I do think it's good to not make up your mind until you know them.

Sadly, Adam's experiences match what I've seen here. There's a fairly large cycling club here in town. I'm the only one who commutes. I'm the only one who rides a steel bike. No wait... one guy just bought a 26" wheel LHT. I'd like to think the miles I've ridden with him on my steel MTB might have influenced him, but probably not. Every group ride, somebody's suggesting "Man, if you had a real bike, you'd be fast!"

I've mostly gotten over being annoyed by it, but it still annoys me sometimes.

Well, if you saw me on a group ride, or a solo ride while in roadie clothes, you'd be making the wrong assumptions about me, at least. I also commute and haul groceries by bike. I don't know about how much utility cycling others in my riding group do, but I do know they're mostly nice people sharing a hobby that they enjoy and keeps them in shape. I enjoy your posts, Adam, and I'm kind of surprised to find that you're prejudiced against such a large subset of cyclists.

That pretty much sums up my observations. Our local club is very successful but dominated by roadies(pretend racers). I went to a monthly meeting last night,of the 25+ at the meeting,I was the only one who rode a bike to get there.

Marc