We all know the importance of wearing a helmet

[Stihldog]

Yeah. I miss the days when we could stand in the back seat of the car while it was traveling, or not having to wear a seatbelt, or chat on the cellphone while operating a vehicle …

 

[Tim1023]

Lol, just got back from falling off a small cliff followed by my Cube.. I'm amazed to not be injured! As I tumbled down, the back of my head smacked the rock you see in the pic. Happy to be alive, greetings guys and safety first!
View attachment 88750

That's one for the "My bike leaning on things" gallery

 

[Tim1023]

Yeah. I miss the days when we could stand in the back seat of the car while it was traveling, or not having to wear a seatbelt, or chat on the cellphone while operating a vehicle …

"Freedum!"

 

[Gary]

Well that escalated

 

[Tim1023]

Well that escalated

Here's a cute picture of a baby giraffe to calm things down again

 

[Kingerz]

No. Mate. I'm just capable of thinking for myself and making my own decisions.

Running around the Internet calling folk names for choosing not to wear a polystyrene hat every time they partake in a relatively safe activity isn't helping anyone.

I ride bikes pretty much every day but would more or less give it up if helmets were ever to become compulsory here
Mandatory helmet laws greatly REDUCE cycling participation and cycle use.
LESS exercise from cycling causes far more deaths than lives saved from cycle helmets

would you really give up?

 

[Kingerz]

I grew up in England and often go back, I now feel naked wearing no helmet, having been forced to in Australia.
I'm glad now. My 198 gram Giro lid has saved me twice from being a casualty. I don't bin a lid from one hit.
All MTBers wear lids, surely?
Having said that, there are reasons not to in certain casual situations.

 

[Tim1023]

Interesting video about people in the Netherlands not wearing helmets. A large part of it is the environment being designed to be safe and controlled as much as possible:
Personally, I always wear a helmet, also when commuting. I try to think ahead for the other riders, car drivers and pedestrians, but you can't anticipate all idiocy, egotism and simple carelessness. The helmet doesn't give full protection, clearly, but it's also clearly much better than nothing on my noggin. I would see it as a personal choice matter, but I also think about it in terms of responsibility towards other people in terms of what would happen if I were killed or badly brain damaged when a helmet would likely have helped, e.g. my family.

There is clearly a case that protective gear giving people a false sense of security*, but in this case, and for me, it's a no-brainer!

*See Tullock's spike here: Gordon Tullock - Wikipedia

 

[Gary]

would you really give up?

Yes.

I commute daily and ride mtb and road recreationally and only really ever wear a helmet on the mtb when descending Enduro /DH tracks. I carry it on all climbs and don't wear one at all for XC. If I had to wear a HELMET by law I'd probably sell most of my (10) bicycles and buy a couple of motorcycles. Where I feel a helmet is more worthwhile.

I'd go into greater detail but I'm kinda busy booking flights to America and choosing firearms after perfectly legally riding past an overprotective parent on my commute without my polystyrene hat on.

 

[Stihldog]

I guess I ride like an idiot, therefore I should wear a helmet.
This text was made possible because of a polystyrene hat.

 

[andyb2]

I'm impressed that the light mount stayed intact, and that it didnt do more damage to the helmet (a worry I have when attaching things to my helmet)

 

[emtbPhil]

I had an off at Leeds Bike Park earlier this year, pretty big drop into a jump, landed ok but it was so wet the rear wheel kicked out and threw me over the side

My helmet hit a large rock right where my temple is. I ended up with cuts and big bruises on my cheek. My ear was also grazed pretty badly.
Carried on riding and 30 minutes later had lost vision in my right eye due to swelling.
Made it back to the van and got some ice packs on my cheek, vision started to come back and luckily drove home without issues.

When I got home I went to put my helmet in the bin and saw where the rock had hit and the big chunk it had taken out the helmet. I'd 100% have been in hospital in a bad way without it.

I wear a helmet no matter if it's just a casual XC ride or a bike park. A friend lost his wife who was just riding down the road when a royal mail van drove into her. Paramedics said she'd still be with us if she was wearing a helmet, but her head went through the windscreen.

I've never understood why people don't bother when you can buy a great MIPS lid for like £50.

 

[Stihldog]

I'm impressed that the light mount stayed intact, and that it didnt do more damage to the helmet (a worry I have when attaching things to my helmet)

Good point. I wonder if helmets are tested with GoPro attachments?

 

[Marksou]

Good point. I wonder if helmets are tested with GoPro attachments?

There were rumours that Michael Schumacher's catastrophic skiing injury was due to a camera attached to his helmet.

 

[Stihldog]

…a camera attached to his helmet.

Makes me wonder what might have happened if I attached my light to my helmet when I crashed. I only had the destroyed helmet and location of the OTB to investigate because I can’t remember the incident at all. I’ll probably ask my over-protective community what they think .

 

[irie]

On my way home from work yesterday evening, I went over the handle bars & did a head plant. New helmet should arrive from JE James early next week. I firmly believe that it would've been very much worse without it. I was in a remote ish area in the dark. It could've been the next morning when I would've been found.

View attachment 79521

Those lights are a bit mucky, that's probably why you couldn't see where you were going.

Maybe.

 

[Gary]

Cool stories bros

 

[steve_sordy]

Ref the statistics that compare deaths with/without helmets; are there similar ones comparing serious and life changing injuries?

I don't believe that I have been in an accident where my helmet has prevented my death, but I'm fairly sure it has prevented me being fed with a spoon for the rest of my life, several times.

 

[irie]

Ref the statistics that compare deaths with/without helmets; are there similar ones comparing serious and life changing injuries?

I don't believe that I have been in an accident where my helmet has prevented my death, but I'm fairly sure it has prevented me being fed with a spoon for the rest of my life, several times.

Bit tricky conducting a controlled experiment to verify the veracity of that statement. Just sayin'

 

[Gary]

In any meaningful real life scenario it's simply impossible to compare injury severity when wearing a helmet against not.

A guy I've ridden with was knocked off his bike by a car and told by the consultant in hospital that if he hadn't been wearing his helmet he'd have been dead. Thing is. He hadn't been wearing one at all. And went on to make a fast and full recovery.

Most of the statistics you'll find on the matter aren't accurate.

 

[Stihldog]

Bit tricky conducting a controlled experiment to verify the veracity of that statement. Just sayin'

I wouldn’t mess with a “Wedding Crasher”. I just wouldn’t.
I’d rather book a plane that allows smoking.

 

[irie]

In any meaningful real life scenario it's simply impossible to compare injury severity when wearing a helmet against not.

A guy I've ridden with was knocked off his bike by a car and told by the consultant in hospital that if he hadn't been wearing his helmet he'd have been dead. Thing is. He hadn't been wearing one at all. And went on to make a fast and full recovery.

Most of the statistics you'll find on the matter aren't accurate.

Bit tricky making statistical comparisons between those who die and those who survive.

Carry on.

 

[Gary]

You might want to think about exactly how dumb what you just wrote about is

 

[irie]

You might want to think about exactly how dumb what you just wrote about is

That's not exactly English but I suspect I get your drift.

You might like to examine the intrinsic truth contained in what I wrote. Bless.

 

[Howz]

I grew up in England and often go back, I now feel naked wearing no helmet, having been forced to in Australia.
I'm glad now. My 198 gram Giro lid has saved me twice from being a casualty. I don't bin a lid from one hit.
All MTBers wear lids, surely?
Having said that, there are reasons not to in certain casual situations.

I lived in Sydney in 1995 for a year or so and used to commute to work on a bike, it always felt really strange having to wear a helmet at the time

 

[Tubby G]

Must admit, throughout the 70’s / 80’s & 90’s I never wore a helmet

Had loads of crashes as a child, can’t remember hitting my head though

Then I had children, they learned to ride bikes, I made them wear helmets, so bought my first one and wore one too. Felt daft as f**k but begrudgingly wore one so that my boys wore theirs

Fast forward to now, always wear a helmet. I take the full face off when climbing fire roads but it goes straight back on at the start of the trails.
Lightweight trail helmet for trail centres and xc rides

Still having numerous crashes, this time they’re mainly otb’s and I seem to have a habit of landing directly on my head

Got fed up of replacing helmets so bought the POC Coron as the manufacturer claims the liner can take multiple impacts and doesn’t need to be replaced each time. I do check for cracks and damage in the liner after an impact and it seems ok for now

 

[Zimmerframe]

Had loads of crashes as a child, can’t remember hitting my head though

Most children who didn't wear a helmet say the same thing

 

[Zimmerframe]

Must admit, throughout the 70’s / 80’s & 90’s I never wore a helmet

Likewise. It just wasn't cool. You didn't need to. It wouldn't happent to you.

A friend of mine who used to model just bought a vanmoof (he's Dutch, and yes, it sounds like an electric vagina) has also ridden bikes all his life and never worn a helmet despite his looks being paramount to him. Now he's realised he's going a bit faster he's decided to buy a helmet. He found one - but it was "cool" ....

I completely respect @Gary's perspective. He doesn't like them and also has the experience and ability to crash less and crash better (can you crash better ? ) We have a choice (in most places). Like it or not though, as an influential male with huge gonads, he should wear a helmet just because brainless children will copy him and indirectly, he might save someone's life without ever knowing it.

But @Stihldog's view is more relevant to the masses. Like it or not, we are easily influenced.

See 10 people with a helmet when you're a kid . ok.

See 1 without and it's mum , "Cool Brian that always visits when dad's not here never wears a helmet .." - viola, you don't wear a helmet. end up as jam the next day and can't tell dad about cool Brian ....

 

[Stihldog]

cool Brian ....

Had to read that part twice …went right over my helmet the first time.

 

[Gary]

I wear a helmet when I want to and respect everyone else's right to do the same.