Tested my helmet today.

[Gubbins]

????

dooff

View attachment 27084

 

[soundwave]

i brake the floor these days

 

[flecc]

why risk it when it’s no effort to prevent it

That's simply not true. I have to buy the thing, carry it with me everywhere, it's often a nuisance having nowhere to put it, in general a thorough inconvenience.

That's a major reason why the Dutch never wear them, they cycle everywhere for every reason and a helmet would often be a great inconvenience. Just look at the difference, they just step outside in street clothes, onto the bike and ride. Here we get many cyclists spending ages getting changed into cycling gear and strapping on a helmet.

The Dutch would never get anything done if they went through that rigmarole each time they rode. But despite riding far, far more than we do daily and hugely more mileage, they only have a third of our cycling deaths.
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[Gubbins]

That's simply not true. I have to buy the thing, carry it with me everywhere, it's often a nuisance having nowhere to put it, in general a thorough inconvenience.

That's a major reason why the Dutch never wear them, they cycle everywhere for every reason and a helmet would often be a great inconvenience. Just look at the difference, they just step outside in street clothes, onto the bike and ride. Here we get many cylists spending ages getting changed into cycling gear and strapping on a helmet.

The Dutch would never get anything done if they went through that rigmarole each time they rode. But despite riding far, far more than we do daily and hugely more mileage, they only have a third of our cycling deaths.
.

But we dont live in the netherlands...

 

[flecc]

But we dont live in the netherlands...

Irrelevant. Cycle sensibly and it doesn't matter where one lives. In 40% of the deaths they do have there's no other vehicle or person involved, so despite their cycling facilities, when they are not being sensible costs their lives.

Over 70 years after first stepping onto a bike and with 54 years of motorcycling as well I've never needed a helmet for either. That's all that counts, that I know sufficiently well how to avoid two wheel accidents.

What others do is their business and their experience clearly hasn't applied to me.
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[Gubbins]

Irrelevant. Cycle sensibly and it doesn't matter where one lives. In 40% of the deaths they do have there's no other vehicle or person involved, so despite their cycling facilities, when they are not being sensible costs their lives.

Over 70 years after first stepping onto a bike and with 54 years of motorcycling as well I've never needed a helmet for either. That's all that counts, that I know sufficiently well how to avoid two wheel accidents.

What others do is their business and their experience clearly hasn't applied to me.
.

I was going to add that they don't have cycle hating daily mail reading car drivers intent on stamping us out..

 

[flecc]

I reckon it won't be long before it's made compulsory

No chance, our governments have killed every one of the many attempts to make it so, even stopping a private members bill to introduce it for children.
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[flecc]

having one foot clipped in

There you are, that for me isn't cycling sensibly on the road, toe clips and clip-ons are a menace that have caused numerous accidents. I could never have had that sort of accident, knowing that such devices are for racing, not routine use.

Again, you'd never see the far more experienced Dutch cyclists using them.
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[Steve Bowles]

As with many things, it is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. I've taken a fall just trying to get my leg over the bloody bike and landed on the road. Without the helmet, I'm sure I would have been much worse for wear.

 

[Gubbins]

I didnt intend to re-ignite the helmet argument, I was just sharing my experience. Actually I sort of share flecs view on this and feel it's everyone's choice and don't judge, but as I am not a natural cyclist having only started when I retired, I feel much better wearing one. With regard to the clip in pedals I am more or less convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks, but only on a road bike.
Having said that new bike won't have them, if it ever arives....

 

[wheeler]

As with many things, it is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

That being the case, for which activities, with a statistically similar or greater risk of head injury, do you also wear a plastic hat? Maybe walking in a public place, travelling in a motor car, attending a golf match, or walking under a ladder.

It's all a matter of perceived risk, your perception of the risk to your napper from riding a bicycle is apparently much greater than mine.

I cycle in the Dutch style for transport or just pleasure. Others cycle for sport dressed up in a "Power Ranger" suit with their feet fastened to the pedals of a device which is inherently unstable at 0mph and use the public road as a gymnasium. For such people a plastic hat may well be of use, for me, not so much.

That is why it must be left up to the individual to decide how much risk is involved and whether or not to mitigate that risk by wearing a plastic hat.

wheeler

 

[soundwave]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Predators-Carbon-Fiber-Full-Face-Iron-Man-Alien-Mask-Motorcycle-Moto-Helmet-DOT-/132619205637?vti=

get one of those be talk of the town then pmsl

 

[Fat Rat]

That's all that counts, that I know sufficiently well how to avoid two wheel accidents
.

You might thou accidents do happen

It’s the idiots around you that are the problem these days
That’s definitely an unpredictable force to be reckoned with

Also I have to ask how many dedicated cycle routes does the U.K. have compared to the Dutch as there the argument for helmet haters in this thread and do they mix it up with road transport as much ?

I read the Dutch have 32,000km
I bet they don’t cross main roads from one side to the other like the crap ones we have in the U.K.

Like I and others have said it’s s personal choice which I appreciate
but please stop comparing the U.K. cycling to the Dutch as there’s nothing in common cycling network wise , the U.K. is a far more hazardous environment for cycling.

 

[flecc]

please stop comparing the U.K. cycling to the Dutch as there’s nothing in common cycling network wise , the U.K. is a far more hazardous environment for cycling.

No I will not stop comparing them because there is far more relevance than you seem to think. The biggest reason why the UK is a more dangerous cycling environment is the cyclists themselves, something I see all the time. If they rode like most of the the Dutch instead of being pseudo racers, they wouldn't need helmets and we wouldn't have the accident rate we do.

It's people who create accidents, road conditions don't if used in a manner appropriate to the conditions. Accidents don't happen, they are caused.

And as for the silly argument that it could happen to me, I've been hearing and reading this for many decades but it hasn't happened. Showing that the advice given to me was only relevant to those giving the advice because it came from their experience, not mine.
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[Gubbins]

No I will not stop comparing them because there is far more relevance than you think. The biggest reason why the UK is a more dangerous environment is the cyclists themselves, something I see all the time. If they rode like the Dutch instead of being pseudo racers we wouldn't have the accident rate we do..

It's people who create accidents, road conditions don't if used in a manner appropriate to the conditions.

And as for the silly argument that it could happen to me, I've been hearing and reading this for many decades but it hasn't happened. Showing that the advice given to me was only relevant to those giving the advice because it came from their experience, not mine. Accidents don't happen, they are caused.
.

Well yes that's more correct than you might think. Have you considered that any control you think you have over your bike is ilusary? Would you consider that all the others out there that might influence your riding are doing their thing without any thought for you and out of sight of you, so you gamble that your actions dont interact badly with everyone elses. There are many examples but one that influenced my decision to wear a helmet was a chap on a bike going round a roundabout near to my home when a car behind him couldn't wait so came past him at speed forcing him into the edge where he came off and hit his head on the kerb. No helmet, died at the scene. If some joker decides to make a punishment pass on a cyclist his fate is decided by the driver not the cyclist. If your out in the woods and some loon strings a wire across the path ......

 

[Trevormonty]

My accidents have been MTBing so not unexpected, face first over handlbar.

Its falling sideways from nearly stopped that are hard to protect from as you don't have time to use hands to break fall. As my wife's accident and thread author's fall demostrate it can happen anywhere any time.

 

[soundwave]

if they tried to cart me away id be doing a runner pmsl

 

[flecc]

Well yes that's more correct than you might think. Have you considered that any control you think you have over your bike is ilusary? Would you consider that all the others out there that might influence your riding are doing their thing without any thought for you and out of sight of you, so you gamble that your actions dont interact badly with everyone elses. There are many examples but one that influenced my decision to wear a helmet was a chap on a bike going round a roundabout near to my home when a car behind him couldn't wait so came past him at speed forcing him into the edge where he came off and hit his head on the kerb. No helmet, died at the scene. If some joker decides to make a punishment pass on a cyclist his fate is decided by the driver not the cyclist. If your out in the woods and some loon strings a wire across the path ......

These arguments just get more and more silly. As a utility cyclist I don't cycle in the woods so forget the wire. And as for badly driven vehicles forcing into me, I'm in London for goodness sake, don't you think that's happened to me, often? I just make sure that doesn't affect me, it's easy to do but perhaps that's beyond your conception with your different riding type.

For starters I won't ride without a mirror and use it all the time with good effect. That's why I don't get caught out by the nutters who make close last minute passes in dangerous spots, since I see their likely intention and let them have precedence. That's easy to do at moderate speeds, but not at the daft speeds so many now cycle at in potentially dangerous circumstances. Like Wheeler who posted above, I'm as safe with my type of cycling as I am walking, and I don't wear a helmet for walking.

I've had a long lifetime of cycling and motorcycling with not a mark on me from that. It proves my point about my knowing best about my own safety, certainly better than anyone else can know.
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[soundwave]

if you dont crash you are not going fast enough

 

[wheeler]

Its falling sideways from nearly stopped that are hard to protect from as you don't have time to use hands to break fall.

Surely that is exactly the situation for which a plastic hat is designed to work.

BS EN 1078 requires that they absorb the impact from a vertical fall (approx. 12mph impact speed) onto a kerb. There is no forward component to the test.


wheeler