Road Cycling Essentials

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Gribs said:
Do you wear a helmet when you're driving, or maybe when you go to the pub? Both of these are more likely to result in a head injury than riding a bike.

Helmet compulsion is a very bad idea, as for the small amount of injuries it might save, more heath problems would be caused by the reduced numbers cycling. Cycling isn't dangerous and adding PPE requirements only makes it seem like it is to the general public.

For what it's worth I always use a helmet when mountain biking but if I'm out on the road or just having a pootle along the canal I don't bother.
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Thats a stupid argument, you are far more likely to suffer a injury/death in a cycling accident than you are in a car, wearing a helmet reduces the risk of a serious injury or death caused by a head impact. Modern cars are designed to be pretty friendly when in contact with pedestrians/cyclists but the major danger is the head impact on the windscreen, there is no doubt wearing a helmet is safer than not if involved in a collision on your own or with a vehicle.

Whether you wear one or not is of course up to you, you only get one life so seems odd to take a gamble as i imagine a massive percentage of accidents involving cycles are not the fault of the cyclist and the cyclist probably knows very little about it.

That doesn't mean i think an arbitrary rule should be brought in, Darwin works pretty well as it is now.
 
I wear one. You never know what might happen. There are to many erratic drivers where we live. Last time I fell was on a patch of ice on the car park at the last job. Saved a bit of damage there I would have thought. Landed on my back and left hip, had 9 months of physio to sort that. Dont want to think what might have been done the the old noggin without it.
 
I don't wear a helmet as I'm not convinced they do anything in a fatal crash. The death in London was caused by the cyclist being run over by a bus, how is a helmet going to help in that situation? And then there are papers like this:

http://www.bath.ac.uk/news/articles/releases/overtaking110906.html

I've started wearing high vis after having one too many people pull out of a junction while coming down a hill, but I don't think a helmet will prevent anything beyond light bruising or scratching in a mild accident. Even the London cycling campaign thinks it's a bad idea to make them compulsory:

https://twitter.com/london_cycling/
 
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I feel positively naked without the helmet on now. Even though I used to ride my bike to both secondary and the latter part of Primary school every single day without one...

If you want to use the excuse that many won't bother cycling if they are forced to use helmets, that's fine by me, you get fat and die of a heart attack 10 years before me. I don't mind. and all because you are either
A. too vein
or
B. too stubborn to wear one

Put it another way, would you like to head butt a car bonnet at 30mph with one or without one.....
Personally I'd like to keep what little brain cells I do have inside my skull thanks.
 
jak731 said:
I don't wear a helmet as I'm not convinced they do anything in a fatal crash.
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Do you wear your seatbelt in a car? It's not going to do anything in a 60mph head on collision.

Helmets (and seatbelts) are not going to save you in the worst-case-scenario type of accident, but there are plenty of other times when they will.
I dont care if there is a law to tell people to wear a helmet or not. I know first-hand what a helmet can do, and so I always wear mine. It has no effect on me if other people wear them or not, you can all do as you please as far as i'm concerned.
 
jak731 said:
I don't wear a helmet as I'm not convinced they do anything in a fatal crash. The death in London was caused by the cyclist being run over by a bus, how is a helmet going to help in that situation? And then there are papers like this:
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having been on scene at a clubmate's near fatal crash where the (helicoptered) medical crew made it quite clear he'd be dead had he been lidless, i always wear one.
 
touch said:
Helmets (and seatbelts) are not going to save you in the worst-case-scenario type of accident, but there are plenty of other times when they will.
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This really. A car pulled out in front of me last year... I landed on its bonnet head first. Definitely softened the blow!

Also... I just fitted a saddle bag and realised just how low my seat was. Went with 109% of my inside leg, as recommended by some website. Feels pretty high but my leg is still slightly bent o.0

Bit worried about leaving it on though if I pop into town, seems fairly easy to steal = (
 
Shimmyhill said:
Thats a stupid argument, you are far more likely to suffer a injury/death in a cycling accident than you are in a car, wearing a helmet reduces the risk of a serious injury or death caused by a head impact.
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Far more people suffer head injuries in cars than they do on bikes. Do you wear a walking helmet? You should if you're worried about head injuries as I'll quote from a dft report "Pedestrians were more likely to be admitted to hospital with a head or face injury than other road users, 46 per cent having such an injury in 2009 compared to 33 per cent of road casualties overall"

I'm sure you don't view walking as risky and needing a helmet, cycling is safer ffs. I'd also suggest you look up what standard your helmet is tested to and what that actually means.



Link for the dft report - http://webarchive.nationalarchives....blications/accidents/casualtiesgbar/rrcgb2009
 
Gribs said:
Far more people suffer head injuries in cars than they do on bikes. Do you wear a walking helmet? You should if you're worried about head injuries as I'll quote from a dft report "Pedestrians were more likely to be admitted to hospital with a head or face injury than other road users, 46 per cent having such an injury in 2009 compared to 33 per cent of road casualties overall"
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I wonder how those statistics break down for injuries per mile travelled, or injuries per hour spent travelling.
 
Gribs said:
Do you wear a helmet when you're driving, or maybe when you go to the pub? Both of these are more likely to result in a head injury than riding a bike.
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Gribs said:
Do you wear a walking helmet? You should if you're worried about head injuries as I'll quote from a dft report
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The figures that you are quoting dont back up what you are saying.
Yes, that report shows that pedestrians involved in accidents are more likely to suffer head injuries than cyclists. But it doesnt say what percentage of pedestrians are actually involved in accidents.
I would bet its a much lower percentage than the number of cyclists who are involved in accidents.
 
Gribs said:
Far more people suffer head injuries in cars than they do on bikes. Do you wear a walking helmet? You should if you're worried about head injuries as I'll quote from a dft report "Pedestrians were more likely to be admitted to hospital with a head or face injury than other road users, 46 per cent having such an injury in 2009 compared to 33 per cent of road casualties overall"

I'm sure you don't view walking as risky and needing a helmet, cycling is safer ffs. I'd also suggest you look up what standard your helmet is tested to and what that actually means.



Link for the dft report - http://webarchive.nationalarchives....blications/accidents/casualtiesgbar/rrcgb2009
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THANK YOU!

People at work go mad at me because i won't wear a helmet - if i get hit by a car at 60mph+ or a lorry at 40mph+ a helmet will be an expensive token gesture as the rest of me will be buggered...

Besides - i've died 3 times and still here -I'm invincible. :)

God complex? Not half! ;)
 
helpimcrap said:
THANK YOU!

People at work go mad at me because i won't wear a helmet - if i get hit by a car at 60mph+ or a lorry at 40mph+ a helmet will be an expensive token gesture as the rest of me will be buggered...

Besides - i've died 3 times and still here -I'm invincible. :)

God complex? Not half! ;)
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It's a good job for you then that all accidents happen at above 40mph and that you'll never have an accident on your own...

To say nothing of the fact that it's a lot easier to come back from broken legs, arms, whatever than a smashed skull. But hey.
 
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Also, those stats above don't state whether the reason for there being fewer head injuries among cyclists and car drivers is in fact because of helmets and seatbelts and whatnot.
 
I wear a helmet because it looks bad-ass and goes with the rest of my cycling gear. Any safety benefits are an added bonus.

Edit: Plus I'd be breaking several of the rules if I didn't have one.
 
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While on the subject of safety, a couple of my pet peeves are cyclists listening to IEMs/headphones and guys on track bikes with no brakes.

I suppose if you are very careful these 2 things aren't that dangerous, but the people I see that ride with headphones or no brakes are pretty careless generally.
 
I've never seen anybody stopped before for no brakes, but I've seen police stop those who run red lights.

The guys with no brakes try to stop rapidly by resisting the pedals and doing a sort of rear wheel hop/skid. I don't think that's good enough in a real emergency stop situation though.
 
I'm for helmets (fnar, fanr). Have saved several of my previous work colleagues from more serious injuries. Also against wearing anything in the ears that distracts from what is going on around. You tend to need eyes in your butt when cycling here and anything that distracts and takes away from the senses is bad.......

I do agree that in the most serious crashes, they aren't going to do that much...several tons of moving metal and rubber arguing with a couple of stone of muscle, sinew, skin and ally frame only has one winner in that combo. But, for the slow speed crashes, they are invaluable. As my wife who works in a hospital points out several times
 
Vonhelmet said:
Also, those stats above don't state whether the reason for there being fewer head injuries among cyclists and car drivers is in fact because of helmets and seatbelts and whatnot.
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Exactly, pointless statistic. I bet more people get admitted to hospital with measles who haven't had MMR than those who have.
 
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