A simple question: Do you wear a helmet?

[Teuchter]

Yep the problem here in London is we get so little of it. It is not worth getting a pair of studded tyres. Now with those and a 'step-thru' Dutch style bike might be the answer to urban snow and ice riding. My SPDs and 23mm slicks are definitely NOT the way to go

This is what I use when it's bad instead of my road bikes...

1978 Raleigh 3 speed. And yes, it does still have steel rims but I will probably replace the front with an aluminium one to cut down the braking panics when it's really wet. A lack of sharp braking ability is probably beneficial in the snow and ice!

I was wearing a helmet that day... it helped to keep my woolly hat over my ears.

 

[MarkF]

I've never worn one. Fortunately my good lady likes cycling and doesn't wear one either, therefore, neither have our 3 children, 11,14 & 17, the younger two cycle to school each day too.

 

[Prestwick]

I do and always have. Especially after being screamed at by a very angry paramedic who thought for a moment that I didn't have a helmet on when I got knocked off my bike last year (quote "Do you realise just how many bl**dy idiots I have to deal with who don't wear helmets. You fall off your bike and if you hit the back of the head? Game over!" unquote. Repeat that only at 2000 decibels)

I did convince him that I had been wearing my helmet in the end. My eardrums have yet to recover.

 

[Norm]

I did convince him that I had been wearing my helmet in the end. My eardrums have yet to recover.

I think that shows exactly why I give little credence to the comments of 'medial professionals' in the use of helmets.

 

[Prestwick]

I won't judge those who don't wear helmets. Not like how I judge RLJ'ers anyway. But my god that paramedic scared the crap out of me!

 

[dslippy]

I once stopped at an accident. A cyclist had hit a wall. I could see a small part of his brain where about a quarter inch of skull had disappeared. It would have been under a helmet. I have no information as to how he got on. I seem to remember seeing it pulsing.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The only country I have ever felt safe enough to ride without a helmet was in the Netherlands.
As for the UK, been knocked off twice, unconscious twice, a coma once (though nothing to do with cycling) and can't really afford another head injury. Also found them quite useful against stone throwing hullagons. The rock that did this damage would have left me at the very least needing stitches rather than just a new cycle helmet.

 

[StuartG]

That's an interesting incident and possibly an example where a helmet may indeed been of help in more ways than one. I'm thinking beyond avoiding the direct contusion from the stone but whether the helmet cushioned the blow sufficiently for you to maintain control and avoid an unplanned dismount and a consequent other set of injuries to the body.

Did you?

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

That's an interesting incident and possibly an example where a helmet may indeed been of help in more ways than one. I'm thinking beyond avoiding the direct contusion from the stone but whether the helmet cushioned the blow sufficiently for you to maintain control and avoid an unplanned dismount and a consequent other set of injuries to the body.

Did you?

Yes, I did have to stop after the inital impact which had knocked me forward out of my seat, but there was no fall, thankfully, more controlled stop whilst I recovered my senses. I was left feeling sick and dizzy and with a headache for a couple of hours.

 

[Red Light]

And their skulls haven't fused completely so they are more fragile as well.

Actually one of the reasons they haven't fused is it protects the head better against falls which infants are prone to. The unfused skull can deform much more easily to absorb the knock than the fused skull.

 

[Red Light]

That's an interesting incident and possibly an example where a helmet may indeed been of help in more ways than one. I'm thinking beyond avoiding the direct contusion from the stone but whether the helmet cushioned the blow sufficiently for you to maintain control and avoid an unplanned dismount and a consequent other set of injuries to the body.

Did you?

Back in the days when I wore a helmet I have done unplanned dismounts when a tree branch caught in the helmet vent. Without a helmet at worst I would have got a scratch on my head rather than a very sore neck.

 

[Norm]

Which is fine as long as the impact can be absorbed without the deformation affecting the underlying soft bits.

 

[Red Light]

I do and always have. Especially after being screamed at by a very angry paramedic who thought for a moment that I didn't have a helmet on when I got knocked off my bike last year (quote "Do you realise just how many bl**dy idiots I have to deal with who don't wear helmets. You fall off your bike and if you hit the back of the head? Game over!" unquote. Repeat that only at 2000 decibels

He will have dealt with many many more pedestrians who tripped or fell over and hit their heads. Do you think he screams at them as loudly?

When my daughter came of her bike and went to A&E all the medics told her she should have worn a helmet despite her having no injuries a helmet would have prevented. Its a kind of pavlovian response that seems to have been trained into them.

 

[Red Light]

Which is fine as long as the impact can be absorbed without the deformation affecting the underlying soft bits.

The underlying soft bits are deformed anyway and able to deal with it generally. Even in impacts to the adult skull the skull actually deforms quite a lot to absorb the blow and the soft bits go with it. When you encase the skull in a helmet though it cannot deform - the polystyrene is too rigid so you have basically disabled natures method of dealing with the impact which has evolved over millennia.

 

[Boris Bajic]

One helmet, wear it all the time. It's a mystery to me why you see some families out cycling and the children wear helmets and the parents don't. What's that all about?

I've done this.

Children's skulls are not as tough as adult ones and children can lack the experience and road-savvy to remain upright in situations where adults might.

My children are now old and daft enough to decide for themselves, but when they were in primary school, I preferred them to wear a helmet.

I rarely wear one, so this would have resulted in the apparent mystery you note.