One of my pet hates re pro-helmeteers....

[mjr]

hmmm.... not very convincing is it? If you walk so close to the chain, the pedal is going to be a bigger problem, and they're on both sides of the bike. And the 'event of a fall' scenario is just plain silly.

And yet, I've fallen onto the bike while failing to reverse it. It was very silly but I was glad to fall on the non-drive crank instead of a chainring. However, I still don't wear leg protection while pushing a bike

 

[User10119]

I wonder if people's views on that is something affected by the left/right side to mount/dismount thing? I categorically can't get on from the 'wrong' side or stop with the 'wrong' foot down - I fall over in a messy tangle on bike and limbs and pain.

 

[mustang1]

.... perception and all that .

 

[keithmac]

My lad is left handed, pushes his bike on the chain side etc.

Looks really odd to me but it's how he's always done it that way and doesn't have any issues with it.

 

[fossyant]

There are plenty of folk that have never falled off a bike and got more than a scratch. Helmets at best, stop concussion and or nasty gravel rash on the very thin skin on your noggin. Having broken multipale ribs, two vertebrae and nearly parylised, a wrist, smashed a shoulder up and numerous other stuff, I'll just say a lid has limitations. Wear one if you want, dont wear one if you want.

I now mountain bike mostly and a crash or two or three is likely on most rides. I do go with a helmet and elbow pads as ive landed on them quite often. Means i get up and carry on with no injuries. I also always wear the camel back for spinal protection for my busted spine.

Get up and carry on.

 

[Drago]

hmmm.... not very convincing is it? If you walk so close to the chain, the pedal is going to be a bigger problem, and they're on both sides of the bike. And the 'event of a fall' scenario is just plain silly.

The risk isn't huge, but the lesson is written in the blood of those less careful who went before us. If you had to fall over and choose either without a chainring rammed into you shin, or with, I can be pretty sure you'd choose without. It's part of the advanced skills I (occasionally, when I can be bothered) teach. It has, and does, happen.

Yes indeed, there are pedals on both sides of the bike, but unlike the chainrings there ain't much you can do about it.

 

[mjr]

I now mountain bike mostly and a crash or two or three is likely on most rides. I do go with a helmet and elbow pads as ive landed on them quite often. Means i get up and carry on with no injuries.

As far as you know yet. I'd hate to see you and the other proponents of helmets enabling greater risk taking to end up like the NFL helmeteers who are apparently at greater risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

 

[MontyVeda]

The risk isn't huge, but the lesson is written in the blood of those less careful who went before us. If you had to fall over and choose either without a chainring rammed into you shin, or with, I can be pretty sure you'd choose without. It's part of the advanced skills I (occasionally, when I can be bothered) teach. It has, and does, happen.

View attachment 411744

Yes indeed, there are pedals on both sides of the bike, but unlike the chainrings there ain't much you can do about it.

Hmmm.... illustrating the 'point' with a picture of someone's right leg suggests that injury didn't happen when the bike was being pushed. This particular bit of risk assessment is getting dafter and dafterer.

 

[swansonj]

There are plenty of folk that are very opinionated on forums that have never falled off a bike and got more than a scratch. Helmets at best, stop concussion and or nasty gravel rash on the very thin skin on your noggin. Having broken multipale ribs, two vertebrae and nearly parylised, a wrist, smashed a shoulder up and numerous other stuff, I'll just say a lid has limitations. Wear one if you want, dont wear one if you want, but don't go taking the hiss out of others, especially when you may never have had an accident or have never pushed it on your bike.

I now mountain bike mostly and a crash or two or three is likely on most rides. I do go with a helmet and elbow pads as ive landed on them quite often. Means i get up and carry on with no injuries. I also always wear the camel back for spinal protection for my busted spine.

Get up and carry on.

D'you know, if my experience of cycling was as injury-prone as yours appears to be, I might just be wondering if it really was worth it, or even if there might be something I could change to reduce the risk of injury-causing events?

 

[screenman]

D'you know, if my experience of cycling was as injury-prone as yours appears to be, I might just be wondering if it really was worth it, or even if there might be something I could change to reduce the risk of injury-causing events?

He is.

 

[Drago]

Hmmm.... illustrating the 'point' with a picture of someone's right leg suggests that injury didn't happen when the bike was being pushed. This particular bit of risk assessment is getting dafter and dafterer.

That particular injury did occur when the bike was being pushed, downhill down a trail, as it happens. As I said, written in the blood of less careful people.

 

[simongt]

Well, no, unfortunately that is only evidence that your plastic hat got damaged, nothing further.

The point here being that if I WASN'T wearing said bash hat, which had obviously impacted with the road, what would have been the extent of the damage to my skull / brain - ?

 

[simongt]

[QUOTE 5260304, member: 10119"]Probably. But of what, that's the question?[/QUOTE]
Evidence that if my unhelmeted heard had impacted the road, then a level of skull / brain damage may well have resulted.

 

[mjr]

Evidence that if my unhelmeted heard had impacted the road, then a level of skull / brain damage may well have resulted.

It's not really even that. You may have been able to protect an unhelmeted head in a collision better than you could a larger, heavier helmeted one, even just instinctively in a reaction you cannot remember. This is one of the possible explanations for why people weren't dying from head injuries back before helmets in numbers anything like the numbers who claim to have been "saved" by their cycle helmets. Therefore, lots of helmets are destroyed in crashes which would not have resulted in injury otherwise, helmets are causing about as many crashes as they protect from, or something similar... but all this has been covered many times in https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-cyclechat-helmet-debate-thread.187059/

 

[fossyant]

D'you know, if my experience of cycling was as injury-prone as yours appears to be, I might just be wondering if it really was worth it, or even if there might be something I could change to reduce the risk of injury-causing events?

I don't cycle commute any more, nor ride on the road. Most of my injuries have been sustained by drivers taking chances and not looking, so having nearly been confined to a wheelchair (and even might be in 10 years), I don't ride roads. I'll take my chances off road - yes falling off is part of it, but it's usually slow speed.

Cycle commuting into city centre Manchester is a death wish - there isn't enough cyclists on the road unlike London.