helmets

always wear a helmet?

  • yes

    Votes: 70 92.1%

  • no

    Votes: 6 7.9%
  • Total voters
    76
bonefishjake

bonefishjake

Strong like bull, smart like tractor
Team MTBNJ Halter's
over the past week or so i've seen at least three guys riding w/o helmets. i'm not talking about the guy on the Next heading to his job, i mean full-on roadies riding w/o helmets. what gives? i hardly get on a bike with my kids w/o a helmet and yesterday this guy is railing down 206 behind a car w/o one? so, do you always wear a helmet when you ride and if not, why?
 
rlb

rlb

Well-Known Member
I didn't at first (on mtb), but then again I was doing canal rides and didn't think I needed one. After getting involved here I've learned why I should be wearing a helmet 100% of the time.

Started road riding less than a year ago, after I had my helmet revelation. It's such second nature at this point that I do a double-take when I see a roadie riding w/o a helmet. I don't mean DWI riders riding down the sidewalk on the wrong side of the road, I'd be surpised if I saw them with a helmet. I'm talking guys in kits w/o helmets..Its eye-catching for some reason.
 
M

Maurice

New Member
It is not illegal AFAIK. That makes it legal.

IMO it's not very smart, as today's helmets are so light and well ventilated that you don't even know they're there. I know a few long-timers that won't wear one on training rides, and I guess they've been lucky so far given the miles they clock.
 
ChrisG

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
The only time I don't wear one is in the South Brunswick Home Depot parking lot :D or when I'm noodling around in front of my house.

Like Maurice, I have some road-weenie acquaintances who want to look all Euro and rock the cap w/o the helmet when "training". :rolleyes: I don't even feel comfortable riding with them.
 
BiknBen

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
When I started road riding in the 80's I never wore a helmet. Back then they were just ridiculously uncomfortable. They were basically Styrofoam bowls with a couple holes in them.

I started using a helmet when I went off-road. Coincidentally, helmet design improved dramatically as the hard-shell helmet caught on. Since then, I never go out without donning the lid.

I don't get all bent about adults not wearing helmets. It is not my job to save them from themselves. I don't like seeing kids without helmets. If they don't do it now (when it is the law), they never will.
 
A

al415

Banned
I will wear one when a) riding in a group, b) riding hilly terrain and c) foul weather. The rest of the time I won't always wear one. When I did my first club races in 1984 the only "helmets" we had were leather skull caps. I raced road and track with these helmets. They were so pointless that you never wore one on club rides.

These days I don't consider any ride "training" I just ride because I enjoy it. If I decide not to wear a helmet because my ride does not meet any of the criteria above it's not because I want to look Euro. It has more to do with the fact that twenty five year old habits are hard to break.
 
J-7

J-7

Active Member
While watching the Vuelta this year, one of the Xacobeo riders was riding without his helmet after a wreck. He really looked out of place. I think it's a good sign that helmetless riders stand out like a sore thumb. I was looking at the glossy Rapha ads in Bicycling and one of the first things I noticed is that the models weren't wearing helmets.
 
Wobbegong

Wobbegong

Well-Known Member
I care about roadies without helmets like I care about people driving without seatbelts. :rolleyes: To each their own. Dying on the road wont threaten access like it can in a park.

I always wear a helmet when riding, except for that darn Home Depot lot, just like ChrisG. :)
 
kush

kush

Active Member
The fascinating part is that the TdF have only started to require helmets I think in 2006 after Fabio Cassartelli died.

Ski and snowboard helmets only started to get mass adoption after M. Kennedy, Bono, and recently Natasha Richardson died.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, I never wear a helmet. It's for sissies.
 
OneTrackMind

OneTrackMind

New Member
The guy on 20/20 did a report on driver behavior around cyclists. The study found that drivers usually come really close to the cyclist wearing a helmet and full road gear, because they feel the cyclist knows what they are doing.

They'll try and drive further from the cyclist not wearing a helmet and especially if they are female cyclists. The reporter (a middle aged man with a moustache) even rode around NYC with a long blonde wig on to prove this report.

The safest thing to do then, is to wear a long blonde wig over your helmet. People stay away from the blonde chick with a big head!!!
 
stb222

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
when i first got a road bike, I thought wearing a helmet was dumb, I mean hell, I never wore one dirt jumping or riding street, where doing large gaps, stairs, ledges were commonplace. Once i realized I could go over 40 MPH on the roadie, I changed my mind. I have commuted without a helmet. I pretty much always wear on outside of tooling around the neighborhood simply some people can't say, well you should have been wearing a helmet when I do crash...
 
Mikerjr

Mikerjr

Accomplished Skadouche
It should only be a matter of common sense to want to protect your brain somehow, its hard for me to believe there is anyone out there that lacks it. Helmets save lives
 
ellbiddy

ellbiddy

Active Member
I ski with a helmet all the time now, they're super warm and I've slammed my head on the boilerplate we call snow out here enough times to know I should always have it on ;).

As for bikes, I always have one on.
 
A

al415

Banned
Mikerjr said:
It should only be a matter of common sense to want to protect your brain somehow, its hard for me to believe there is anyone out there that lacks it. Helmets save lives
Click to expand...

Thanks dad. The irony is that the two people I've seen die of bicycling related head injuries were both wearing helmets :(

I don't understand the sanctimonious tone that these threads always seem to take... but I'm used to it ;)

I've spent the past sixteen years wearing restrictive and uncomfortable forms of protective clothing and armor as a matter of necessity. I have a big black bag sitting next to my desk with 80lbs of body armor. Yesterday I spent nine hours wearing that shit. When I ride my bicycle I exercise my freedom of choice to go rely on good luck, skill and fate.
 
Norm

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My helmet saved my shit Sunday.

Yes, people die wearing seatbelts and with air bags. On the contrary to the sanctimonious comment. Every time this issue comes up, someone who doesn't wear a helmet comes in and takes offense at any comment. I've gotten used to it though ;) I will say it's usually FFT though.

So anyway. I wear helmets to hide my bald spot. When my wife lets me shave my head I'm done with these sissy lids.
 
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