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Cycle helmet (again)

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Bikes4two

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Feb 21, 2020
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Ghost1951 said:
.............. Head injury sufferers, often have radically changed personalities afterwards. You don't want that.
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That explains a lot about some posters in this thread...... :rolleyes: .

I'd spent more than 20 years in the Navy and as a tall guy had banged my head countless times on hatch combings and other obstacles - helmets weren't and still aren't part of the uniform and weren't part of my cycling wardrobe either.

However, as I passed my three score years and ten and speed of reaction and agility lessened, I was wondering when in my approaching dodery state, I should for my own peace of mind, get myself a 'lid'.

Then on a lovely countrylane ride last October I failed to notice the adverse road conditions and off I came resulting in a double pelvic fracture and nasty bang on the head. Fortunately a full recovery and back on the bike after a couple of months BUT now wearing a helmet in recognition of my stupidity at not paying attention and a recognition of the passing years.

Some will argue that one such accident in 70+ years of pedaling is hardly justification for now going 'lidded' and a good portion of me would agree with you.

Thank goodness helmet wearing is a choice in this country though and at the moment my wife is more at ease when I cycle off - and that's what counts for me, but each to their own.
 
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Ghost1951

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Bikes4two said:
That explains a lot about some posters in this thread...... :rolleyes: .

I'd spent more than 20 years in the Navy and as a tall guy had banged my head countless times on hatch combings and other obstacles - helmets weren't and still aren't part of the uniform and weren't part of my cycling wardrobe either.

However, as I passed my three score years and ten and speed of reaction and agility lessened, I was wondering when in my approaching dodery state, I should for my own peace of mind, get myself a 'lid'.

Then on a lovely countrylane ride last October I failed to notice the adverse road conditions and off I came resulting in a double pelvic fracture and nasty bang on the head. Fortunately a full recovery and back on the bike after a couple of months BUT now wearing a helmet in recognition of my stupidity at not paying attention and a recognition of the passing years.

Some will argue that one such accident in 70+ years of pedaling is hardly justification for now going 'lidded' and a good portion of me would agree with you.

Thank goodness helmet wearing is a choice in this country though and at the moment my wife is more at ease when I cycle off - and that's what counts for me, but each to their own.
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I've been surprised at how many serious pelvic injuries happen at bicycle speed, but they do. These injures can lead to massive blood loss and death. Soundwave was very smashed up at a claimed 25 miles an hour.
 
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portals

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Jul 15, 2022
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portals said:
He will use any excuse to get his top off... :rolleyes:

Here is one of mine, I think Ramsay wins.....
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This happened when I fell of the bike to the right side at 0mph. I was too near the high kerb with a back pack on with quite heave shopping in it (2 bottles of veno), my right foot missed the kerb when I touched down so that was that and I fell in to the road. No helmet but I was lucky and managed to keep my head up, only blood was was from hands and fingers on the tarmac but fck it was sore for days...

Probably a helmet is a good idea.
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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Dressed up in that stuff, we could all look like aliens on Star Treck. Mind you - I bet if you'd had a crash, you'd be glad to have that on you.
 
guerney

guerney

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Sep 7, 2021
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Ghost1951 said:
I've been surprised at how many serious pelvic injuries happen at bicycle speed, but they do. These injures can lead to massive blood loss and death. Soundwave was very smashed up at a claimed 25 miles an hour.
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Do you happen to have any stats?


Ghost1951 said:
Dressed up in that stuff, we could all look like aliens on Star Treck. Mind you - I bet if you'd had a crash, you'd be glad to have that on you.
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If sizing is on the large side, I could wear those over my trousers like Superman. Too tight will result in a squeaky voice, calling out for help could be beyond the range of human hearing, or sound too comical to be taken seriously.
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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guerney said:
Do you happen to have any stats?
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No. The remark was made on an anecdotal basis, having watched numerous heli -med programmes and heard of cases of cyclists having pelvic fractures. they certainly occur and I would not have expected it given that most cycling is at moderate speed.

Your question led me to google the issue and I found some references, one of which suggested in a 12 year study of pelvic injury in southern Finland, that 19% of a sample of pelvic injury patients had bicycle crash related injuries.

The patients in the PRF group were more often injured due to a high fall (41% vs 25%, p < 0.001), whereas the most common injury mechanism in the N-PRF group was traffic related (MVA 25% vs 20%, p = 0.022) (Table 2). The incidence of PRFs following different injury mechanisms varied as follows: pedestrian trauma 55%, high fall 39%, patient struck at the scene of injury 32%, MVA 24%, motorcycle accident 21%, bicycle accident 19%, and low fall 7%.
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Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00068-019-01210-5

Hope that helps. Most of their pelvic injuries were caused by falls from height and traffic accidents. The bicycle lot at 21% is to me, surprisingly high. I m guessing that some of these may have been as a result of being hit by cars as well as simply losing control and crashing off the road or onto the road.
 
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guerney

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Ghost1951 said:
No. The remark was made on an anecdotal basis, having watched numerous heli -med programmes and heard of cases of cyclists having pelvic fractures. they certainly occur and I would not have expected it given that most cycling is at moderate speed.

Your question led me to google the issue and I found some references, one of which suggested in a 12 year study of pelvic injury in southern Finland, that 19% of a sample of pelvic injury patients had bicycle crash related injuries.



Source: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00068-019-01210-5

Hope that helps. Most of their pelvic injuries were caused by falls from height and traffic accidents. The bicycle lot at 21% is to me, surprisingly high. I m guessing that some of these may have been as a result of being hit by cars as well as simply losing control and crashing off the road or onto the road.
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Thanks for Googling that, I didn't mean to cause Googling to occur, just if you had some stats you'd seen recently handy.

Other effects could be worrying reading for anyone who has suffered a recent injury, so I'll stop here.
 
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Ghost1951

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guerney said:
Thanks for Googling that, I didn't mean to cause Googling to occur, just if you had some stats you'd seen recently handy.

Other effects could be worrying reading for anyone who has suffered a recent injury, so I'll stop here.
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Yes - I am just getting one of my motorbikes ready for an MOT... Whenever I read these kinds of topics, I suddenly lose interest in riding them....
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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portals said:
This happened when I fell of the bike to the right side at 0mph. I was too near the high kerb with a back pack on with quite heave shopping in it (2 bottles of veno), my right foot missed the kerb when I touched down so that was that and I fell in to the road. No helmet but I was lucky and managed to keep my head up, only blood was was from hands and fingers on the tarmac but fck it was sore for days...

Probably a helmet is a good idea.
Click to expand...
I had a couple of falls like that, but managed to break my fall by sticking out my hand and came off none the worse. One of those happened because I could not get my foot out of a toe clip gadget (back in the days when they were straps and buckles) and the other happened similarly when my bootlace caught on the pedal and I was momentarily tied there, just as the bike started to lean over while stopped.
 
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portals

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Jul 15, 2022
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Ghost1951 said:
I had a couple of falls like that, but managed to break my fall by sticking out my hand and came off none the worse. One of those happened because I could not get my foot out of a toe clip gadget (back in the days when they were straps and buckles) and the other happened similarly when my bootlace caught on the pedal and I was momentarily tied there, just as the bike started to lean over while stopped.
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The bruising I got must be an age thing. Even a decade ago when I played a lot of fives I've had worse collisions and never bruised anything like that.
 
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Ghost1951

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Jun 2, 2024
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portals said:
The bruising I got must be an age thing. Even a decade ago when I played a lot of fives I've had worse collisions and never bruised anything like that.
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I'm not so sure about that conclusion. Bruising is blood in the tissues after a blow. How does the extent of that relate to age? I can't see any age related mechanism.
 
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portals

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Jul 15, 2022
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Ghost1951 said:
I'm not so sure about that conclusion. Bruising is blood in the tissues after a blow. How does the extent of that relate to age? I can't see any age related mechanism.
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According to interweb there is some truth in it:
As people get older, the skin becomes thinner and loses some of the protective fatty layer that helps cushion blood vessels from injury.
 
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