Helmets @ Aldi

[flash]

While I've been out walking in tne countryside I do very occasionally break into short runs just to keep muscle loose, active and able.

You know the old motto, "Use it or lose it".

But my mention of running was just a deliberate tease of the helmet brigade. E-bikes are assist limited to about 15 mph and most who ever buy an ebike never exceed that on the flat but often wear helmets, even when cycling in very flat areas. An averagely fit adult can run at around 18 mph for short distances but when doing so would never dream of wearing a helmet. Of course this is only one of the many examples of irrationality in helmet wearing choices.
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Don't be a stubborn old fool. I too, poo pooed helmets, but just after my son was born, over 30 years ago, my good lady said if I was to continue cycling I was to wear an helmet. I told her that in 25 years of cycling I had never needed one (apart from racing) and was not going to start wearing one now.
The discussion reached a head (no pun intended) and it was either helmet or divorce. I suppose it is a bit stressful waiting for someone you care for to arrive home from a 15 mile cycle ride home from work, especially on dark, wet, windy winter nights.
So I decided to go along with her suggestions and dug out an alpine climbing helmet I had bought in the Italian alps the previous summer.
I felt really stupid wearing it. The only helmets around at the time were the leather sausages we had to wear in amateur racing.
The second day I wore it I was hit up the back end by a truck, just entering the Kings Arms roundabout in Wilmslow. I was thrown off the bike and apparently my head , encased in climbing helmet hit the kerb. I woke up in hospital 3 days later. When I had recovered the helmet was given back to me by a police officer. It had split in two. I have always taken my wife's advise since that day, because without it I would have not been around to enjoy the last 30+ years.
Shortly after this I imported a cycle helmet from the USA a Bell one of the first bike helmets I had seen.
I never even ride down the drive with out an helmet these days.

When you are running you on your own legs and probably on a pavement. When you fall off a bike you go head first.

 

[flecc]

When you are running you on your own legs and probably on a pavement. When you fall off a bike you go head first.

Somewhat different for me. I've never been off a bike in a way that could possibly hit my head, but while running in the countryside I have tripped and hit the front of my head really hard, both forehead and nose taking the brunt with nose probably broken but not offset since it was painful for over a week. Since I've cycled for over 69 years but have only very occasionally run, there's no doubt which is the more dangerous for me.

Everybody's experiences and circumstances are different, which is why such decisions on safety wear are strictly personal. I'm very happy for others to make their own decisions and would never presume to advise another on their choice which is for them alone.
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[SRS]

Flecc

I'd be interested to know if you were to take up mountain biking tomorrow, would you choose to wear a helmet?

Of course, I am not suggesting that you do anything of the sort at your time of life.

 

[flecc]

Flecc

I'd be interested to know if you were to take up mountain biking tomorrow, would you choose to wear a helmet?

Of course, I am not suggesting that you do anything of the sort at your time of life.

Yes, just as I used a motorcycle helmet in competition at a time when I never used helmets for m/c road riding for 23 years. That was when there were no wearable helmets for road use and no law requiring them.

The reason for my helmet use choices in those circumstances is simply that the risks are very considerable then. That the risks to me when on the road are very low is proven by my 69 years of cycling and well over 50 years of motorcycling. Neither has ever injured me, indeed, I've never come off a motorbike on the road.

Basically I've always known that I'm not at all accident prone, always seeming to be able to veer towards a safe choice when others do different, so I trust my own judgment.
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[anotherkiwi]

I am looking for one that is comfortable and which fits at the moment but I will only wear it when I have to - on the other side of the border on the open road. If I was to take up trail riding I would consider one because of low hanging branches. This one comes out in February, has a visor (I wear glasses) and is the right size (63cm). I barely fit in my current 61cm "Large" Decathlon one.

This one is a bit more expensive but the visor comes standard not as an extra

Cratoni are finally coming to market with their s-pedelec helmet. Meets motorbike EN spec, lots of ventilation and 850 grams (100% carbon fiber)
http://cratoni.com/en/bike/pedelec_-_e-bike/vigor oh and 250€

The two pedelec helmets are north of 100€ but they look a whole lot safer (and sexier might I add) than those ugly damned egg crate thingys. In fact they look like helmets!

 

[flecc]

The link isn't working, here's a corrected one.
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[Cyclezee]

Yes, just as I used a motorcycle helmet in competition at a time when I never used helmets for m/c road riding for 23 years. That was when there were no wearable helmets for road use and no law requiring them.

The reason for my helmet use choices in those circumstances is simply that the risks are very considerable then. That the risks to me when on the road are very low is proven by my 69 years of cycling and well over 50 years of motorcycling. Neither has ever injured me, indeed, I've never come off a motorbike on the road.

Basically I've always known that I'm not at all accident prone, always seeming to be able to veer towards a safe choice when others do different, so I trust my own judgment.
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I hesitate to comment Tony as this is old ground that we amicably differed on in the past, but you may well have a second sight or guardian angel that has helped you avoid accidents and hopefully will continue to do so.

But anyone who takes up a space on the road despite riding carefully with due care and attention is at risk from other road users who may not doing the same.

The point is not all accidents are avoidable or foreseeable and the use personal protective equipment, in this instance helmets, can save lives or help prevent serious injury.

 

[hopbackguy]

It's never happened so far to me either..
So it'll never happen.

Err..

 

[Yamdude]

I'm surprised cycle helmets haven't yet been made compulsory in this health & safety obsessed world we now live in..... but thankfully they haven't yet, so i rarely wear one. Gotta make the most of the dwindling freedoms we have left.

 

[flecc]

But anyone who takes up a space on the road despite riding carefully with due care and attention is at risk from other road users who may not doing the same.

I smiled as I posted before, knowing that I would get this answer in one form or another John. The fact is that even this is partly under one's control as I've posted previously. So here once again:

In the early years of my driving I suffered three collisions with other vehicles, two minor one with a bit more car damage and each time the other driver admitting blame without argument. But at the time I'd been riding many more miles on motorbikes without any incidents, despite being on the same roads and journeys. Thinking about this it struck me that I must be playing a part in that outcome, there being no other possible explanation.

I took the trouble to return to the scene of that last and worst incident to study the situation and consider the whole event. From that I was able to see some ways that behaving slightly differently could have avoided any collision and another that could have alleviated the outcome, despite the other driver's clear mistake.

So I changed some things then and also started to refer to myself always as a learner driver since I'd just found after several years that there was always more to learn. That was 49 years ago and I've never had another incident since when driving cars or trucks or riding motorbikes. That is clear proof that we can also affect the outcomes of others bad behaviour on the roads.

The comeback as always may well be someone saying that an accident can always happen. Of course, anything can, a piece of an aircraft might drop on me, a part may fall from a building and kill me, a sink hole may open and swallow me, but all are too unlikely for me to take any precautions against them.

Likewise as my life has shown throughout, the chance of my suffering a life changing head injury while cycling is also highly unlikely.

There is far too much hysteria and exaggeration on this subject. Each year around 13 cyclists die in London while there are some 144 million commuting journeys alone, clearly the risks are incredibly low, and it's interesting that nearly all those cyclists were body crushed to death, not killed by head injuries.

I'll end with another example of how road users can influence accident incidence. Up to near the end of June this year 7 London cyclists had died in collision with trucks and I was one of many kicking up a fuss about this, though I advocated publicity as the answer while others tended to blame trucks and drivers.

We got the publicity but the trucks and drivers are still there and just the same. The outcome is that there hasn't been another cyclist killed in any traffic accident in London in this second half, showing how just making people think can solve the problem.

That's primary safety, not having the accident in the first place, rather than the secondary safety of effort concentrated on alleviating accident outcomes instead of the effort being on preventing them.
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[Lardo]

Every cyclist I've scraped off the tarmac so far has worn a helmet which has shown the battle scars of the incident, so I've not seen the likely injuries that would be sustained had they not been wearing a lid. In many cases the riders have been professional/semi professional road riders where they have said there was nothing they could have done to avoid the collision.
I hope that your firm belief that every accident is avoidable, and therefore you have no need for a helmet, doesn't come back and bite you.

 

[Benjahmin]

Well said Flecc. The adoption of this kind of self responsibility into all area's of each individual's life would surely lead to a much better society.
Many years ago I learned, from martial arts training, something that can be applied here. The overarching rule is RUN AWAY. Now we're talking cycling here and I want to cycle, so then 3 levels come into play:
1 React to what the other person is doing (this inevitably gets you hit).
2. Anticipate what the other person is about to do. (Move before they do).
3. Stop them thinking it in the first place. ?! Ones presence and radiation is paramount, what you think about, what you have worked out, the importance you carry for your own life and humanity in general.

Sorry guys - bit of a rant. Just an old hippy cycling into the sunset

 

[flecc]

I hope that your firm belief that every accident is avoidable, and therefore you have no need for a helmet, doesn't come back and bite you.

I've long since lost count of those who've said this to me over the years, but I'll give a similar answer to the one I gave a couple of years ago. The biting had better hurry up, I'm in my 80th year so time is running out for it to happen!

As for the cyclists you've scraped off the tarmac, that's them, and they are not me. There are people who simply cannot avoid accidents as I well know when I was running a company's 140 car fleet as a part of my job in the early 1970s. I've also over the nine years of this forum had the lectures from those in here recounting the two, three or more times they've come off and damaged their helmets. Their problem, their accidents, and I think them chumps for having them. As I and many others have shown, such repeated accidents are not necessary and they clearly fail to learn from their experiences.

It's got nothing to do with luck, luck simply cannot hold out for lifetimes. Freedom from accidents can be almost entirely by design.
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[soundwave]

if you dont crash u are not going fast enough

 

[Benjahmin]

It's got nothing to do with luck, luck simply cannot hold out for lifetimes. Freedom from accidents can be almost entirely by design.

Wow! Tough but true, hard lesson to learn as all the simple ones are.

 

[JohnCade]

No, but you can run out of luck in a heartbeat.

 

[Lardo]

There's an attitude of "I've been fine up until now so will continue to be" that you will not sway. I'm not going to argue with them as I've been to enough episodes of bad luck that were entirely out of the hands of the victims to know that all the self confirmation of invincibility doesn't mean it won't happen. Like I said, I hope it doesnt, it would make my life easier at work!

 

[flecc]

There's an attitude of "I've been fine up until now so will continue to be" that you will not sway. I'm not going to argue with them as I've been to enough episodes of bad luck that were entirely out of the hands of the victims to know that all the self confirmation of invincibility doesn't mean it won't happen. Like I said, I hope it doesnt, it would make my life easier at work!

I'll never understand why what I post can be so grossly distorted.

At no time have I ever claimed anything like invincibility, what I have posted and very clearly explained is the very low likelihood of a life changing head injury accident. That statement inherently accepts that I could suffer such an accident while saying the odds of that happening are extremely low

Based on that I weigh up is the sheer inconvenience and discomfort of a lifetime of helmet wearing versus the minute risk of the sort of serious head injury in question.

My decision has been that the risk is so low it's worth taking to escape the considerable continuous nuisance of a helmet. That calculation has been correct for the whole of my cycling life so had easily been justified.
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[Lardo]

Do you wear a seatbelt in the car? If the law hadn't changed to make it mandatory would you still wear one?

 

[anotherkiwi]

It isn't the same thing, not the same type of vehicle. I have been wearing a seatbelt since before it was a legal requirement, it there was one fitted in the car I put it on (since 1972 ish). I wear a full face helmet when on a motorbike or other powered two wheel vehicle. I have had serious car and motorbike accidents and seatbelts and full face helmets have saved my life. A non full face helmet is not a safety device, it is a legal requirement and a bloody dangerous false sense of security IMVHO.

I have never hit my head when riding a bicycle. I still have a few years to catch up on flecc's usage without head accident but I am very optimistic that if I live as long as him I won't hit my head in a bicycle accident. If someone does run me down with their car it is not me not being careful after all! Seeing how they drive around here I doubt very much that what is called a "bicycle helmet" would be very much use in any case (see above note about non full face helmets).