Things on helmets

[allen-uk]

Lights and cameras on helmets.

If you come off your bike and land on your head, do these represent an extra hazard?

I'm thinking on the lines of head vs pavement, or head&camera vs pavement.

Is there a chance that the thing on your helmet could be driven through your helmet into your skull?

Any ideas?

A

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It can't be as safe as not having anything on your helmet, but probably safer than not wearing the helmet with the camera on it. I don't know why people put them on a helmet when it's just as easy to put them on the bars.

I can remember years ago, a guy slid off his motorbike in the wet. He didn't hit anything, but the can of coke in his pocket smashed his hip causing his death through internal bleeding.

I guess your number can be up any time. Best to make sure that you have met the prerequisites for St Peter to stamp your card at the pearly gates, just in case.

One of our school kids was having a birthday party. He went to the kitchen to get a non-alcoholic drink. On the way back, he tripped and fell on the glass, which cut his jugular vein and killed him. It must have been gruesome.

There's always things you can do to minimise risk, but some people are just unlucky.

 

[john h]

Was looking a military type combat helmets last night these come with rail mounts for camera lights ect , the real ones are cavlar even the padding in side looked realy good . unlike the cheap copys. Thinking of getting one if i can find them again,

 

[Alan Quay]

Was looking a military type combat helmets last night these come with rail mounts for camera lights ect , the real ones are cavlar even the padding in side looked realy good . unlike the cheap copys. Thinking of getting one if i can find them again,

I don't know how much protection they offer a cyclist, other than from snipers.

I guess that protection against missiles means an impenetrable helmet, while a cycle helmet is very much designed to be destroyed on impact, protecting the skull.

 

[Gringo]

Horses for courses really.
I've opted out of the helmet club but if I had to choose ?

1/. A military helmet, designed against impact from things traveling around 2000 mph. (Shrapnel from a dynamite explosion)

2/. A cycle helmet, designed against you traveling around 10 mph and hitting the ground.

 

[neptune]

The big danger with "Things on helmets" has been overlooked here. The danger is not so much penetration of the helmet by accessories. The big danger comes from an accident that causes as slide along the road. Any accessory can suddenly snag on the road, causing a very rapid rotation of the head. The results can be brain trauma, or a severe neck injury.

 

[allen-uk]

Interesting answers.

Neptune, do you have any experience of that phenomena, or is it just (intelligent) guesswork? I ask as the reason I re-started using helmets was that I noticed that all the A&E doctors who were also CYCLISTS always wore them, so on that basis, if the same doctors don't wear helmet cams or helmet lights, I might follow suit.

And reverting to D8veh's point, I suppose you have to weigh up the likelihood of (a) crashing at all, (b) not being seen because you have no helmet light, (c) sliding along on your head, and when you get to our ages, d) to z) as well (i.e. strokes, heart-attacks, etc., etc).

At least I'm tee-total...


A

 

[john h]

Type with built in visor

 

[eHomer]

I'm in the middle ground on this subject.

I agree that it's crucial to think very carefully about attaching anything to a helmet, and consider the possibilities in case of impact, twisting etc.. as already pointed out on here.

On the other hand, I do think it can be done safely, given sufficient thought.

I've been using a Sony actioncam for about a year now, and have been experimenting with various mounts, both OEM and DIY.

I've had the best results, (ergonomically and resulting footage), by simply attaching the camera to the side of the helmet with a large pad of heavy duty velcro. Thus there are no solid fixings or brackets, and I'm sure that in the worse case scenario of my head crashing along the tarmac, the camera will break away. (It is held on as well by a loose safety lead with a breaking strain of less than my neck !)

I've tried handlebar mounts as well, but I sometimes prefer head mounted because the POV footage is better, and the human head makes an excellent optical stabiliser !

 

[allen-uk]

Thanks for the velcro tip eHomer.

PS is that Sonar I can see on your handlebars?

 

[eHomer]

Thanks for the velcro tip eHomer.

PS is that Sonar I can see on your handlebars?

Sonar ?

 

[allen-uk]

Just whimsy. Seems you have every other navigational aid, as well as a front bag, so I just assumed...

A

 

[eHomer]

Whimsy did cross my mind...

There was a feint possibility though that there might have been an ebike gadget called Sonar that I was too thick to know about, so I didn't want to look silly. (oops, too late...)

ps. I do feel self a bit of a plonker with the compass bell, but the damn thing works really well, despite it's toy like appearance. It's saved me many a mile when cycling along unexplored twisty country lanes when there's no sun out.....

 

[allen-uk]

Plonker be darned; if it works, it works.

I look at my bike sometimes and wonder what all the wires actually do, there's so many of them.

 

[neptune]

I have no direct experience of brain/neck injury due to the twisting referred to above. I do seem to remember reading, probably back in the 1960s, that in designing motorcycle helmets, any protrusions were to be avoided for this reason. Personally, I would guess that such injury would be unlikely to result from any accessory fixed by velcro, or a weak plastic bracket.

At the end of the day, life is a balancing act. We have to decide whether the enhanced safety of such an accessory offsets the [slight] risk of mounting it on a helmet. I did read somewhere that sudden twisting of the skull is more likely to injure the brain than a direct impact. You may be surprised to learn that I am a retired lorry driver rather than a brain surgeon!

 

[eHomer]

......At the end of the day, life is a balancing act. We have to decide whether the enhanced safety of such an accessory offsets the [slight] risk of mounting it on a helmet......

Quite right, in my opinion too.

So many other factors have a far greater percentage chance of causing injury while cycling.

I'm amazed at how many people think that even just wearing a helmet is "cissy".

Even just climbing on a bike and having trucks and cars streaming past you is a mighty big risk. But there's no practical solution to that if you want to carry on cycling.

 

[Geebee]

I will just leave this here.
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/10/12/01/59/schumacher-s-injuries-caused-by-gopro

 

[eHomer]

I will just leave this here.
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/10/12/01/59/schumacher-s-injuries-caused-by-gopro

I wondered how Schumacher's GoPro had been attached, so I googled "gopro helmet mount" images to see what sort of helmet mounts people use for them, and the results were quite a shock, considering the potential dangers discussed on this thread.

Some of the proprietary mounts were dangerous enough, but many of the DIY ones show an amazing lack of forethought...

 

[allen-uk]

Neptune.

I have met surgeons that I wouldn't trust to drive a lorry, and one or two lorry drivers I'd trust with my life. Your opinion is valuable.

A

 

[NZgeek]

Ha....

This morning a surgeon asked me if that was a go-pro on my helmet! (I lock up under the operating theatres at work)

Anyway, my camera (SJ4000 ebay special / gopro ripoff) is double sided taped on, and two cable ties for security. The breaking strain on the cable ties isn't huge and the leverage on them IS huge under force, so unlikely to be of major issue (probably no more than the clipped on visor).

Sensibly mounted, most cameras and such are probably fine. I don't think i'd use tek-screws or self tapers... though I'm sure that's probably been done!