[Closed] I'm not interested in a helmet debate but...

Good use of America - very, very poor cycling (or walking for that matter) infrastructure outside of major cities combined with car is king and have higher rate of deaths.

Please only reply if you are not interested in a helmet debate

Good luck.

I haven't read the piece but that cycle path doesn't look like the sort of place a helmet is needed though.

Rabbits are crap pets. Should just get a cat.

Meantime was a great record but Betty shouldn't be overlooked.

Not sure I'd like a rabbit as a pet, but I think our dog might. She's always very excited to see them on walks.

Too wordy. He could’ve made his point with one-tenth of that flannel

If I had a rabbit, I would sure as hell make it wear a helmet.

Thread title reads like "I'm not racist but...". Come on you want a 15 page helmet "debate" 🙂

Remember kids, a rabbit isn't just a pet

It's also an ingredient.

I had a rabbit. It was called Stu....

I soon gave over reading that. Verbose, look at me, I'm American and always right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Can someone give a precis in 25 words of what he said?

In a nutshell, he says that the countries with the highest percentage of helmet wearers have the most hospitalisations from cycling accidents.

In a nutshell, he says that the countries with the highest percentage of helmet wearers have the most hospitalisations from cycling accidents.

Well it could be true. Just ask Saxon Rider. He was wearing one & ended up in hospital.

Read it yesterday. I think it articulates the issues very well and echoes my thoughts exactly. The whole focus on the helmet issue, and the way you get abuse for not wearing one just doesn't make any actual sense. It really is a bizarre insight into human behaviour.

I bet the countries where they have the highest number of bullet proof vests also have lots of shootings.

Anyone want a rabbit?

Good article. Thx for posting.

There is a theory that wearing a helmet leads to a rider taking more risks.

No doubt some university will spend a small fortune proving/disproving it.

Suspect those same countries have a higher number of cyclists so more accidents anyway...

The fact countries with the highest proportion of helmet wearers have the most accidents is utterly irrelevant. Wearing or not weaing a helmet does not necessarily change the risk of you getting into an accident.

what the more important are are the outcomes for those who are involved in an accident where their head received an impact. I bet saxonrider is not sat around now regretting wearing his helmet.

wear one, don’t wear one it’s upto you. It’s your head at the end of the day.  Like most people on here there is a level of common sense. If your poor long to the shops then fine, but if you’re hitting the black trails then you’d be an idiot not to. But accidents happen when you least expect them. I know of someone who was killed falling off his bike while useing his rollers in the garage. Hit his head on the concrete floor. Chuffing unlucky but that’s the nature of accidents.

I bet saxonrider is not sat around now regretting wearing his helmet.

He was also riding on road, and virtually car free too. And yet...

Suspect those same countries have a higher number of cyclists so more accidents anyway…

In my experience, the countries where cycling is very common as a means of transport, the helmet use if very low. In every European country I've visited, the only people who wear helmets are the serious roadies and mountain bikers (who tend to make up a tiny minority of the overall). Somewhere like the Netherlands, I'd estimate around 1 in 100 fit into that category. The rest ride in their normal clothes, sans helmet, and the injury rate is very low.

Of course, it will be argued that in the Netherlands they have the Infrastructure. But you can go to somewhere like Switzerland and it feels very safe cycling on the road. They structure their  roads in a way that makes people think and the drivers are more courteous than even somewhere like the Netherlands.

We're just an angry country that likes to shout at people and cast blame in order to control. Outsiders must see our cycling culture as really quite odd.

and the way you get abuse for not wearing one

I have never worn a helmet and also never got any abuse for not wearing one.  Who are the people giving this abuse?

I have never worn a helmet and also never got any abuse for not wearing one.  Who are the people giving this abuse?

Quite a few times I've been shouted at from passing cars to put a helmet on. And I wear one 99.9% of the time.

Even in debates on cycling forums people get insulted for suggesting that not wearing a helmet is an OK thing to do.

I saw someone wearing a blue helmet the other day

I lost a bit of faith in the article when he said, even though he hasn't worn a helmet for 5 months he'd still make his kids wear one and would wear one on a fast club ride or on off road trails.

So basically saying, think about the type of riding you're doing and asses if you think a helmet could be useful.

I saw someone wearing a blue helmet the other day

My sister used to have a purple helmet😮

Wobliscot

You're talking nonsense. Can you not see the obvious flaws in what you are saying?

Well we’re not allowed to debate helmets but I will say that I’ve had 2 accidents where I hit my head and the helmet was damaged but I wasn’t.

As for abuse for not wearing one: Some people just like to partake in tribal abuse. Some motorists just look for excuses to shout abuse at cyclists, I don’t think it’s about the helmet as such, they will shout insults about us wearing Lycra or being smug if they can’t think of owt else.

I have never worn a helmet and also never got any abuse for not wearing one. Who are the people giving this abuse?

Can I be the first??

What on earth are you doing riding a bike without a helmet, drain on the NHS, think of your family, think of the baby robins.........................

"I think my first stab was too argumentative, too defensive. Not wearing a helmet can do that to you."
Ahhh . . . . that might explain something . . .

I couldn't read it either, too wordy. Also I don't give a shit. I don't give a shit if you do or don't wear one. It is all about freedom of choice. What I give a shit about is that we are at risk of regulation, and that is not a good thing...

Some of my best friends don't wear helmets, but...

There is some shit talked though.  Like most places we've had gangs of kids riding around in the road being deliberately reckless, like you'd see on YouTube. On the local community FB page people keep saying stuff like "Kids out riding all over the road by Asda last night, and NOT ONE of them wearing a helmet!"

Maybe focus on the fact they are on the wrong side of the road playing chicken with traffic first, eh?

I wear a helmet.when riding a bike that is.

After reading SaxonRiders recent post I'm even more inclined to keep doing so.

Great article, albeit too wordy, like pretty much everything on the internet.

I bet saxonrider is not sat around now regretting wearing his helmet.

Wasn't his accident self-inflicted/with no one else responsible? So not what the article is about at all (did you read it?).

you could replace helmet with seatbelt in that article, which is the trouble with trying to "measure"/perceive  levels of risk in an activity which is in general very very safe.

Can we talk about the band Helmet instead? As suggested above, i think Meantime is their best work.

THANK YOU, Blackflag and wordnumb!!!  Despite specific instructions not to talk about helmets, look what the bastards have done, all over my lovely thread (thanks to those whose contributions were sufficiently rabbit themed).

Never much of a fan of Helmet, maybe I didn't listen to enough.  Liked a bit of Tool, Biohazard, Clutch, Sepultura, and Black Flag since you mention them.  I think the only Helmet track I owned was the Just Another Victim collabo with House of Pain on the Judgement Night Soundtrack.

Do you think they're worthy of a revisit? Should I start with Meantime, then try Betty?  Or am I going to struggle getting into a band I never really knew, playing a genre of music I enjoy primarily these days for the nostalgia?

Can I be the first??

Yep, sure.  You can't see it but I am giving you the same hand gesture I would give to a car driver who gave me any abuse.

you could replace helmet with seatbelt in that article,

Except that it's really different

I bet saxonrider is not sat around now regretting wearing his helmet.

Wasn’t his accident self-inflicted/with no one else responsible? So not what the article is about at all (did you read it?).

...and weirdly, it started with an accident that sounded similar to SaxonRider's - i.e. a solo accident, at speed, with no other party involved - and the chap stating pretty confidently that his helmet took a pretty big knock.

At least Les Claypool takes his helmet-wearing seriously. The stage can be a dangerous place:

Yawn

I agreed with much of what he had to say but...

Too wordy. He could’ve made his point with one-tenth of that flannel

We have a cat, and He'd probably try to eat any Rabbit we kept as a pet...