[Closed] The urge to ditch the lid........

No. Buy a new helmet that you like wearing.

Helmets are so light, well-vented and comfy these days that I don't mind wearing one at all.

Wear a cap. It will keep the sun off you, if nothing else!

....and yes, I've begun to wonder how it must feel to go....naked.

I don't wear one for commuting or fire road bimbling, always stick one on for mountain biking. Certainly don't feel guilty about it. I have tripped over my feet at the bottom of a flight of stairs far more than I have had accidents on the type of riding I don't deem a helmet necessary for, and I don't intend to start wearing a helmet every time I have to tackle a flight of stairs..

I often don't bother on the way to work etc which everyone moans at me about but I wouldn't dream of not doing it on the mtb.

Having come off and smacked my head last week, I'm pretty glad I was wearing a lid.
Still had one hell of a headache...

Rarely wear one in the winter, I'd much rather wear a nice winter cap. Always wear one when riding off-road or in a group.

Well you clearly know the risks and I'm not going to preach.

I've gone the other way, after coming back from morzine last month I found myself riding locally at much the same speeds as I was in the Alps where I was wearing full face and armour, I felt naked in my Giro zar so purchased a new D3 for Alps duty and have tossed the giro on the top of the wardrobe and started wearing my Urge enduro instead.

It's a free world. But I bet on here I get just as much stick for owning 3 helmets as you will for not wearing one.

always wear mine, apart from that one time i popped out to pick up a curry after a day at cwmcarn

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ive got 2 young kids, its just not worth it

I've always worn one since I started racing over 25 years ago and, especially coming from a m/cycle trials and enduro background, wouldn't consider not wearing one on a mountain bike.
Having said that, I sometimes don't if I'm just popping a few hundred yards down the road to my in-laws but was glad I did the other day as I stopped to try riding up a short flight of steps on the way back.......
Not unusually for me, it all went wrong and I ended up down a bank and smacking the side of my head on a tree - it hurt like f#ck with a helmet so I dread to think what it would have been like without one.

Go for it. I ride to work without a helmet (which actually breaks the law here) and sometimes go a spin on the easier trails here without one. Ride a little slower and less gung ho without it, but it feels great 😀

Have a couple of well fitting comfy helmets but still go barehead on gentle trails, strangely liberating.
Always wear one on long rides and anything techy or fast though.

I forgot my helmet on a ride up Helvelyn once and didn't realise until I got to the top.

i actually really like them (although i'm sure i look ridiculous wearing them on my massive bonce), and i seem to have amassed half a dozen different ones (well, 3 of those are giro features in different colours!), with plans to get more soon too (a new full face and one of those new giro montaro MIPS things when they land).

Depends on the ride I do
Bimble about I wont bother and dont make the kids either.

Off road I always wear one - actually that is not true but I do if it is above gnarmac levels of riding

You are as likely to injure yourself walking as riding and its your own risk to assess.

Used to feel strongly pro wearing but TJ [ may peace be apon him] and others have persuaded / worn me down over the years on STW

I have split two helmets in crashes as well

In Holland no one wears a lid not even for dodging the Trams...In Corfu (20 yrs ago) we rode Yamaha DT's around most of the island in T-Shirts , shorts and just sunglasses on your face, but a couple of riding mates have had biggies this year and the crash hat definitely did its job. I understand the urge but I'll keep wearing mine for now.

[i]I often don't bother on the way to work etc which everyone moans at me about but I wouldn't dream of not doing it on the mtb. [/i]

This.

Even had a woman at work go on about how you should ALWAYS wear one, and her closing remark was "well, if you ever get run over by a lorry you'd have wished you'd have been wearing one..." 🙄

Get a helmet that fits right! I've had two friends suffer brain injuries and although a helmet won't prevent all of them, anything that reduces the risk for little hassle seems worth it.

Wear one sometimes off road. Have to wear one racing. Don't wear one otherwise for thousands of miles.

RS - yes get it. No head gear, solo riding. Love it. Spent my whole childhood doing it and still enjoy it now.

But used to like canoeing/windsurfing/sailing without life jacket and solo rock climbing - all heighten the senses wonderfully. Don't to do any of these now though, in fact don't even do roped climbing anymore!

Always wear one on mtn. Over hanging branches etc.
Only time I wear one on road bike is if roads are wet.

I have discovered it's normally the newbie cyclist who make the biggest fuss about wearing helmets.

pootling on the canal path with kids: no helmet.
commuting: helmet if it's raining
road: about 50/50 with no real rationale for when I do/don't
mtb: always take a helmet. Often if I have a lot of climbing to do I'll start with it strapped to my pack and put it on at start of first downhill (but not DH) section. [i]Sometimes[/i] get to bottom of first hill and realise I forgot to put it on.

As an aside, I was skiing with a guide a couple of years ago and remarked on his fine bobble hat. His view... 85% of life-changing injuries on the slopes were spinal. His advice... if you want to buy a helmet, do it the day after you buy a spine protector.

I always wear mine, if I didn't then I wouldn't feel right asking my kids to wear theirs.

I've passed a quy on the local trails a few times who has a lid that he keeps on his handle bar! It's almost like it's mounted to the stem? I don't see the point in that at all.

Helmets are like shoes, if your proportions aren't 'normal' then manufacturers aren't really interested in providing you with a product that fits.

I don't find motorbike and mtb full face helmets to be such a problem because there's a lot more padding but normal lids just don't fit me well. I've owned about 10 or so over the years and tried on god knows how many but there's always too much pressure on my forehead and too much space at the sides.

If I tighten it up so that it's secure then after about 20 minutes I start getting a headache. So I tend to leave it 'comfortable but not very effective in a crash' for uphills and tighten it so that it's 'secure but soon to be uncomfortably distracting' for downhills.

Anything other than mountain biking I don't bother wearing one.

A few of us off here (and one who is sadly no longer with us) riding our bikes

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I've passed a quy on the local trails a few times who has a lid that he keeps on his handle bar! It's almost like it's mounted to the stem? I don't see the point in that at al

Protecting his gonads, perhaps? 🙂

Funny how civilised things are in here tonight...

I can barely bring myself to ride round the garden without one (and no my garden is not enormous and full of north shore and dirt jumps). This is even more so since I nearly put an end to the family holiday last year by trying and succeeding to manual a bmx for the first time and realising how much smaller weight shift was needed a bit too late - i.e. at the point where I narrowly avoided splitting my head open on a big paving slab after landing flat on my back.

I've been wearing a lid for 90+% of my riding for so long it's become totally ingrained to the extent I will pop a helmet on to ride the 1/2 mile or so to the local shops (also sets a good example to the kids).

It's a personal thing, but for me it's like wearing a seat belt in the car (even before that became legal). The vast vast majority of the time it's completely pointless and unnecessary, but once in a blue moon it might just come in handy. And I kind of feel naked without it...

Fireroad slogs, I'll take it off. Riding on roads or MTB trails, I'll always wear a helmet.

I know the day I don't wear mine, is the day I fall off and become a cabbage, even though I used to commute to school without one, day in, day out when I was a kid.

For that reason I wear mine all of the time, occasionally taking if off for a steep climb on a hot day.

The only times I've worn a helmet in the last couple of decades were cycling with a club (club rule) or in Vancouver (helmet law).

But then my off road cycling tends to be tracks and trails rather than techy. If I did hard stuff off road or cycled on road in large groups I might wear one more often.

As even the (criticised) Transport Research Lab assessment of evidence reckoned helmets would save only 10-16% of fatalities the benefits are marginal. Either cycling is safe or if it's dangerous reducing the risk by 10-16% is pretty marginal. I think it's safe.

http://road.cc/content/news/12058-ctc-slams-transport-research-laboratory-cycle-helmet-report

we never wore them 'when we were kids' because the environment wasn't the same, car useage is increasing all the time and the amount of traffic furniture and potholes don't help either
every journey is different from all the factors, time of day, conditions, route, purpose, everyone has different risk acceptance levels.

always for commuting
pretty much always for road rides
going to the shops riding the big tank then I may not

as for off-road, I always wear mine to prevent the kind of things that wouldn't be life threatening but still not good, branches, etc as much as big crashes (also mitigated by my utter mincing style as a rider)

totally understand the frustration though, it's low likelihood of a bad result...

[quote=edhornby ]we never wore them 'when we were kids' because the environment wasn't the same

In terms of situations where they'd help, it's really not all that different.

I used to be doubtful of point of wearing one for 'boring' riding.

This was 'just riding along' on a cycle path, with nobody else around, about 5 minutes into my commute home a week ago.

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Head is OK - Shame about the elbow and shoulder... 🙁

I shall be getting another helmet just the same and wearing it when I eventually get back on the bike (6 - 8 weeks?). Everyone else can please themselves 🙂

I had a crash at the weekend - fell lowside of the trail onto rocks. I was wearing a helmet and kneepads.

There was a moment when I knew I'd smacked my back hard onto a rock, and I hadn't quite registered that I could feel my legs just fine.

Probably won't be wearing a back protector when I go out next. Although I'm sure they're perfectly comfy when you get used to them.

🙂

I've split one helmet (tried to wheelie on my first ever ride with SPDs) across the back. I've banged my head hard enough to feel dizzy for the rest of the day and there was a big stone imprint in the front of the helmet.
A friend fell off and couldn't get up. In the end he unclipped his helmet... it took plenty of heaving to retrieve his helmet where it had been impaled on a sapling tree stump.

I'm fairly certain that two of those incidents would have been catastrophic without helmets.

I've been riding with a helmet since my parents got me a Tuff Top. I'll occasionally take my helmet off for a long, hot fire road climb. My helmet stays on the bars of my bike though so even for a quick ride to the shops, it's there and it goes on.

A couple of weeks ago, I rode to school (2km) without my helmet. I was running late and couldn't fine it. Honestly, it was a little liberating, but not enough to warrant the risk.

I always wear a helmet, on road and off. (Although yesterday I cycled to my mates house, 2 minutes, without. Felt guilty/naked!)

Never wore one as a kid but there weren't any H&S preachers about in the 70's and 80's.

I don't actually feel my cycle helmet on.
I once drove from Windermere youth hostel, over the Kirkstone Pass on a bank holiday caravan traffic weekend, to meet a mate in Brothers Water carpark, only to find I'd left my helmet in the YH. Much to his annoyance I refused to ride and made the very slow return journey to collect my lid.
After splitting a helmet on a rock at Hamsterley in the 90's I've never once (shops aside) ridden without one.

Just second nature and the law here. Lids sit next to the bikes so just pick it up on the way out for everything. So many nice comfy Lids out there for all head shapes and sizes and weights it's hard not to find a decent one.

Quick assessment of 2015. Closest I have come to hitting my head;
Fallen over twice - once in garage on slippery wet floor, once outside on wet bird food remnants.
No falls on bike.

I always wear a helmet when in the garden/garage now, why wouldn't I?

Seriously though, I don't see why there is ever a debate/question on helmet wearing and certainly shouldn't be even talking about law.
Only from what I see when riding and driving but it is very rare to see anyone NOT wearing a helmet. It must be in the 95%+ bracket so looks like something is working (rightly or wrongly!)

For UrbEx in old drainage systems....
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Yes. My friend fell over twice on that angled mossy floor and both times smacked his head. Luckily he was wearing my spare lid so was fine.

For riding......usually. Here in the Netherlands it's pretty rare for commuting, though.

I recognise that urge too. I wear one for most of my riding but the very occasional short road rides I will do without. The feeling of riding in just a cap is really quite pleasant.

Thinking about it, I also don't wear one when I ride my cargo bike to the shops either.

I got us a couple of decent lids (Bell Stokers) and my OH has now started wearing one even for pottering about on the local bridleways which is good. I clonked my head on an overhanging branch on Sunday on a downhill that I'd previously not worn a lid on- I reckon it'd have had me off the bike if I hadn't had a helmet on.

It's nice to ride naked, but I do enjoy being able to chew my own food, so it's a lid for me whenever I'm on the MTB.

We don't wear a lid for popping to the shops on our shoppers though 😕

I do get the urge not to where a lid out of a perverse desire to not be told what I should be doing. But then I know if I fell off and cracked my head the first thing I would see when I woke up in hospital (assuming I woke up) would be my missus glaring at me with a "why weren't you wearing a helmet" look on her face. This is enough motivation for me.

monkeyfudger - Member
Rarely wear one in the winter, I'd much rather wear a nice winter cap. Always wear one when riding off-road or in a group.

Moi too.

I'd guess I wear one on about 15% of my rides... I just don't like it....

I've passed a quy on the local trails a few times who has a lid that he keeps on his handle bar! It's almost like it's mounted to the stem? I don't see the point in that at all.

That might be me. I carry my helmet like that, so it's there for the downhills. Don't see the point in wearing it when spinning the granny ring for 20mins uphill or long easy sections where I'm not gonna go over the bars though.

I also don't wear one for the commute and get various comments about it. I love riding without a helmet. I hate wearing helmets, be it work, water, rock or otherwise. As soon as I get t a safe spot it comes off.

I didn't used to wear one for commuting and the. I got hit by a van. Very lucky to not hit my head badly, I left a sizeable dent in the front wing with my shoulder and only just missed wacking my head. I wear it religiously when commuting or going to the shops now.

Always worn it on the mtb or road rides though.

Sitting by the side of the trail picking bark splinters out of your crash helmet or getting mud and rubble out of the vents no one ever thought hmm wish I hadn't worn that helmet

As even the (criticised) Transport Research Lab assessment of evidence reckoned helmets would save only 10-16% of fatalities the benefits are marginal. Either cycling is safe or if it's dangerous reducing the risk by 10-16% is pretty marginal. I think it's safe.

I do like the freedom of not wearing a helmet. However, after quite a bad concussion last September (rugby) and not wearing my head guard, i realised my head is getting softer. After 20 yrs of getting knocks to the head its a bit squishy.it took me about 2 months before i felt normal. i do take them off if its a long climb though.
i also wear a hardhat every day so they dont bother me really. But like what was mentioned above some peoples heads just dont fit in helmets.

[i]we never wore them 'when we were kids' because the environment wasn't the same[/i]

and they didn't exist...

and they didn't exist...

I almost always wear a helmet. One day I was riding through Edinburgh to get to the station and didn't think I really needed one. A van knocked me off the bike and I hit the tarmac without having my arms to catch myself.

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I have a nice scar to show for it. Think I would have been a bit better off wearing a helmet although I would have still had a sore face.

without having my arms to catch myself

Am I right to take this to mean you didn't get your arms up in time?

Always wear mine. I cant ride without it. Doing a 3 mile jaunt about 3 months ago to pick up wifes car I went OTB and stoved the front of my helmet in on a log. I reckon it would have knocked me out and probably damaged me neurologically too.

I've smashed at least a dozen helmets into the ground in the last 25 years. Wouldn't think of not wearing it, especially coming back from the pub.

I've hit my head quite a few times when falling off and they have't all be big fast ones. Helmet protected me from damage. I either wear a met parachute or my bigger FF helemt for DH. Don't understand why people don't wear a helemt.

I've smashed at least a dozen helmets into the ground in the last 25 years. Wouldn't think of not wearing it, especially coming back from the pub.

I managed to smash myself up pretty badly on the way back from the pub. It may or may not have had something to do with the fact I'd had 9 pints (always remember to stop before you hit double figures) and that I was riding home in a force 7 gale. I was enjoying the sensation of being pushed along by the tailwind but completely failed to anticipate that a tail wind would become a side wind as I went round a bend. I was pushed off the road towards a ditch. I still maintain I could have ridden it out but some **** left a traffic cone at the side of the road so I ended up going over the bars. I used my face and the side of my head to arrest my slide. The upshot of this was that I ended up with four stitches in my forehead and five to sew my ear more or less back together.

I still don't wear a helmet. I do, however, take the bus if I'm going drinking.

Am I right to take this to mean you didn't get your arms up in time?

Yes, as I'd bounced off the side of the van I wasn't able to use my arms to stop my head hitting the ground.

Have to admit when I rode in mid 90's I never wore one, not many people did back then, probably about the same number who wear neck braces now.

When I started again in 2005 I bought one a few weeks later, the game had moved on, bikes were quicker, but more importantly in the 90s I wasn't really mountain biking, I was riding a bike about, no rocks, no jumps, just that fine gravel stuff around the local park.

Now I've got kids I wear one when my mind tells me I don't need to, I might be going up the road to find a knock in the suspension or just to the shops - but I can't be that Dad who insists my Son always wears one, when I don't.

The only time I ride without one now is when I'm at BPW, long slogs up the fire road in 1st and 2nd gear with my full-face strapped to my pack. I'm old enough to way up the risks and there's a tiny chance I might fall off, an even smaller one I might hit my head and a tiniest of tiniest chances those things will come together with such force that I could hurt myself.

Have to be careful though, there's a little trail that runs from the centre to the uplift pick-up, I thought it would be a 'walking path' slung my lid on without strapping it for the sake of putting it somewhere, turns out it's a fast, woopy blue graded trail ha ha.

I don't wear one on town trips but not because of some strange urge to free my head from the restriction of a helmet. I do it to get a different reaction from motorists.

Absolutely no excuse not to wear a lid. Doesn't matter if youre on a fire road, cycle path or anything else. If you land on your head and the impact is hard enough you'll put yourself at risk of damage.

I give my kids a hard time for them not wearing theirs (not cool apparently!!).

experience and/or ability counts for nowt!

I am very pro helmet and have a cracked one from Glentress and one with a flat top from commuting to work to reinforce the value of my choice. It is and should be a choice though.

Remember when there was no excuse for skateboarders not to wear helmets, knee pads and arm guards?

As an aside, I was skiing with a guide a couple of years ago and remarked on his fine bobble hat. His view... 85% of life-changing injuries on the slopes were spinal. His advice... if you want to buy a helmet, do it the day after you buy a spine protector.

Good advice IMO

Absolutely no excuse not to wear a lid.

You've never worn one.
You don't think they're that effective.
They're hot.
They're uncomfortable.
None of them fit properly.
It's a hassle wandering around the shops with it.
It makes you look stupid.
You don't want to wear the uniform of a 'proper' cyclist.
You think drivers will be more careful around you if you look more vulnerable.
You worry that in some cases helmets can aggravate injuries.
You think that wearing a helmet promotes the idea that cycling is dangerous and you don't want to put other people off.

And that's just off the top of my head. There are plenty of excuses even if you don't agree.

Wouldn't think of not wearing it, especially coming back from the pub.

no legitimate excuse not to wear one

There are plenty it is just that you dont accept them
If I wont go over 6 mph on a traffic free route then I will be as safe as running

poah » no legitimate excuse not to wear one

That's a poah troll.

My coat? **** off!

Absolutely no excuse not to wear a lid. Doesn't matter if youre on a fire road, cycle path or anything else. If you land on your head and the impact is hard enough you'll put yourself at risk of damage.

no legitimate excuse not to wear one

No excuse needed. As it happens I always wear a helmet. I choose to. Tomorrow I might choose to do something different. If that is the case, I won't need an "excuse", I'll just choose to not wear a helmet. The most likely reason for me making such a choice will be the sanctimonious telling me I can't.

Out of interest, when you say

fire road, cycle path or [b]anything else[/b]

Seriously, if you land on your head and the impact is hard enough you'll put yourself at risk of damage. The absence of gyroscopic wheels providing balance won't reduce the damage in any way. If there's "no excuse" then presumably, that has to include "but I happen to not be on a bicycle right now" as a non-valid excuse for the absence of head protection?

I feel oddly vulnerable and naked when I don't wear mine. Even if it's just a quick up and down the street to test the bit that's just been changed on the bike.

Never used to use a lid on my BMX, would rather not wear one now, i do always wear a lid now though, i would hate to be in the "if only" mindset of something did happen.

There are plenty it is just that you dont accept them
If I wont go over 6 mph on a traffic free route then I will be as safe as running

still not a legitimate excuse though. I've yet to see any reason not to wear a helmet when on a bike. You're totally free not to though and I respect your choice not to.

I've just spent £310 on helmet for rallying (and that's a cheap one) to use a handful of times a year (at most), so £50 - £70 for a decent MTB helmet that I use week in week out doesn't bother me.

I had an off at Hopton a few years back that smashed the front corner off my helmet, took the peak off, cut my cheek and left me with slight double vision, from an innocuous mishap on a slab of rock, could have been a lot worse without a lid, so the helmet always goes on for any remotely techy/rocky rides.

Junkyard - lazarus
If I wont go over 6 mph on a traffic free route then I will be as safe as running

I broke my arm* a couple of year back on the commute home from work. I was practically still at a give way line and the bike went from under me on some diesel.

The point being, you don't expect accidents to happen.

*may or may not have thwacked my head on the tarmac also, I was too bothered by the pain in my arm.

still not a legitimate excuse though. I've yet to see any reason not to wear a helmet

Teasel is propably correct here though so I shall refrain from further discourse.

From the Big Bike Bash this weekend.

A bloke leading two kids down the gravity track - slowish, not showing off...

...slight misjudgement led to a dislocated shoulder and mild concussions.

Any thoughts on what he would have got without the helmet on?

[img] ?oh=cc622a02c0377aed1fdf09f79cd52d16&oe=5665A896[/img]*

Ignore the grinning idiot

Any thoughts on what he would have got without the helmet on?

We will never know, unless he wants to do the same again without a helmet on. And that lack of proper testing is why the protective properties are unknown. Most people assume it is going to help because it is a helmet, like a motorcycle helmet is a helmet.

Over my lifetime I have been involved in many things where the risk of hitting my head on the floor is higher than cycling (i.e. walking down an icy path) so to wear a helmet when cycling but not during any other activity seems odd doesn't it?

Just a simple case of people not understanding the real risks involved in daily life and over compensating for badly assessed risk of cycling. How many people wear a helmet when driving for example, and why not?