Agree with Sion – the onset of parenthood has now made the wearing of a helmet an absolute must for me.

You can never look good wearing one, and I think you’ve just got to accept that. However some look worse that others, so in the end I bit the bullet and spent 120 notes on a Specialized S-works which doesn’t look THAT bad. And it’s so light that I actually forget I’m wearing it now.

I’d never go mountain biking without a helmet, so why should I ride on the road without one? I mean you’re not going to do MORE damage to yourself by wearing one so why take the risk? Personal opinion.

A cycling novice friend of my mum’s went out for a ride on a bike one day with her husband along a fairly busy road, got spooked by the traffic and tried to hop up sideways onto the pavement. She screwed it up, fell off and twatted her head on the corner of the kerb. She now needs 24 hour care from her husband due to brain damage. In that particular case a helmet quite possibly would have taken the impact and their lives would be so different.

Obviously that’s quite a specific case, but I don’t agree that just because the body can take a lot of punishment that’s not an argument for not being cautious. There have been quite a few cases recently of people getting in fights after kicking out time and a non-fatal punch has ended in “murder” as the victim hits their head and never comes out of the coma.

Why take the risk when you don’t have to? Yes, you won’t look as cool but I’ve come round to my mothers way of thinking now “You’ll look far cooler than if you’re a dribbling vegetable”

no one looks cool cycling, helmet or not.
we all look like a bunch of bike geeks regardless of how fly the whip

I’ve just ordered one. It’s actually this post that made me. I’ll feel far safer wearing one, therefore more confident (not in a boy racer kind of way) and for me, a safer rider out on these London roads.

And Winter is on it’s way, and you can find a nice cap that will look better than your trim.

I wear a helmet and having had an overhanging branch on clyne cycle path take a big chunk out of one I’m sure it’s saved me a bit of time in hospital.

As with every one who rides a bike, I’ve had a number of tumbles, some more serious than others, one of which my helmet save my life. break your arm, shoulder, leg and it will mend, break your head and you in some serious shit.

I feel safer wearing a helmet, but sometimes i just can’t be bothered (bad attitude towards it i suppose). I don’t wear a helmet for running around town, but do wear a helmet when going long distance. i don’t know why each instance is different from the other, or why I do it this way. chances are i could be in a situation in which i needed a helmet in either case, which poses the question; why don’t i just not wear one at all, or wear one all the time. my answer is, i really don’t know. :)

I don’t wear a helmet any more. Used to wear one as it’s mandatory while racing. No real reason why. When I go into town it’s another thing to find space to put after locking the bike up.

i never ride without a helmet… except bike polo, which thinking about it is quite silly!

and as paul said

“I love riding and i don’t want anything getting in the way of that ”

head protection ftw

I used to wear one then managed to convince myself that the stats actually showed they increased accidents so stopped, just couldn’t argue with the figures I was reading. Helmet-less only lasted a couple of weeks though as my missus just wouldn’t stop going on about me wearing one so I wear it now to shut her up.

Hi,
I’ve been a single-speed rider (hides) for a few years now and only just bought a helmet. After a nasty chin accident last year, I began to take bicycle safety a little more seriously. I use the road everyday and love it.
I guess what I’m trying to get at, certainly for a fixie rider, is how well you know your bike, how it responds and also the gear ratio. Mine is 50/12 and fast as hell on the flat. Wearing a helmet now makes me feel a bit more at ease.

Maybe most fixie riders don’t go fast enough to worry about wearing one, but didn’t the culture emerge from the minimal velodrome aesthetic and the homemade bike?
Could it be a Style Vs. Function issue?

Nice debate and great site ***

Without wanting to jump on anybody, I agree with disagreeing about that crappy statistic regarding the liklihood of being hit if wearing a helmet or not, it sounds a little more like the justification of a surly teen arguing with his parent than a decent argument…

“I’m more likely to get hit if I wear a helmet ANYWAY, I HATE you, I’m going to my ROOM!”

Alright, I’m willing to concede that drivers may be SLIGHTLY more mindful of what they are doing around riders without helmets (although, I’ve always thought this was more “I’d better be careful around this guy, he probably doesn’t know his road” than “I’d better be careful around this guy, if I accidentally hit him he’s more likely to die”) but seriously, the statistic for this must be something tiny, compared to the whopping liklihood of you suffering serious injury or death if you take a serious car hit without a helmet. And as said above, what is the statistic on deaths caused by not seeing cyclists compared to deaths where the driver sees you, and still hits you?

I’d like to stress again that all my comments about the need for helmets are totally about knowing how thoughtless and/or blind a large amount of drivers are, rather than a worry about the individual skill and street smarts of most cyclists.

The sad fact is, if it comes down to us and them, cars are a lot faster, a lot heavier, and a lot harder than a cyclist on a racer…

When i first learnt to ride a bike as a kid, i dont believe i had a helmet. When i was 8 or 9 i had a helmet and i came off my bike riding to the shops one day, 100% my own fault and i actually cracked my helmet in half on the curb, preventing a cracked skull maybe. After that I didnt buy/wasnt bought a replacement helmet for some reason.

I bought a helmet 2 years ago when i decided to get into biking a bit more seriously, but the helmet was bought mainly because i was concentrating on Singletrack off road riding where you could have this whole argument again. However when i got my fixed gear a year ago i continued to ride with my helmet when on that.

I kinda feel strange when i dont ride with my helmet but at time i like to ride without it, the feeling of the wind in your hair and stuff, but more importantly it doesnt bother me to ride with one on, so i simply feel that it cant do no harm as for the argument about riding more dangerously, i dont see it myself, once u get use to a helmet you dont even think about having one on, so i cant see it having an effect

I wear a helmet, initially because my wife offered to pay for it for me to ‘keep me safe on the roads’, and to be honest it feels pretty weird if i forget to wear it now.
If people arent wearing them because ‘they dont look cool’ then i think you need to take a serious look at yourself.

I dont agree with the whole ‘im streetwise, road savvy, skillfull etc etc’ when it comes to a third party opening a door on you or clipping you with his bumper. Its out of your hands and i for one would be gratefull for the protection.

I also wear cycling glasses these days and have been thankfull of these on many occasions when cars have flicked a stone chip up into my face but i guess thats a different debate altogether!

Im all for protecting yourself on the roads.

Wear a helmet kids-stay safe! ;)

My Grandad used to ride professionally, he suffered two hit and runs in his career, both times ending up in a coma, both times wearing a helmet which probably saved his life!

I however have not learnt by his mistakes and ride without a helmet! I’ve had a couple of near misses and contemplated buying one a couple of times but i guess its a little bit of the nature of some of us that you don’t realise the risks or dangers until a) its too late or b) you do yourself some serious damage to realise how much of a plum you’ve been for not wearing a helmet!

I can 100% say that i’d probably wear one to race over just recreational riding though!

couldn’t agree more with b.taylor.
what is exactly your point in this article? i am not wearing a helmet too but I can’t argue shit about it. It’s safer with, period. same holds for your brake vs. no brakes entry. what are you 12?

I ride in southern California and wear my helmet every day. Cars aren’t the only danger out there, hit a deep pothole and you could go flying and land right on your head (as did my helmet-wearing best buddy, who ended up with a little road rash, a fine head, but a helmet cracked in two).

To me not wearing a helmet because “it might cause an accident” is as silly as not wearing your seat belt in a car because “it might trap you in when you could be safely thrown out.” I suppose there is truth to both of those statements, but when you think about the actual probabilities of those exact scenarios playing out, they’re quite low. Also, when you look at the very few studies that have shown that there is an increase in risk to helmet wearers, you’re looking at anomalies or rarities. If you conduct an experiment and end up with wildly different results than the bulk of the material, your findings aren’t really considered valid until they’ve been replicated many times over. Otherwise, they’re the exception, not the rule. That’s why there is such little research on the subject; not because people don’t want to speak up about a controversial topic, it’s because the argument has little meat to it.

Wearing a helmet is a good idea, even if you just look at it from a better-safe-than-sorry point of view. While the rest of the body is pretty good at putting itself back together, the head (and brain) are not. Just google traumatic brain injury. Concussions can actually cause pretty bad damage that stays dormant for years. So you might feel alright for like, 20 years, then all of a sudden, boom! You’ve got Alzheimer’s in your 40s (extreme case, i know). But seriously, concussions really do raise the risk of earlier on-set brain deficits. And the brain is, you know, something you need.

Also, I know that helmets aren’t perfect and that they don’t magically absolve you of all risk to your head. But they do dramatically reduce the risk to head and brain injury if you get hit or go down.

Another thing to keep in mind is that helmets are designed to last for exactly ONE impact, so if you sit there banging it with a hammer of course it’ll crack. It’s meant to disperse the impact, not just take it at one point. I mean, I’ve never fallen off my bike and head butted a hammer at the same time.

But to be honest, I don’t think people are not wearing helmets because they think it’s actually safer to go without one. They’re riding that way because they think helmets are uncool. Or that it’s a hassle to carry one around. Those dudes can’t be convinced with safety quotes or debates, so whatevs. Maybe we need to campaign to get Kanye wearing a Giro on his next tour or something… Oh wells.

But either way, a helmet isn’t a solve-all so ride safe whether you’re wearing one or not!

Ty- Here’s a link to an article about a case in the UK that I think Skive may have been talking about:
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/court-judgment-has-major-implications-for-cyclists-20250/

Also, I know that in all but the most bike friendly states in the US, you can be denied insurance claims due to “negligence” from not wearing a helmet. Lame, but another good reason to wear one.