bicycle - to helmet or not to?

Post by **[xeno]Julios** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:17 am

I ride my bike regularly - nothing crazy - just 45 min ride to work along residential streets. People have been telling me I should get a helmet, but I've heard they're overrated.

Sure they may offer slight protection, but is it really worth it?

http://bicycleaustin.info/justice/media.html

Post by **mjrpes** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:18 am

Yes, definitely.

Post by **MKJ** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:20 am

helmet? puhleaze

Post by **[xeno]Julios** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:21 am

a lot of people say helmets are important, but do they actually know much about helmets? Apparently they're not that effective - full sized crash helmets are effective, but nobody would buy those.

Post by **diego** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:25 am

I ride to work almost every day (35 mins) and I wouldn't wanna go without helmet. Of course, I got a good-looking one, nothing too sissy.

Post by **Eraser** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 8:36 am

While a helmet does offer good protection and it's probably smart to wear one, I wouldn't. I find it too uncomfortable to put one on every time I go for a ride to the supermarket (that's basically all I do with my bike).

Post by **reefsurfer** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:15 am

I use a helmet now and then... not just to protect my head but also to be a good example to young kids.

It's not geeky with a helmet.. but lying in the street with your skull cracked open and brain pooring out of the crack... thats geeky.

Post by **Nightshade** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:20 am

[xeno]Julios wrote:a lot of people say helmets are important, but do they actually know much about helmets? Apparently they're not that effective - full sized crash helmets are effective, but nobody would buy those.

Where are you getting the impression that they're not that effective? I have to say that when I was a kid, I never would have worn one, and luckily I never had a wreck that made me think otherwise.
Today I feel differently. They don't look half as stupid as they used to, and any protection is better than none. Better to look like a special needs child than to become one.

Post by **SOAPboy** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:28 am

Never wore a helmet.. Never busted my head either..

Be a dumbass and wreck, youll need it, if you can control your bike, im sure youll be fine without one..

Then again, it DOES depend how busy streets are too..

Post by **Eraser** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:29 am

Often I see young people on scooters with a helm resting on top of their head and often slanted a bit backwards so that the resting point of the helmet is actually on their neck.

If you have a helmet like that on your head, you can be sure you'll be dead if you fall off the scooter. Ignorant fools.

Post by **S@M** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 9:53 am

[xeno]Julios wrote:a lot of people say helmets are important, but do they actually know much about helmets? Apparently they're not that effective - full sized crash helmets are effective, but nobody would buy those.

I gotta find the reference, but bike helmets have been extensively studied, and teh evidence is very clearly in favour of helmets for the outcomes of decreased mortality, and decreased severity of closed head injury.

Will post when I find it.

Post by **S@M** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 10:01 am

oh, not what I recall from a public health seminar I attended, but here is one good quality ref, and a few web pages with different views
http://www.atsb.gov.au/road/pdf/cr195.pdf which includes teh following:_ The summary odds ratio estimate for efficacy is 0.40 (95% confidence interval 0.29, 0.55) for head injury, 0.42 (0.26, 0.67) for brain injury, 0.53 (0.39, 0.73) for facial injury and 0.27 (0.10, 0.71) for fatal injury. This indicates a statistically significant protective effect of helmets.

http://www.pcug.org.au/~psvansch/crag/efficacy.htm

for a contrary view, read http://agbu.une.edu.au/~drobinso/ozdoc.html

Post by **horton** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:10 am

i never wear one, but im a vain retard.

the sensible answer is yes.

Post by **Ryoki** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:45 am

Christ, i wouldn't be caught dead wearing one of those (take that literally).

Post by **Denz** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:51 am

Yes, always wear a helmet, even during sex.

Post by ***OptimusPrime*** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:55 am

na dont wear a helmet, but you should..

Post by **Doombrain** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 11:56 am

you'll look like an even bigger twat but it might save your live

Post by **mik0rs** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 12:20 pm

SOAPboy wrote:Never wore a helmet.. Never busted my head either..

Great fucking logic. I don't wear a bullet proof vest and I've never died of shotgun wounds either, not once.

SOAPboy wrote: Be a dumbass and wreck, youll need it, if you can control your bike, im sure youll be fine without one..

Then again, it DOES depend how busy streets are too..

Like your last sentence says, it's about how busy the streets are, PLUS there's the possibility that some stupid cunt who can't drive might get a bit too close.

And do you need two full-stops to end a sentence? One is fairly sufficient.

Post by **Dave** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:27 pm

If I had to choose between being dead and being a vegetable, I'd choose dead

Post by **FragaGeddon** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:27 pm

If your a boxer then you don't need a helmet.

Post by **saturn** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:31 pm

I never wear a helmet while riding the bicycle and I make a lot of kilometers per year (as any dutcho btw). It's not common practice here and there are hardly any bicycle headtraumas in Holland though we have 20 million bikes here (with 16 million people!). Babies who can move their legs are put on bikes immediately and the whole society and roads are build and used to bicycles (lots of seperate bicycles tracks parallel to the roads).

It would be a different story if I was driving scooters and/or motorcycles. You'll be riding on the big road and one accident is enough to decelerate your brains into mush.

Post by **Billy Bellend** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 1:35 pm

imo if your driving extreme or where alot of shit drivers in cars are gonna drive into you, yea by all means wear one.

if your casual riding in a low risk envoiment , no way dont where one

Post by **SOAPboy** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:01 pm

mik0rs wrote:
SOAPboy wrote:Never wore a helmet.. Never busted my head either..
Great fucking logic. I don't wear a bullet proof vest and I've never died of shotgun wounds either, not once.

SOAPboy wrote: Be a dumbass and wreck, youll need it, if you can control your bike, im sure youll be fine without one..

Then again, it DOES depend how busy streets are too..
Like your last sentence says, it's about how busy the streets are, PLUS there's the possibility that some stupid cunt who can't drive might get a bit too close.

And do you need two full-stops to end a sentence? One is fairly sufficient.

Honestly, its just a habbit....

Got used to doing it from IRC when people would say shit that made you go :icon27: and all you could say to respond was "....."

*shrug.. just stuck t.t

Post by **stocktroll** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:19 pm

lol a helmet? you'd look like a moron
just dont get hit by a car

Post by **bitWISE** » Mon Jun 06, 2005 2:27 pm

I wouldn't for a few reasons: look like a wimp, mess up your hair, uncomfurtable. The biggest sissies are the ones who wear a helmet while snowboarding.

I can only think of one person who has had a really bad bike accident in this county. I can't remember if she had a helmet or not but she was riding her bike and some how when she fell off the kickstand stabbed her in the fucking brain. Instatard.