Wearing a helmet

Post Reply New Topic

Would it really matter if I cycled around my local woods without a crash helmet?
People say I should always wear a helmet but doing so always ruins my hair after the bike ride.

What is more important? Your life or a good hair do?

I would guess your life.. but that is just my opinion.

You can always fix your hair.. you can not however take back brain damage or the loss of your life.

I made my kids wear one until they were about 12 years old or so. After that I didn't make them wear one, one reason being nobody around here over about 7 wears them. In Birmingham or Tuscaloosa you see adults on bikes all over the place wearing helmets, but I have never seen one on an adult down here.

Your profile says you are 23, and at that age you can decide for yourself if you think you need one or not. You should base that decision on several factors.

1. How good a rider are you? Do you fall a lot, or do you have trouble balancing so that you almost fall fairly often? How are you when something unexpected happens while you are riding? Are your reflexes good? In other words, do you normally do ok on a bike?

2. Whats the trail you are going to be riding on like? Are there steep hills? Are there lots of rocks and bumps that could cause falls? Is it really narrow with trees on each side that would catch you so you really couldn't fall? Is it paved? Are there a lot of slippery pine needles on the ground?

3. Are you going with a group that requires or recommends a helmet, or are you just going alone? Will you have a cell phone with you so you could call for help if you needed it and were alone? Are you going to be out after dark? Is it a law in your area that you have to wear a helmet, and if so are you going to be riding on private or public property? Also, if it is a law that you have to wear one how likely is it that you would run across a cop, a boy scout with a penchant for seeing rules enforced or a horribly cranky and nosy neighbor who would report you and know who you are?

4. Do you normally wear a helmet? Have you ridden without one before? If so was it better, worse, or the same for you in regards to your riding ability?

Once you answer those and think about them, you will have a better idea of whether or not you should wear one. However, the bottom line is that it's a decision that is left up to you and there is no right or wrong answer. You know your riding skills better than any of us, so you are the one that is best equipped to answer that question. If you think you need to wear one, or just want to wear one, then wear it. If you don't think you need to wear one, or just don't want to, then don't. I think that bike helmets on adults who are riding at a normal speed in normal conditions are entirely overboard, as they are for teenagers. I have never worn one in my life and never would unless I had to ride in conditions that made me think I was very likely to wreck and hit my head in such a place and with such a force that I would damage my brain.

So really, it's up to you. It's a bicycle in the woods, and I'm assuming you won't be going very fast. It's not a motorcycle going 75 down the freeway. It's your call. Either way, enjoy your ride in the woods. Sounds fun!

I have fallen of my bike a few times and have been fine after. Overall its not common for me too fall of my bike. I hardly wore a helmet for years until recently

When going on roads I should wear a helmet though but not in woods.

Then that's your answer right there.

I bicycle as my primary mode of transportation and wear a helmet always because I am afraid of a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Cheaper helmets can feel weird and may not fit well. I wear a thin helmut liner, skullcap, or soft fitted cap with with a bill (a yard sale item from REI, Headsweats, Mountain Hardwear, Northface, etc.) underneath my bike helmet for comfort, which makes it fit better. Bern makes helmets with comfortable liners and a shade brim. I have a Bern ski helmet (cannot tell what makes it different from a bike or skateboard helmet) I use for biking.

I have crashed, run into parked cars while staring off ant something, been hit by car doors, and narrowly avoided cars running red lights or stop signs. Each time I reaffirm my commitment to wearing my helmet.

Yes.

For what it's worth, I broke a helmet in half one night going over the handlebars on my bicycle and into the pavement. Without that helmet, I would probably have died or suffered severe brain injury in the crash.

At the time time I was riding with a mechanic from the local bike shop. The owner of the bike shop, a former medic with the military, came over and gave me a ride home.

The local bicycle shop did pretty good on that wreck. When I went in to buy a new helmet, one customer who was there looked at me and the helmet and quickly walked over and bought one for himself. They sold several other helmets by telling people about the accident.

Here in Seattle the helmet question is not an option. Wear one or get a ticket. They're pretty strict about that around these here parts.

If it ruins your hair, just fix it again.

I will not tell anyone that they should or should not wear a helmet, but I will say that there was no such thing as wearing a bicycle helmet when I was a kid, and I never heard of anyone getting seriously hurt on a bicycle or skateboard (other than broken bones or a concussion, which is most usually recoverable 100% when you're that age). Sometimes more serious accidents happen, and we can't protect ourselves forever from all of them. I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle (on the sidewalk), and was knocked into the street in front of a bus, which fortunately had an excellent driver who stopped in plenty of time. I had a skinned knee and a black eye, but I was fine. I was about 14 then. In a few days, you couldn't even tell anything had happened.

As far as motorcycle riding, or playing football, a helmet is a MUST. That's because in the case of football, you're going to ROUTINELY get your head knocked around, and you will get lots of concussions if no helmet. On a motorcycle, the helmet is not only in case you crash and hit your head, but it's also to protect you from airborne debris. Something as innocent as a large bug, can hit you in the head hard enough to disorient you at a highway speed, which can cause you to crash. And then there are things like pieces of lumber and other crap that cars ahead of you might run over and fling up to hit you in the face, and obviously a helmet is the most basic thing you can do to protect yourself there. Bicycles don't have the speed to worry about airborne debris.

I think it's up to the individual and up to the parents as to whether or not to require a kid to wear a bicycle helmet. I probably would not require mine to, if I had kids, as I believe that sometimes part of life is to learn what injuries feel like, so as to develop one's sense of common sense. Remember that there are plenty of kids who are nearly kept in a bubble, and they get killed by some unthinkable cause, and it was very sadly just "their time to go". I know this may sound blunt, but I think it's a valid point of view.

Charles

<---- feels like a dunce

I thought he was referring to a motorcycle ride...like a dirt bike sort of thing.. or a quad.. bicycle never entered my head.

Still depends though. Where I live it is very mountainous and there are bike riders on roads with blind curves with no shoulder... I think a helmet should be a must in that situation. As for a ride in a forest.. I think overhanging branches would want me having a helmet.

There may be a better case for wearing a helmet on a bicycle than on a motorcycle. If you crash at speed on a motorcycle, the helmet will probably only save you from some road rash on the head. If there's a head-on impact, the percentage of time that the helmet saves your life will probably be fairly small. On a bicycle which usually travels at slower speeds (but not always), that helmet can much more easily make the difference between minor head injuries and traumatic brain injury or death.

About twenty years ago, I was reading the account of one motorcycle rider who was riding with a bicycle race and carrying a bicycle mechanic as a passenger in case one of the bicyclists on a break-away might have a problem. He said that there were some downhills where he couldn't keep up with the bicycles.

I very very rarely ever pedal anywhere without wearing a helmet (and always have since I was a kid.), and when I ride off road I prefer wearing my full face helmet. Then again, we have real mountains here.. not just woods. Mountain biking is extremely popular here and pretty well everyone wears a helmet. It's rare to see riders without them. It's also required to ride in some places, ie the bike park at Whistler.

IIRC, many mountains have made ski/snowboard helmets mandatory, too. I always wear one there, too.

Here in BC it's law that you have to wear a helmet while cycling, too, unless you wear a turban.

I'd rather have helmet hair than have my brains smashed on the road or against a rock.

In the street skateboarding culture I used to be involved in, it was rare to see anyone wearing a helmet and injuring their head as a result of carelessness. There's a law that you need to wear a helmet now but it's rarely enforced. I never wore one and my head never got damaged. I broke both of my arms, all of my fingers, cracked my ankle, bruised my nuts, and landed with the end of a board jamming itself up inside of my a**hole more than a couple times, but never hurt my head. I knew how to land without damaging my head, but sometimes other body parts get injured in the process, or the other injuries are unavoidable at times. Should you wear a helmet, well yes you should, it's in your best interest, that being safety. However, many people go throughout life without ever needing one or having a use for it. Personally, out of all of my experiences, I just wish I wore a butt plate, the pain of having wood jammed in your ass (even through a pair of jeans) is one of the worst physical pains I've ever felt in my life and I've been hit, stabbed, had a lot of bones broken, but that's one of the memories that really sticks with me. I'd go far as guessing, if I f****d my head up, that would be another memory that would make me really reflect on my life choices, fortunately it never happened. I will leave this post alone with this, if you're worried about your helmet messing up your hair, man or woman up and simply stop being a diva, then protect your domepiece.

It is a law in my country but I don't wear one anyway. If the cops spot me I will ask what are they doing on my farm!