I am weird like you. I hate wearing hats/headbands/anything at all (even ponytails) start giving me a headache after awhile, but I usually always wear my helmet. Like flip flops on your feet, it may be something your head needs to get used to. My SO has a more expensive helmet than I do (he commutes by bike daily and spent about $100 on his) and it is much lighter, has more air holes. and I can tell a difference in comfort when I put his on.
Having said all that, I do notice many, if not most, people on paths (I’m normally a path biker, not road) are not wearing helmets - about 75%, I’d say, including children.
My nephew was hit by a car while riding his bike. It was in a neighborhood, not on the highway, and he swerved in front of the car, but it was a hard enough hit to send him flying through the air.
The doctor said if it weren’t for his helmet, he would have sustained a much more serious injury than a just broken leg.
If you’re over 18, do what you want. Under that age, mandatory helmet.
FWIW, I’m not sure if it would have helped my head if I’d been wearing a helmet during my accident – I’m still unclear on the exact sequence of events. I’d say there’s a 50:50 chance that the helmet would’ve caught the impact first.
But if it did, I’m quite certain that it would’ve prevented injury. That’s not saving me from minor cuts and abrasions – it would’ve saved me fractured bones and plastic surgery.
So, yeah, I do believe helmets can preserve you from considerable injury.
My fiancee has a head like Eric Lindros. Due to previous injury (a road raging motorist almost ran down some pedestrians, the got out and hit my girlfriend. She was unconscious for several hours and to this day has memory issues. She also has no memory of the assault.). Had her bare head met the pavement in the above mentioned wipeout, she’d have been fucked.
The “Well, I don’t wear a helmet while running…” position is odd to me. It’s apples and oranges. I don’t wear a helmet when I run either, but on my bike I’m going at least 15 mph faster, balanced on two thin wheels, with my feet often several inches above the ground. Fall down go boom is bigger and badder.
Maybe I have a healthier respect for the protection helmets afford, since I do a lot of activities where you can get hit in the head. I have all sorts of helmets at home.
I always wear my helmet. I’ve actually used my helmet twice. Once, I blew out a tire going down a jeep trail at 40Mph; I slid far enough that I remember thinking how glad I was to have the helmet on as I felt it bouncing repeatedly off the rocks and ground. The second time, I was turning out to change a tire on a road bike. The tire rolled off the rim, and down I went. The bike had only been traveling at 5Mph, and there was no other vehicle around. I didn’t even collide with anything other than the ground. I still fell hard enough to bounce my helmet off the pavement and fracture my pelvis. In both cases, the helmet appeared undamaged, but was replaced soon after the falls.
So don’t fool yourself that riding under a certain speed, or only on sidewalks, or away from cars, or on alternate thursdays will make a helmet unecessary. Gravity is a universal force, and gravity always wins.
Always wear my helmet. Learned the hard way as a teenager when I decided to ride my mountain bike down a long flight of concrete steps and almost made it. Smacked my head but was wearing my helmet.
I have seen and known of enough accidents under a wide variety of conditions to think that you only need a helmet when riding on the street or whatever. I ride very defensively, wear my “Don’t Hit Me” dayglow clothes and use my Spidey Sense and eyes in the back of my head but I’m still very conscious of the fact that stuff happens and you will take a tumble - people open car doors in front of you without looking. They run lights. Little kids dart out from nowhere. You don’t spot the bit of debris big enough to throw you off your bike. Chain slips, something breaks, etc.
If your helmet is uncomfortable, go to a proper bike shop and have them help you find one that fits. If the feel of foam on skin is irritating, wear a bandana underneath (that’s what I do, it also keeps my balding pate from burning and keeps sweat out of my eyes).
FWIW I’m a 1000-2000 mile/year rider, mostly urban, some offroad.
Once I was riding along and got unexpectedly cut off. I had to brake really quickly and ended up going over the handlebars face first. The temple of the bike helmet hit the ground really hard and bounced. I ended up with roadrash on my chin and nose, and a couple broken teeth. Several dentist visits later I was okay. And the helmet didn’t “shatter” or even crack in half - just a few fracture lines in the plastic shell.
I’ve been involved in many sports and as a first aid provider in sports, so I’ve witnessed lots of concussions and how hard an impact has to be to cause a head injury. If I hadn’t been wearing a helmet, from the force with which my forehead would have hit the ground I’m sure I would have had a severe concussion, if not skull fractures. Slightly more than just a “bump” or “bruise”.
Second stupidest wipeout: I forgot to put my velcro strap around the bottom of my pantleg. The cuff of my pants got caught in my chain, I belly-flopped into the gutter. (Don’t remember if I hit my head or not, I was too busy whining about my demolished elbow).
Stupidest wipeout: Came to full stop at intersection. Forgot I had toe clips. (First and last outing with them.) Fell over in beautiful slow motion while my freinds just watched me. Fractured wrist. Didn’t hit my head though.
I don’t have fancy riding shoes, just old sneakers. Couple of weeks ago the shoelace snagged in the front chainrings while I was grinding up a hill. Off I came. Now I remember to tuck the laces in.
On one of my regular rides (Frontage Road parallel to 80E) there’s a stretch that gets sand blown up from the beach. Not a lot but enough that if you aren’t really careful, when you ride straight through it your bike can fishtail right out under you. This is a multi-use track with walkers/runners, inline skaters, bikes, handbikes, dogs, kids, etc. If you’re lucky you fall straight down, otherwise you’ve got a road to one side and sharp rocks on the other.
Always wear my helmet. Even if I didn’t want to, I’m a firm believer that you train the way you race and every triathlon I’ve ever entered required a helmet.
[PSA]
Most of you helmet-wearers probably know this but it never hurts to repeat it - your helmet has exactly ONE crash in it. If you crash you must replace your helmet!
[/PSA]
I always wear a helmet. I’ve never hit my head, but I did trash the visor doing an endo on my mountain bike.
Just yesterday, I was talking to the wife of an anethesiologist. He had relayed a story from a doctor friend about a woman who had an accident at slow speed. She just happened to hit her head on a pole and is now a vegetable. The doctor felt that if he had been able to take a before and after video of this woman, no one would ever ride helmetless again.
And, just a few days ago, the news on the radio ran a news story about a guy who fell on his bike in front of a truck, which ran over his helmeted head. The helmet is history, the guy is fine.
As mentioned above, the truck did not run over his head, it ran over the protruding part of the helmet. If you really think a bike helmet, rated to absorb a few dozen joules of energy at most, would make even the slightest hair of difference when a truck runs over your skull, then the helmevangelists have clearly got to your brain already.
There I agree with you. The reason the guy made the news is precisely because the whole thing was an amazing fluke. Embellished or not. Bicycle hemlmets just aren’t designed to withstand serious trauma.
It’s like my rock climbing helmet. If I pop off a cliff for a 400 foot drop, sorry, but the helmet will do fuck all. I’m gong to be splattered on the rocks below. However, what it does do very well, is protect me from the smaller stuff that would also result in injury, be it just stitches or a more serious concussion. The likelihood of me getting into a serious accident and falling off a cliff is small (knock on wood), but I wear the helmet for the smaller stuff that could also easily cause a brain injury.
Eg/ One of my climbing buddies dropped his ATC and carabiner on his belay partner’s head from about 60 feet up. (That would be somewhat comparable to dropping a 6" wrench). Helmet good. Brain still in pan.
If you get smucked by a Hummer that ran a stop sign, your bike helmet isn’t going to make a significant difference. But belly-flop against the curb like I did, and it may keep you from getting a concussion. Even a minor concussion would be very dangerous to my fiancee right now. We keep her nogging very well protected.
I dont care particularly whether you wear a helmet or not if you’re an adult able to make your own decisions. But the impression I seem to be getting from you, Colophon, and please correct me if I’m wrong, is that you state helmets will not protect you from serious injury?
I am dumbfounded by this. Yes; you look silly wearing them (although mine’s quite a cool one I’ve got right now), and they’re more of a single-use safety device…but to deny that they do any good in protecting you in serious accidents is silly.
Your head is not.
Admittedly, though, once you start getting faster and having accidents with larger delta V values, and lifesaving device loses its effectiveness. But you’re always going to be better off with something that gives you a few more vital milliseconds impact time than bare noggin.
Swallowed has the right idea. My experience is similar to SlowMind’s friend.
I have a cousin, and close friend, who attended school with me at UGA in 1994. On the way to class, she collided with a bus that was just accelerating from a dead stop. Probably moving at a couple miles an hour. I don’t think she was moving particularly fast either, but I can’t say with 100% certainty. Essentially, she sort of fell off of her bike and just happened to take most of the impact on her head.
I think she came out of the coma after about 3 months, and learned to walk and talk again after a couple of years. I still can only understand every fifth word or so, but I haven’t spoken to her in about 2 years. Maybe its gotten better. Needless to say, she will probably never be able to fully care for herself, despite her already amazing strides.
I don’t think a bike helmet ever grazed my head prior to that accident, and I don’t think I’ve mounted a bicycle without one since. I don’t ride often at all, but I make sure I have on a helmet when I do.
Also, I’m a male with a short haircut, and have never had any part of a bike helmet really touch my skin. If you’ve got reasons why you don’t want to wear one, then I won’t really put forth much effort to persuade you to do so. However, one of those reasons should not be “people who insist on wearing bike helmets are overly paranoid/protective.” (I know you never said that.) My cousin isn’t the only person I’ve encountered with her experience.
In support of this, most of my friends who have had serious bike accidents didn’t hit their head on impact. Instinctual protective reactions seem to prevent that. It is after initial impact, when breaking their clavicles, arms, etc. has absorbed some of the energy, that their heads hit.
On top of that of course, is road rash. The reason said wife above told her story, was because one of my triathlete friends was standing around with both elbows sporting serious bandages. He went down pretty hard, tore up his arms, and then destroyed his helmet. But at least he didn’t abrade his scalp or face off.
Hey! Do not! Some of the well vented ones actually look pretty dang cool! Designs have come a long ways since the hockey helmet lookin’ brain buckets. Giro makes some nice ones. Mine has blue flames!
Plus with a visor, you can keep the sun off your face and a well vented helmet is cooler than wearing a hat.
