Remember kids... always wear a helmet. (The almighty bikeradar helmet thread)

Is wearing a cap under a helmet a bad idea?
Also, is wearing a cap under a MiPS helmet a bad idea?

I tend to always have a road cap on and recently started wearing a lid again.
My Giro something is fairly old, so am looking at replacing and considering a MIPS one as they seem to be prolific.

Is wearing a cap under a helmet a bad idea?

If true then I'm buggered. As a slaphead I always wear some sort of cap under helmet.

How often do you replace your helmet, and are there any other indicators other than complete guesstimation? I wonder that I can't be the only one to come off the bike every once in a while when taking too tight a corner on wet roads, or accidentally clatter my helmet when carrying it off the bike/putting down the bag it's strapped to, and would like some idea as to when it'd be dangerous to continue cycling with my (MIPS) helmet.

I think about every 5 years. Unless you have dropped it from more than about waist height onto a solid surface, or there are any dents of any size. If you've slid out and not bashed your bonce, I'd carry on riding it but as soon as it's taken a knock in a crash, get a new one imo.

Cheers thanks for the advice. Did take a knock and stopped my face from getting more than the very surface-level road rash it did, so have bought a new helmet, but was just wondering if I was doing that needlessly, since the helmet appeared scratched/scuffed but not dented! I think a table-height drop onto the floor has also definitely happened before.. Just feels odd to have to be this careful with protective gear.

The expanded polystyrene inside a helmet needs a fair amount of force to compress it (which is how it helps protect the head). Personally I wouldn't be replacing a helmet just because it was dropped on the floor (from any normal height) but that's just me.

Yes this was precisely what I was wondering about, but on the internet you hear all sorts. I am well aware you get the range of variance of opinions even on this thread but figured everyone would have better rationales to back things up with for some considered views.

I’ve definitely dropped mine a few times and not replaced it but better to give more conservative advice on the internet when it comes to safety. 🙂

I took a low speed tumble on damp grass and cracked my specialised helmet in two.
I replaced it with a woolly hat which has survived numerous spills, and is warmer in winter.
I haven’t added to the plastic mountain, which makes me a bit happier and I also ride a bit more conservatively these days.

I recall whizzing down Crystal Palace hill 10 years back, when a parked-up pizza guy opened his car door - impacting my shoulder as I was doing about 30mph. The force of the blow spun me 180 degrees around and sent me flying backwards, until the back of my head smashed into the tarmac. There wasn’t much left of my helmet. Until that day, I often rode without a helmet. Now I always wear one.

Do you still ride at 30mph in the door zone?

Do you still ride at 30mph in the door zone?

Boom

Hopefully not!

Given narrowness of London roads I'd be surprised if you braked everytime you were overtaking a car stopped momentarily in the middle of the road? Good to avoid taking risks but helmets seem to be helpful for the (hopefully few) times where you do and things don't work out. Also can't really stop other people from behaving like morons - got doored when filtering past a taxi stopped right in front of a traffic light at the point where lights had just changed; turns out they weren't stopped for the light.

Good to avoid taking risks but helmets seem to be helpful for the (hopefully few) times where you do and things don't work out.

Do you wear a helmet when walking? The stats show that head injuries whilst walking are more prevalent (adjusted for distance) than cycling.

(I'm pro-choice, but just trying to understand the logic behind helmet use.)

Driving too

Wonder if stats need to be adjusted for the type of activity? I reckon trucking along at more than 25kph makes the average forumite a lot more likely to come to harm in an accident than most commuters. I consider cycling to be the most high risk activity I am partaking in on a regular basis (though the benefits outweigh the cost), so anything that helps to reduce a chance of injury (why fuck with concussions when you can avoid it fairly painlessly) seems like a good shout. Like buying insurance..? Have had enough happen to me personally where I would have whacked my head a lot worse if not for helmet that it seems a worthwhile investment to make, maybe your reflexes are a lot faster than mine and I should just not go beyond 15mph..

Before you all dash out and buy the latest MIPS/geltech/megamarketing/supermoneymaking plastic cycling hat. A few wraps of cloth have just been proven to be just as effective.

Turbans can be just as good or better than cycle helmets in a crash

I wonder how Tim would fare with the professors

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Logically Helmets for drivers and car passengers makes total sense.

My logic for wearing a helmet is less about the serious injury and more about the pain reduction. I’ve had two big crashes over the years, both resulted in me sliding on my head in a similar way to the breakdance move “the matchstick”. Had I not been wearing a helmet, I would have lost a lot of scalp…possibly losing an ear too.

Obviously without all that extra weight and larger size your head would've been clear of the floor and you'll be injury free.

Posted without comment, other than I found it interesting.
https://youtu.be/ZKbYaOiz5U4?si=VduJ4-_VZV5tUh_w

Ah that brings back memories, I hope he's still riding around!

Do you have a link for this? I used to get caught up in these arguments and seem to remember this being a total myth.

Stats may be true (quick google throws up https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/16027/are-you-more-likely-to-suffer-a-head-injury-walking-than-cycling which itself links to helpful UK road accident statistics) for killed while cycling, but injury stats (be it serious or not) seem to be far higher for cycling than for walking.

Also even if you're looking at death statistics, most of the people on this forum are probably traveling longer distances when cycling than when walking so if you adjust for time spent traveling maybe that changes - given that pedal deaths are 2.8/100m km and pedestrian deaths are 3/100m km, but I probably cycle 10 km for every km I walk, probably makes sense to take more precautions when cycling..