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

always wear a helmet. even on a quick ride just to the shops. I really don't care if its uncool or whatever. The argument is simple: I never heard that anyone had a disadvantage from wearing one but I heard of many cases where people might have been dead or badly injured if they would not have worn one. Same goes for front brakes. I can ride brakeless but why take the risk? And of course its not just about me. Wife, family, friends...

Have your read Oliver's (excellent) post? Or looked at those statistics from Oz and the point I made earlier about torsional brain injuries?

Doing things on the basis that "you never heard that x but I heard that y" where x and y are received wisdom as opposed to published studies or other scientific data is as likely to drive you to the safest course of action as flipping a coin.