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

IMO its a crap elitist cycling term, to refer to the 'non-trendy commuting cyclist's, usually riding with seat too high leading to 'bum-rock' and in too high a gear leading to 'nodding'.

Someone with an uncool bike. Right. I sometimes nod but only when I'm listening to terrible hip-hop.

I'm not surprise, more than half the nodder in London take even more risk when riding because they're under the illusion that they're 'safer' due to wearing helmet, day-glo jacket, glove etc.

This^

This always annoys me, how do they know this? I think it's more psychology, the helmet is fucked so the presumption is that your skull would be just as fucked.

seems pretty logical.. something designed to absorb impact to any degree will come out a lot better than your skull.

I never normally wear a helmet, but week before last when i got taken off my bike, i basically braked with my face along the road! The initial impact was completely on my face, so i cant see how the head injury i recieved would have been very different had i been wearing a helmet or not. Luckily i was wearing one at the time.

The visor area on my helmet was completely sanded down where it slid along the tarmac. If this had not been there, it would have been my entire face as opposed to just my jaw/mouth/nose which had made direct and prolonged contact with the road. Probably would have lost a fair few teeth etc

So basically it saved my face from being completely scraped off.

Just about..!

Meh

i will wear one more frequently in the future, but most of the time in terms of actual serious accidents/fatalities i cant see how they would be much use in the majority of accidents.

Is it wrong to say that I really like this photograph? Wish I had someone like this cataloging my scrapes...

seems pretty logical.. something designed to absorb impact to any degree will come out a lot better than your skull.

I don't get what you are trying to say.

That a helmet absorbs an impact better than a skull (which is also designed to absorb impacts)? Or that it's a logical that a broken helmet means your skull will be broken? This is not logical without knowing the strength of both helmet and skull.

when I said 'aggressively', I meant in relative terms. I'm too old to ride like a twat.

Maybe I should have said 'the probabilities latitude had been expanded somewhat in order to accommodate the notional consideration of improved safety, whether true or perceived, which manifested itself in a more dymanic approach to risk analyses during the course of any particular road-traffic interface scenario'.

I think that might have better explained it.

I don't get what you are trying to say.

That a helmet prevents direct impact and will absorb some of the energy from the fall.

Regardless of how well it does this etc etc, cant be bothered with a debate.

Is it wrong to say that I really like this photograph? Wish I had someone like this cataloging my scrapes...

no, not at all. I quite like it.

Bicycle or motorbike?

It seems to me that you would need to be topping 30 to suffer any serious roadscrape injuries.

Bicycle, and yes i was going pretty fast. Cant really gauge the speed im afraid, but nothing like over 30 ofc!

Someone with an uncool bike. Right. I sometimes nod but only when I'm listening to terrible hip-hop.

I didn't mean it like smallfurry suggested but yes it's a nice generalising term about the person on a bike rather than cyclist (the bike itself is irrelevant) but the uber slow mash does irritate me a little especially when they pull in front of you at the lights and wobble off horrifically as they're in their 'fastest' gear

I'm normally rocking out to my tunes too but the rest of my body is a honed cycling machine heh heh

This always annoys me, how do they know this? I think it's more psychology, the helmet is fucked so the presumption is that your skull would be just as fucked. Now I'm not saying that helmets do not offer any protection it's this assumption from people who really have no knowledge about the strength of a helmet to be able to make that judgment that you'd be dead or you'd have this problem or that problem.

Maybe you're right, the neurosurgeon also mentioned the helmet had avoided a nasty injury... but what does he know

Would you rather look stupid or be stupid?

Being Stupid is cycling without any lights in the dark while not paying attention to your surroundings, which I see many people do with and without a helmet ... Use your eyes, your ears and don't do stupid stuff ... more likely to keep you alive than a helmet.

Does anyone have any non-crazy evidence to back up the claim that:
'I'm not surprise, more than half the nodder in London take even more risk when riding because they're under the illusion that they're 'safer' due to wearing helmet, day-glo jacket, glove etc.'

Or something along those lines. I've never seen anything to back it up.

BTW I'm not suggesting its wrong. Just that I see it bandied about in these arguments and I can't help disagreeing with it (for the most part).

Personally I don't believe I ride any more or less agressively with or without my helmet. I may well ride slower without it but its not as if I ride dangerously with it on. I'm capable of judging what is safe and not without having to check if I have a helmet on or not.

Also I ride with gloves purely for the comfort/performance factor. It has nothing to do with the safety aspect, although its a nice bonus.

I'm not surprise, more than half the nodder in London take even more risk when riding because they're under the illusion that they're 'safer' due to wearing helmet, day-glo jacket, glove etc.

you shouldn't be riding aggressively just because you got helmet, jacket etc. ironically you're more at risk to yourself than not wearing helmet, day-glo that force you to take it easy.

Being Stupid is cycling without any lights in the dark while not paying attention to your surroundings, which I see many people do with and without a helmet ... Use your eyes, your ears and don't do stupid stuff ... more likely to keep you alive than a helmet.

Or just do both? if you want to wear a helmet. I don't imagine ppl put on a helmet and think "right I'll start riding with my eyes closed from now, I'll be fine, I have a helmet".

Believe me that what a lots of people believe, in fact their entire confident rely on helmet, day-glo outfit etc. which fair enough got them out on the road, unfortunately, it give them the illusion that they're 'safe' because of the equipment, not their riding style.

now mr edscoble,i lent you my SLR saddle for you to try before you buy,would you like to borrow my giro helmet to see if you like it on your canister.i know weve got some of the greatest bike riders of all time in here(every cycling instructor i know dosent wear a helmet),but it wont stop some clown knocking you off your bike. this helmet debate is like banging your head on a brick wall

Does anyone have any non-crazy evidence to back up the claim that:
'I'm not surprise, more than half the nodder in London take even more risk when riding because they're under the illusion that they're 'safer' due to wearing helmet, day-glo jacket, glove etc.'

Or something along those lines. I've never seen anything to back it up.

BTW I'm not suggesting its wrong. Just that I see it bandied about in these arguments and I can't help disagreeing with it (for the most part).

Personally I don't believe I ride any more or less agressively with or without my helmet. I may well ride slower without it but its not as if I ride dangerously with it on. I'm capable of judging what is safe and not without having to check if I have a helmet on or not.

Also I ride with gloves purely for the comfort/performance factor. It has nothing to do with the safety aspect, although its a nice bonus.

Sam, the theory behind this is called 'risk compensation' and its main proponent is John Adams. Have a look at his web-site:

http://www.john-adams.co.uk/

There is also some summarised info about risk compensation on

http://www.cyclehelmets.org/.

Maybe you're right, the neurosurgeon also mentioned the helmet had avoided a nasty injury... but what does he know

Neurosurgeons are specialists in neural networks and activity. Not reinforced plastics and padding. A helmet is a 'crumple zone'. Before crumple zones on cars, cars didn't really get that damaged in accidents, my dad was hit from behind at 30 mph while he was stationary many years ago and all it did was crack the bumper.

Oops, sorry about forgetting the dash. Edited.

Before crumple zones on cars, cars didn't really get that damaged in accidents.

without crumple zones or sacrificial crash cones, the load from an impact is transferred into the chassis - having been involved in the repair of cars from the 50's to the present day, the severity of damage from a low speed accident on an older car is far more than with a current car traveling many times faster....

This is my brother who scraped himself to a stop after a 30mph get-off this summer.
Just look at it: it's pretty ugly isn't it? I can hardly bear to look, it turns my stomach. The number of times my family and I have pleaded with him, for his own good, "shave that 'tache".

Looks like the 'tache might have saved a large portion of his face there, imagine if he wasn't wearing it at the time...

Let this be a lesson to all you happy go lucky people who feel it's fine to wrecklessly ride around like clean-shaven lunatics!

without crumple zones or sacrificial crash cones, the load from an impact is transferred into the chassis - having been involved in the repair of cars from the 50's to the present day, the severity of damage from a low speed accident on an older car is far more than with a current car traveling many times faster....

Only because straightening a chassis is more of a ball-ache than replacing oversized plastic bumpers.

Nodder

out of interest, how many times have you (nurseholliday) manually stopped a fall with your head? i get the feeling you may have done it more than once...

Fuck off

out of interest, how many times have you (nurseholliday) manually stopped a fall with your head? i get the feeling you may have done it more than once...

+1

although everyone is entitled to an opinion....

alternatively, it could be argued that helmets are for those who fear brain injuries, whereas some others have no fear of brain injury (apologies to the late Linda Smith for bastardising her quote).