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

Feel safer already.

tape a couple of blades round the edge of the helmet al la oddjob. super safe

Bump.

^ Ha!

RLJ's now.

Bump.

Now the moon align!

Hell

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2010897/Motorcyclist-protesting-helmet-laws-dies-bike-crash-wearing-helmet.html

Always good to see this thread get a bump.

As well as habitually wearing a helmet, I'm also now habitually using a super bright flashing rear LED during solo rides in daylight (not commuting). Again, I don't wish to contribute to any idea of obligation for these things.

My rationale, which you may of course disagree with, is that humans don't seem to be able to evolve quickly enough to cope with the increasing demands on their attention, where they've chosen to saturate their immediate environment with electronic gadgetry.

I know that helmets and rear lights offer miniscule percentages in the context of increasing rider safety, especially compared to driver/rider training and awareness, but personally I'll take those percentages and add them to the rest.

Understandably, the rear LED situation has sparked mass debate (sounds a bit rude) amongst the TTing fraternity, a situation exacerbated by a regional body trying to make them compulsory for racing.

Thing is though (and this is purely opinion, not factual) that if lots of cyclists start using blinking LEDs during the day as well, then motorists will stop looking out for people on bikes and start looking out for blinking lights. I take your point that motorists are lazy and distracted, but I think using lights when they’re not necessary will only make them lazier. And therefore the roads will become more dangerous. I’ve definitely stopped noticing hi-viz just because it’s so prevalent these days. Cyclists will be in an arms race to see who can make themselves more conspicuous and it may end in us all looking like total nutters, thus cementing further the idea that we’re all weirdos in “rubber knickers”* riding glorified kids’ toys.

I think using lights in the day (unless it’s rainy/foggy/dusk/very overcast etc.) is pointless. You don’t wear them on days like today do you? I can’t imagine they’d do anything for visibility in bright summer sun.

*Thanks for that, Eric Pickles. Thanks very much.

I think your point about the desensitizing effect of safety gear en masse has some merit. For now though, I'm happy to remain blinking (blinkered?).

Yes, my light does make a difference on searing hot days, as long as the rechargeables are freshly topped up. Anything from 1/2W upwards is visible in bright light (I've seen it with my own eyes on others' bikes, as well as getting feedback from other road users about mine), and it also helps visibility if I'm going from bright conditions into dappled sunlight or tree cover, followed by a driver that's also having to adjust their retinal aperture.

I don't use the super-bright one during night rides, because in that context, it's blinding for people behind me.

Well that's a very reasonable and measured response.
And yes, I can see that on bright days when turning into a tree lined street or other shady area it would be useful.

I'm going to remain helmetless and lightless in daylight for now though. Gloves stay on whatever the weather though.

Classic bike shop moment this morning. I was waiting to be served as the sales assistant was helping an inexperienced cyclist choose a helmet. Just as she'd chosen one, he inspected it closely and found a crack in the plastic. "Oh, I can't sell you this one, as it's already cracked. A previous customer trying it on probably dropped it."

Now, you understand, I'm of course not saying that he was right that this was what caused the crack (it could well have been careless handling when it was still in a box), but I've witnessed very similar situations before.

Cue confusion on the part of the customer: "What do you mean, a customer dropped it? Does that mean that it can crack if ..." Her emerging concern about the helmet being flimsier than she had imagined was routinely and confidently derailed by expert sales patter, and I should imagine that she eventually would have left the shop with a new helmet (I left before that sale was completed).

(This wasn't in London, by the way.)

Gloves stay on whatever the weather though.

+1 [/waits for SchickenSie to make joke based around the phrase 'the gloves are off']

even I passed on that setup.

“rubber knickers”*

*Thanks for that, Eric Pickles.

Thanks for the image of Eric Pickles + rubber knickers. Pass the eye bleach.

not previously connected those into a single image, thanks, cold shower time.

^ What? You need to "calm yourself down" after thinking of Eric Pickles in rubber knickers! You sick fucker! The normal response when confronted by such mental imagery is to get in the shower and scrub with dettol until your skin starts to bleed, not to have a cold shower to avoid the humiliation of knowing you had a wank while thinking of that fat fuck's love handles peeking out the top of a pair of latex skids!

This guy was wearing a helmet

I just realised I never worn a helmet the whole 377.4 miles to cumbria.

was worried about it, but realise it's perfectly safe (base on my risk assessment).

This guy was wearing a helmet

…and my mate Andy (a man with more miles under his belt than most) wasn't wearing one on the day his frontal & parietal lobes smashed into the tarmac near Kings Cross a few years ago, with the knock on effect of a longterm coma, parts of his skull needing to be cut away, impaired communication and mobility, and most distressing of all (to him), the loss of his council flat.

Is this some kind of competition? You could raise me a Wouter Weylandt, and I'll see your Wouter Weylandt and raise you a Serse Coppi. Would that be appropriate?

Looks like his sunglasses gouged him in the fall.

'Remember kids, never wear sunglasses' thread?

Seriously though. Had'nt he have still hurt his face if he was'nt wearing one? or did the helmet cause the crash? what exactly is the argument here?

Because pictures of cyclists with bleeding heads, are'nt convincing me to leave my lid at home.

There's a nasty pic of Hoogerlands sliced up arse on the Tdf thread. yet he had gloves on. Who'd of guessed it?

At work, we had those idiotic Lance Armstrong video showing repeatly on tv, showing the TdF in 2000.

I noticed something i hasn't noticed before; no helmet.

it was strange to actually see the peleton's faces.

There's a nasty pic of Hoogerlands sliced up arse on the Tdf thread. yet he had gloves on. Who'd of guessed it?

That's an outrage, you can't force me to wear gloves. This is oppression. Oppression, I tell you.

Object, I did one thing you'd be please to hear.

I lost my glove in Wimbledon just when I was setting off to Cumbria.

Luckily did not needed glove, hand warmed up enough, handlebar feel fine on my hand, only concern is road rash on my hand if I fall over.

Now I look like I got rupert the fucking bear's hand due to the sun.