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

note to self, hippy is the one wearing a bucket on his head, reverse and make sure you got him

Such is life..

Surely, other things being equal (a prereqisite for such a comment being useful) it makes a lot more sense to wear a helmet if you know you are going to a long distance (more chances of having a crash), faster (more chance of hitting your head if you are doing 20 mph not 2 mph) etc etc.

But there's the whole thing about helmets being useless for fast crashes.

if I am planning on riding 10 metres in a park on the grass at 2 mph the possible benefits of wearing a helmet are tiny.

It would hurt less – something most people would agree on about helmets (pain reduction in slow/small crashes).

But there's the whole thing about helmets being useless for fast crashes.
Bike helmets are designed to withstand the speed at which your head hits the ground (ignoring Scoblephysics) - this would be the same if you are stationary, or traveling at 50kph (assuming you don't hit something other than the ground).

Helmets do, however, provide some degree of scalping protection at high speeds. Not that there are any studies of this.

Bike helmets are designed to withstand the speed at which your head hits the ground (ignoring Scoblephysics) - this would be the same if you are stationary, or traveling at 50kph (assuming you don't hit something other than the ground).

Ah right... I can see this makes sense, but imagine (in a similarly 100% theoretical way) your bike being knocked 90 degrees so you're tipped over, wouldn't you be flung towards the ground much faster at 50mph than 5mph? Stationary, it'd be a tin-whistle soundtracked slump.

Has anyone seen a skateboarding slam section? It's 20mph head-bonk-o-rama. Or is that a different video.

Is it that easy to hit your head whilst falling off anyway? I would have thought having arms/shoulders removes most of the likelyhood of that happening. Mind you I've only fallen once as an adult and it was a low-speed clipless fail that was about 2/5 of a barrel roll.

It would depend on angles, moments and inertia, I expect.

Has anyone seen a skateboarding slam section? It's 20mph head-bonk-o-rama. Or is that a different video.

Don't forget testicles...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4c0fcrtGLZE

Helmets do, however, provide some degree of scalping protection at high speeds. Not that there are any studies of this.

Simple, don't time travel and ride in the American West when the US Army and American Indians were scalping each other.

Simples, yes?

I fall of my bike all the fucking time at polo, I've never hit my head, have taken a few balls to the face though.

less of your choirboy antics young man, this is a serious thread.

Helmets do, however, provide some degree of scalping protection at high speeds. Not that there are any studies of this.

And possibly enhance your risk of rotational brain injuries.

Inside your skull your brain is floating in fluid of similar density and compressibility to it. Thanks to this, as long as your skull doesn't break, the rapid accelerations from hitting your head on something can be transmitted to your brain with relatively little damaging deformation.

The fluid doesn't transmit the accelerations from rapid rotations though - all that comes through the mechanical strength of your brain from the points where it touches your skull or connects to the outside.

If my un-helmeted head hits the tarmac at speed i think i'm more likely to loose some scalp than have my head rapidly rotated. I prefer the idea of that to wearing a helmet which is more likely to grip the tarmac and twist me, and the bulk of which increases the chance my head hits the ground before some other body part.

NSFW. Somebody might want to chop the 'Bell' logo over the offending area...

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NSFW. Somebody might want to chop the 'Bell' logo over the offending area...

?

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I was thinking more this:

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Where the fuck did you find that picture?

Boom, conclusive unrefutable evidence about the helmet debate.

http://road.cc/content/news/85306-top-scientists-cycle-helmets-debate-will-go-and-and

le go through subscribed threads

le clicking without looking

hang on, this one is about helmets

it's the helmet thread!

Why is Bell man not protecting his particulars while he's at it?
Why do beer bottles not wear helmets?
Why are cars not covered in airbags on the outside?

http://www.bicycling.com/senseless/

You know what he looks like right?

A cyclist.

He is. I have one of those lids sitting on my desk right now.

Is it full of smarties?