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

Been using a Pro-Tec Ace for about a week now, and I'm really pleased with it. It's a bit warm, but not uncomfortably so - the vent holes do their job quite well once you get going. And it looks pretty good, too (the blue and yellow 'Chris Doyle' one)

From last Saturday's Guardian:

Cycle helmets do offer protection

The Guardian,
[]Saturday July 19, 2008
[]Article history
It's a relief to know that common sense does still have a place. As Claire Armitstead points out (Two wheels, G2, July 17), in the past month or so numerous newspaper column inches have been devoted to the curious aim of trying to persuade people not to wear helmets while cycling. The main argument seems to be that the thought of wearing a helmet puts people off cycling and for the greater good of society we cannot allow this to happen - regardless of the number of people who sustain brain injuries as a result. It is claimed there is no proof that wearing a helmet can actually save your life or prevent you from sustaining a brain injury. As Claire Armitstead says, wearing a helmet must protect one's head more than not wearing one.
To conform to British Standards, a helmet sold in this country must be able to absorb 12mph of energy on impact. Speaking as a cyclist in London, I would much prefer 12mph of energy to be absorbed by my helmet rather than my skull. Every year we help thousands of people who have had their lives shattered as a result of being knocked off their bikes. Some, like 33-year-old Kirsty, were wearing helmets and were told by doctors that wearing a helmet most certainly saved their lives. Others, like Simon, 42, spend every day wishing they been wearing one as they wouldn't then struggle with everyday tasks like counting out change or tying shoelaces.
I offer this invite to the sceptics: come along to a Headway house and see for yourself the damage that a brain injury can cause. Maybe then you will be better qualified to make the decision of whether or not to wear a helmet next time you get on your bike.
Luke Griggs
Headway - the brain injury association

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jul/19/transport.cyclingholidays

I've been resisting the urge to mention the number of bike-related head injury cases floating around out there. Did some of my clinical placements and voluntary work with a few people, and most recently my friend and neighbour (an ex recumbent world champion) came off and is still in hospital nearly 12 months later. There were other precipitating factors involved, but the upshot is he's going to have to be rehomed, his communication is severely impaired, and he's a bit fucked really.

I think the real damage is done when your frontal lobe takes a whack (my mate needed to have the frontal bone of his skull removed in a hurry due to the brain swelling). The resulting loss of executive function has a massive knock-on effect for the functions centred in other areas of the brain. It's for this reason that I think people who wear their helmets tilted back and exposing their foreheads are misguided enough to need a bit of road-side education.

Anyway, I'm not going to be a helmet fascist, as there are also a lot of pedestrians with brain injury due to traffic-related accidents, and it all seems to get a bit ridiculous. Ultimately we need road users to act more responsibly, and with a level of care appropriate to the size/speed of their vehicle.

got a new giro pneumo today from www.onyourbike.co.uk [URL="http://www.onyourbike.co.uk,99%"][/URL]99% of the time i wear one .heads and tarmac dont mix well

I've been resisting the urge to mention the number of bike-related head injury cases floating around out there. Did some of my clinical placements and voluntary work with a few people, and most recently my friend and neighbour (an ex recumbent world champion) came off and is still in hospital nearly 12 months later. There were other precipitating factors involved, but the upshot is he's going to have to be rehomed, his communication is severely impaired, and he's a bit fucked really.

I think the real damage is done when your frontal lobe takes a whack (my mate needed to have the frontal bone of his skull removed in a hurry due to the brain swelling). The resulting loss of executive function has a massive knock-on effect for the functions centred in other areas of the brain. It's for this reason that I think people who wear their helmets tilted back and exposing their foreheads are misguided enough to need a bit of road-side education.

Anyway, I'm not going to be a helmet fascist, as there are also a lot of pedestrians with brain injury due to traffic-related accidents, and it all seems to get a bit ridiculous. Ultimately we need road users to act more responsibly, and with a level of care appropriate to the size/speed of their vehicle.

Could I just say that if you express it in those terms more often, people will listen?

And to ask you to do so more.

Good on you for making the point so well.

Stoke Mandeville is full of motorcyclists with head and spine injuries, let's not make it full of cyclists.

Ok after the last fall I am convinced - I will have to buy one on-line as the shops around here suck - so how do I make sure I get the right fit - help me out here - and I'll go on-line and order one this morning - can't say fairer than that - p.s I am 6-7/8 hat size ...:)

Go to a shop and get one fitted.
Needs to be snug enough that is doesn't wobble around if you hold it and shake your head.
Then buy online.

Does it have to be the same brand to get the right size as they only seem to sell BELL around here?

That frontal lobe stuff gave me the willies

so I bought it

only for the fast bike mind....;)

That frontal lobe stuff gave me the willies
so I bought it
only for the fast bike mind....;)

That is a really nice helmet.
I have it in black, and its really nice and comfy.

Go to a shop and get one fitted.
Needs to be snug enough that is doesn't wobble around if you hold it and shake your head.
Then buy online.

I bet local bike shops love you!

Im as tight a person as your likely to find, I barter on everything and never pay asking price.

Yet for the £2 or so discount youd get from ordering it online, Id rather just hand it over to the shop which has just put up with me trying on all their helmets.

Yet for the £2 or so discount you'd get from ordering it online, Id rather just hand it over to the shop which has just put up with me trying on all their helmets.

+1 to that, if you go somewhere decent like condor the advice is worth the extra few quid I reckon, especially with something like a helmet. I ordered one online from Evans once and it was all wrong so I ended up having to send it back and just go to a shop. not sure how careful delivery depot people are with things either, I wouldn't want one that had been chucked about a bit, just in case.

Now I have a 'roadie' hat I suppose I need some glasses

In Paris we Go Sport or Decathalon any decent bike shops are few and far between

what do you guys think of this?

http://www.cutegadgets.co.uk/ignite_d3o_beanie.htm

d3o in a cycling hat? yeeeah boy

Not to be all c+ about it but this morning a helmet came in pretty handy. It's the second time i've been over a bonnet and i never seem to land the right way up. New helmet time again. Booo!

I wear an earlier version of these, about the least fugly of the Giro helmets. A compromise between the pisspot and roadie/xc lid, well-vented. There's also the Giro Hex

I have a massive bonce, and the Giro is about the only one that has fitted comfortably

Not to be all c+ about it but this morning a helmet came in pretty handy. It's the second time i've been over a bonnet and i never seem to land the right way up. New helmet time again. Booo!

Other than the helmet, hope you are OK.

Yeah, bruised and bikes a bit bent but nothing too bad. Last time I went snap so this time it's a bonus not to. Thanks!

Having seen the bunches of flowers and the photographs of cyclists killed in my area (Wiltshire) I started to look for a helmet. Apart from making me look like a prat I couldn't see any difference from one make to the next. A Premier at £12.99 had the same 1078 certification as Bell and others up to £65. I then looked up some experts views, and they were all fairly damning.
From what I've been able to gather, the 1078 helmets sold in UK and Europe are not much better that a balaclava, and can't be guaranteed to save you even if you fall off a stationary bike on a deserted road.
The only exception seems to be the Specialized helmets which have the Snell Approved label. Snell standards are much higher than 1078. Maybe I'm being too fussy. Anybody got any strong feelings on the subject? I'd be glad of the advice.