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some scrapes and sore as fuck, but no broken bones and no broken noggin
And this is why my opinion of someone drops by ten points whenever I hear them make fun of someone for wearing safety gear
Remember: it's very hot to care about your own life and wellbeing~
There’s a saying with motorcycle riders called “dress for the slide, not the ride”
Also ATGATT (all the gear, all the time)
PPE is drip and you can't change my mind!
How do you keep track of all the different levels of respect and disdain needed to support this rating system? /s
I flipped my bike in 2016 and my helmet saved me twice, once when it hit the asphalt, once when my bike came over and smashed into the top.
Split it almost comically in half.
I kept it on my desk when I worked on bikes. Every single person who bought a bike got interrogated about whether they have a helmet. Every single person got the lecture on helmet safety. If they seemed iffy or unconvinced, I'll ask them if they want this to be their skull instead. That convinced them every time.
Some people don't think you need a helmet until you fucking need a hekmet. But then it's too late.
Congrats o surviving the crash, make sure to replace ASAP! (though I doubt you need a reminder lol)
I watched a guy fumble with his pedals at 0 mph, fall down and hit his head on concrete. Major Neuro trauma.
I'm gonna be the really unpopular guy and ask for some kind of evidence of this. I don't want to imply insincerity but every helmet thread on the internet has some one-liner about massive stationary trauma like this one, and as a clumsy cyclist myself it doesn't pass my gut check (Even when I remind myself that skull-cracking cement curbs are car infrastructure). I know lots of cyclists in person and none of them have an example of such a particular and severe injury. If you don't have a link to news story or social post, if someone else here does? I either want to prove my gut wrong and be put in my place, or stand up on a soapbox over this one. Sorry, I don't want to be adversarial, but I do want facts in my helmet threads.
It was always wild to me that people just didn't want to wear them. Like. I like having a brain that functions. I do not give a shit about this idea of it not being fashionable. My brain is more important than fashion!
I've hosted some biking events with friends/youth groups/family and one thing I make clear is show up with a helmet or don't show up at all. With the caveat that if you don't have one, I have extras and will provide one if you need one, and I have bought helmets for people before because they couldn't afford one.
I don't care how you feel on your own rides, just wear a proper helmet. Or you don't ride with me.
As for fashion, my partner and I have matching helmets that match our usual riding gear, and i made them a 3d printed unicorn horn to stick on their helmet that immediately got stuck on and now I have to promise to make a new one for every new helmet they get. Personalize your helmet and who cares if it's fashionable.
The excuse I hear the most often (aside from the whole ‘it doesn’t look cool’ thing) is that why should they wear a helmet; they’re safe, skilled cyclists; obviously they’ll only get injured if someone hits them, and that won’t happen because people are supposed to drive carefully.
I have to admit I never got this one either. My aunt got her bike tire caught in railroad ties and flipped. I skidded on some gravel and couldn’t recover in time. Even if you’re the safest, most careful, most skilled cyclist in the world, accidents can still happen.
Not to mention some drivers don’t drive safe! And even the ones that do might not see a cyclist, since cyclists are small and fast.
I'm a safe and skilled cyclist. But my society makes me bike at speed alongside cars, on infrastructure meant for cars. That's why I wear one. Cars will get you eventually, either the cagers themselves or some jacked up infrastructure they destroyed that never even had you in mind.
The excuse I hear the most often (aside from the whole ‘it doesn’t look cool’ thing) is that why should they wear a helmet; they’re safe, skilled cyclists; obviously they’ll only get injured if someone hits them, and that won’t happen because people are supposed to drive carefully.
I have to admit I never got this one either. My aunt got her bike tire caught in railroad ties and flipped. I skidded on some gravel and couldn’t recover in time. Even if you’re the safest, most careful, most skilled cyclist in the world, accidents can still happen.
Not to mention some drivers don’t drive safe! And even the ones that do might not see a cyclist, since cyclists are small and fast.
When someone asks why I always cycle with a helmet I always show them this video 😆
Cycling without a helmet is truly one of those things that have literally no point. Like legit why would anyone do that. Its a 2 kilo thing you strap to your head that just instantly reduces the chance for you to die(i dont know the statistics for this but its like actually a huge reduction)
do you think cycling would be as popular in the netherlands and denmark if everyone wore a helmet?
As a member of Gen X, we didn't wear helmets as kids (because the helmet usually cost more than the bike) and the habit stuck for a lot of people.
And of course, get a new one and destroy that thing so no one else wears it thinking they're safe. In a perfect world you wouldn't have to say it but this is far from a perfect world.
Yeah, this is one thing that troubles me about biking. Even if the helmet never gets damaged, they are still effectively disposable and have something of a shelf life. Over time the little bubbles in the styrofoam pop, and the structural integrity degrades. So it's a good idea to get a new one at least every few years.
Came here specifically to make sure this comment was made
True! Mine's probably getting to the point where replacement should be considered.
They're effectively an externality of motornormativity, if you think of them that way their sustainability cost pales in comparison to what they're actually accommodating.
True, if I didn't have to worry about motor vehicles, I'd probably be a lot more lax about wearing helmets, and their design would probably differ too.
oh for sure, the first thing i did was go to the shop and get a new one
Why oh why is this not in a cycling community? Those poor neglected community souls!
now imagine this but on your skull and you are forty so this will take five years to heal ~~completely~~ %95
Nothing like seeing a windscreen wiper shaped indentation in your helmet to reaffirm that wearing one was the right choice.
How did you fall?
The curvature of spacetime caused the ground to accelerate towards OP
Absolutely. Cars and most country's nearly ubiquitous car-centric infrastructure transforms the otherwise harmless bicycle ride into a fraught and sometimes downright dangerous experience. Unless you have the luxury of living somewhere that has gone through the concerted political process of rejecting motornormativity and transforming your infrastructure to one that accommodates human-scale transportation (We're all looking enviously at you, Netherlands), helmets are just one of many externalities that we must shoulder as cyclists to accommodate our ultimately ruinous and unsustainable driving-as-default policies.
helmets FTW.
i still remember when i was walking around my countryside in november on some very slippery ice. expectedly, i slipped and fell straight on my head. the only thing that saved me was that i was still in my airsoft uniform from a match earlier that day, and the helmet absorbed the impact.
I just wish I could find more stylish ones. Or more biodegradable ones. Or both.
Yeah yeah, I'll keep wearing them of course.
The thing that drives me crazy, and something I see way more often, is people riding at night with no lights. Terrible idea. Surround your shit with lights. Be a wheeling christmas tree if you have to, or it is only a matter of time before you will be hit.
Also rear-view mirrors are underrated, though I wish companies would manufacture ones that are more sturdy, less floppy.
Biodegradable bicycle helmet:
Alright, heading to the grocery store then...
And more stylish
I won't go back to riding without a mirror, not in the city at least.
Same. They should be on bikes by default.
That was almost your calculator!
HELL YEAH safety
Out of curiosity, how fast were you and was it a casual ride?
At my average (or even maximum speed), it's hard to imagine that I would get to that level or damage on a helmet unless I'm run over by car.
I broke my wrist and fractured 2 ribs doing 15kph. Also wore a helmet, can't remember how bad it looked, but had to be replaced.
It doesn't need much to be unlucky.
I just rode 40 min not realizing my helmet wasn't buckled because I had a respirator for allergies and road particulate which has it's own chin strap