Let's chat about helmets..

jdog

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
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Today..

At Chimney Rock..

After a nice ride I see three guys suiting up to ride. One has a helmet, while the other two do not.

These guys are clearly newbies and we ask if they would like a helmet as we had spares on hand.. ( i was with a rep who had a bunch in his van)..

One guy said yes and happily took one. He was surprised and delighted at the gesture. The third guy would not take one. He walked over to his truck and pulls out a new looking helmet and the three of them ride away.

I felt like we had done some good and honestly if there was ever a crew that needed helmets, this was them.

I know this is a personal choice, but I can't imagine going out in the woods w/o a helmet at a trail like this on a dept store bike..

Thoughts??
 
Let us talk about the opportunity for someone to make a winter MTB helmet. I'm tempted to wear my snowboarding helmet in the winter, but it doesn't have the right holes to mount my light and I"m sure it's not really the right helmet. The hat thingy + helmet works fine, but the helmet slips a bit much especially with the light. Would also be dope for a helmet manufacturer to fully support a light. I'm sure having the light on the helmet makes the helmet designers not be able to sleep at night, it has to be a huge negative to the way the helmet works/balance/puncture/whatever. So someone who actually integrates a light or mount or something would be awesome.
 
Likewise, I can't imagine going out in the woods w/o a helmet, especially at a place like Chimney Rock.

I wear a helmet and my wife thinks I am taking a risk riding with a 5-years old helmet. I'm looking to replace both my road and MTB helmets with ones that have MIPS or a MIPS-like technology, but it seems there are not very many options available just yet.

That is really cool that you were with a rep. who had a number of helmets to spare/lend out.
 
gtluke said:
Let us talk about the opportunity for someone to make a winter MTB helmet. I'm tempted to wear my snowboarding helmet in the winter, but it doesn't have the right holes to mount my light and I"m sure it's not really the right helmet. The hat thingy + helmet works fine, but the helmet slips a bit much especially with the light. Would also be dope for a helmet manufacturer to fully support a light. I'm sure having the light on the helmet makes the helmet designers not be able to sleep at night, it has to be a huge negative to the way the helmet works/balance/puncture/whatever. So someone who actually integrates a light or mount or something would be awesome.
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I wear a Bell Super 2 in the winter. It comes with a break away Gopro mount on top. When it gets super cold, I wear a thin merino wool hat under it. So far no issues with the helmet moving with a light on top. Even with the battery on the helmet
 
I can't get into riding on any trails without a helmet. A story I tell to help convince people: I was done with a winter ride and goofing around in the parking lot. Considered taking helmet off, but didn't. Slipped on some hidden ice and hit the ground hard. Would have definitely cracked the back of my head open in the parking lot after putting in 18 or so trail miles. Stuff can happen anywhere, don't risk it.
 
There's a dood out here that we run across often who is no newb. He rides with his awesome white Shepard. Figure he knows better and it's not my brain. I do drop hints on the newb riders when I see them and they seem to know and agree.
 
Supermoto said:
I wear a Bell Super 2 in the winter. It comes with a break away Gopro mount on top. When it gets super cold, I wear a thin merino wool hat under it. So far no issues with the helmet moving with a light on top. Even with the battery on the helmet
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Oh nice. My light uses gopro mounts. And I do need a new helmet.
 
gtluke said:
Let us talk about the opportunity for someone to make a winter MTB helmet. I'm tempted to wear my snowboarding helmet in the winter, but it doesn't have the right holes to mount my light and I"m sure it's not really the right helmet. The hat thingy + helmet works fine, but the helmet slips a bit much especially with the light. Would also be dope for a helmet manufacturer to fully support a light. I'm sure having the light on the helmet makes the helmet designers not be able to sleep at night, it has to be a huge negative to the way the helmet works/balance/puncture/whatever. So someone who actually integrates a light or mount or something would be awesome.
Click to expand...
http://www.lazersport.com/product/bike-adult-mtb/revolution-mips-matte-black
safety tested with go pro mount built into helmet , no help with the cold do
 
We are informed, most of use have cracked helmets and/or been knocked out. We know the consequences. We also know the issues with trail access, again, informed.

The general public is dumb, many probably think it is cool to get knocked out the same as they think it is cool to ride in the mud and trash the trails.

It is nice to try but in the end, if t isn't s trail access issue, let me crack their skullz
 
gtluke said:
Let us talk about the opportunity for someone to make a winter MTB helmet. I'm tempted to wear my snowboarding helmet in the winter, but it doesn't have the right holes to mount my light and I"m sure it's not really the right helmet. The hat thingy + helmet works fine, but the helmet slips a bit much especially with the light. Would also be dope for a helmet manufacturer to fully support a light. I'm sure having the light on the helmet makes the helmet designers not be able to sleep at night, it has to be a huge negative to the way the helmet works/balance/puncture/whatever. So someone who actually integrates a light or mount or something would be awesome.
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LT03146-MAIN.jpg
 
Good on you and your friend for helping to get some guys in helmets. I couldn't/wouldn't go out in the trails without one. I'm surprised at how many people I see riding without them. I crashed pretty hard last year. Smashed my helmet pretty hard, My wife bought me a new helmet because she (smartly) realized my old one was probably tweaked. Pretty sure my head would have taken an ugly hit had I not been wearing a helmet. I separated my shoulder and fractured some ribs., and now I wear a padded vest in addition to my helmet, which may just be a "security blanket", but whatever it lets me ride with less fear. All the equipment is relatively comfortable and no big deal to wear.

I ride motorcycles also, and always wear a DOT/Snell approved full faced helmet. When I ride in PA and other states without helmet laws I am astonished at how many people choose to ride without one. In the summer it's not uncommon to roll up on someone wearing flip flops, shorts and no helmet. In states with hlmet laws, I'm surprised how many peaple just wear a tiny beany style helmet. People make their own choices and it is what it is, but its still surprising. Modern safety gear is relatively comfortable and vents well, I just can't see rolling without. Then again I have kids, and that changed my whole thought process on stuff like this.
 
pkovo said:
When I ride in PA and other states without helmet laws I am astonished at how many people choose to ride without one. In the summer it's not uncommon to roll up on someone wearing flip flops, shorts and no helmet.
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I remember the day that law passed -- I never saw so many people on motorcycle on the road in one day, all of them riding without a helmet.

As far as bikes go, it's not just newbies. Recently, HOF MTBer and original 7-11 team roadie Steve Tilford was involved in a crash on a group ride where he ran into a dog at 30 mph. He wasn't wearing a helmet and is currently dealing with a TBI that may end his riding career once and for all. He doesn't seem to think so, of course, and while he is regularly updating his recovery status on his blog (including posts about how he is learning to walk straight again), he hasn't even acknowledged that riding without a helmet played any role in where he is now. So here is a man in his mid to late 50's who rode and raced at an elite level for almost 40 years who isn't yet taking any responsibility for what happened to him or the fact that he is possibly making himself a lifelong burden on everyone who now has to keep an eye on him.

And the daily lesson of life these days continues on its repeating (and apparently, increasing) cadence: the capacity for stupidity in people will never peak.
 
jnos said:
But when one of them crashes and fucks up their head and then sues the County, CR will be closed to mountain biking.
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Where is the precedent for this? Someone can cripple themselves, while wearing a helmet, and sue too. Not wearing a helmet is like smoking. You know it's not good for you, you do it anyway, your fault.
 
Monkey Soup said:
Where is the precedent for this? Someone can cripple themselves, while wearing a helmet, and sue too. Not wearing a helmet is like smoking. You know it's not good for you, you do it anyway, your fault.
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Around 1999, a cyclist in Green Lane Park here in SE PA decided to go riding on the ultra-techy orange trail without a helmet. He crashed, fractured his skull and then lay there and died because he was all alone. After that, bikes were banned from Green Lane for the next decade plus. I'm not sure why there was ultimately a change of heart, but the fact remains that bikes were effectively banned for all of the 00's (some folks still rode there from what I understand, but myself and any of my riding buddies avoided it until a few years ago when we found out about the re-opening.)

I'm not personally aware of others, but you don't need to actually have another case to see the logic in the argument - a land manager has to make choices regarding risk tolerances. Given the relatively small operating budgets of many parks and trail systems, it's a pretty easy decision for many of them to exclude bicycles from those systems simply to avoid the possibility of a crash resulting in litigation. If they can't enforce an ironclad waiver (or guarantee that every user will see and sign that waiver) then even in limited liability venues, the potential loss due to litigation could destroy their budgets. If some f*cking knucklehead wants to ride a technical trail without the sense to protect his head given the very real possibility of a crash, that knucklehead presents a level of risk that any land manager would consider intolerable. And since they can't selectively ban individuals unless they pay to have a sentry posted at every possible access point, it's much more cost effective to simply ban everyone.

The simple fact is, a rider without a helmet presents a higher perceived risk for a negative press event and/or litigation for a land manager than one with a helmet. (The argument that a rider with a helmet will have a false sense of invincibility and will take more chances is nonsense on its face - personal risk tolerance is a psychological component of an individual personality, it isn't created by specific opportunities. If you've always been cautious about your safety, for example, you don't change your personality because someone gave you a helmet.) And as long as that higher perceived risk exists, helmetless riders can only increase the likelihood of a park or trail system being closed to riders.
 
1speed said:
Around 1999, a cyclist in Green Lane Park here in SE PA decided to go riding on the ultra-techy orange trail without a helmet. He crashed, fractured his skull and then lay there and died because he was all alone. After that, bikes were banned from Green Lane for the next decade plus. I'm not sure why there was ultimately a change of heart, but the fact remains that bikes were effectively banned for all of the 00's (some folks still rode there from what I understand, but myself and any of my riding buddies avoided it until a few years ago when we found out about the re-opening.)

I'm not personally aware of others, but you don't need to actually have another case to see the logic in the argument - a land manager has to make choices regarding risk tolerances. Given the relatively small operating budgets of many parks and trail systems, it's a pretty easy decision for many of them to exclude bicycles from those systems simply to avoid the possibility of a crash resulting in litigation. If they can't enforce an ironclad waiver (or guarantee that every user will see and sign that waiver) then even in limited liability venues, the potential loss due to litigation could destroy their budgets. If some f*cking knucklehead wants to ride a technical trail without the sense to protect his head given the very real possibility of a crash, that knucklehead presents a level of risk that any land manager would consider intolerable. And since they can't selectively ban individuals unless they pay to have a sentry posted at every possible access point, it's much more cost effective to simply ban everyone.

The simple fact is, a rider without a helmet presents a higher perceived risk for a negative press event and/or litigation for a land manager than one with a helmet. (The argument that a rider with a helmet will have a false sense of invincibility and will take more chances is nonsense on its face - personal risk tolerance is a psychological component of an individual personality, it isn't created by specific opportunities. If you've always been cautious about your safety, for example, you don't change your personality because someone gave you a helmet.) And as long as that higher perceived risk exists, helmetless riders can only increase the likelihood of a park or trail system being closed to riders.
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Some years ago, someone was seriously injured At Ringwood, park is still open. I think you're a fool I you ride without a helmet, but this argument is moot, since there is no adult helmet law in NJ requiring its use.
 
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