Do you wear a bike helmet?

Question

I'm just curious - how many adults wear a bike helmet? I ride my bike on a gravel road and don't wear one. When I grew up no one wore bike helmets. My daughter wears her helmet and always says, "Safety first!" (she's 8)

Answer 1

well you should these days roads have become to dangerous and prevention is always better then remedy

Answer 2

I'm 21 and I wear a helmet! Better safe than sorry; you won't look so cool with concusion and blood pouring out of your head after a crash, Iv'e had a few nasty crashes on the road and it just pays to wear a helmet, it's that simple. - They make cool looking helmets nowadays anyhowz.

Its just the fact that you don't ever know when to expect a crash, I was riding home after a day at the local jump spot and some woman opened a car door on me; the door was bent back 6" and the car was written off, I had a stutter for 2 years afterwards, I had a shattered nose [which is still crooked] and have two permenant scars on my face - as well as still suffering from mild speech difficulties and very bad short term memory loss; the crash happened 6 years ago. The paramedics said if I hadn't had a helmet on, I would be a vegetable or dead.

And YOU have something to live for, you have kids!

Answer 3

after being hit by a car myself on my road bike and having a bad spill on my mountain bike, I can honestly tell you this, HELMETS SAVE LIVES!. I work at a bike shop and you have no idea how often people ask me "do i really need a helmet". My response is to point them to the cracked helmet i have on display and say "i'm here because this thing is here". I always encourage helmets regardless of what type of riding you do. It only takes 8 pounds of pressure to crack the human skull and your body weight plus gravity can easily add up to more than 10 lbs by itself not including any outside forces.
Give your daughter a hug for being smarter than most adults. Buy her some soft batch cookies too.

Answer 4

Absolutely - both for road riding and for off-road (mountain) rides.

Helmets have saved my life more times than I can count!

I've been through four major bicycle-car crashes as the rider - in one, the bike and car were both write-offs, but I managed to walk away ... holding six separate pieces of severely-flattened fibreglass and styrofoam.

I've had several minor and three major mountain bike episodes, ranging from an endo that cumulated in a fall off a twelve foot high cliff into a dry stream bed to a direct smash into a tree branch (while night riding) that was located just perfectly to crack the helmet in half top-to-bottom.

Helmets have saved my life - they'll do the same for you!

Answer 5

I always wear my helmet.

In fact, in Australia, I'm pretty sure it's illegal to ride a bike on a public road without wearing an approved bicycle helmet.

Answer 6

Yes, 99% of the time.

Always on the road (I saw a friend get hit by a car and the helmet saved him).

Always on mountain bike trails.

The only exception is riding a beach cruiser along the beach at slow speeds on a bike path.

Answer 7

Why do you think your daughter wears one? Did you tell her to? You did buy it for her to wear, right?

My adolescence was spent skateboarding (which screwed up my knees), and I never wore a helmet. I never hit my head, either. Once I got into bicycling, I wore a helmet. I ALWAYS wear my helmet, on EVERY ride.

17 years later, I have destroyed three of them in accidents. None of the crashes were from going too fast or riding technical terrain. Crashes where my head would have definitely been cracked in two were reduced to mild concussions.

They were all destroyed in crashes while casually riding along, just like you do on your dirt road.

If you want your daughter to wear one and you don't you're a hypocrite. WHEN you crash and hit your head, what is your daughter going to do with mommy lying unconscious on the street, blood pouring from her ear? You can heal a broken bone or road rash, but there is NO RECOVERY from brain trauma.

Set a good example for your children and go buy a helmet!

Answer 8

I always wear a helmet, and I only ride with others that do too
in many biking clubs, no helmet means no ride
I see a lot of families with the kids wearing helmets but the parents don't, this is not being a good example for their children

Answer 9

I always whear a helmet. Look, depending on the kind of riding you do, you may not ever fall off and hit your head. More agressive riders who ride in groups or race will tend to have more mishaps than someone just ooling around on paths. BUT, it only takes one bad fall to ruin your life. I know it sounds dramatic, but it's true. You can't control how and when you fall sometimes. If you hit your head the wrong way, you're in trouble. For your daughter's sake...she's going to want her father around for as long as possible.

Not to take shots at anyone else on here, but I think it's a little irresponsible to answer questions on here as an "expert" with anything to the contrary. I raced road for many years and I credit my helmet with absorbing impacts that would have killed me.

Answer 10

I always wear my helmet. (I ride on the road most of the time.) I know of too many people that have fallen and were only saved from major head injury by their helmet.

Answer 11

I absolutely never get on my bike without my helmet.
On Thankgiving Day my riding partner was drafting me on a lakefront ride & bumped my wheel, lost control & crashed. He basically came down on his head & hip but it wasn't till 10 minutes later I thought to take a look at his helmet...it was cracked in 4 places. The bruise & swelling on his hip lasted at least a month but had he not been wearing a helmet he would be dead or sitting in a wheelchair drooling on himself.
As a serious cyclist or a weekend warrior it is just not worth the risk not to wear one. Just drop a cantelope on the sidewalk & watch what happens. If nothng else sometimes in a fall they at least save you from taking off some skin on your face. But...it could be your life it saves...or your kids!
RIDE SMART...WEAR A HELMET!!!!!!!!!