I appreciate my helmet. I treat it with respect. I never leave for a ride without it. I replace it after a crash or even after helplessly watching it bound down the stairwell like some kind of deformed styrofoam slinky-dink after allowing it to slip from my grasp. (This activity also typically involves some assertions questioning what it does in its spare time, its origins of birth, and things of that nature.) Community member @chaz also recently suggested that, in accordance with motorcycle tradition, we ceremoniously cut the strap on the helmet and hang it in the VVorkshop in deference to the purpose it served us.
Suffice to say, I’m grateful for the advances technology offers us when it comes to protective headgear, because staying alive is in alignment with my strategy. But progress is the slayer of ritual and tradition, and I can’t help but look back longingly to the days when helmets were rarely worn and if they were, they consisted of thin strips of leather that, assuming it stayed on, would do little more than keep your cranium from coming apart after cracking it to bits on a cobblestone or some such object.
The hairnet was the coolest cranial accouterment ever designed, with the insulated cycling cap that fit over it being a close second. The cycling cap on its own was, of course, also a class piece of kit to be worn forwards, sideways, or backwards – made cooler only by perching a set of cycling-specific shades on top of it. A helmetless head saw hair slicked back by the wind as a byproduct of the V as riders raised their arms in triumph over the finish line. The bare noggin on the high mountain passes was a beacon of Purified Awesome, allowing us to see in all their glory the suffering faces of the riders as they moved sur la plaque over the summit.
Take a moment, fellow Velominati, to honor the Useless Headgear of our past.
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Headgear/”]
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@ChrisO
Opinions best kept to the other boards you allude to. I'd happily bin this whole article if one more comment along these lines appears.
@sgt
When I started Alpine Skiing again, I was like, "Helmets? Really? Fucktards." And then I used one and I rang my bell HARD right away and was happy I had it. Everyone I know had the same experience.
I always ski with a helmet now. Skiing without one feels just as weird as cycling without one.
@jimmy
Ah, the Sub-6. Everyone credits Giro for the first good helmet, but bullocks to that. The Sub-6 was the first time anyone looked truly badass in a helmet.
Here's Pharmy in his Sub-6, when he (and Specialized) were still cool.
@ChrisO
I totally appreciate your sentiment, and quite frankly, I'm not sure you're wrong. Rest assured, such a Rule would never grace these pages. A Rule about how to cut the strap and hang the destroyed helmet in the shop after it saves your life? I could see that. But not one about wearing one. For starters, it would put every Great Cyclist ever in the violations list. Second, it is, as you say, a personal choice. Quite frankly, I'm sure you Look Fantastic without your helmet, and that's 3/4 of what we're talking about. And I'm looking forward to seeing you in April without a helmet.
I wear one - always - but its my choice. As with all my opinions, I feel its the right choice - otherwise I wouldn't make it. But I for one will never judge anyone for making a different choice. I might make fun of them, though. That's certainly not beneath me. And mocking. That's another specialty. But not judging.
I began riding before the helmet was available. all the guys racing that i lived around and with were racing in the leather hair nets. I thought they were super neat looking and remember thinking about how special they were. My first helmet was odd but saved my head in my first criterium when the gal behind me hooked her wheel or i hooked mine, ( can't remember but I was leading ) but we both went down hard. that helmet broke because of that fall. didn't race for a long time but rode like crazy without a helmet for mucho years. skied without the helmet, rode without because helmets were not really available then. I salute the leather hair net.
@Nate
Strong work, Nate.
And more good stuff from ChrisO and @frank.
I love this place - anywhere else this gets brought up turns nasty but here... It's all about Looking Fantastic. Kudos.
I however, am still wearing the helmet I got with my cycle-to-work scheme bike (I can't count the number of rule violations but I'm working on whittling them down one-by-one) whilst embezzling enough cash to buy a suitable replacement. The thing is enormous - it actually might put me in more danger of an accident - it protrudes so far out from the side of my head, it might get clipped by a passing bus.
@ChrisO
@frank
I agree with both sentiments. Having worked ER for 12 years and now in surgery for 10 I've seen (anecdotal, not scientific) many people who have had lives saved/ better outcomes from wearing a lid. Myself included (numerous crashes racing, been hit by 3 different cars).
That said, I almost always wear a helmet. The venting keeps you cooler in the summer than no lid at all. But once in awhile, I do love going out for a spin sans lid. It's liberating.
@gaswepass
I had a set of those Boone Lennon designed wonders. Super cool, and if you're sprinting in the drops, you won't hit your knees on them. It was always a bit off-putting when you were in the drop "extensions" hammering away and they flexed big time.
When I was in 5th grade I was invited over to Scott Harless' house to ride BMX on his track with natural half-pipe. He was one of the 8th graders who rode bikes with a couple other 8th graders doing some really cool tricks for the day (1981). They were doing table-tops, 360's, 720's, all kinds of cool shit and were ring Redline Proline 2's. Cool bikes. Any way, when I told my mom where I was going (Scott Harless' track) she made me take one of these:
Man was I pissed, but moreover, caught in the moral dilemma of my young life. Do I ignore mom and risk being not allowed to go or do I wear the helmet and risk the ridicule of Scott and the Redline kids? I wore the helmet and ditched it in some bushes along the way. My mom drove by later and saw me, sans helmet, riding Scott's track. I was grounded from my bike for two weeks.
I would err on the sign of caution on helmets.
4 score and 20 years ago, I was last in a 3 man pace line ascending a very minor lump on an otherwise flat road when the guy in front of me inexplicably went down in a heap at about 35kmh. We got the guy up and he must have asked myself and the other guy "What happened?, What the F' happened?, How did I get here?" about 50 times (despite our explanations repeated 50 times). He, ended up spending the night in the hospital, with a fairly serious concussion. The dude's helmet was destroyed, as it took the brunt of his impact with solid concrete.
This is not a conclusion on whether helmets are necessary, but since they are so light, and some look pretty cool, my take is...wear it and increase your chances of walking away. You only have one brain.
PS- the cause of the crash- the dude had not fully tightened his front quick release----so maybe the concussion jarred his brain for the better.