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You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSI LabTests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.



 
 
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  #81  
Old April 13th 10, 05:39 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Tim McNamara
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Posts: 6,945
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSI Lab Tests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

In article
,
Jay Beattie wrote:

I wore my helmet gardening today -- I aerated the front lawn
yesterday, and those cores were all over the place, so after I rode
home from work tonight, I parked my bike in the garage, pulled out
the leaf blower and cleared the walk. I didn't want the cores turning
in to mud on the walk when it started to rain. I did this while
wearing my tights, cleats and helmet. It struck me after finishing
up that I was endorsing gardening helmets. I'm sorry.


No reason to apologize. Gardening safety is every bit as important as
bicycle safety. There are tree branches, acorns, shovels and pickaxes.
It's scary out there and better safe than sorry.
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  #82  
Old April 13th 10, 05:50 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Frank Krygowski[_2_]
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Posts: 7,511
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSI LabTests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

On Apr 13, 12:39*am, Tim McNamara wrote:
In article
,
*Jay Beattie wrote:
*It struck me after finishing
up that I was endorsing gardening helmets. I'm sorry.


No reason to apologize. *Gardening safety is every bit as important as
bicycle safety. *There are tree branches, acorns, shovels and pickaxes. *
It's scary out there and better safe than sorry.


Oddly enough - and a true story - last fall I was mowing the lawn when
I suddenly found myself surrounded by tree branches. Turns out a
large limb had broken off our big Siberian elm. When it fell, its
branches surrounded me but missed me. The thickest section, about 4"
diameter, fell within about a foot of two of my head.

- Frank Krygowski
  #83  
Old April 13th 10, 06:10 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
AMuzi
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Posts: 13,447
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSILab Tests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

Jay Beattie wrote:
On Apr 12, 6:36 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Apr 12, 2:04 pm, Jay Beattie wrote:



What makes his reality the alternate one? Every statistic is promoted
by a party with an agenda.

Jay, there is an underlying reality in life. When agendas conflict,
that doesn't mean neither side is correct.

If one person claims that every study has shown helmet benefit, while
another person gives citations and links to studies that show NO
helmet benefit, it should be clear which side is truthful.

None of the statistics have proven true in
my town, where helmet use and ridership are up and injury rates are
down. I don't think any of these numbers are connected, however.

You must understand that you live in a very unusual town!

But our issues here are not "can bicycle use and helmet use both
increase?" nor "is it possible for injury rates to drop?"

What we - or at least, I - am trying to discuss are these questions:

1) Does ordinary bicycling carry such a severe risk of serious head
injury that head protection is highly desirable?

2) Do current bike helmets cause significant reductions in the per-
rider rate of serious head injury?

3) Does promotion and/or mandating of bike helmets tend to dissuade
people from cycling?

4) Is such promotion and/or mandating a net positive, or a net
negative for cyclists and for society?

My answers, based on over a decade of study, reading and discussing,
are very firm: 1) Not even close 2) Not even close 3) Almost
certainly 4) A net negative.

Some of those bad effects can be overcome. As one draconian example,
if automobiles were made illegal at the same time bike helmets were
mandated, you'd see a big rise in bike use despite the helmets. But
in a realistic world, scaring people with exaggerated head injury
tales has to dissuade _some_ people. So does mandating helmets. And
yes, despite Scharf's absurd claims, there is plenty of evidence of
that. I think it's not reasonably contestable.

However, I was watching the UCI World Cyclocross Championships last
night. I would not ride that course without a helmet (snow, ice, 150
degree corners with metal barriers all over the place). That is head
whackage waiting to happen. 8oz of foam will help -- at least with
preventing scalp injury and skull fracture on some obstacle.

FWIW, I've never claimed helmets have ZERO protective capability.
While I no longer wear one even riding in snow, or for the gentle
mountain biking to which I now restrict myself, I do believe that
their very limited protective capability is a good fit for those
activities. (Their necessity is another matter.)

Likewise, if I were to enter a crit race, I'd wear a helmet even if it
weren't required. Amateur racers (at least in America) are notorious
for mistakes and crashes, so the odds of a significant head impact are
enormously greater than for ordinary riding. And again, those crashes
are far more likely to be within the tiny capacity of a bike helmet.

Not that they always work, of course. Seehttp://members.shaw.ca/jtubman/deadhelmet.html

Helmets have some protective capacity, just as egg cartons do.* But
any dispassionate examination of the certification tests should show
how limited that capacity is. And any dispassionate examination of
head injury or fatality stats in America will show that cycling is off
the radar for risk.

(Once, when acting as an expert witness in a machine design case, I
was asked "But wouldn't the weld have had _some_ strength, even though
it was mostly machined away?" It struck me as a question that was
either extremely naive, or - more likely - indicative of strong bias.
If a design is nowhere close to required strength, it's nonsense to
talk about it still having "some" strength.)


I wore my helmet gardening today -- I aerated the front lawn
yesterday, and those cores were all over the place, so after I rode
home from work tonight, I parked my bike in the garage, pulled out the
leaf blower and cleared the walk. I didn't want the cores turning in
to mud on the walk when it started to rain. I did this while wearing
my tights, cleats and helmet. It struck me after finishing up that I
was endorsing gardening helmets. I'm sorry. -- Jay Beattie.



Where's the youtube link?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971
  #84  
Old April 13th 10, 07:33 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Dan O
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Posts: 6,098
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSI LabTests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

On Apr 12, 6:58 pm, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On Apr 12, 5:00 pm, SMS wrote:



Hold on there, please don't imply that there is _anywhere_ where helmets
have resulted in lower ridership and higher injury rates. There is zero
evidence of this having happened _anywhere_.


The evidence has been cited so many times that we must call that a
lie.

Seehttp://www.ctcyorkshirehumber.org.uk/campaigns/velo.htmfor some
discussion of this. It's far from the only reference that's been
cited, but it's the easiest to link. Read the information under
"Bicycle Helmet Legislation."


"... Australia and New Zealand... " Hmmm...

"The Holy Bible provides an early example of allowing for personal
choice with David choosing not to wear either a helmet or armour when
fighting Goliath. In that case Goliath's helmet failed to protect."

WT... !


  #85  
Old April 14th 10, 10:42 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
SMS
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Posts: 9,477
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSILab Tests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

On 12/04/10 8:29 PM, Tom Sherman °_° wrote:

butbutbut, bicycle foam hats prevent 70% of leg injuries!


Fact #20. "http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/"

I've simplified the helmet wars greatly for everyone. Now you can just
post the number of myth or the number of the corresponding fact, without
having to do all that typing every time.
  #86  
Old April 15th 10, 02:32 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
Tim McNamara
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Posts: 6,945
Default You don't need an expensive bike helmet to ride safely---BHSI Lab Tests Finds no difference between expensive and cheap helmets.

In article ,
SMS wrote:

On 12/04/10 8:29 PM, Tom Sherman °_° wrote:

butbutbut, bicycle foam hats prevent 70% of leg injuries!


Fact #20. "http://sites.google.com/site/bicyclehelmetmythsandfacts/"

I've simplified the helmet wars greatly for everyone. Now you can just
post the number of myth or the number of the corresponding fact, without
having to do all that typing every time.


Say rather "the number of the truthinesses."
 




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