Goto Chockstone Home

  Guide
  Gallery
  Tech Tips
  Articles
  Reviews
  Dictionary
  Links
  Forum
  Search
  About

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

  Shop
Chockstone Photography
Australian Landscape Photography by Michael Boniwell
Australian Landscape Prints





Chockstone Forum - Gear Lust / Lost & Found

Rave About Your Rack Please do not post retail SPAM.

 Page 1 of 6. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 100 | 101 to 118
Author
The helmet question
rightarmbad
14-Nov-2010
8:22:42 PM
So yeah I know it is another one.
But nobody goes back and reads the old ones.

My thoughts:

I never used to wear a cycling helmet, I hated when compulsory laws come in as all the helmets at the time were crap.
But it did spur the development of good product.

In every cycling fall I had ever been in, or witnessed, heads never hit the ground.
Helmets never even got scratched.
The human body is amazingly good at preventing head injuries.

Until one day when cycling with a friend, my handlebar stem broke and sent me to the pavement.
As I was sliding down the road watching my now runaway bike continue down the road, it fell sideways into my friends back wheel, the handlebars hooked the spokes and flung my bike into the air and smashed down onto my friends head, smashing his helmet to bits as the chainring of my bike slammed into it.

This knocked him down, but there was not a mark on his head.
We made one bike out of the good bits of both, and he headed home to get a vehicle.
I was left sitting on the side of the road, shirtless, my entire back devoid of it's top layer of skin and covered in blood.
As the pain shivers set in, I was left pondering about how it would have been if he were not wearing a helmet.

I would love to say that you know when you should wear a helmet or not, but you can't.
It's the crazy weird things that you cannot predict that will catch you out.

I was climbing with a couple of girls one day.
One had forgotten her helmet, so the other loaned her, her helmet, to lead a pitch and she sat on the ground a few meters away.

I followed the pitch and broke a quite large chunk of rock off.
The strange way it broke, the position I was in and the way I reacted all added up to the lump of rock sailing off and hitting the girl sitting on the ground, smack in the head.

Again, something that if you saw where she was sitting, you would almost swear it was impossible.
But it happened.
So I'm am pretty much an always wear my helmet guy.
The only downsides are the room it takes in the pack, and the occasional squeeze problem where it gets in the way.

I'm all for choice and freedom, but it really is common sense to use one.
How many times I can count that I have been sitting at the bottom of a crag and a rock from nowhere landed nearby is just crazy.

Doug
14-Nov-2010
8:58:40 PM
Helmet on a bike? No problem. I've been riding for over 40 years. Was resentful when compulsory laws came in. Not now. I've had at least two falls where my head has hit the pavement - hard! (What cost to the community, and to my family, if I'd not been wearing a helmet?) I very occasionally will get on a bike without my noggin shell, e.g. jumping on the mtb to go to the shop 500 metres from home, or on an easy singletrack. However, there are so many variables on the road I can't control, so most of the time I put on the helmet.

Climbing is a completely different scenario. There are a multitude of situations that I can get myself into climbing where I can - most times - ensure that I am not going to bang my head. And I LIKE climbing without a helmet. But not at Frenchman's Cap. Or some crags in the Bow Valley. Or the Bugaboos. But at the Piles, or Frog, or Squamish, or Freycinet, or Yosemite - let the wind rip through my hair! If something goes wrong, so be it.
rightarmbad
14-Nov-2010
10:03:29 PM
Bloody hell, Frog's one place I always wear a helmet.
Your brave.
hargs
14-Nov-2010
10:07:58 PM
On 14/11/2010 rightarmbad wrote:
>Your brave.

The only difference between brave and stupid is the outcome.

Doug
14-Nov-2010
10:32:32 PM
Re: "The only difference between brave and stupid is the outcome."

Typical, ignorant generalisation f**kwits will make. If you can't add anything constructive, why don't you keep your imbecilic comments to yourself???

Miguel75
14-Nov-2010
10:41:45 PM
Where would we all make imbecilic comments if not for the Internet?

Sabu
14-Nov-2010
11:29:59 PM
Its funny, i've never questioned riding without a helmet. In fact I feel very vulnerable riding without my gloves let alone my helmet. Skiing however has been the complete opposite. only recently i began to use one after bowing to my logical side which screamed that hitting a tree at speed would definitely ruin my day.

For climbing i've always tried wear one although getting into the habit has been harder given how comfortable it is to climb without one. However, it is usually the first thing packed and I enjoy knowing its that little bit of extra caution should something unexpected occur. I'm often aware of how easy it is for the rope to slip around your leg or a rock to break off and land on someone else. For me, its piece of mind.

TonyB
15-Nov-2010
8:08:14 AM
I feel that the issue is that an individual's and the public's perceptions of danger bear little relation to reality. A car feels a 'safe' cocoon, so people drive dangerously, with little perception of the danger to themselves and others. Dogs are not seen as dangerous but dog attacks put 2000 Australian kids into hospital annually. A bicycle feels fast and exposed and hence feels dangerous. Pedestrians feel safe but have almost as many road deaths as car passengers. Childbirth is rarely seen as dangerous but the risk of death is as great as a basejump. Climbing feels safe because movement is slow ... at least until a fall.

With such differences in perception and reality, how few people ever investigate that facts and act accordingly.
Richard Delaney
15-Nov-2010
8:20:33 AM
I like to have choice - although have always been a strong advocate of helmets for cycling.
Recently I've been reconsidering this - since hearing that the single biggest reason "community free bike schemes" don't work in Australia is helmet legislation.
I've walked away almost unscratched from a helmet cracking bike accident, my cousin died from similar - I've thought about this heaps.
But - I'm sick of organizations getting in the way of supporting more active and healthy lifestyles. NSW NPWS is completely blinkered on this and, in places, go to ridiculous efforts to exclude mountain bikes. If kids find bikes attractive then we should do anything to support this rather than the wii/xbox alternatives...
It also doesn't help that we have one of the worst collective driver attitudes to bike riders - I can't believe that the old "they don't pay road taxes" one still gets pedalled out!
Richard (maybe that's enough coffee this morning!)
widewetandslippery
15-Nov-2010
9:08:16 AM
rightarmband, what is the point of this thread? Is it a sanctamonious look at me, look at me I wear a helmet rant or do you have something constructive to say?
Philtown
15-Nov-2010
9:25:17 AM
The people who choose not to wear helmets are the ones more likely to get hurt. And its their choice. Sounds good to me, regardless of how many nanny-state messiahs keep bleating about the public good.

rodw
15-Nov-2010
9:38:30 AM
On 15/11/2010 widewetandslippery wrote:
>rightarmband, what is the point of this thread? Is it a sanctamonious look
>at me, look at me I wear a helmet rant or do you have something constructive
>to say?

No good you buying a helmet dude, you cant even remember to bring a harness...it would just be another thing for you to forget.
patto
15-Nov-2010
11:08:48 AM
As I said in the previous thread. I am strongly against bicycle helmet laws. Go have a look a Europe and decide if they are really necessary. Trips on bike paths and the corner shop hardly! Personally though I would wear one regardless for Heidelberg Road commuting.

I pretty much always wear a helmet climbing except on top rope. But each to their own.
maxdacat
15-Nov-2010
11:22:59 AM
On 15/11/2010 Richard Delaney wrote:
>I like to have choice - although have always been a strong advocate of
>helmets for cycling.
>Recently I've been reconsidering this - since hearing that the single
>biggest reason "community free bike schemes" don't work in Australia is
>helmet legislation.
>I've walked away almost unscratched from a helmet cracking bike accident,
>my cousin died from similar - I've thought about this heaps.
>But - I'm sick of organizations getting in the way of supporting more
>active and healthy lifestyles. NSW NPWS is completely blinkered on this
>and, in places, go to ridiculous efforts to exclude mountain bikes. If
>kids find bikes attractive then we should do anything to support this rather
>than the wii/xbox alternatives...
>It also doesn't help that we have one of the worst collective driver attitudes
>to bike riders - I can't believe that the old "they don't pay road taxes"
>one still gets pedalled out!
>Richard (maybe that's enough coffee this morning!)

Good points there.......i noticed Brisbane now has a bike scheme but it seems a bit silly if you need to bring your own helmet. If there were decent cycleways, there would be less of a need for helmets. One thing that winds me up is people who cycle without a helmet so then stick to the footpaths.....and nearly knock you down. (nothing against cycling on footpaths it just should be done SLOWLY).

From the people i talk to it seems pretty easy to do some good biking in the mountains....is this not the case in some areas?

A simple change of law would do wonders for cycle safety. If the driver was presumed to be at fault (as in Europe) in an accident with a cyclist they would be a lot more careful.
Wendy
15-Nov-2010
12:00:28 PM
I'm moving this over from the other thread ...

On 14/11/2010 TonyB wrote:
>I think I would have preferred to be wearing a helmet with most of these.
> Perhaps some may think otherwise.
>
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTQhAYR1j40

This one's a lesson not to use bandoleers

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEXoWCObLms
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMXZFzxW-bA
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TghTaUMM49Q

and this one not to climb slabs. Or maybe to wear ankle braces.

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5Sb8ZMNx1k
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTQhAYR1j40
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTQcbnfiEYk

I'm not even sure what weird things 2 and 6 did to end up upside down. They should have been perfectly ok falls. There's a few lessons about ignorance, stupidity and getting out of your depth in these too.
rightarmbad
15-Nov-2010
12:01:12 PM
>A simple change of law would do wonders for cycle safety. If the driver
>was presumed to be at fault (as in Europe) in an accident with a cyclist
>they would be a lot more careful.

I like that.

DavidC
15-Nov-2010
12:01:30 PM
I always thought that helmets when cycling only provide protection for slow speed injuries not for high speed or major accidents (where nothing will help much). It is interesting that people see this as a time they don't wear a helmet (cycleways, footpath , short ride to shops).
There is a thought that the number of people who would benefit from taking up exercise and are stopped by being forced to wear a helmet outweighs the number of people who are saved by wearing helmets.
rightarmbad
15-Nov-2010
12:06:23 PM
On 15/11/2010 widewetandslippery wrote:
>rightarmband, what is the point of this thread? Is it a sanctamonious look
>at me, look at me I wear a helmet rant or do you have something constructive
>to say?


I presented my reasons for personally wearing one most times.
I was interested in others opinions and reasons either way.
I cycled for 20 years without wearing them, then had them imposed.
But I have pretty much worn a climbing helmet from year dot.

My own feelings were that in cycling, I felt like I had a fair amount of control over what would happen to me out there. It wasn't like buildings spontaneously fell on top of you as you cycled past.
But in a cliff environment, it just made sense.


Part of this thinking is that I am now in the position of having the wearing of PFD's in open ocean surf ski racing, imposed, when nobody ever bothers with one in training, even when they are out by themselves.

ajfclark
15-Nov-2010
12:07:59 PM
>There is a thought that the number of people who would benefit from taking up exercise and are stopped by being forced to wear a helmet outweighs the number of people who are saved by wearing helmets.

I call bullshit without even looking at how helmets impact injuries. Fatties don't not ride a bike because they have to wear a helmet. If they are using that as an excuse and it was suddenly made legal to ride without a helmet, they'd find something else to use as an excuse.

DavidC
15-Nov-2010
12:14:27 PM
Ajfclark, I agree with you on that.

 Page 1 of 6. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 40 | 41 to 60 | 61 to 80 | 81 to 100 | 101 to 118
There are 118 messages in this topic.

 

Home | Guide | Gallery | Tech Tips | Articles | Reviews | Dictionary | Forum | Links | About | Search
Chockstone Photography | Landscape Photography Australia | Australian Landscape Photography | Landscape Photos Australia

Please read the full disclaimer before using any information contained on these pages.



Australian Panoramic | Australian Coast | Australian Mountains | Australian Countryside | Australian Waterfalls | Australian Lakes | Australian Cities | Australian Macro | Australian Wildlife
Landscape Photo | Landscape Photography | Landscape Photography Australia | Fine Art Photography | Wilderness Photography | Nature Photo | Australian Landscape Photo | Stock Photography Australia | Landscape Photos | Panoramic Photos | Panoramic Photography Australia | Australian Landscape Photography | High Country Mountain Huts | Mothers Day Gifts | Gifts for Mothers Day | Mothers Day Gift Ideas | Ideas for Mothers Day | Wedding Gift Ideas | Christmas Gift Ideas | Fathers Day Gifts | Gifts for Fathers Day | Fathers Day Gift Ideas | Ideas for Fathers Day | Landscape Prints | Landscape Poster | Limited Edition Prints | Panoramic Photo | Buy Posters | Poster Prints