#11
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No Helmets Needed?
NYC XYZ wrote:
Just curious: why does the HP Velotechnik site show photos of helmetless riders? Anyone actually fell of a 'bent? Seems like a harder thing to do, no? I mean, don't you just put your foot down -- the body's so close to the ground as it is.... I'm still not sure how styrofoam is supposed to protect the head...why not wear a real helmet? Surely someone manufactures a lightweight helmet that's stronger and lighter than styrofoam? NO NO NO not another helmet thread! Ken Maybe we can follow up with a chain cleaning one. -- [T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon. ~Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/ |
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#12
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No Helmets Needed?
In article . com, NYC
XYZ ) wrote: Anyone actually fell of a 'bent? Seems like a harder thing to do, no? I mean, don't you just put your foot down -- the body's so close to the ground as it is.... More times than I can count. Wet leaves, errant motorcars, over- enthusiastic cornering, sudden tyre blow-outs... And the closer one is to the ground when it decides to let go, the harder it is to catch any slide... I'm still not sure how styrofoam is supposed to protect the head...why not wear a real helmet? By which I presume you mean something like a motorcycle helmet? Weight and lack of ventilation, mostly. Surely someone manufactures a lightweight helmet that's stronger and lighter than styrofoam? URL:http://tinyurl.com/78ows ? -- Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/ I am now returned from both the seventeenth century and the Post Office. |
#13
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No Helmets Needed?
NYC XYZ wrote:
I'd rather not, but would since clubs and tours require it -- only, like I said, I have an odd-shaped head and I can't see the protection in STYRO-FOAM!!!!! It's one of the best materials for impact absorption, that holds its own shape. The fact that it is inexpensive may bother you, but it's widely used for impact absorption. What are you looking for? A helmet with air-bags? "http://www.sheldonbrown.com/airbag-helmet.html" |
#14
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No Helmets Needed?
SMS wrote: NYC XYZ wrote: ----------clip---- Even before the mandatory helmet rule, I'd estimate that at least 80% of the cyclists on club rides were wearing helmets anyway. It was not so much the wearing of the helmet that we objected to, it was being forced to do so. This is why compulsion is a bad idea. OTOH the high voluntary compliance rate in my club was probably an anomaly due to its location in Silicon Valley, where most of the club members had high levels of education. This does not really follow unless you are suggesting that a high level of education makes one more vunerable to propaganda - which if the propaganda is in written form may be true I actually thought that a helmet was useful until I read some of the key papers underlying that assertion. Unforunately some of them give new meaning to the term "junk science". John Kane, Kingston ON Canada |
#15
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No Helmets Needed?
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#16
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No Helmets Needed?
SMS wrote:
It's a low level of education that makes people not understand the difference between causation and correlation. Most of the junk science regarding helmets relies on a disconnect with logical thought. Invariably, the junk science (and not just as it relates to bicycle helmets) ignores legitimate control-group studies, and looks solely at whole population studies without taking into account the myriad of other factors that can affect the whole population. These studies are superficially impressive, including seemingly precise statistical calculations. They appear "scientific" but they don't meet the fundamental criteria for science, rather they try to look at various variables, and create inferences that are not based on the data. A statement such as "cycling injuries/deaths went up after a helmet law was passed, so helmets are not necessary" shows a lack of understanding of correlation versus causation that a more educated person would not fall for. I.e. "I must say I've enjoyed my cycling a lot more since I found out how necessary they aren't and stopped wearing one." I'm not sure if this poster was being sarcastic and trolling, or if he really has fallen for the junk science. Well stated. Rich |
#18
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No Helmets Needed?
wrote:
It's _possible_ that's it, but I'm not so sure. I ran a good-sized century ride for seven or eight years. We were LAB sanctioned and insured. (We even won a LAB award.) We did _not_ require helmets, and we were not told to do so. That was in the 1990s. To see if things changed, I poked around the LAB website. Here's the waiver form they want clubs to use for their organized rides: http://www.bikeleague.org/members/sample_waiver.pdf Search for "helmet." You'll find nothing. No requirements. Maybe it also protects the clubs, etc., from negligence lawsuits, you think? An incredible case of chutzpah they're assuming, but then again, you really never do know -- say the families decide to sue, even if the fatality had signed all kinds of releases. I think the helmet requirements of most bike clubs are simply more of the same nonsense we see elsewhere. They're generated by true believers who have never looked into the issue beyond, say, "Safe Kids" promotional blurbs, and who smugly justify their odd costumes based on those blurbs. My suspicions precisely, though I also have to agree that they "can't hurt." But given my funny-shaped head -- old Army "battle buddies" (that's an official term, no joke!) used to say that it looked like someone hit me in the back of the head...with an anvil! -- I haven't come across a helmet yet which adjusts properly to be effective as prescribed. - Frank Krygowski |
#19
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No Helmets Needed?
Edward Dolan wrote:
Pete has fallen on his head too many times and is now as screwed up as his signature. Folks who go cycling without wearing SOMETHING on their heads look like the jerks and dorks that they are. Since you have to wear something on your head, it might as well be a helmet. And who knows, it might just save your life some day. Can't hurt, I know. So, back to my oddly-shaped head: what do you do for that? I have a flat back of the head, and these helmets don't fit in the manner they're supposed to in order to be effective. I dunno. I'll just wear them Kraut helmets like the Hell's Angels. Listen to old Pete here and you will end up posting a signature like he does and babbling about being a Medical Physics IT Officer. There is just no way this idiot can possibly be connected with a university. I strongly suspect he is the janitor there and is just using their computer for some free Internet access. Well, there definitely is such a thing as Medical Physics in health care, and Officer is an offical title, though I don't recall the IT part (could it really just be Info Tech?). Do any of us here really need to know his phone number (with extension no less) and his fax number? If he wants to tell us that he is from Dundee, Scotland, that is fine and all we would ever have to know about him. But he is crazy - and you listen to him at your peril. Hmm...reminds me of the Cretan Paradox...LOL! Regards, Ed Dolan - Minnesota So what else do you like to do in your spare time? |
#20
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No Helmets Needed?
Ack! Just set your phasers on "stun," okay?
Ken M wrote: NO NO NO not another helmet thread! Ken Maybe we can follow up with a chain cleaning one. -- [T]he bicycle is the most efficient machine ever created: Converting calories into gas, a bicycle gets the equivalent of three thousand miles per gallon. ~Bill Strickland, The Quotable Cyclist Homepage: http://kcm-home.tripod.com/ |
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