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#271
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
Andrew Chaplin wrote:
Frank Krygowski wrote in news:mpldnc$kp7$1@dont- email.me: FWIW, I find eyeglass-mounted mirrors to be much superior to helmet mounted ones. Positional stability is better, ease of attachment is greater, and of course it works with any (or no) hat. And as a little detail, I can even use it flat-water kayaking, to make sure my wife doesn't get too far behind in her boat. I haven't yet found a satisfactory mirror, period. I face optical challenges similar to those John B. mentions. And isn't it interesting that helmets are still number one the minds of Americans in the "bike safety" category? Have you ever been complimented for obeying the rules of the road? Yes. For bicycling only when sober? No, but it hasn't come up. For properly choosing your lane position? Probably not. Actually, yes. But a funny hat intended to prevent the 0.6% of the brain injury fatalities in America that occur while cycling? Oh, gosh, that's very important. Over the past 10 years I have been struck twice by vehicles, come unstuck three times, and been thrown when a gap between two gratings grabbed my front wheel. On the one occasion that necessitated a visit to an emergency room, I was asked if I had been wearing a helmet--I had; they collect that data for epidemiology and offer no judgement. On the two occasions when my head did impact the ground, my helmet prevented injury. I feel ill-equipped when I am astride a bicycle and helmetless. YMMV. No one has yet complimented me for wearing a helmet, only for wearing a blinking light on it so I am more visible. But then, I am nearly 59 and not looking for compliments. Full disclosu I spent over 25 years in the army and got paid to wear a steel helmet, so I find this styrofoam headgear they flog to us cyclists is not much of an imposition. -- Andrew Chaplin SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO (If you're going to e-mail me, you'll have to get "yourfinger." out.) I was stopped at a light in downtown Northampton, MA one winter day on my return commute from Amherst and a lady on the corner congratulated me for riding the bike in the winter. She said she was very impressed with people who forsook their motorized transport in winter to pedal a bicycle. However...she then asked me why I was not wearing a bicycle helmet; only a winter knit cap and thought someone as socially responsible as I obviously was, would not value their head more. Fortunately, before I could have a bicycle-pedestrian debate on the merits of the bicycle helmet, the light turned green and any chance of controversy had vanished. SMH |
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#272
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
Frank Krygowski wrote:
I tend to judge based on data. I wonder why it's promoted for an activity with such small risk, and ignored for other common activities with higher risks and/or higher potential societal benefit. Perception can almost always trump reality. I've always wondered why the people telling me I obviously don't value my head because I'm not wearing a helmet on that deathtrap machine called a bicycle, yet appear to have no problem not wearing a helmet while they walk a city street, walk around their yards or in their homes. An awful lot of people fall walking about with attendant head injuries and even death. Yet most would surely say walking doesn't entail the risk that bicycling does, so no helmet required. I've seen national statistics on a range of activities, and they do seem to vary quite a bit. Some of those stats put walking as far more dangerous than bicycling. SMH |
#273
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 11:00:36 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote: On 8/3/2015 7:58 AM, John B. Slocomb wrote: On Sun, 2 Aug 2015 11:43:05 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: FWIW, I find eyeglass-mounted mirrors to be much superior to helmet mounted ones. Positional stability is better, ease of attachment is greater, and of course it works with any (or no) hat. And as a little detail, I can even use it flat-water kayaking, to make sure my wife doesn't get too far behind in her boat. And isn't it interesting that helmets are still number one the minds of Americans in the "bike safety" category? Have you ever been complimented for obeying the rules of the road? For bicycling only when sober? For properly choosing your lane position? Probably not. But a funny hat intended to prevent the 0.6% of the brain injury fatalities in America that occur while cycling? Oh, gosh, that's very important. Out of curiosity do you wear glasses? I ask as I tried a helmet mounted mirror to see whether I wanted to use one and it almost drove me crazy. I wear bifocals and the mirror was "above level", if that is the right description, and when I looked at it, it was through the upper, "long range" part of my glasses. Couldn't see anything but a blur. tipping my head back to use the lower part of my glasses didn't work either as, of course, when I tipped my head back the mirror went up too :-) Yes, I do wear glasses, which is one of the reasons I like glasses-mounted mirrors. Instead of standard bifocals, mine are "blended" bifocals. I don't understand your problem, though. I position my mirror so it's visible through the top left corner of the glasses lens. That's in the "distant focused" portion, so it works perfectly for viewing the image of a car or other cyclist who's a long distance away. Remember, you're not focusing on the mirror itself, but on the image in the distance. If the mirror were visible only through the "close focus" portion of the bifocals, there would be a problem; but that's not the case. It must be my eyes than as I just tried out your theory with as hand mirror and there is a distinct difference in how clearly I see the reflected image in the mirror when I look through the top or bottom portion of my glasses and that difference also varies depending on how far the mirror is from my eye. It is also apparent that different mirrors have a different focal length or whatever as if I look the central "inside" mirror in the truck I get a different prospective than when I look in the "wing" mirrors with both mirrors are essentially the same distance from my eye. In the wing mirrors the object appears to be much further away than the inside mirror shows. I have the suspicion that a glasses ort helmet mounted mirror is a bit more complex than "just stick a mirror on there". -- cheers, John B. |
#274
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On 03/08/2015 9:07 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 11:00:36 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 8/3/2015 7:58 AM, John B. Slocomb wrote: On Sun, 2 Aug 2015 11:43:05 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: FWIW, I find eyeglass-mounted mirrors to be much superior to helmet mounted ones. Positional stability is better, ease of attachment is greater, and of course it works with any (or no) hat. And as a little detail, I can even use it flat-water kayaking, to make sure my wife doesn't get too far behind in her boat. And isn't it interesting that helmets are still number one the minds of Americans in the "bike safety" category? Have you ever been complimented for obeying the rules of the road? For bicycling only when sober? For properly choosing your lane position? Probably not. But a funny hat intended to prevent the 0.6% of the brain injury fatalities in America that occur while cycling? Oh, gosh, that's very important. Out of curiosity do you wear glasses? I ask as I tried a helmet mounted mirror to see whether I wanted to use one and it almost drove me crazy. I wear bifocals and the mirror was "above level", if that is the right description, and when I looked at it, it was through the upper, "long range" part of my glasses. Couldn't see anything but a blur. tipping my head back to use the lower part of my glasses didn't work either as, of course, when I tipped my head back the mirror went up too :-) Yes, I do wear glasses, which is one of the reasons I like glasses-mounted mirrors. Instead of standard bifocals, mine are "blended" bifocals. I don't understand your problem, though. I position my mirror so it's visible through the top left corner of the glasses lens. That's in the "distant focused" portion, so it works perfectly for viewing the image of a car or other cyclist who's a long distance away. Remember, you're not focusing on the mirror itself, but on the image in the distance. If the mirror were visible only through the "close focus" portion of the bifocals, there would be a problem; but that's not the case. It must be my eyes than as I just tried out your theory with as hand mirror and there is a distinct difference in how clearly I see the reflected image in the mirror when I look through the top or bottom portion of my glasses and that difference also varies depending on how far the mirror is from my eye. I have progressive lenses and I don't use helmet mounted mirrors for the same reason. Also when I get it to the position where it mostly works it would tend to cause a blind spot for me when I'm looking left at a stop. I use bar ends on my drop bars. It is also apparent that different mirrors have a different focal length or whatever as if I look the central "inside" mirror in the truck I get a different prospective than when I look in the "wing" mirrors with both mirrors are essentially the same distance from my eye. In the wing mirrors the object appears to be much further away than the inside mirror shows. The "wing" mirrors here usually have a sticker saying that images may be closer than they appear. I have the suspicion that a glasses ort helmet mounted mirror is a bit more complex than "just stick a mirror on there". My bar ends need adjusting every time I lean my bike against a wall. I've never done more than try a glasses mounted mirror and didn't like the slight weight increase so I can't comment on them but the helmet mount seemed to work once I had it positioned. I just didn't like the blind spot. This could have just been me, my helmet, my prescription etc. I know several people that use them and like them. |
#275
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On 8/3/2015 9:07 PM, John B. Slocomb wrote:
On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 11:00:36 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 8/3/2015 7:58 AM, John B. Slocomb wrote: On Sun, 2 Aug 2015 11:43:05 -0400, Frank Krygowski wrote: FWIW, I find eyeglass-mounted mirrors to be much superior to helmet mounted ones. Positional stability is better, ease of attachment is greater, and of course it works with any (or no) hat. And as a little detail, I can even use it flat-water kayaking, to make sure my wife doesn't get too far behind in her boat. And isn't it interesting that helmets are still number one the minds of Americans in the "bike safety" category? Have you ever been complimented for obeying the rules of the road? For bicycling only when sober? For properly choosing your lane position? Probably not. But a funny hat intended to prevent the 0.6% of the brain injury fatalities in America that occur while cycling? Oh, gosh, that's very important. Out of curiosity do you wear glasses? I ask as I tried a helmet mounted mirror to see whether I wanted to use one and it almost drove me crazy. I wear bifocals and the mirror was "above level", if that is the right description, and when I looked at it, it was through the upper, "long range" part of my glasses. Couldn't see anything but a blur. tipping my head back to use the lower part of my glasses didn't work either as, of course, when I tipped my head back the mirror went up too :-) Yes, I do wear glasses, which is one of the reasons I like glasses-mounted mirrors. Instead of standard bifocals, mine are "blended" bifocals. I don't understand your problem, though. I position my mirror so it's visible through the top left corner of the glasses lens. That's in the "distant focused" portion, so it works perfectly for viewing the image of a car or other cyclist who's a long distance away. Remember, you're not focusing on the mirror itself, but on the image in the distance. If the mirror were visible only through the "close focus" portion of the bifocals, there would be a problem; but that's not the case. It must be my eyes than as I just tried out your theory with as hand mirror and there is a distinct difference in how clearly I see the reflected image in the mirror when I look through the top or bottom portion of my glasses and that difference also varies depending on how far the mirror is from my eye. Sure. Looking through an ordinary flat mirror is no different than looking through (say) a hole in a fence. If you were trying to peek through a fence to see a distant object, you wouldn't use the close focus part of your bifocals. It is also apparent that different mirrors have a different focal length or whatever as if I look the central "inside" mirror in the truck I get a different prospective than when I look in the "wing" mirrors with both mirrors are essentially the same distance from my eye. In the wing mirrors the object appears to be much further away than the inside mirror shows. Yep, some external auto & truck mirrors are convex. So are some handlebar mounted mirrors for bikes. Convex mirrors gain a wider field of view and, on bikes, a little less sensitivity to vibration. Convex mirrors make it a bit more difficult to judge distance, hence the warnings on some of them that "objects may be closer..." AFAIK, all eyeglass mirrors are flat, not convex. They don't need the wider field of view, because one can pivot one's head to scan a wide area behind. I have the suspicion that a glasses ort helmet mounted mirror is a bit more complex than "just stick a mirror on there". The mechanical and optical parts are not complex at all. (I make my own eyeglass mirrors; it's pretty easy.) But some people have trouble learning to use them. I've read that for some folks, problems may be caused by extra-strong eye dominance. I'm right eye dominant, but have my mirror on my left glasses temple. I eventually realized I blink every time I turn my attention to the mirror. Perhaps that gives a useful disconnect, allowing re-focusing my attention. Some people are bothered by the mirror obstructing a bit of the forward-sideward field of view. I make my mirrors small and as close to my eye as practical (maybe 2" away) and mount them so they're as high and as far leftward as possible. There's effectively no blind spot, because my dominant right eye covers that part of my field of vision. But this might not work for everybody. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#276
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 11:31:17 AM UTC-4, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 8/3/2015 9:47 AM, Andrew Chaplin wrote: Frank Krygowski wrote in news:mpldnc$kp7$1@dont- email.me: FWIW, I find eyeglass-mounted mirrors to be much superior to helmet mounted ones. Positional stability is better, ease of attachment is greater, and of course it works with any (or no) hat. And as a little detail, I can even use it flat-water kayaking, to make sure my wife doesn't get too far behind in her boat. I haven't yet found a satisfactory mirror, period. I face optical challenges similar to those John B. mentions. And isn't it interesting that helmets are still number one the minds of Americans in the "bike safety" category? Have you ever been complimented for obeying the rules of the road? Yes. For bicycling only when sober? No, but it hasn't come up. For properly choosing your lane position? Probably not. Actually, yes. But surely you'll agree that helmets are the number one thing commented on. It's slacking off just a bit in recent years, but "Always wear a helmet" is still very commonly the first item in lists of bike safety advice. Sometimes it's the only item. No, I don't think so. Mostly, they comment on bicyclists' flouting of traffic laws, such as riding on sidewalks and running stop signs. Here the law requires helmets only for those riders under 18 years of age. -- Andrew Chaplin SIT MIHI GLADIUS SICUT SANCTO MARTINO |
#277
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
I have smacked my helmet against the ground at least twice, with my head inside and had no injury. Can't say I regret having wearing a helmet. Also, I have a friend that spent 2 weeks in the hospital after passing out on a bike and slamming his head on a brick wall without a helmet. He has a scare that runs from the front of his ear to the back of his neck. My son and I rescued a bike rider who had a head injury one day. My son never complained again about wearing a helmet. Granted this evidence is anecdotal, but as we learn more about head injuries it's becoming apparent the importance of protecting it. Granted other activities are as bad or worse for getting a head injury. Personally, ice skating comes to mind, as well as most contact sports. that said laws that keep people from hurting themselves are probably better for those under 18. After 18, the government can put you in harms way so you probably should have the right to do the same.
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#278
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On 8/5/2015 7:39 AM, fairbornCCF wrote:
I have smacked my helmet against the ground at least twice, with my head inside and had no injury. Can't say I regret having wearing a helmet. Also, I have a friend that spent 2 weeks in the hospital after passing out on a bike and slamming his head on a brick wall without a helmet. He has a scare that runs from the front of his ear to the back of his neck. My son and I rescued a bike rider who had a head injury one day. My son never complained again about wearing a helmet. Granted this evidence is anecdotal, but as we learn more about head injuries it's becoming apparent the importance of protecting it. Granted other activities are as bad or worse for getting a head injury. Personally, ice skating comes to mind, as well as most contact sports. that said laws that keep people from hurting themselves are probably better for those under 18. After 18, the government can put you in harms way so you probably should have the right to do the same. Yes, bike helmets have been very efficient at generating anecdotes! Unfortunately, they've not been very good at reducing concussions or fatalities. The data's out there. Since helmet use soared, bike concussions are way up and fatalities are essentially flat. (More detail: Fatality counts have dropped a bit, but not as much as those of unhelmeted pedestrians.) And again, helmet promotors have grossly exaggerated the risk of serious brain injury (TBI) while biking. Bicyclists make up only 0.6% of American TBI fatalities. Perhaps it's the other 99.4% that should wear helmets. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#279
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AG: Safety Equipment for Bicycles
On Wed, 5 Aug 2015 04:39:29 -0700 (PDT), fairbornCCF
wrote: I have smacked my helmet against the ground at least twice, with my head inside and had no injury. Can't say I regret having wearing a helmet. Also, I have a friend that spent 2 weeks in the hospital after passing out on a bike and slamming his head on a brick wall without a helmet. He has a scare that runs from the front of his ear to the back of his neck. My son and I rescued a bike rider who had a head injury one day. My son never complained again about wearing a helmet. Granted this evidence is anecdotal, but as we learn more about head injuries it's becoming apparent the importance of protecting it. Granted other activities are as bad or worse for getting a head injury. Personally, ice skating comes to mind, as well as most contact sports. that said laws that keep people from hurting themselves are probably better for those under 18. After 18, the government can put you in harms way so you probably should have the right to do the same. But equally true is my experiences. When I was a little fellow I had a horse brush me off by running at a full gallop under a tree branch. I tried to duck under the branch but it hit me square on the top of the head and knocked me off the horse. I was either unconscious or disoriented for a short period but came to my senses before a neighbor had run, say 75 yards to reach me. No helmet, no lasting damages. About three years ago I recently crashed hitting a tree limb at about 30 KPH. I was knocked off the bike and broke my hip. Again I was disoriented or unconscious for a short period, but this time I was wearing a helmet. After getting out of the hospital and examining both the bike and helmet found no marks or damage to the helmet and the only mark on the bike was a small scrape on the very end of the L.H. handle bar. Would a helmet have saved me? -- cheers, John B. |
#280
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AG: Wash Water
I tend to forget that one can wash with water carried for drinking -- and it comes in a handy squirt bottle that's convenient for flushing grit out of road rash. It's less convenient for washing hands -- I can squirt only one hand at a time. There should be a sliver of soap in your first-aid kit. (This doubles as a way to mark your tire for thorn-finding purposes, if you weren't forethoughty enough to line the valve stem up with the tire label.) If an ambulance is on its way, leave wound-cleaning to the professionals. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
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