Does anyone cycle wearing a MOTORCYCLE HELMET ?

If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

wrote:

If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

Because they're hotter than hell?

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

Too heavy. Too hot. Poor visibility. Too uncomfortable. Hard to breathe.

Don't forget that riding a pushbike tends to be a lot more physically
demanding than riding a motorbike.

d.

"davek" wrote in message
...

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

Too heavy. Too hot. Poor visibility. Too uncomfortable. Hard to breathe.

Don't forget that riding a pushbike tends to be a lot more physically
demanding than riding a motorbike.

Also it would make it harder to *hear* other traffic, but the main reason is
that most cyclist are not travelling anything like the sort of speeds
motorcyclists travel at, so it less likely to suffer such severe accidents.

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 18:21:10 +0100, Adrian Boliston
wrote:

"davek" wrote in message
...

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

Too heavy. Too hot. Poor visibility. Too uncomfortable. Hard to breathe.

Don't forget that riding a pushbike tends to be a lot more physically
demanding than riding a motorbike.

Also it would make it harder to *hear* other traffic, but the main
reason is
that most cyclist are not travelling anything like the sort of speeds
motorcyclists travel at, so it less likely to suffer such severe
accidents.

One of the emeritus profs in Oxford used to cycle wearing a motorbike
helmet. Not a modern full face helmet but the older open helmet.

Colin

On Wed, 18 Aug 2004 17:56:25 +0100, wrote (more or
less):

If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

(In the following post, 'bike' refers exclusively to pedal cycle)

This has actually been addressed before, but anyway:

1) Motorcycle helmets are very heavy.

[
Motorcyclists vehicle and kit are moved along by the effort expended
from burning petro-fuels.

This means that the kit can be as heavy as you like, and the
motorcyclist does not have to work harder.

So motorcycle helmets are very heavy things. As you'd expect from any
helmet strong enough to actually provide substantial protection.

Tho' motorcycle helmets do cause exarcerbated and additional
rotational injuries, so they are not an unalloyed good. (There are
new proposed designs to address this problem - they would provide a
surface that glides over the main helmet body).

The tendency for helmets to cause these (often worse) kinds of injury
is something that is not even mentioned in bicycle helmet manufacturer
or pro-bike helmet fanatic literature.

It /is/ a possible explanation for why whole population stats show
helmets worsening the injury rates for cyclists.
]


2) Motorcycle helmets are sealed over. There is very little, or no,
ventilation.

[
The average heat output from a persons head while seated (like
watching TV, or motorcycling) is 20W.

When cycling, this can go up to 160W. Bike helmets /need/ a lot of
ventilation.

There are studies which show the negative effect of sealed helmets on
the judgement and abilities of people taking part in physical activity
due to the heat stress created..
]


Meandering last thoughts:

Motorcycle helmets are probably over-engineered for 25mph impacts,
tho' do not provide any neck support for the additional pendulum
effects that the big heavy helmet will cause.

Human neck muscles are only designed to hold up human heads at human
speeds (humans can run at up to 25mph).

Wrap a large and heavy object around the head, and human neck muscles
can only control it at lower speeds.

Formula One drivers work /very/ hard to build up their neck muscles,
so the weight of head and helmet thro' mutliple-g corners is
controllable.

--
Cheers,
Euan
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wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

I /did/ once see a bloke riding a sit-up-and-beg bike wearing not only a
full-face motorcycle helmet, but a set of leathers as well. Given that this
was on the southbound A3 at the bottom of the hill past Richmond Park,
perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea, but I still wouldn't have liked to sit
next to him in the cinema.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
================================================== =========
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
================================================== =========

On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:17 +0100, Dave Larrington wrote:

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

I /did/ once see a bloke riding a sit-up-and-beg bike wearing not only a
full-face motorcycle helmet, but a set of leathers as well. Given that
this
was on the southbound A3 at the bottom of the hill past Richmond Park,
perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea, but I still wouldn't have liked to sit
next to him in the cinema.

You followed him to the cinema?!

Colin

"Colin Blackburn" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 20 Aug 2004 10:23:17 +0100, Dave Larrington
wrote:

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

I /did/ once see a bloke riding a sit-up-and-beg bike wearing not only a
full-face motorcycle helmet, but a set of leathers as well. Given that
this
was on the southbound A3 at the bottom of the hill past Richmond Park,
perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea, but I still wouldn't have liked to
sit
next to him in the cinema.

You followed him to the cinema?!

Colin


LOL

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

"Dave Larrington" writes:

wrote:
If not why not ? (seeing all the posts regarding unsafe helmets.)

I /did/ once see a bloke riding a sit-up-and-beg bike wearing not only a
full-face motorcycle helmet, but a set of leathers as well. Given that this
was on the southbound A3 at the bottom of the hill past Richmond Park,
perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea, but I still wouldn't have liked to sit
next to him in the cinema.

There was someone who claimed to do this who posted here for a
while. Christopher Blackmuir was his name, IIRC. I assumed he was a
troll from the way he talked about it, but he may have been serious.

A