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Recumbent Accident Rates?



 
 
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  #11  
Old May 2nd 11, 03:31 AM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Frank Krygowski[_2_]
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Posts: 7,511
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 1, 9:16*pm, AMuzi wrote:
John Doe wrote:

What about helmet wearing?


One might buy one before doing this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtO5GvtP-zE


I prefer to not do that.

- Frank Krygowski
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  #12  
Old May 2nd 11, 03:37 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Opus[_2_]
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Posts: 414
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 1, 8:08*pm, John Doe wrote:
=?UTF-8?B?VMK6bSBTaGVybcKqbuKEoiDCsF/CsA==?=

" wrote:
kolldata aka Gene Daniels rote:
are stats available for recumbent accident rates or is that
meteroite shower territory ? like does anyone have personal
knowledge ?


I doubt there is enough information to be statically valid.


What about helmet wearing?


One really good reason to wear a helmet is it provides a convenient
place to mount rear-view mirrors for those of us with limited range of
motion in our necks. For the other stuff it doesn't do much good ad
our falling height is so much lower than wedgies, and for other types
of wrecks it just doesn't provide enough coverage to be effective
unless you buy a full-face helmet. My preference when riding a 'bent
is a full-face helmet with a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell that
will slide over asphalt or concrete. Another plus for the hard-shell
helmet is the liners are generally good for an extra year or two over
a standard bicycle helmet, which is basically an unprotected liner.
Also you can get a re-line kit for many hard-shell helmets that allows
you to customize the shell and continue to use it for many years. The
helmet I use is the #1 choice for pit crews in several forms of
motorsports so repair parts and reline kits are readily available and
not too expensive.
  #13  
Old May 2nd 11, 05:22 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Dan O
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Posts: 6,098
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 2, 7:37 am, Opus wrote:
On May 1, 8:08 pm, John Doe wrote:

=?UTF-8?B?VMK6bSBTaGVybcKqbuKEoiDCsF/CsA==?=


" wrote:
kolldata aka Gene Daniels rote:
are stats available for recumbent accident rates or is that
meteroite shower territory ? like does anyone have personal
knowledge ?


I doubt there is enough information to be statically valid.


What about helmet wearing?


One really good reason to wear a helmet is it provides a convenient
place to mount rear-view mirrors for those of us with limited range of
motion in our necks. For the other stuff it doesn't do much good ad
our falling height is so much lower than wedgies, and for other types
of wrecks it just doesn't provide enough coverage to be effective
unless you buy a full-face helmet. My preference when riding a 'bent
is a full-face helmet with a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell that
will slide over asphalt or concrete. Another plus for the hard-shell
helmet is the liners are generally good for an extra year or two over
a standard bicycle helmet, which is basically an unprotected liner.
Also you can get a re-line kit for many hard-shell helmets that allows
you to customize the shell and continue to use it for many years. The
helmet I use is the #1 choice for pit crews in several forms of
motorsports so repair parts and reline kits are readily available and
not too expensive.


What kind of helmet? (I feel like maybe I ought to replace my [~25
year-old] hard shell Vetta.)
  #14  
Old May 2nd 11, 05:51 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Frank Krygowski[_2_]
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Posts: 7,511
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 2, 10:37*am, Opus wrote:

One really good reason to wear a helmet is it provides a convenient
place to mount rear-view mirrors for those of us with limited range of
motion in our necks.


I prefer eyeglass mirrors, largely because they work with any hat, or
with none at all.

If my eyes were to undergo a miraculous cure so I'd never need
glasses, the mirror would mount some place on my bike.

My preference when riding a 'bent
is a full-face helmet with a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell that
will slide over asphalt or concrete.


Wow. Apparently, I worry much less than you do.

- Frank Krygowski
  #15  
Old May 2nd 11, 08:34 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Peter Cole[_2_]
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Posts: 4,572
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On 5/2/2011 12:51 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 2, 10:37 am, wrote:

One really good reason to wear a helmet is it provides a convenient
place to mount rear-view mirrors for those of us with limited range of
motion in our necks.


I prefer eyeglass mirrors, largely because they work with any hat, or
with none at all.

If my eyes were to undergo a miraculous cure so I'd never need
glasses, the mirror would mount some place on my bike.


Even if I didn't need corrective lenses, I'd still wear something over
my eyes.

Even if I always wore a helmet, I'd still prefer mounting the mirror to
the eye glasses, I treat my helmets a good deal more casually.

I also wear my mirror when rowing, I never wear a helmet.


My preference when riding a 'bent
is a full-face helmet with a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell that
will slide over asphalt or concrete.


Wow. Apparently, I worry much less than you do.


If I rode a 'bent, I'd wear a disguise (sorry, couldn't resist).
  #16  
Old May 3rd 11, 04:39 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Opus[_2_]
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Posts: 414
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 2, 11:22*am, Dan O wrote:
On May 2, 7:37 am, Opus wrote:
snip The
helmet I use is the #1 choice for pit crews in several forms of
motorsports so repair parts and reline kits are readily available and
not too expensive.


What kind of helmet? *(I feel like maybe I ought to replace my [~25
year-old] hard shell Vetta.)


Bell Bellistic. I am working on my third season with mine and I'm
looking to paint the shell and install a re-line kit for another 3 or
4 seasons use.
  #17  
Old May 3rd 11, 04:45 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Opus[_2_]
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Posts: 414
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On May 2, 11:51*am, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On May 2, 10:37*am, Opus wrote:
snip
*My preference when riding a 'bent
is a full-face helmet with a fiberglass or carbon fiber shell that
will slide over asphalt or concrete.


Wow. *Apparently, I worry much less than you do.

- Frank Krygowski


Probably, but I spent 13 days on my back in a hospital because of a
wreck, and was almost totally blind for the first 24 hours of that
stay because of a head injury. Also I saw the results of a guy wearing
a bicycle helmet when he crashed his motorcycle. No skull fracture but
his head was rotated 270 degrees to the left with his chin pointing
more or less over his right shoulder because the helmet didn't slide
over concrete. That was at a speed that I reach on my bent regularly
on flat ground.
  #18  
Old May 3rd 11, 04:50 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Chalo
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Posts: 5,093
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

Opus wrote:

Dan O wrote:

What kind of helmet? *(I feel like maybe I ought to replace my [~25
year-old] hard shell Vetta.)


Bell Bellistic. I am working on my third season with mine and I'm
looking to paint the shell and install a re-line kit for another 3 or
4 seasons use.


You should consider "painting" your helmet with duct tape, so it looks
more at home with a recumbent bike. Maybe use the tape to add some
bubble wrap "liner", with or without aluminum foil (depending on the
potency of transmissions in your area).

Chalo
  #19  
Old May 3rd 11, 05:21 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
DougC
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Posts: 1,276
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

On 5/1/2011 8:08 PM, John Doe wrote:
=?UTF-8?B?VMK6bSBTaGVybcKqbuKEoiDCsF/CsA==?=
" wrote:

kolldata aka Gene Daniels rote:


are stats available for recumbent accident rates or is that
meteroite shower territory ? like does anyone have personal
knowledge ?

I doubt there is enough information to be statically valid.


What about helmet wearing?


I don't wear a helmet when riding either bike (a recumbent and a
crank-forward) because neither of them can be flipped over forward by
hard use of the front brake. As such, the likelihood of a serious head
impact in a wreck is much reduced.

Also I realized over time that I was a lot more comfortable riding
without the foam hat, and I ride mostly for enjoyment. There is no
helmet that is as comfortable as wearing [no helmet].

One side-effect of wearing a helmet is it affords some amount of sun
protection, but that is relatively poor. One recumbent manufacturer
website has a photo showing two riders wearing large-brim sun hats, but
I'd think the speeds you could pedal would be pretty limited with that.
Sun offers a small sun roof for their trikes intended to shade the head;
as dorky as it looks I admit I've thought about building something
similar for my recumbent more than once, but haven't attempted it yet.
Putting sunscreen on your had is always an exercise in stupidity; you
can never cover all the exposed skin, and eventually it always runs into
your eyes. To be able to ride all day without needing to use any
sunscreen above the neck would be a wonderful improvement.

I do use a rear-view mirror all the time, that mounts to my eyeglasses.
I consider it a valuable addition and feel at a distinct disadvantage
without one.
  #20  
Old May 3rd 11, 11:06 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech,alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent
Chalo
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Posts: 5,093
Default Should you wear a helmet while riding a recumbent?

DougC wrote:

I don't wear a helmet when riding either bike (a recumbent and a
crank-forward) because neither of them can be flipped over forward by
hard use of the front brake. As such, the likelihood of a serious head
impact in a wreck is much reduced.


I don't wear a helmet either, but do you honestly think that's the
primary mechanism by which cyclists hit their heads? If you are
violently unseated by a motor vehicle that's on a substantially
different trajectory, any part of you is likely to get bashed on
something hard, regardless how far forward your feet are at the moment
of impact. If you ride low enough that you won't take a trip over the
car in the process, it seems like that would make it *more* likely
you'd get your melon squashed, not less.

In my observation, hand and wrist injures are relatively common in
headers off of normal bikes. Concussions really aren't.

Chalo
 




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