Sheldon Brown

The Porker recently referred to Sheldon Brown's views on leather saddles - so
I popped over to his web site to have a read (I have a leather saddle on my old
Dutch bike)

Imagine my disgust and outrage to read the following on his web-site. I had
previously been told that what Sheldon said was the gospel. You obviously need
to pick and chose:

================================================== ====================
A protective hat. The so-called "leather hairnet" was commonly worn by bicycle
racers until better designs with actual impact protection superseded it. A few
cyclists, notably Dr. Eugene Gaston, medical columnist for Bicycling magazine,
had taken to wearing hockey or mountaineering helmets around 1970. Club riders
and racers saw the need for head protection, but there was not yet a helmet
optimised for best protection compatible with a cyclist's need for light
weight, unobstructed vision and ventilation. Around 1973, Mountain Safety
Research introduced a modified mountaineering helmet which used cloth webbing
attached by eight deformable side clips to provide impact absorption. MR later
added EPS (expanded polystyrene) foam inserts between the webbing straps. The
next year, Bell introduced the Bell Biker, the first helmet designed from
scratch specifically for bicycling. It used EPS as its impact-absorbing
material, and had tapered ventilating inlets, as do most other bicycle helmets
made since. Bicycle helmets are designed to mitigate the impacts resulting from
a fall to the ground from riding height. These impacts are entirely able to
cause permanent brain injury or fatalities, and account for most impacts in
bicycle crashes.
================================================== ==========


"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith
wrote:

"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

On Jan 1, 2:46 am, Tom Crispin wrote:


Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

That eagle on the top was pretty cool though :-)

--
Simon Mason

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith wrote:

The Porker





--
An oft-repeated lie is still a lie.

On Jan 1, 4:25*am, Peter Keller wrote:
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith wrote:
The Porker

--
An oft-repeated lie is still a lie.

Happy New Year, Peter.
Hopefully we will meet up ay Guy's big bash this year.

--
Simon Mason

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:46:32 +0000, Tom Crispin
wrote:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith
wrote:

"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

I suspect that like many of us he was taken in by the early research;
Richard Ballantine was also a strong proponent in early editions of
the Bicycle Book, which is why I used to believe in them as well. It's
only when you start looking at the actual effects on whole populations
that you realise we were all hoodwinked by the policy-based evidence
making of the Seattle team.

Guy
--
Guy Chapman, http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.

On 01/01/2012 10:22, Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:46:32 +0000, Tom Crispin
wrote:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000,
wrote:

"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

I suspect that like many of us he was taken in by the early research;
Richard Ballantine was also a strong proponent in early editions of
the Bicycle Book, which is why I used to believe in them as well. It's
only when you start looking at the actual effects on whole populations
that you realise we were all hoodwinked by the policy-based evidence
making of the Seattle team.



Classic denial symptoms.
Anything but face the facts.


--
Dave - Cyclists VOR. "Many people barely recognise the bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transport; it is either a toy for children or a
vehicle fit only for the poor and/or strange," Dave Horton - Lancaster
University

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 10:22:02 +0000, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:46:32 +0000, Tom Crispin
wrote:

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith
wrote:

"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

I suspect that like many of us he was taken in by the early research;
Richard Ballantine was also a strong proponent in early editions of
the Bicycle Book, which is why I used to believe in them as well. It's
only when you start looking at the actual effects on whole populations
that you realise we were all hoodwinked by the policy-based evidence
making of the Seattle team.

Guy


Yes - quite odd that he was "taken in" - and then did not realise that he had
been "taken in" and as a result, change his views.

You need to be very selective in these sorts of things don't you.

--

"I have never said that I encourage my children to wear helmets. I would challenge judith
to find the place where I said I encourage my children to wear helmets." Guy Chapman
Judith then produced the web page where he said "I encourage my children to wear helmets."
Later that day Chapman immediately added the following to the web page:
"This page is out of date and preserved only for convenience" but he left the date last updated as 31/08/2004.
(Guy Chapman Dell Magnet)

On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 22:55:05 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Jan 1, 4:25*am, Peter Keller wrote:
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith wrote:
The Porker

--
An oft-repeated lie is still a lie.

Happy New Year, Peter.
Hopefully we will meet up ay Guy's big bash this year.


OH - do you think he will have something to celebrate?

If you leave it until after April - you could have a combined "do".

--
Simple Simon Mason - who cycles at 25mph in 20mph limits just because the limits do not apply to cyclists.
This includes exceeding the speed limit past three schools. A total disregard for the well-being of vulnerable road users.
The actions of a true psycholist.

On Jan 1, 10:22*am, "Just zis Guy, you know?"
wrote:
On Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:46:32 +0000, Tom Crispin

wrote:
On Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:52:39 +0000, Judith
wrote:

"These impacts are entirely able to cause permanent brain injury or fatalities"
- now come on - what does he know about such things.

Many people considered the late Sheldon Brown to be The Oracle on bike
maintenance. Unfortunately the same was not believed as widely when it
came to his views on helmet use.

I suspect that like many of us he was taken in by the early research;
Richard Ballantine was also a strong proponent in early editions of
the Bicycle Book, which is why I used to believe in them as well. It's
only when you start looking at the actual effects on whole populations
that you realise we were all hoodwinked by the policy-based evidence
making of the Seattle team.

Guy
--
Guy Chapman,http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
The usenet price promise: all opinions are guaranteed
to be worth at least what you paid for them.

I was never hoodwinked. It's obvious that the applied standard to
which expanded polystyrene is capable of protecting against was never
meant to protect more than simple grazing and concusion occuring as
the result of a fall which is only common with learning cyclists and
walkers.