:: No Helmet :: No Ride

[poweredbypies]

Helmets are a good idea, full stop. The sort of terrain we chose to ride is dangerous enough why not protect yourself makes sense. Best bit of advice i have ever heard/used with buying helmets is " how much is your head worth ". Little johnnys parents normally put the cheap helmet down and pick up a better one.

 

[MADJEZ]

Wear one of these.... it's a helmet !

I don't do helmets either but since most fun cycling events require one I could put up with it for a couple of hours.

 

[legrandefromage]

where a helmet and we all ride with you, dont wear one and you ride alone...

 

[tintin40]

So the site is trying to drive people away? Helmet Mafia rules.

Try joining in with any British Cycling affiliated ride without a helmet, be it a local club run or a competitive event, and you will be told you cannot participate.

Never had the urge to join a 'club' Plus these rides are on public land so i can ride. You can tour not with us But you can't stop me riding the same route as the IOW ride that i've been on.
Just wont ride with the masses. Which is fine by me.

 

[Matthews]

Do we have more contenders for the Darwin awards that frequent the net every year, you enjoy riding don't you, fall off and smash your head and at worst death or if you are lucky vegetable or looking ugly with a mashed head for the rest of your life, if I asked you if you wanted to go skydiving but the parachute wasn't compulsory would you leave it behind because you thought it was uncool/uncomfortable/heavy , you don't need the parachute to skydive but it certainly helps you land safely, same principle with skid lid.
Matthew :shock:

 

[bluedazzler]

The duty of care towards participants must be demonstrable so that it can be insured.
Amongst other things, helmet wearing comes into this.
British Cycling affiliation has some benefits including liability insurance. It's for the protection of participants and for the protection of the organisers.

so when I join you guys on a ride, I'm insured against personal accident by British Cycling?

 

[bluedazzler]

Do we have more contenders for the Darwin awards that frequent the net every year, you enjoy riding don't you, fall off and smash your head and at worst death or if you are lucky vegetable or looking ugly with a mashed head for the rest of your life, if I asked you if you wanted to go skydiving but the parachute wasn't compulsory would you leave it behind because you thought it was uncool/uncomfortable/heavy , you don't need the parachute to skydive but it certainly helps you land safely, same principle with skid lid.
Matthew :shock:

Matthew, that analogy is off... the parachute is really comparable to the bike, and skydiving without a parachute isn't skydiving, it's falling from a plane

 

[bluedazzler]

Never had the urge to join a 'club' Plus these rides are on public land so i can ride. You can tour not with us But you can't stop me riding the same route as the IOW ride that i've been on.
Just wont ride with the masses. Which is fine by me.

it's a very grey area, unless they're actually providing insurance?

 

[unkleGsif]

......skydiving without a parachute isn't skydiving, it's falling from a plane

Skydiving IS falling from a plane, until the moment you pull the chord, then its parachuting

I think the root cause of all thes ehelmet/non helmet discussions is the basic human conditions of argument, and the desire for liberty of ones own choices, as well as the realisitation that we may actually be either wrong, or what we are being told is correct


YES, its safer to wear a helmet in certain situations
YES, its wrong for it to be impossed upon us

I think the fact that proponants of both sides of the debate get so heated, is because wee all, deep down, know what is right. The naysayers shout about freedom, liberty and choices because deep down they know that they would actually crack their head on a curb with a lid on, while the pro-lidders espose the safety factor because they realise that we should have the choice to make our own minds up about it, not be enforced to conform by the state

From personal experience, having had MANY spills over the years at BMX parks, race tracks, Trail Centres, "off piste" XC rides, road crashes and dirt jumps, I have only ever hit my head once, when I hung up the back wheel on the landing and bounced onto my front wheel, and smashed the top of my head into the concrete hard take off the next double.... I am in no doubt that a minor concussion was a small price to pay for wearing a piss-pot, as opposed to a more severe head injury had I not had one on. Non of the other spills involved me hitting my head (although smashing my chin on the pavement and loosing a tooth when my front wheel dropped into a big hole in the dark would not have been prevented with said lid)

Just my £0.02

G

 

[Anthony]

lots of people spend countless hours working behind the scenes, organising and coordinating rides under the Retrobike banner, and in return request a little personal compromise so that everyone can at least be protected from an increasingly litigious society by some guidelines and an insurance policy.

Try joining in with any British Cycling affiliated ride without a helmet, be it a local club run or a competitive event, and you will be told you cannot participate.
The duty of care towards participants must be demonstrable so that it can be insured.
Amongst other things, helmet wearing comes into this.
British Cycling affiliation has some benefits including liability insurance. It's for the protection of participants and for the protection of the organisers.

I didn't realise Retrobike rides carried liability insurance, but it's nice to know. I'm surprised that British Cycling applies it for all its rides, given that so few roadies wear helmets, but if they do.... Wearing a helmet is after all a 'no brainer'. Or is it not wearing a helmet that's liable to be a no brainer? :shock:

My club has a rule that only paid-up members can go on a ride - you can't bring along a friend, as they wouldn't be covered, so any liability could fall on the club. If that is a valid concern, I wonder how Retrobike gets round it?