Would you wear a crash helmet if it wasn't compulsory?

[DefTrap]

I would never argue with a plod (on the grounds that they WILL find something to ticket you for if you piss them off) but I'm fairly certain he was wrong UNLESS you were actually astride the bike at the time.

I hadn't planned to break down (although, at the time, with the sort of rubbish I was riding and the kind of mileage, it was fairly frequent) so I hadn't swotted up on it.

No, i wasn't astride it - bloody heavy old z550 - I pushed it 5 miles in the end and that was the day I chose to wear new boots ...
I didn't argue with plod because it was already really late and I just wanted to get home.

[Skub]

There is an 'almost home' effect that causes people to relax, usually at the end of a really tricky journey. But there's also a statistical probability about it too. If you think about it, the roads closest to home are the ones you ride on most often so even if crashes were totally random, the chances are you'd have one close to home.

There's also the thing about your local/familiar roads,you think you know them well,you imagine you've had all the surprises you're going to have and now you know how fast you can go and which parts to watch for.

If only.

Matey was a quarter of a mile from his house on a section of road he'd ridden almost every day for years. Wheelie over the crest,down into the dip,wheelie over the next crest,then brake hard for the junction. Easy,he could do it in his sleep.

This time the fence was down on the other side of the second dip and the road was filled with cows. He never got to learn from that surprise,nor did the top of the range Arai help any either.

[The Spin Doctor]

I hadn't planned to break down (although, at the time, with the sort of rubbish I was riding and the kind of mileage, it was fairly frequent) so I hadn't swotted up on it.

No, i wasn't astride it - bloody heavy old z550 - I pushed it 5 miles in the end and that was the day I chose to wear new boots ...
I didn't argue with plod because it was already really late and I just wanted to get home.

I didn't plan to break down on my 400-F either. The cam chain snapped idling at lights just by Battersea Park. I can tell you that it's all uphill to Tooting Bec

[Rockburner]

There is an 'almost home' effect that causes people to relax, usually at the end of a really tricky journey. But there's also a statistical probability about it too. If you think about it, the roads closest to home are the ones you ride on most often so even if crashes were totally random, the chances are you'd have one close to home.

There's also the thing about your local/familiar roads,you think you know them well,you imagine you've had all the surprises you're going to have and now you know how fast you can go and which parts to watch for.

If only.

Matey was a quarter of a mile from his house on a section of road he'd ridden almost every day for years. Wheelie over the crest,down into the dip,wheelie over the next crest,then brake hard for the junction. Easy,he could do it in his sleep.

This time the fence was down on the other side of the second dip and the road was filled with cows. He never got to learn from that surprise,nor did the top of the range Arai help any either.

My own learning experience was literally and physically at the end of the driveway, I was coming in, my brother was coming out - neither of us had realised that the large holly bush made it a blind corner, even at 15mph each a head-on hurts like fuck when it rips your lower leg off. (Naturally it was my leg, and my brother had nothing but bruises!)

[Noggin]

I went for a ride on the back of a quad once without a helmet and ended up thinking how awesome it would be to ride a bike helmetless too!!

However, having headbutted the road or pavement (not totally sure) from a pushbike at a pretty slow speed, was only coasting down the road and as I was/am scared of cycling downhill at speed, I was going quite slowly. Downside with the headbutt was that I hadn't found my cycle helmet so the result was a week in hospital (I can't remember anything from when I woke up at about 5.15am until about 15:00 in hospital apart from the handlebars wobbling!), serious concussion that caused some spinny moments for a few weeks, loss of ability to translate to and from french, change of character and tinnitus. I was unconscious on the side of the road for approx 30 minutes before someone found me!!

I won't ever ride a bike or pushbike sans lid now - regardless of how awesome it would feel. I don't want any of that again!! If I'd been on a bike I'd have been going faster. If I'd not been wary of the cycle because of my shoulder, maybe I'd have been going faster

[ZRX61]

Yes.
Around the time I was born a cousin went through a phone box on his bike. Ended up with physical & mental health issues & died of the effects FORTY YEARS later.
Forty years dying ain't much of a living.

Was in a pub one day in Exeter that was the haunt of the local Satan's Slaves chapter & discovered him sitting at the bar having a pint. I knew most of them & mentioned what "made him like that". They started taking him for rides & even dropped him back at the hospital where he lived a few times.

[Taff]

crashing bicycles enough times has taught me how quickly you become out of control of your very immediate future, and how likely you are to headbutt the road.

And it feckin hurts with a helmet on never mind without one.

[Yorick]

I once had a heavy crash at Cadwell and my head took a bashing. All my money went to fixing bike for next race meeting.
So filled the gashes with Araldite and took it to work for nice paint job

[Dickyboy]

[My own learning experience was literally and physically at the end of the driveway, I was coming in, my brother was coming out - neither of us had realised that the large holly bush made it a blind corner, even at 15mph each a head-on hurts like fuck when it rips your lower leg off. (Naturally it was my leg, and my brother had nothing but bruises!]

My two older brothers first mcycle accident was into each other riding the opposite way round a track in the garden, didn't see each other through the trees.

[Whysub]

Someone told me that most bike accidents happened within two miles of home.

So I moved.

[Potter]

I think I would.

I've stopped wearing my open face helmet after I was following a car and got a piece of gravel flicked up at me, it hit me on the lip and bust my lip, it didn't half sting, it probably would have blinded me if it had hit me in the eye.

I've ridden in other countries without one, just sunglasses, and I've done some lengthy rides in just shorts and t-shirt, but I was always quite conscious that a spill would be disastrous.

Now I think I enjoy life too much to take a risk if I don't need to, so I don't ride without at least a decent jacket and helmet, still wearing jeans but always decent boots.

[Jody]

In my yoof I was involved with MAG and there was an attitude of not wanting to wear helmets/ stick it to the man

As an adult I realised that that's a ridiculous way to think. I wouldn't nip across town on a moped without one now !

[Dickyboy]

As an adult I realised that that's a ridiculous way to think. I wouldn't nip across town on a moped without one now

Yet, thousands of people cycle around Holland with no helmets, I'm not saying in the right circumstances you'd shouldn't wear a helmet and everyone is free to chose to go lidless if the law allows but how often do pedestrians or car drivers wear helmets? Just seems to me that helmet use is more about convention than actual weighing up of risks involved in any particular journey.

[lostboy]

Whilst I voted for "most of the time" I suspect the reality is that I would wear it all the time. In common with a few posters on here I have enough experience of crashes off of bikes (motor and pedal) and skateboards to know that it fucking hurts and the consequences can be severe.

I think Potter's last sentence summed it up for me nicely and is where I find myself kit-wise most of the time.

[Skub]

In my yoof I was involved with MAG and there was an attitude of not wanting to wear helmets/ stick it to the man

As an adult I realised that that's a ridiculous way to think. I wouldn't nip across town on a moped without one now !

Old Fred Hill stuck to his guns to the bitter end on the helmet law issue. I admired the spirit of the man and on paper his ideology,but he was always backing a losing horse.

[Taipan]

I once had a heavy crash at Cadwell and my head took a bashing. All my money went to fixing bike for next race meeting.
So filled the gashes with Araldite and took it to work for nice paint job

You fixed your head with Araldite? Explains a lot I suppose!

[Bigyin]

I have ridden before without a helmet in foreign countries on peds while on holiday and didnt really think too much about it.

After my little off 3 years ago where my head hit the deck on three separate occasions (judging by the impact and scratch marks) i doubt i would ride without one again