To Wear a Bike Helmet or not to Wear a Bike Helmet? by Rideon

Wear a Bike Helmet as a Fashion Statement 

Well, he is wearing a helmet

As I blogged for a product review today regarding the Bell Metro being replaced by the Bell Muni I came upon an article from bike touring buddy Darren Alfe's article Click Here to Read the article with comments.

I don't get caught up in these types of "debates" so if I have any regular readers of this blog out there (since I don't currently have a mailing list or subscription form) y'all might get a decent chuckle from my response. It is Included here:

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Well, as soon as I saw this as a topic I knew (and you did too) that there would be all kinds of “reaction” to whether or not to wear a helmet. So making my point here of “reactions”. I was a person who only wore my helmet while sliding and picking my way down steep icy roads while winter commuting in Colorado. Later when I moved to New Mexico I encountered what I would define as ‘insane people” that is those folks would throw full cans of beer, soda, etc. while I was riding my bike. Whatever, I got a helmet (Bell Metro) glad I did as later I was unavoidably hit by a car and I wasn’t hurt physically although I was quite upset at listening to the cackling laughter. All cars around stopped at the loud thud except the car that hit me. Glad I had my helmet on.
Years later I took my bike through New Mexico, Colorado and Oregon. I encountered many climate changes and was glad to have a versatile “bike hat” as the accessories for the Bell Metro with winter liner, snap on rain shield, ear muffs that permit safe hearing and visor mirror kept me safe and warm or cool even. I have found that my helmet works very well in hot riding conditions as the vents channel a nice breeze and color choice (titanium) helps deflect heat. A guy in Oregon used to wear nothing but baseball caps and after several years of that he got skin cancer on his hears from sun exposure. In Oregon!! where it rains all the time, hmm go figure. Any how, salty bike touring experts like to travel light and keep it simple, while packing for a tour how many hats to you want to pack? I packed four with one. Pretty cool as I would work on my self esteem sitting outside a coffee shop or pub with my “bike hat” on declaring silently to myself “that’s right I’m a bike dude, see the hat? I make this thing look good.” Hmm, not sure I ever bought into that one but nonetheless the helmet can keep me looking good. Cheers! My friends to riding safely and swiftly helmet or not just don’t get hot headed over it and “you can keep your hat on”. Invited to a nudist birthday party, consider wearing nothing but your favorite bike helmet.
Here’s a fun link to Joe Cocker’s “Leave your Hat on” with typo “You can leave your head on”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFso6brN-FI

visit http://www.biketourings.com