Why I am amazed by people being put off by helmets

[fatmac]

Basically, I see the small wheel folders as local transport, enough gears, with mudguards, makes for a nice little commuter bike, ridden in normal clothes.

[pjclinch]

As far as step through frames go. It depends on how modern they are and how expensive.

In other words, it's not a fundamentally flawed concept, which is a change from a few posts back.

And when one considers the vastly greater degree to which the Dutch get about by bike than most other nationalities, very often on step-through omafietsen (quite often wearing skirts, slightly more women than men ride in NL and given overall numbers it's hardly surprising quite a few wear a common feminine clothing choice), that's an important point.

Pete.

[Nearholmer]

Lots of EAPC are step-through (to me they look vaguely like 1960s mopeds), including vast numbers of hire-e-bikes, so the idea of step-through clearly isn’t as dead as is being suggested.

[pjclinch]

Lots of EAPC are step-through (to me they look vaguely like 1960s mopeds), including vast numbers of hire-e-bikes, so the idea of step-through clearly isn’t as dead as is being suggested.

Most urban bike hire schemes, be they electric or acoustic, seem to be step-through.

OV-fiets in NL, Vélib'in Paris, Santander Cycles in London, nextbike in Glasgow, Lime Bikes in all sorts of places, etc. etc.

Pete.

[rareposter]

Does it really matter if the step through frame doesn't handle as well as a bike with a cross 'bar, if all you are doing is riding ten minutes to the local shops?

So much this! ^^

In fact the whole post but that segment above is worth a repeat.

Bike without cross bars are by and large a design that is flawed as they cannot be as stiff as a standard or compact frame and don't handle too well.

You have an example of one bike - by the sounds of things a thoroughly cheap, and also quite dated, one at that. It's a bit of a leap to blame the cross-bar design of the frame for its handling rather than it simply being badly made, badly built or badly loaded...
As mentioned by c-t and others, the sheer number of step-through frames that do perfectly adequate duty in day-to-day use across the world for short utility trips where no-one gives the slightest stuff about "performance" seems to suggest that there's really nothing wrong with that design provided it's built to a vaguely passable standard.

It might not be the design you'd use for building a Tour-winning race bike but then a Tour-winning race bike isn't really the design you'd opt for when going to buy the groceries... Likewise, you don't need the full aero race kit and helmet for the latter!

[Blondie]

30 years in the Brecon Beacons my mate rode straight into a tree. Broke his arm and massive dent in his helmet. Doctor said helmet saved him.

So ever since I have always worn a helmet

If he hadn’t been wearing the helmet, he might have seen the tree and avoided it.

[pjclinch]

30 years in the Brecon Beacons my mate rode straight into a tree. Broke his arm and massive dent in his helmet. Doctor said helmet saved him.

So ever since I have always worn a helmet

If he hadn’t been wearing the helmet, he might have seen the tree and avoided it.

A helmet did save me in a rather roundabout way back in the 90s, riding in the dark along a track in Glen Feshie in the days before decent off-road lights were widely available, and I really couldn't see beyond the next couple of meters where I was going beyond "rocky track" and "not rocky track".
I was riding in to a hut with a large rucksack on, and I was wearing a helmet because I always did back then, but the top of the pack kept pushing the back of the helmet up so rather than a terrible view I was getting an even worse one. On a long section of downhill I was picking up a bit of speed and decided that the helmet was actually a safety negative so I stopped to take it off. Completely by chance this was just before a high metal gate that I'd never have seen in time at the speed I was going with my gloomy light, so only by stopping just where I did to take my helmet off did I avoid a nasty crash!

Pete.

[mattheus]

I was riding in to a hut with a large rucksack on,

Well THAT wasn't going to end well!

[Cugel]

I was riding in to a hut with a large rucksack on,

Well THAT wasn't going to end well!

Shirly some lack of imajinashen! How it ended would depend a deal on the content of the rucksack and who or what was waiting in the hut? If I were doing the daydreaming about this scenario, it would end so well that describing it here wouldn't be allowed.

Over the years I've done lots of things in huts; and also behind them (and sheds). The rear of the bicycle sheds of skool didn't have that reputation for nuthin', tha knows. I learnt various things there that weren't on the official curriculum. I also imparted a lesson or two to others, of various ilks and tittles.

Perhaps there should be a thread about bike sheds (and huts) considering what used to and may still go on there?

[pjclinch]

This hut...


(Strawberry Cottage in Glen Affric, was headed in for a weekend's hillwalking, the bike was just to get up the glen)

Pete.

[broadway]

"Warning as cyclist flips over handlebars as he mounts pavement on Staffordshire road"

A warning has been issued for cyclists to wear helmets after one 'paid the price' when he flipped over his bike's handlebars and split his head open. The young man careered into a power box on the street in Stafford while cycling on the pavement last Tuesday (October 20.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... source=nba

A helmet didn't save his life, but looking where he was going would have been beneficial.

[roubaixtuesday]

"Warning as cyclist flips over handlebars as he mounts pavement on Staffordshire road"

A warning has been issued for cyclists to wear helmets after one 'paid the price' when he flipped over his bike's handlebars and split his head open. The young man careered into a power box on the street in Stafford while cycling on the pavement last Tuesday (October 20.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... source=nba

A helmet didn't save his life, but looking where he was going would have been beneficial.

Absolutely bizarre.

Imagine if the learning from an a car crashing whilst going the wrong way up a motorway was "the motorist should have worn a seat belt"

[cycle tramp]

"Warning as cyclist flips over handlebars as he mounts pavement on Staffordshire road"

A warning has been issued for cyclists to wear helmets after one 'paid the price' when he flipped over his bike's handlebars and split his head open. The young man careered into a power box on the street in Stafford while cycling on the pavement last Tuesday (October 20.

https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/st ... source=nba

A helmet didn't save his life, but looking where he was going would have been beneficial.

Thanks for posting. While the article mentioned that the young man 'paid the price' for cycling into a communications box - it doesn't state that he died, and in absence of any further indicators about his health, I hope he has a speedy recovery.

The reaction 'he should have been wearing a helmet' neatly indicates the reason why I hate the idea of compulsory helmets - it'd almost a full stop to actually thinking about the situation which has occurred...
..other responses could have been 'why was a communication box actually erected on the footpath - when it could have been erected on the green?' 'Why didn't the cyclist register the communication box before he struck it' or 'how fast was the cyclist travelling on the footpath?'
The fact that the automatic response 'he should have been wearing a helmet' has been made now means that the other questions are unlikely to be answered.

[fatmac]

Casual cycling does not require a helmet, many hundreds of thousands of miles had been ridden quite safely before helmets became 'an issue'......

[rareposter]

The fact that the automatic response 'he should have been wearing a helmet' has been made now means that the other questions are unlikely to be answered.

Can't remember where it was but I saw a an illustration of this phenomenon, a cartoon image of two guys sitting on a train reading the papers. One says:
"oh how terrible, someone died in a big car crash "
other man agrees that's terrible, sympathies etc
"oh how awful, a light aircraft crashed on takeoff killing the pilot"
other man agrees that's terrible, sympathies etc
"oh no, a cyclist was killed at that big junction yesterday"
other man: "were they wearing a helmet?!"

It's the default response, an immediate implication that the victim was somehow at least partially to blame.