RootbeerJello said:
Yesterday, I got in a conversation with a guy from school about whether wearing a bike helmet is worth it. I thought it was worth it, since it's not a big deal and it can save your life, which mine has. He thought it wasn't worth it "Because it makes you look like a fag." So I thought I'd put up a poll and see what the Escapist thinks. Feel free to discuss bike helmets and the percieved fagginess thereof.
Sorry, I'm with him, unless you're doing some serious biking (ie. contest, and only cause it's a formality there tbh) or are stupid enough to drive where you may be hit by a car, a helmet just makes you look like a wonderful person (I've nothing against wonderful people btw, it's just an expression that I don't have a well-enough working synonym to).
Also, I'm sorry, but who the hell falls off their bike and lands on their head? Haven't you people ever learned how to fall when you were kids? Or in gym class? Or at least by whoever taught you how to ride a bike? I personally got all 3, I fell 100 times when I was a kid which taught me enough, we spent several classes in gym class in high school, learning repeatedly how to land from a fall and when my dad was teaching me how to ride a bike, he did so in a place where I was driving right next to a green patch of grass all the way, so I spent the first 30-60 mins or so learning how to fall off specifically off a bike.
I never wore a helmet, I fell 100 times in the first few years (mostly cause I was doing stupid things showing off and screwing around cause I was still a kid, I rarely ever fall off these days cause I just bike normally), worst I ever got was a few scratches and bruises. You
protect your head with your arm, land on your shoulder/upper arm and you roll it's not really that hard to learn.
I've had several accidents where you'd think I might break my neck or crack my skull, most recent one a few years back, when I tried to hop my front tire onto a sidewalk, but hopped too early and ended up landing the front tire right in front of the sidewalk, sending the back part along with me up in the air in a spin. You just ball up in the air, protect your head whichever way you're falling and try to roll when you fall rather than being stiff and putting all your body weight on one spot (by your argument, a head, which I still can't so much as think of seriously), simple as that.
Frankly if you wanna wear something for protection, go and invent/wear something to protect the spine, the best you can hope for, if you land on your back, is to land on your arse, which can still break your tailbone (on that note, do not try to do a wheelie, it's not cool, just very stupid
). Either way, you've got a far greater risk of screwing up your spine than you have of landing on your head, assuming you didn't spend your childhood with overprotective parents thinking you're a moron who's gonna break their collarbone the second they take their eyes off you.