Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1+some 2/3/84; site dual.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!we13!ihnp4!dual!mats
From: mats@dual.UUCP (Mats Wichmann)
Newsgroups: net.bicycle
Subject: Re: Helmet reviews
Message-ID: <478@dual.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 6-May-84 14:45:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: dual.478
Posted: Sun May  6 14:45:26 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 7-May-84 01:10:59 EDT
References: <271@nbs-amrf.UUCP> <323@ihu1g.UUCP>
Organization: Dual Systems, Berkeley, CA
Lines: 35

Well, some like them and some don't. I have ridden many miles with, and
many miles without (more without). They are pretty hot, but you get used
to them after a while. True, it just doesn't feel the same - you somehow
feel restricted. One interesting view on helmets comes from Moeser when
he was in Mexcio to set the hour record - he had brought a specially
designed helmet along for aerodynamic reasons, but after riding just
a couple of laps, decided it was too hot and uncomfortable, and opted
instead for the old traditional (and almost worthless) leather hairnet
covered by a cycling cap.

Helmets tend to shift around - nobody has yet designed a safe one that
wont shift a bit when you drop your head to look down to undo your
toestraps or whatever. Most of my trouble with them is just that they
don't feel right.

On the pro side, I know a person who is currently *NOT* a vegetables as 
a result of wearing helmet. The helmet had to be replaced, though. It
is very difficult to argue with this. Most accidents/crashes are of the
nature that are not going to be injurious to the head - those are the
kind that you see coming if you are alert while riding. It is the ones
where you have no idea something is going down (you), such as when somebody
whips a car door open just as you are riding by, or where there is nothing
you can do, such as when some idiot wobbles too much in a pack of
novice-type racers, that you need the helmet.

Remember, if you only need that helmet once, it is worth all the bother
that wearing one may have caused.

Just to toss in my vote, I wear a `Bailen Bike Bucket'. I find this
much more comfortable than something like the Bell, and I trust it
more. I still don't like the feel of helmets.

	    Mats Wichmann
	    Dual Systems Corp.
	    ...{ucbvax,amd70,ihnp4,cbosgd,decwrl,fortune}!dual!mats