Neat resource.

[sara]

I've probably got to replace my bike helmet (it's, er, old, and I walloped it pretty hard against the side of my house on Sunday, with my head inside), and while poking around the internets yesterday looking for helmet data, I found the very useful site of the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, which is a nonprofit with a huge amount of data online about, you guessed it, cycling helmets.

Comments

[uhhuhlex]

Interesting. Pleased to see that rounder and smoother is safer since that is my style.

Indeed, this is my one:
http://www.mightyoaktrading.com/store/images/bgg1238blue.jpg
But I cut off the chin pad...

[sara]

I was also fascinated by the article about how they took a bunch of $20 and a bunch of $200 helmets to a testing lab and they both did equally well on crash tests.

I like the look of those hard-topped helmets (and am sure they'd be more durable in-town) but worry about them being too warm in the summertime.

[uhhuhlex]

I cycled without a helmet for a few years - but now I can't believe I ever did it. I hate that helmets for women are nearly always lilac or pink ('sanitary product colouring' as I once put it to a friend).

In the UK being too warm isn't really a concern! BMX helmets offer more coverage at the back of the head too, and that was why I went for one in the end. Also because they are more in my style.

I carry mine around with me, or clip it to my backpack.

[sara]

Yeah, when I was in high school my cousin came off his bike head-first going downhill and landed in a gravel heap the highway dept. had left there. He was wearing a helmet at the time; after seeing how badly-damaged he was even with a helmet, I decided I wasn't interested in doing without!