No Helmet, No Bicycle Ride !

“No Helmet, No Ride”… yes, it’s a phrase that was often mentioned by my friend Igo, whenever we were on a Mountain Biking trip. What does it means to us (who has cycling as a hobby of choices) ? Simple…it’s just safety precautions to keep your life and insanity intact.

Why wearing Helmet ? Wearing helmet can reduce the risk of a serious head injury and it can save your life. During on a bicycle trip, if you fall from your bicycle or you experience collision, helmet will help to reduce the impact energy, rather than the impact energy absorbed by your head. Mountain biking, or cycling in general, is one of recreational activities. It will be very important to keep your head as safe as possible during these kind of activities. Remember… the key words : “Absorbing impact energy”, you can imagine what will happens to your head (or brain) if the impact absorbed directly by your head. Something bad huh ?

WHAT TYPE OF HELMET ?

For cycling, there are numerous type of helmets. The model of the helmet is made to protect our head from the impacts common to a cycling activity you’re involved in. Let’s say you are a roadies, in the market you can find particular type of helmet for road biking. You are a downhiller ? Be sure to use downhill helmet, usually it’s a full face and light type of mountain biking helmet. So first, please make sure what kind of cycling activity do you prefer, then go for a small market research from the internet, before buying one of it. Like in Unite States, particular type of helmet must meet federal and/or voluntary safety standards. For details of the safety standards, you can browse to http://www.cpsc.gov/.

Bicycle helmet contains foam inside it. Foam is use for energy management in helmet. There are several types of helmet foams. You can find details regarding foam type and how the industry tested it on bhsi website.

HELMET FITTING

After you sure that you have the right type of helmets for your cycling activity, the next step is to find the right helmet size for your head. Fit and comfortable are the keywords. Please browse http://www.bhsi.org/checklist.htm, for the details on helmet fitting checklist. Or you can go to this link to see step by step guide for bicycle helmet fitting.

Keep in mind, that SAFETY is on your top priority list before riding your bike. Good helmet can cost you around $50-$60…yes, it’s not cheap…but compare it to your own SAFETY… now you will understand.

Just keep on Riding your bicycle and KEEP SAFE…

January 5, 2010 Posted in: Tips