[Softy]

For the record I have not met SSaddict (Kyle). But his passing has got me worried abuot my health and the health of all you other Monkey's out there.

Head injuries are very complex. It is not a "I got hit hard and knocked out now I'm awake so it's all better" type of injury. There are many unknowns involved. Don't take chances with your quality of life. Protect yourselves and don't take stupid chances, and certainly use the best helmet you can afford.


My own head injury has complicated and lessened the quality of my life. My memory has faded and short termmemory is non-existant. My behavior has changed . My loved one thinks I am a different person. The head ache and spine pain are a constant reminder for me even when I don't think about that helmet cracking day over a year ago. I suffer from insomnia , hysteria , claustrifobia , and chronic fatigue. All these symtoms came after "sleeping" on the trail. There is no magic pill out there that will cure a broken brain. I did not have to crack my skull to get this way, just the Bell helmet that saved my life.

I will never be the same as I was before and I hope that a lesson can be learned from Kyle. That our lives are important and that we touch many people . We should have fun but not without taking precautions to protect ourselves as best as possible.

R.I.P. Kyle , may you race to your souls delite in Heaven.

 

[biggins]

word. the great helmet debate. i have friends that have had enough concussions that the doctor tells them one more might just do them in. They still ride without a helmet. To anyone that starts posting the cut-n-paste crap about helmets not protecting you in a crash i say to you "anything between your head and the ground is better than nothing" i beleive that in every case a helmet can make a difference. Softy its a bummer that you are suffering these after affects but i am glad you are still hear to tell us about them.

 

[manziman]

I saw the new Ride the Lightning last night and there was one guy who seldom wore a helmet. He would hit 8' lips with huge air, sans a brain bucket. It really pissed me off. But, yea, I learned my lessons years ago when I was riding my electric go-ped went off a piece of wood leaned against a curb. yup, that piece was about 1/8" thick, whoops, landed straight on the noggin. WEAR YOUR HELMET.

 

[mack]

What is even worse is all these skate board dick heads with their MTV shows and how they skate around with no helmet on, what great role models, thanks MTV.

 

[manziman]

What is even worse is all these skate board dick heads with their MTV shows and how they skate around with no helmet on, what great role models, thanks MTV.

no it's ok! they have the disclaimer that says "Do Not Try This at Home!" ...yea, they're retaaaahded

 

[mack]

some one should sue those morons to death, just for being non-productive dumbass memebers of society. viva la Bam, jack ass and all those other people.

:eviltongu

 

[Softy]

word. the great helmet debate. i have friends that have had enough concussions that the doctor tells them one more might just do them in. They still ride without a helmet. To anyone that starts posting the cut-n-paste crap about helmets not protecting you in a crash i say to you "anything between your head and the ground is better than nothing" i beleive that in every case a helmet can make a difference. Softy its a bummer that you are suffering these after affects but i am glad you are still hear to tell us about them.

Thanks for the well wishes Biggins. Bikes ,friends and bike freinds are the most important part of my life. Its like doing your friends a favor just taking care of your self.

 

[biggins]

well ya know softy i started a helmet debate thread once cause i am a helmet nazi. everyone said "if i dint wear a helmet it doesnt affect you" and thats not true. if im riding and someone cracks their dome piece open on the ground then it suddenly does become my problem. I figured the simple solution would be to just say, well, its not my problem and ride away. that got some very mean responses. if you are not willing to protect yourself when riding then maybe i have the right to not help you when you pay the consequences. is that to harsh?

 

[Softy]

well ya know softy i started a helmet debate thread once cause i am a helmet nazi. everyone said "if i dint wear a helmet it doesnt affect you" and thats not true. if im riding and someone cracks their dome piece open on the ground then it suddenly does become my problem. I figured the simple solution would be to just say, well, its not my problem and ride away. that got some very mean responses. if you are not willing to protect yourself when riding then maybe i have the right to not help you when you pay the consequences. is that to harsh?

One group I ride with says " If you don't wear a helmet you can't ride with us". That saves them from having to make that tough descision to help or not. IMO it is a good rule. I really don't want to see brain matter if I could help it.

 

[biggins]

absolutely. i just dont understand it. adjusting to wearing a helmet and at least trying to put forth the effort is way better than trying to adjust to living life in a wheelchair paralyzed from the neck down and pissing through a tube in your side into a bag.

on another note, i have never seen ron jeremy with a softy.

 

[Guntruck]

well ya know softy i started a helmet debate thread once cause i am a helmet nazi. everyone said "if i dint wear a helmet it doesnt affect you" and thats not true. if im riding and someone cracks their dome piece open on the ground then it suddenly does become my problem. I figured the simple solution would be to just say, well, its not my problem and ride away. that got some very mean responses. if you are not willing to protect yourself when riding then maybe i have the right to not help you when you pay the consequences. is that to harsh?

I have to aggree with you that obviously when trail riding everyone should have a helmet on. But really it's your choice to wear one or not. If you feel so put out that you MIGHT come across someone not wearing a helmet that was injured I invite you to quit riding. I don't see how these two things are really connected, I'd hope you'd help them because they needed it. The same could be said about many things such as wearing your seat belt, etc. Not many people skate with helmets because you rarely fall on your head, and they're hot and uncomfertable.... but you wont find many skaters out there being so uncompassionate saying "Oh, if you hit your head I wouldn't feel inclined to help you!!". Anyway, I always wear a helmet but I don't care if others do. After seeing my buddy slam his face into the ground with no helmet after overshooting a large table I'd highly suggest them but hey... im not going to be an a-hole about it.

 

[biggins]

im not saying i would not help them. but saying that if they dont wear one and fall and hit their is not my problem they are drastically misinformed. I always wear a helmet and even when i piled it up riding urban and smashed crumpled my arm like tin foil i still didnt hit my head (although my bike did). Not wearing one because you dont really hit your head is the dumbest reason i have ever heard and i hear that one all the time. you know what else is hot and uncomfortable? wheelchairs, hospital beds and colostomy bags.

 

[Guntruck]

Not wearing one because you dont really hit your head is the dumbest reason i have ever heard and i hear that one all the time. you know what else is hot and uncomfortable? wheelchairs, hospital beds and colostomy bags.

Aggreed, yet not preforming dangerous activites would be a whole lot safer in general. And while your at it stop driving as well, or at least wear a helmet in your car! :evil:

 

[SirChomps-a-Lot]

Don't get me wrong, I advocate helmet use fully...

I would just like to point out, however, that there seems to be a misconception that helments prevent head injury. Nope. Helmets decrease the likelihood of head injury.

It pisses me off to see people thinking that they can't get hurt just because they're wearing a helmet.

Wear it, but realize that you STILL might be Capt. Colostomy bag. You STILL need to accept the risks of the sport.

 

[SirChomps-a-Lot]

This being the lounge, I am reminded of pictures I'm always seeing here of some weiner riding over a stupid teeter totter on an XC bike wearing the world's worst pair of shin-guards.

Wake up! Those will not do ANYTHING. Just cause you strap on some $12.95 danscomp shinguards does not mean you won't get hurt.

 

[biggins]

oh absolutely thats why i am saying that they help and that taking the measure is not that difficult of a thing to do. decreasing is still better than not doing anything that all.

 

[SirChomps-a-Lot]

One more point:

Parents will often make their little kids wear their helmets before the kids will be allowed to ride around in the driveway. The helmets are ALWAYS worn tilted too far back and sometimes backwards. If the kid falls on his head he will still scramble his brains.

I've seen people commuting on bikes wearing construction helmets. That won't do anything!

Helmets generate a false sense of security.

 

[caboverpete]

One more point:

Parents will often make their little kids wear their helmets before the kids will be allowed to ride around in the driveway. The helmets are ALWAYS worn tilted too far back and sometimes backwards. If the kid falls on his head he will still scramble his brains.

I've seen people commuting on bikes wearing construction helmets. That won't do anything!

Helmets generate a false sense of security.

"ALWAYS" wow im glad someone is keeping up with every single time a small child puts on a helmet... some people may not be willing to take the time out of their busy schedule to keep track of these millions of incidents

a day but lucky for us SirYaps-a-Lot is up to the task.

 

[Softy]

Don't get me wrong, I advocate helmet use fully...

I would just like to point out, however, that there seems to be a misconception that helments prevent head injury. Nope. Helmets decrease the likelihood of head injury.

It pisses me off to see people thinking that they can't get hurt just because they're wearing a helmet.

Wear it, but realize that you STILL might be Capt. Colostomy bag. You STILL need to accept the risks of the sport.

My point exactly. If it were not for some head protection I wouldn't be telling you this. Kyle most certainly had a fullface DH helmet during his crash. Likelyhood is neither of us would have walked away from our wipeouts without helmets.

I also tried to point out how the brain can be injured in mysterious ways. It doesn't heal the same as bruises or broken bones. Kyle's condition apperently got worse with time not better. My injuries I suspect will be life long ,since I have not got any better over a year.

My old GF fell off a MX took a head shot and now looks and acts like a hairlip. It is painful to look at her knowing what she should be. A beatiful , vibrant , charismatic , inteligent young lady not the drooling , can't keep a job scooping ice cream, no energy , unimaginative , nonsensical wreck of a human she is today. It can make the non-religious pray or wonder why God could do this to someone?

Watch your head Monkeys.

 

[mack]

Biggins is jut putting the "no helmet nazi" mentality on them, a taste of their own medicine. As for myself, i should probably start wearing a helmet more often, like when im just riding down to the store or somthing, you never know.

 

[biggins]

i always where one. as for sirchomps-a-lot the helmet is there because i dont have a false sense of security. it does not give me a false sense security. i know what i am doing is dangerous thats why i wear one.

sure improper fit, being uneducated to the proper use of a helmet and wearing the wrong helmet for the given application can seem dumb, ignorant and downright useless. However at least they are makin an attempt to wear one.

 

[bigshred]

I learned to wear my helmet the hard way. While riding and while in the ER (but thats a different story) I think I am who Guntruck was refering to- smashed my head into the ground, tweaked my neck, torn my AC in my shoulder. Not sure if its related at all, but last April fools day I woke up and had "Bells Palsy"- worst month and a half of my life. Even today, there are times when I look at myself and am reminded of my time with bells palsy. The neck and head is a mysterious body part, Wear your helmet.

 

[SirChomps-a-Lot]

"ALWAYS" wow im glad someone is keeping up with every single time a small child puts on a helmet... some people may not be willing to take the time out of their busy schedule to keep track of these millions of incidents

a day but lucky for us SirYaps-a-Lot is up to the task.

Lucky day for YOU. I just mailed you a box full of flesh-eating maggots. Merry Christmas.

PS: Of course I don't mean "always" literally. Don't be a ho. Filthy 10 cent ho. I hate you so much it makes my snot boil. For example, If I were to say that you can suck my a s s, I wouldn't mean that I would literally allow you to put your mouth on my bung-hole. Unless you WERE a 10 cent ho, in which case I would make you do it through some saran wrap. Wouldn't want butt-herpes. No siree. Gotta play it safe.

 

[punkassean]

I wear mine but if people don't want to that's their choice. People often do things to themselves that jeopardize their well-being and could potentially devastate their friends and family. I always talk to people who choose not to wear one but if they don't want to listen, I'll let them live with their decisions. It's really just evolution in it's truest form.

All you can really do is set a good example by covering your own bases and then just hope for the best.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Biggins is jut putting the "no helmet nazi" mentality on them, a taste of their own medicine. As for myself, i should probably start wearing a helmet more often, like when im just riding down to the store or somthing, you never know.

Yeah that. My helmet education came when I was JRA from the car dealer to my job, and the front wheel came off. I lucked out with only a week in the hospital, and still get dizzy at times.

Wear da goddam helmet!

J

 

[dwaugh]

I dont believe that half-faced helmets do much good at all. Really now, how often are you gonna fall directly onto the top of your head? That is all they protect, you can still smash the side of your face and head. That belief of mine has led me to own only one helmet and waer it always - my full faced. I wear it no matter what I am riding.

Two weeks ago I was out trail riding, you know, not very hard and what most people never do wearing a full faced helmet. Well, it was a very wet day and I happened to not see a root on the ground, it slipped my front sideways and I fell with my shoulder and side of my head hitting a tree. My shoulder was ok, it didnt hit that hard, but if I had had only a half-faced helmet on I would have been a lot more shaken up than I was, and probably hurt a bit.

So, I'll just say it for the record, always wear a helmet, but if you want to be truly safe, wear a full faced helmet. I'm not sure how many of you will agree, but I dont care. In most of my crashes it is the mouthpart of the helmet that saves me the most.