Bicycle helmets

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This morning I went to a sports shop to buy Little One a new swimsuit. While I was there I thought I would have a look at the bicycle helmets. I feel like I probably ought to get one since I encourage the girls to wear theirs (hypocrite I know). I have never had a cycling helmet, I hate helmets and look so stupid wearing one. On top of that they don’t even have the advantages that you get from other helmets such as those for motorcycling or horse-riding – they don’t keep your head warm, in fact they are designed to keep it cool, but they make it very hard to wear a warm hat in cold weather and they are mostly holes so they let the rain in on wet days. If you have any kind of hair style they just squash everything flat so you have to somehow try and find time and space to make yourself look presentable before you arrive at your destination, and they are so awkward and cumbersome to carry around. My bicycle is my main mode of transport for local trips, so it’s just an added nuisance having to carry a helmet as well as everything else when I go shopping, to the theatre, a work event or any social gathering. But anyway… I thought I had better have a look and see if I could find anything bearable. In the shop they had a range of helmets, all essentially very similar, and ranging in price from £20 to £150. What’s the difference? They also had some described as suitable for road riding, and some for off-road/mountain biking, but again, what’s the difference? They looked basically the same, except the mountain biking ones had a peak at the front that looked as though it was detachable. The labels also stated that the mountain biking helmets were suitable for rides of up to 1.5 or 2 hours – what happens after that? Do they suddenly become unbearable? Do they make your head explode? The road-riding helmets said nothing about any time limit, so could they be worn for longer periods, or was it assumed that road trips would be shorter? And does ‘road riding’ mean regular travel from place to place (like I do, generally at around 10 to 12 miles per hour) or are they meaning those Lycra-clad racers who go zooming past at about 30 mph and need to be streamlined? Not surprisingly I was too befuddled by the options and left without buying one. Any experts out there - @RonRybs can you advise? All rights reserved. © Text and image copyright Fleur 2023.