weird trend
and the “extreme sports” such as skateboarding, BMX, rollerblading, etc where a helmet is actually useful, no one wears em!
I agree. When you fall off a uni, you generally land on your feet. I know that my helmet’s never actually been needed, even though I always wear it. But in skateboarding, Most people don’t wear any protective gear and they need it the most.
Weird.
My helmet’s more for style. It’s a hot pink agressive skate helmet I got for a dollar.
The only protective gear I think is really necessary when unicycling is a pair of gloves. I found that one out pretty quick…
Re: how come unicyclists are so good about wearing helmets?
Even though it’s rare to hit your head from a uni fall, if it does happen it can ruin your life.
Also, if riding on roads a helmet is as importany as if you were on a bike, as a car impact leaves you with no control as to how you land.
I think part of the reason BMX-ers/skaters tend not to wear helmets is because there used to be an attitude that it was uncool. As many who get into those sports are quite young, they’re susceptible to peer pressure/fashion.
Unicyclists tend to be older, with more realistic understanding of safety issues. As a new sport, I feel that it’s learnt somewhat from those that came before, and many of those who have helped it grow have cultivated a responsible attitude towards safety equipment.
I think it’s also becoming more popular in skating/BMX-ing, with compulsory helmets etc in competition. People have died doing these sports because they didn’t have helmets, and I think that it’s filtering through to the masses.
Re: Re: how come unicyclists are so good about wearing helmets?
One time when MUniing my friend was going down a very steep hill. It was probably about a 70 degree slope He fell forwards about 4-5 feet from the bottm and hit his head hard on the street below. He was wearing a helmet, but it cracked and he probably would have gotten at least a concussion if he wasn’t wearing it.
That was enough to convince me to always wear one.
Re: how come unicyclists are so good about wearing helmets?
In article <onewheeldave.12250n@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com>,
onewheeldave <onewheeldave@NoEmail.Message.Poster.at.Unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Even though it’s rare to hit your head from a uni fall, if it does
)happen it can ruin your life.
)
)Also, if riding on roads a helmet is as importany as if you were on a
)bike, as a car impact leaves you with no control as to how you land.
And of course, this also applies to crossing roads or driveways as a
pedestrian.
-Tom
As a beginner dufus, I think the most important piece of safety gear is shin gaurds. Strange, but none of the FAQs mention this that I recall. They talk about helmets, gloves, wrist guards; but no shin guards.
My shins were not happy until I got some guards.
Newtouni
i dont currently wear a helmet, but i am definitely going to buy one when i start doing drops/challenging MUni
if you eat it while going down a steep slope/stairs, it’s a lot harder to land on your feet that regular street unicycling.
much of it is the consensual image of how unicyclists want to present the sport. since trials biking, skateboarding, etc. has pretty much been forbidden in public places by the law, we hope to extend our legal limits by appearing to be responsible. especially when doing trials or muni, we want people to not think us to be a danger to them, ourselves, or society.
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I put on all my safety equipment, I feel like I look more extreme. That’s the image I want to portray when doing MUni, so I try and look the part. I feel I’m a better ambassador to the sport of MUni when I put on enough equipment so people think that it’s a respectable sport and not some weird offshoot of a clown hobby.
In case anyone is keeping track, I’ll defend my right to ride a unicycle while clowning and think the two go very good together, but think that MUni is a completely different activity, like a clown riding a minibike and a harcore mountain biker are different. I would never wear all my leg armor while clowning, because it’s a completely different genre.
I agree with Paco. Clowns definitely wouldn’t wear a lot of gear like us.
I noticed that on the logo for Wheel of Justice in that other thread, the Peck isn’t wearing a helmet or any pads or anything. Interesting.
i agree with whoever said Gloves are the only pads you need.
unless youre Kris Holm, unicycling is pretty safe and slow. i just dont see the need for it.
lose the helmets! we need to beef up our badboy image anyway
I noticed that your dad didn’t propose helmet use in RTU either, although he went into detail about back armor.
Personally, I think that all the gear makes us look more badboy, because it must be dangerous if we wear all that stuff. Right? I get more clown comments without all my gear than when I’m wearing all of it, even if I’m just riding down the street.
Just don’t use pads like they have kids wearing in toy skateboard ads. blech!
I have not worn any pads unicycling. I’ve never really fallen though. Just starting doing some trials. If I ever muni I’ll wear a helmet. More pads too I would think. 
I can’t really contrast wearing pads while unicycling with anything else I do.
When I ride my bike on the streets I ALWAYS wear my helmet. I feel naked without it. I NEVER wear any pads when I skate (in-line) except when I play hockey in a league, then its all required and I happily wear it all. I’m a good enough skater i never fall. Don’t do anything aggressive though.
It depends on how and where you ride.
For XC style riding on non-technical XC trails the helmet could be considered optional. There are some XC trails that I ride that I’d be willing to ride without a helmet. If I got to the trail and discovered “oops! forgot my helmet”, I’d still do the ride.
There are some more technical XC trails where I would not do the ride without my helmet. Trails with stunts, drops, root steps, rock gardens, big rocks, etc. are helmet trails.
One potentially dangerous and unexpected situation is unintentional coasting. If you’re going down a steep slope and your foot slips off the pedal you can find yourself coasting down the hill unable to fall off the unicycle. It has happened to me. There was a tree at the bottom of the hill. If I hadn’t managed to fall off before getting to the tree things could have gone badly. That can be the type of crash where you want a helmet on.
I wear a helmet on every muni ride even if it’s one of the safe XC trails.
My most used pieces of protection are full finger gloves and leg armor (Roach/KH/661). My 661 armor saved me from an almost certain hospital visit yesterday. I slipped off a teeter-totter and my shin (just below the knee) said hello to Mr. Metal Crossbar on the teeter. It left a dent in my leg armor and broke the skin on my shin due to the blunt force impact through the pad. As it was, I was able to continue riding (although I passed on trying the teeter again) and didn’t have to try to drive to the hospital for stitches or a cracked shin. The leg armor certainly paid for themselves yet again. My shin is very tender today.
i have only just started to wear a helmet (just cos a mate i ride with kept moaning at me to get one) and lucky i did.
i was out muniing last week and fell quite literally on my head. if it wasnt for the helmet it would have hurt! (good investment i think).
I’ve hit my head a few times,
- Riding on ice, crashed really quickly and hit head
- Riding fast on rocks, fell off and flew into a rock.
- Riding under a bridge on the coker, hit head on something hanging down from it that I couldn’t see in the dark.
- Fallen off going down a steep slope fast, fell backwards hit head on ground.
- Hit head on trees going down a wooded downhill.
That’s over several thousand miles of riding, but I’m sure there are a few I’m forgetting too. I think the faster you ride, the more likely you are to hit your head. Riding at night doesn’t help either. I actually find I’ve hit my head more riding really fast than riding slow technical stuff. I wear a helmet for muni, because I’m often in quite remote places riding solo, and I’d be screwed if I became unconcious somewhere where no-one would find me.
However, anyone who argues for helmet wearing just because a head injury would be really bad if you had one is missing the point. A head injury would be really bad whatever situation, like if you’re having a shower (a much more common source of head injuries), but you don’t wear a helmet then. What is worth discussing is not whether a head injury would be bad, but whether the risk of a serious one is high enough to be worth worrying about. It’s stupid to say that any risk is enough, because no-one stops any risk of a head injury.
I wear one on the road because it means less people shout at you to say “get off the f*cking road” and it’s handy for lights to attach to. In the even of my being run over by a car, it’d be very unlikely to make much difference. It’s nice for long road rides when I get quite tired and a upd is a risk.
I’d totally argue against helmets’for playing hockey, gladiators etc. as they’d just encourage people to crash into others harder and make other accidents worse. I’d much rather someone headbutted me than helmet butted me.
Joe
<quote>I’ve hit my head a few times,
</quote>
what do you expect from a dumb blonde?
I know a few unicyclists and found that they use helmets and other safety gears… depending on whether they come from Circus/Juggling or Mountain Bike.
Wearing a helmet for a mountain biker is like second nature, but for the others it’s rather odd.
I belong to the first category, and although I never fall on my head while riding my Muni, I did twice with my mountain bike and not at a faster speed than on a unicyle. It’s just about back luck…