Gear vs No Gear

I don't wear any protective gear unless I'm trying trying something I could get badly injured on. Pads, I find I always have to adjust. Helmets, I just hate any extra weight on my head. I have recently been looking at some G-Form pads. I just can't at the moment, justify dropping that amount of money on them.

To each, their own, I suppose.

I wear a helmet and sometimes gloves. If I'm learning a trick where I could injure my shins, I wear a shin/knee pad combo. It's saved me a lot, especially when learning barspins.

Not wearing a helmet is just dumb and lazy. I don't know anyone who wants to live the rest of their life sipping their food through straws and drooling all over the place. I honestly don't get why you would ever knowingly put yourself in a hazardous place where where you could wreck your entire life. All other gear is whatever but helmets are an absolute must in my books.

a helmet wouldn't have protected Hicks, unless it was a full face helmet.

I don't wear anything, never have, never will. I don't see riding my bike as being any more of a risk than just living day to day. You don't wear a lid when crossing a road, or driving your car. I don't intentionally put myself at risk while riding and pads are uncomfortable as hell. I'd rather not ride than wear pads or a lid

Sheldon. wrote:

a helmet wouldn't have protected Hicks, unless it was a full face helmet.

i disagree, look at how much overhang you have on that lid, how would he have split himself open with that amount of overhang? the helmet hits first taking the brunt of the impact and spreads it across more of the head instead of a single point like above the eye.

A helmet wouldn't have protected hicks cause you need a brain to protect in the first place

Completely unrelated to Hicks, but my dad finally caved in and bought us two 100% chromoly rigid ss 29ers, so I'll be for sure ordering two S1 Lifer helmets today, or tomorrow. Bailing off a 20" is one huge gamble, but a super tall ass 29er...? Not gonna risk it...

He's 56 and has ridden bikes and high performance motorcycles his entire life, but I know if I don't get/ wear a helmet he won't either. The S1 Lifer seems to be one of the best dual rated/ light weight half helmets out there, so it seems like a no brainier! lol

Plus I can obviously use, or have it with me when riding my 20".

Bryan91 wrote:

Completely unrelated to Hicks, but my dad finally caved in and bought us two 100% chromoly rigid ss 29ers, so I'll be for sure ordering two S1 Lifer helmets today, or tomorrow. Bailing off a 20" is one huge gamble, but a super tall ass 29er...? Not gonna risk it...

He's 56 and has ridden bikes and high performance motorcycles his entire life, but I know if I don't get/ wear a helmet he won't either. The S1 Lifer seems to be one of the best dual rated/ light weight half helmets out there, so it seems like a no brainier! lol

Plus I can obviously use, or have it with me when riding my 20".

What kind of 29ers? I have a Surly Krampus...best bike ever (that is not a BMX)

I wear a helmet all the time because of the "other guy". I don't trust people around me to be competent in decision making and dont' want someone else's bad choice effecting me. Also at the park, it is for when the scooter/skater kids ride into a line or let a skateboard go for some reason

For MTB, a helmet has saved me more from tree branch strikes than any epic falls. I cut close around trees on turns and ducking under branches

For BMX it is usually only for when I loop out of something, and I rarely end up full on the ground.

Don't ever wear pads in either MTB or BMX....too claustrophobic for me. I have massive hamburger shins most of the time because of it, but oh well...battle scars.

Helmet 100% of the time, regardless where or what I'm riding. Better safe than sorry.

Always a helmet and shin pads. Need to get some knee pads and some ankle guards as I'm forever smashing them on the cranks. Ate sh!t way too many times when I least expected it so I just think better safe than sorry!

weegaz22 wrote:

Just watched the hicks video where he splits his melon wide open and then claims that a helmet wouldn't have helped protect him any made me wonder how many of you wear gear vs how many don't?

i personally think the helmet would have protected him "better", he'd probably still have a black eye due to the impact but i don't think he would have split his melon open like he did due to having that extra inch of protection, reading the comments section of that vid showed me that some people were almost "militant" like in their opposition to wearing gear.

me personally i grew up not really wearing any other than knee/elbow pads when skateboarding, but bike riding i didn't really wear anything, but now being older and slightly wiser and coming from a motorcycling background where gear saves lives i now would wear a skate/bmx lid when on the bike, i would have done a poll but seems this forum doesn't have the option.

Ditto on paragraph three. I can't/won't comment on the incident because I have zero desire to watch crash videos; they make me want to puke.

Riding a motorcycle—especially coming to it as an adult, in my opinion—will completely change your perspective on gear, and driving/riding anything, frankly. Plus the age thing. I don't feel like I heal any less quickly, or wake up any sorer now that I'm "old". But BMX plus my other hobbies? Lots of banging things around. It just gets old having to dress wounds and coddle bruises all the time.

I wear a helmet, knee pads, shin guards, and I'm currently looking at elby pads. Everything but the helmet has taken some getting used to, but, like everything else, you adjust. I can't imagine going back, honestly.

sXeBMXer wrote:

What kind of 29ers? I have a Surly Krampus...best bike ever (that is not a BMX)

I wear a helmet all the time because of the "other guy". I don't trust people around me to be competent in decision making and dont' want someone else's bad choice effecting me. Also at the park, it is for when the scooter/skater kids ride into a line or let a skateboard go for some reason

For MTB, a helmet has saved me more from tree branch strikes than any epic falls. I cut close around trees on turns and ducking under branches

For BMX it is usually only for when I loop out of something, and I rarely end up full on the ground.

Don't ever wear pads in either MTB or BMX....too claustrophobic for me. I have massive hamburger shins most of the time because of it, but oh well...battle scars.

Excellent point on the "other guy". I started riding the bowl at one of the local parks last Saturday, and the dude with whom I was talking was relating all of these stories about various things rocketing into the bowl.

There's no accounting for the "other guy". That's pretty much my philosophy on everything since I started riding motorcycles.

Sheldon. wrote:

a helmet wouldn't have protected Hicks, unless it was a full face helmet.

weegaz22 wrote:

i disagree, look at how much overhang you have on that lid, how would he have split himself open with that amount of overhang? the helmet hits first taking the brunt of the impact and spreads it across more of the head instead of a single point like above the eye.

Didn't he cut underneath his eyebrow were an open faced helmet does not protect?

sXeBMXer wrote:

What kind of 29ers? I have a Surly Krampus...best bike ever (that is not a BMX)

I wear a helmet all the time because of the "other guy". I don't trust people around me to be competent in decision making and dont' want someone else's bad choice effecting me. Also at the park, it is for when the scooter/skater kids ride into a line or let a skateboard go for some reason

For MTB, a helmet has saved me more from tree branch strikes than any epic falls. I cut close around trees on turns and ducking under branches

For BMX it is usually only for when I loop out of something, and I rarely end up full on the ground.

Don't ever wear pads in either MTB or BMX....too claustrophobic for me. I have massive hamburger shins most of the time because of it, but oh well...battle scars.

We couldn't find any discounted Surly Krampus (first choice), or Karate Monkey's in L and XL on the internet. All of are local bike shops carry pretty much Specialized only and wanted full MSRP for anything Surly (have you seen what the Krampus MSRP's for these days?!).

He ended up finding one of the only brand new 29" Kona Units in Large (that would ship to us) and the only thing I could find in XL was a brand new 2014 Redline Monocog 29er. Both seem to have a decent following.

We're going to be doing 90% paved, dirt and gravel path riding at first, so these two bikes should do us pretty well and we'll upgrade/ replace whatever low budget components end up breaking over time.

We still both would love to own a Surly one day, but I wish they shipped directly to the customer, so we could save some $$$! lol

Sheldon. wrote:

Didn't he cut underneath his eyebrow were an open faced helmet does not protect?

yes he cut his eyebrow, and it does protect it to a point, imagine wearing that helmet in the pic and try slamming your eyebrow onto the floor or a wall, the helmet that is sticking out 1.5-2" is the first point of contact with the flat ground/wall taking the brunt of the impact out of it, I'm not saying he wouldn't have ended up with a black eye or bruising but i bet he wouldn't have needed a trip to the ER and 7 stitches.

GMGuinn wrote:

Ditto on paragraph three. I can't/won't comment on the incident because I have zero desire to watch crash videos; they make me want to puke.

Riding a motorcycle—especially coming to it as an adult, in my opinion—will completely change your perspective on gear, and driving/riding anything, frankly. Plus the age thing. I don't feel like I heal any less quickly, or wake up any sorer now that I'm "old". But BMX plus my other hobbies? Lots of banging things around. It just gets old having to dress wounds and coddle bruises all the time.

I wear a helmet, knee pads, shin guards, and I'm currently looking at elby pads. Everything but the helmet has taken some getting used to, but, like everything else, you adjust. I can't imagine going back, honestly.

He was going from a double peg position on a wall into a half pipe transition and bike either slid out from under him or he case'd it and slammed his head onto the ramp, Its a POV chest cam so you don't really see him mash his head up from a 3rd person perspective like some nasty crashes you see

Wear a brain bucket if you're out trying stuff or doing something that spooks you out , if you're chilling and just doing stuff for fun then you can get away without one

eskimojay wrote:

A helmet wouldn't have protected hicks cause you need a brain to protect in the first place

Underrated comment, bravo sir!

Brayden_Buckingham wrote:

Wear a brain bucket if you're out trying stuff or doing something that spooks you out , if you're chilling and just doing stuff for fun then you can get away without one

Complacency. Dangerous game, that.

Brayden_Buckingham wrote:

Wear a brain bucket if you're out trying stuff or doing something that spooks you out , if you're chilling and just doing stuff for fun then you can get away without one

wasnt' scotty cramner just chilling and doing stuff for fun?

I used to only wear one when I had to, then I watched a friend 180 on flat in a parking lot and slip a pedal to head smash and have a seizure-I called the ambulance and his mom about it. Not fun.

I wore it a lot more often after that, but still not full time. Then I became a Dad, and it is Helmet 100% of the time. I feel weird not wearing one-even just rolling to my car.

The weight argument is only slightly valid being that a Lazer Armor DLX helmet is about 8-9 oz in a small size-slightly over half a pound-most hats are around 6 ounces.


Shin guards and kneepads are reasonably frequent.

grumpySteve wrote:

I don't wear anything, never have, never will. I don't see riding my bike as being any more of a risk than just living day to day. You don't wear a lid when crossing a road, or driving your car. I don't intentionally put myself at risk while riding and pads are uncomfortable as hell. I'd rather not ride than wear pads or a lid

Errr...I've been pulled over for wearing a full face lid while driving lol, i lived just down the road from the lockup i kept my motorbike in, i would take my car there and go out on bike, i got pulled over after being out on a pretty cold day heading home from the lockup as i didn't want to take my lid off as the car was freezing from being sat there all day, and i didn't have my beanie hat with me to prevent me loosing all the heat from my head so i just drove down the hill and the police were coming up the hill, i seen the driver do a double take and they turned and i pulled over, once they seen me still wearing my leathers and me telling them i didn't want to catch the cold they understood laughed about it and let me head home.

Besides cars have safety items built into them, your surrounded by a steel cage with designed in crumple zones, airbags, seatbelts etc, and crossing the road is something you can master at age 5, darth vader taught us all how to do that remember?, doing ice pick grinds for example....not so much

eskimojay wrote:

A helmet wouldn't have protected hicks cause you need a brain to protect in the first place

djfivejames wrote:

Underrated comment, bravo sir!

+1

I did LOL when i read that, BUT the thing is you could argue he is "influencing" other younger riders with being a fairly well known Youtuber/rider

eskimojay wrote:

A helmet wouldn't have protected hicks cause you need a brain to protect in the first place

djfivejames wrote:

Underrated comment, bravo sir!

weegaz22 wrote:

+1

I did LOL when i read that, BUT the thing is you could argue he is "influencing" other younger riders with being a fairly well known Youtuber/rider

You could also argue that younger influnced riders are morons these days , but I'm sure if they look up to hicks and don't want to wear a helmet to be cool they'll be fine , cause all hicks does is barspin and ride slow and grind ledges , chances are slim they will smash their melons if they want to ride like him

djfivejames wrote:

Underrated comment, bravo sir!

weegaz22 wrote:

+1

I did LOL when i read that, BUT the thing is you could argue he is "influencing" other younger riders with being a fairly well known Youtuber/rider

eskimojay wrote:

You could also argue that younger influnced riders are morons these days , but I'm sure if they look up to hicks and don't want to wear a helmet to be cool they'll be fine , cause all hicks does is barspin and ride slow and grind ledges , chances are slim they will smash their melons if they want to ride like him

This same kids look up to Adam22 and OSS, so they can't be that smart as it is.

grumpySteve wrote:

I don't wear anything, never have, never will. I don't see riding my bike as being any more of a risk than just living day to day. You don't wear a lid when crossing a road, or driving your car. I don't intentionally put myself at risk while riding and pads are uncomfortable as hell. I'd rather not ride than wear pads or a lid

weegaz22 wrote:

Errr...I've been pulled over for wearing a full face lid while driving lol, i lived just down the road from the lockup i kept my motorbike in, i would take my car there and go out on bike, i got pulled over after being out on a pretty cold day heading home from the lockup as i didn't want to take my lid off as the car was freezing from being sat there all day, and i didn't have my beanie hat with me to prevent me loosing all the heat from my head so i just drove down the hill and the police were coming up the hill, i seen the driver do a double take and they turned and i pulled over, once they seen me still wearing my leathers and me telling them i didn't want to catch the cold they understood laughed about it and let me head home.

Besides cars have safety items built into them, your surrounded by a steel cage with designed in crumple zones, airbags, seatbelts etc, and crossing the road is something you can master at age 5, darth vader taught us all how to do that remember?, doing ice pick grinds for example....not so much

So people don't die in car crashes? Or from being hit by a car? You could accidentally slip on the escalator in asda and near kill yourself, or get stabbed for your phone, but you don't wear full body armour when you go shopping

grumpySteve wrote:

So people don't die in car crashes? Or from being hit by a car? You could accidentally slip on the escalator in asda and near kill yourself, or get stabbed for your phone, but you don't wear full body armour when you go shopping

I understand what your saying Steve, maybe its cos you've been doing it so long that you don't perceive it as a "risk" anymore, but the things you list are what i would class as unavoidable "everyday living", but the last time i checked going down an escalator at asda wasn't in the X games, and the last time i checked the X was short for the Extreme in Extreme sports of which BMX is a part

grumpySteve wrote:

So people don't die in car crashes? Or from being hit by a car? You could accidentally slip on the escalator in asda and near kill yourself, or get stabbed for your phone, but you don't wear full body armour when you go shopping

One could argue that the scenarios you mentioned are not INTENTIONALLY putting yourself in danger, whereas BMX is doing just that, especially street riding.

I get what you're saying, but the point is still valid that 99.99999% of the time a helmet is a safer option when it comes to BMX. Sure you may never "need" one for bails, BUT pretty much any impact to the head is lessened with a helmet.

But this is like the brakes VS no brakes issue, people have their sides, and it takes either curiosity or a horrible accident to sway to the other side. Ultimately people choose their sides and won't typically sway easily.

Some of us jump back and forth. It is what it is.