commanderroach1999
Member
Wow.
my family members say I'm nuts for saying gloves are the most important piece of safety gear. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks soRide a normal bicycle for a couple of years. Not a mountain bike, but a proper bike with smooth fast rolling 700c or 27" tyres, that keeps you in a nice upright position so you can see traffic around you properly which will give you confidence. Something like a dutch bike or Raleigh. Ride on the road, not the pavement, about in line with whichever wheels of the car in front of you are closest to the curb. Make sure your saddle is high enough.
Bike helmet not important, but gloves, lights and a loud bell are. Learn the rules of the road and build your confidence and judgement. It's better to do this on a bike where you've only got your 200 watt of leg power to make mistakes with, than 2 horsepower. Falling off at 11 to 17 mph is a lot nicer than falling off at 25.
Fear of getting hit from behind is a fear some people have but it's not that likely with a good taillight. What's more serious is parked cars suddenly opening doors. So look out for that.
Bike helmet not important..
You don't wear gear because you expect to fall, you wear it to save you from what you don't expect because no matter how godlike you are at biking or saving yourself; it won't help you when you get reemed by a guy from the side who accidently hit the gas at the wrong time or is drunk and swerves into you.You can wear the Styrofoam hat if you want, I won't stop you. But I think it's more important to prevent headbutting the ground than it is to prepare for doing it.
I actually WOULD recommend those if you're a hard biker and barrel down the road at 30mph or do downhill mtbing, but if your point you need to either never leave a padded room or you should do nothing to help yourself in case of an accident; well to be honest that's flawed logic at best.Then I should also wear an armored jacket and pants because the helmet won't save those. And I should wear a full face motorcycle helmet, because otherwise my face will fall off. And I should even wear it while I walk because the drunk guy could accidentally mount the kerb. And then when I go home I should put rubber gloves on in case the light switch is faulty.