I like the pink bike.

I do too, Steven, and let nobody ever tell you that Dutch bikes are all black :)

So far, no one has, but the blue Fr8 is hard to track down.

Just saying because those myths are quite sticky on the internet. Track down? You mean, to order?

I forgot to hit the reply button.

To order, yes/no. I'm not ready to order one, but it doesn't seem like anyone owns one yet save for a bike shop in the UK, Really Useful Bikes.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8083795@N06/407195...

Best color. But I'm biased.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesbondsv/416822...

ah ok, that makes sense, the Fr8 is just that unique(ly low in production nrs) :).
Wait…this is shocking in two ways: 1) you're going to wear a helmet riding your future Fr8? 2) you're matching the Fr8's color with the helmet and not the other way round?

[3) drop the helmet, Steven, you don't need it! The Fr8 is a tank, not a drop bar road bike!] :-p

I actually rode without a helmet today on my way to the bakery and mailbox – and it was not on purpose!

I'm still going to wear a helmet. If I get into a collision (already very unlikely because of how safe I ride), I want my head to not sustain an injury. For every death of someone riding in a bike in NL, the USA has 5. And for every hospitalizing injury in the NL, we have 30.

Also, I would be matching the bike to my *tastes,* not my bike :)

This green isn'tbad either: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fietsjegroningen/4...

well, you know where I'm coming from. You actually point out it out for me. There is absolutely no scientific data on helmets preventing deadly injuries, they're not made for that (and there's no helmet out there that is). The on the ground statistics (even for the US) also show that the chance of an injury leading to hospitalization is really minimal. This is the point where David Hembrow's 'subjective safety' aspect kicks in. For you, with your experience in a car-centric environment, it makes sense to do so. I respect that. But the fact that you feel uncomfortable (and perhaps even anxious) riding to the bakery/mailbox without one makes David's point perfectly.

For argument/statistics sake, I'm close to hitting 40, I've been using my bike every day from the time I could ride without side wheels (3 yrs), I lived and biked abroad (including US), in bicycle-friendly and -unfriendly places. In accordance with NL statistics I've had my share of collisions and run-ins, fell off my bike numerous times (my own fault while drunk or just when shit happens). Some incidents were harmless, some were more spectacular, but I know one thing: I never sustained an injury that needed extra medical care and/or I never hit my head. Which brings me back to statistics: according to those (NL) I should've sustained something or at least died once. :)

All I'm saying is: even for a developing country like the US (bike-wise) the whole helmet fixation is a stretch and figment of safety imagination. People rely on it too much. And don't get me started on the social aspect of it…;)

I wasn't nervous riding without my helmet. I was surprised I didn't wear it. However, it probably won't happen again.

I have fallen on my head twice (my own fault both times). My helmet definitely protected my head on at least one fall (it was bad, my whole body slid across the ground for 10 feet).

I haven't yet read David's subjective safety discussion, but I do see him mention it in almost every article he writes. I also think that helmet legislation should stop.

If you want to read it, you can find it here.

The point of the argument is really about the perception of risk for society as a whole, rather than an individual's perception of risk. However, society is made of individuals. Each one of us decides what we will do based on whether it feels safe. For some individuals in countries like the US and UK riding on a bike feels safe enough without a helmet. For some others the addition of a helmet (or reflective jacket, or perhaps several sets of lights) is enough to make it feel safe.

However, nearly 3/4 of the British population never ride a bicycle at all. Not even once a year. This is in large part due to the perceived risks of cycling. However, it's also due to a bicycle having little perceived utility to people.

To increase cycling it has to become something that the entire population perceives as safe, convenient for their journeys and also a pleasant thing to do. At that point the “need” for helmets largely disappears. That is what has been achieved here in NL, but not in any other country.

As for me, I wear a helmet a few times a year – when I take part in competitive cycling. I don't actually think it makes much of a safety difference then either, but it's not important to society whether people perceive cycle racing as safe or not.

When in Amsterdam, I was amazed that no one wore a helmet. I ride every day to/from work (~20km) in Toronto, and have flipped over my handlebars twice in the past four months (my 23mm tyres fit perfectly in the streetcar tracks). Studies in Toronto have shown that cars will drive much closer to a helmet wearing cyclist due to perceived safety assurances that the helmet offers..

That said, it has just been trained into me to wear a helmet. I've been cut off by enough cars and taken enough falls that I want that little extra assurance.. just in case :)

I love seeing all the people in the streets in the Netherlands in your pictures. Thank you for continuing to post them. I don't think we have a helmet fixation here in the US, I think it's more about not having a tradition of not wearing them like you do, combined with practicality–bike helmets are relatively cheap, lightweight, well-ventilated, and easy to wear. I respect your long tradition and established habit of not wearing them, and also appreciate all the stylish tresses flowing freely in your streets. But bike helmets are not physically so onerous, nor ineffective in typical bike accidents, as you make them out to be. In fact they can also keep the sun off your head and out of your eyes if you live someplace where it's extremely hot, like I do. The argument seems to me to come down to the strength on the safety side unable to overcome the style and tradition side. And being somewhat of a libertarian in such matters, while also being a staunch helmet-wearer whenever I ride, I applaud the bareheaded cyclists of Amsterdam, still suggesting that you tuck your chin and raise your arms if you have a mishap.

Our recent encounter inspired me to go out in the sunny cold this afternoon and snap some shots at the Dam!

Didn't even feel the cold as I was snapping away.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/41192008@N05/sets/...

I have to disagree with you John. There's absolutely a helmet fixation in the US; on a personal level, among policy makers and the media. Aside from compulsory legislation in many states, just the social implications of not wearing one (even in states without compulsion) are ridiculous. I've experienced that myself and countless stories were shared with me. I had to stop counting the nr of news items that reported on fatal car-on-bicycle collisions, each closing off with 'The cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet.' Even the editor of BikePortland.org recently lamented how posting one photo of a cyclist without a helmet never fails to generate tons of reader e-mails, condemning him. Portland, progressive bike city USA, mind you. Seventy percent of my readers are from the US and UK. Over the course of 16 months I've learned the hard way how ingrained this helmet notion is and how detached a lot of people are from the simple act of cycling.

Having lived in the States and feeling close to your culture I can say it never seized to amaze me how litigation, liability and sheer fear-mongering have influenced how people go about their way and judge others, and not in a good way. The perception of danger and sense of fear has grown to be so different and disproportionate, it has turned into something that is hard to beat/change, so ingrained in the public consciousness. There are a lot of other reasons, of course, boiling down to the realization that automobiles have been given way too much space and priority for too long.

My real point about all this is that emphasis on using bicycle helmets has done damage in mainly three areas. First, it makes cycling look like a dangerous activity to all those who don't cycle. Cycling is not a dangerous activity in itself. Just compare the accident statistics of pedestrians and cyclists (in any city/country), in the US you're 10 times more likely to get hurt walking/crossing the street and you don't see campaigns to have pedestrians wear them. Same goes for cars, which is many times more dangerous. Back to cycling, average Joe & Jane will think twice before picking up cycling when they see 'all the stuff you apparently need', let alone their children. This same logic applies to how a dominant sport cycling industry (that rose to power after 'normal' cycling was effectively eradicated from the daily urban scene) has pushed Joe & Jane into thinking that a bike needs to be very light, you need special clothing, you need special shoes, etc. It's a marketer's ultimate up-selling wet dream.

Second, actual protection and the perception thereof: the bicycle helmet is not suited or meant to save lives, but it IS marketed and promoted that way. There's no scientific proof that bike helmets have any effect. It's also been established over and over again that promotion and legislation of helmet use will lead to a steep decline in cycling, or: it will severely harm any other means to promote cycling in general. “But a helmet saved my life!” No, it didn't.

Quoting Lancaster University sociologist Dave Horton, who wrote the brilliant essay 'Fear of Cycling': “Do helmet promotion campaigns make cycling more or less safe, overall? There is evidence that cycling levels decline when helmets are promoted and collapse when they become compulsory (Liggett et al 2004, 12). Australia, the first country to make cycle helmets compulsory, witnessed a post-compulsion fall in levels of cycling of between 15 and 40 per cent (Adams 1995, 146). According to ‘the Mole’ (2004, 5), in Melbourne 'compulsion reduced the number of child cyclists by 42% and adults by 29%'. Because cycling tends to be safest where there are many cyclists (Jacobsen 2003), and most dangerous in places with few cyclists, and because helmet promotion campaigns reduce the overall numbers of cyclists, helmet promotion increases the risk of cycling. The relationship between increased cycling and increased safety appears to be confirmed by the experiences of the Netherlands and Denmark, which have high levels of cycling, very low rates of helmet wearing, and low rates of death and serious injury among cyclists;”
Here's a graphic from the Bicycle Helmet Research Foundation from some years ago, so you can see the correlation between helmet use, cycling rates and safety.

Third, the helmet has been hijacked by basically all policy makers and politicians to cover up their failures (insufficient infrastructure, prioritizing cars). It's the easy way out. Also, putting all responsibilities for safety on the cyclists and then faulting them for not wearing a helmet should anything occur is just hypocritical, disgraceful and outright treacherous. On top of that, they also perpetuate this through the mainstream media. Just very irresponsible..

Of course I realize that emotions and perceptions rule the day. Unfortunately. Just like with politics, many people still vote against their own interest (because of idealism, custom, tradition, etc). Show 'm statistics or other sort of data and they'll zone out, you've lost them. The most powerful way to educate and inform them is by showing. Over and over and over and over again. Because the way that so many citizens in the English-speaking world got sheepishly manipulated into wearing one, in a better, more positive and substantiated way we can get them to take it off again.

hey Onno! Those are great pics, man! haha, I forget about the cold, as well :). Give me some time and I'll give you the proper stage until you get your own site up :). Keep it up!

that's my kinda Fr8 green :)

good to hear that Dr. Ian Walker's study is now corroborated. My take/experience: the more human you look on a bicycle, the better you'll be treated by car drivers.

I have been riding a bike for over 60 years and I have never worn a helmet. I am never going to wear a helmet. If it became the law then I would ride without until I got life in prison. Then I wouldn't ride at all of course.

Like your flickr pics very much!

macfred

LOVE THIS SET MAN!!

Thanks!

Thanks for that, OldFool! That put a big smile on my face. Ride on! :)

Thanks, Edward!

Hi,

I like you to know that i have been enjoying this site for quit a while…
I found this link you might find intresting(Maybe you've allready seen it)…
It's about trying to get girls into cycling… In most places not as normal as in Holland..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M88sF-rvul0

Take care,

Gerco

Great to hear, Gerco, thank you!
yes, I saw Beauty and the Bike, it is really a great video. Consider yourself responsible for me finally posting about it! :)

Fantastic set!

The first photo and the one with the guy in a pink bike…win!! :)

I think the simple fact that this post prompted a debate on helmets is proof of the fact that the need to wear a helmet is firmly ingrained in many societies around the world. I could go on and on for hours with evidence of this, but I'm tired of doing so.

Instead, I'll say, I think that pink bike looks like a Raleigh, actually. Quite similar to my Raleigh Sports (only mine *is* black). Might not be, but the lines and chaincase look very similar :)

It's still just amazing to me seeing so many people on bikes – even here in Portland with the highest cycling rate in the U.S., it's rare to find more than 2 or 3 cyclists together at a time except in very specific places at very specific times (the Hawthorne bridge during morning and evening rush hour, for instance), and it always makes me smile to see a large group (like the other night in the evening when I saw a big cluster of about 10 headlights coming towards me on Ladd Avenue on my way home from the grocery store. Of course, almost every shot you take has at least 10 cyclists in it :)

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