Put on Your Bike Helmet Correctly (Not Like This Kid)
You put up with the slight inconvenience of wearing a helmet because you want it to protect your head in an accident, so wear it correctly. If your helmet is not the right size, you could get preventable injury.
According to a recent Consumer Reports poll , 10% of adult cyclists at an event in New York were wearing their helmets like the child in this photo, with their heads pulled back and their foreheads bared. This does not protect the front of your head and usually means your harnesses are too loose (20% of adults have loosened belts during an event). There should be no more than two fingers between the eyebrows and the helmet.
So get your helmets fixed already – and if you have kids, check their helmets too. Even more often than adults, children’s helmets are ill-fitting. I know it is difficult to find the right clothes for a writhing child, especially when he mimics the choking sounds when you tighten the strap. Take your time, children, and you will live to see the next day.
Check out these tips for buying and customizing a helmet for yourself, as well as this video on testing a fit on a kids helmet.
Photo byJohn Brooks .
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