Skippy gives advice on illegal bicycle helmet attachments

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1207319

Oh my.

Shankapotomus (3,068 posts)   Fri Jan 10, 2014, 01:33 PM

Illegal to attach to bicycle helmet?

I wanted to attach a homemade turn signal indicator to my bicycle helmet but I saw someone in a video (ironically about attaching a homemade signal indicator to your bicycle helmet) say "Never attach anything to the outside of your bicycle helmet."
 
I'm trying to find exactly why they said this. Is there a legal issue involved in this? Does it just void the warranty on the helmet? Is it a known danger? All of the above?
 
I see people who have attached cameras and headlights to helmets, even some specifically designed to be put on helmets. Why would they say that?

NYC_SKP (56,740 posts)   Fri Jan 10, 2014, 01:37 PM

1. I think it's because any protrusion could impact your protection. It could grab or snag if you fall.

That would apply to larger objects attached to helmets more than smaller.

Your signal lights, if small LEDs, might only stick out 1/4 inch or so, right?

And:

I doubt that it's a law, but it would effect warranty, especially if you drill holes.

Shankapotomus (3,068 posts)    Fri Jan 10, 2014, 01:55 PM

2. I temporarily posted a video of my set up

after which one of those damned youtube thingamajigs

I personally wouldn't feel in any danger using it. But I suppose others might differ.
 
I will reset the video to private soon. I don't want this to be anyone else's risk but my own.

NYC_SKP (56,740 posts)    Fri Jan 10, 2014, 02:13 PM

3. Very cool! I don't think they protrude too much.

The light wire, especially, doesn't stick out much, but the switch and what I guess are battery compartments do a bit more.
 
In any event, I'd say it's an assumed risk that is yours to take and not something that would cause others harm.
 
And it's nothing like the protrusion a mounted GoPro camera would create.

Shankapotomus (3,068 posts)    Fri Jan 10, 2014, 02:27 PM

4. Thanks for your feedback!

I'll leave the video up a little longer should anyone else wish to chime in.

Chime in, folks, if you want; the primitive knows franksolich doesn't do youtube thingamajigs.

[Bad Dog]

I'm for anything that makes them easier to hit.

[Chris_]

Am I supposed to know that's a turn signal?  It just looks like a helmet with neon lights.

He should attach some old-fashioned pickup truck turn signals so they stick out like Obama ears.

[JohnnyReb]

BLINK-BLINK-BLINK....another idiot on a bike.

[BattleHymn]

How about learning to use some proper hand signals, you jackass? 

I love riding bicycle.  I own several.  It is dumb shit like this that makes people want to mow the rest of us responsible riders down. 

People are not conditioned to look to your helmet for signals.  Also, unless your neck is fused to your spine, your head DOES turn, so it's purely subjective about who sees what blinking, and which way it's facing.  If the issue is visibility, simply wear some reflective bands on your wrists, and follow the traffic laws regarding proper signaling.  What a dipshit.


Oh, and Skippy, it's affect, not effect.  I mistook you to be smarter than such a simple grammatical error. 

[GOBUCKS]

Oh, and Skippy, it's affect, not effect.  I mistook you to be smarter than such a simple grammatical error.

Skipper makes lots of grammatical errors. He's not very smart.

[miskie]

I mistook you to be smarter than such a simple grammatical error. 

None of them are. Suffice it to say, I have stopped noticing things like effect/affect, lose/loose, principle/principal, and insure/ensure/assure. I still notice random apostrophe's as well as Nadinisms.

[BattleHymn]

I will be the first to admit that my posts are not perfect when posting here at CC.  Some CCers are even kind and gracious enough to correct mistakes that they've found when they quote something I've posted.  I don't claim to perfect, and I don't have to be, because I am a nobody, a gnat.

Skippy, on the other hand, is a big mover and shaker in the moonbat light bulb and fru-fru energy industry.  He's doing the other primitives a disservice by posting musings that are so poorly written.  His lofty position in life suggests he is capable of much greater quality.

Skippy should hold himself to a higher standard- one that brings respect to someone of his social stature. 

[franksolich]

Skippy, on the other hand, is a big mover and shaker in the moonbat light bulb and fru-fru energy industry.  He's doing the other primitives a disservice by posting musings that are so poorly written.  His lofty position in life suggests he is capable of much greater quality.

Skippy should hold himself to a higher standard- one that brings respect to someone of his social stature.

Well now, I saw that "affect/effect" mistake myself, but one has to use judgement.

If Atman, who was once a proofreader for a women's magazine, had made the mistake, I would've merrily pointed it out; I mean, the guy used to be a proofreader.

If the cousin, who thinks of herself as God and hence perfect, had made the mistake, I would've merrily pointed it out; after all, God doesn't make mistakes, especially minor spelling ones.

However, Skippy is a professional engineer of some sort--whatever Cooper Union puts out--for whom spelling just isn't as important.  Also, I've never heard Skippy allege himself to be a perfect speller, whereas Atman and the cousin have made claims like that.

So I gave Skippy a "pass" on the mistake, even though he didn't give me any leeway for a single solitary sole inconsequential mistake I made five years ago.

[dane]

None of them are. Suffice it to say, I have stopped noticing things like effect/affect, lose/loose, principle/principal, and insure/ensure/assure. I still notice random apostrophe's as well as Nadinisms.

I like the way you did that.  H5

[Purple Sage]

I'm for anything that makes them easier to hit.

^^^^^ made me spill my coffee from laughing.