Comment by Zambyte | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Zambyte | Hacker News Reader

This summer I got into electric scooter riding, and along with that I have been interested in finding appropriate gear for my riding. My go-to so far has been to wear a fairly cheap half helmet that I used to wear longboarding, and a pair of well-padded cycling gloves. Wearing more protection sounds nice, but: at the speeds I'm going < 20 mph / 30 kph, and impact protection (from cars) is more important than sliding to me, and I'd also like things that are easy to get on and off and carry around at my destination.

I've been thinking about getting a nice, full face helmet (helmets marketed for mountain biking seem like a good fit), but they seem like a pain to deal with at my destination. A lot of times I'll just loop my current helmet on my scooter completely unlocked, because it's cheap enough that I'm not really worried about it being stolen. The full face helmets I have been looking at are an order of magnitude more expensive though, and I wouldn't really feel comfortable just leaving it unlocked by my scooter. Does anyone have any recommendations on this? Or recommendations on other appropriate safety gear for my kind of riding?

at the speeds I'm going < 20 mph

At those speeds, I wouldn't worry about a full-face helmet. Those are completely ordinary cycling speeds for a road cycling enthusiast. Your primary risk is probably rear and side impacts. Your body is really good at instinctively protecting the head, so you should worry more about surprise impacts, like t-bones and rear-ending.

I don't know what your helmet looks like, but modern cycling helmets have migrated toward a longer back side for better rear impact protection.

For what it's worth, one of the reasons that my motorcycle has a big top box and aluminum panniers is simply to store my gear when I get to my destination. Thieves suck and if something can be stolen, someone will steal it.

I may ultimately stay away from full face helmets, but surprise impacts like t-bones and rear-ends are precisely why I find full face helmets appealing. For one, I can't really control how I fall in a surprise crash. And two, I'm less worried about the initial impact, and more about being slammed into the pavement. Especially from a higher center of gravity like I have on my standing scooter. Being rear-ended and slamming my head back against the hood of a car will hurt, but my current helmet will probably suffice for that. Being slammed forward into the ground, it seems like my face will become very familiar with the pavement.

Another instance that a full face helmet seems appealing is in in getting doored. I often don't have a choice but to ride near a bunch of cars parked on the street.

Road cycling enthusiasts are a good reference point, but the differences I see are in that I am not as focused on being aerodynamic and lightweight, since I have an electric throttle doing 100% of the work for me. In the tradeoff between efficiency and safety, I have the luxury of leaning much more into safety before negatively impacting the ride itself very much. Most of the negative impacts of additional safety gear are on either end of the ride (gearing up and down)

Good to be aware: Full face helmets restrict your view more, so there is a safety trade-off to be made.

For one, I can't really control how I fall in a surprise crash. And two, I'm less worried about the initial impact, and more about being slammed into the pavement.

Like I said, the body is really good about protecting the head. You need to focus on the initial impact. The back of your skull slamming into a windshield or truck hood is a far bigger concern than falling on your face, when you have arms and neck muscles to protect you.

The stats for collisions from rear are surprising, rarest way to get hit on a bike (and most of those are no lights at night).

It turns out, moving closer to the center of the lane reduces the chances of the most likely directions of impact - namely turning traffic. Either turning left as an oncoming vehicle, turning out from a side road or driveway, of someone that is overtaking you and then turns right.

I've found low speed crashes really want a helmet. Things like you roll sideways off the bike. You are not moving fast but are rotating quickly. (So back hits ground followed by back of head)

FWIW, I just noticed the common irrational rational fear of being run over from behind. It is a common mistake. Riding to the extreme right can make it worse, it is an invitation to pass when instead the cyclist is just afraid. Taking a little more room on a road (situationally) can make a person a lot safer.

Vespa scooters are awesome because they have a huge storage compartment under the seat where you would store things like helmets and gear.

The full-face mountain bike helmets sound exactly the ticket, and would protect your face from abrasion if you have an unexpected rapid dismount.

I used to use a small wire cord and padlock that you can store wrapped up tightly onboard. You're never going stop someone determined to get your old lid you just want to prevent opportunists and not be too cumbersome about it otherwise you won't actually do it.

I will say I have heard enough stories about 5k+ electric bikes getting scooped that I'd only ever store one behind locked doors rather than buying a huge bike lock setup.

Locking the helmet to the scooter with a cable definitely sounds like an interesting option! I'll have to look more into that. Unfortunately I can't store gear under the seat on my scooter because it is a standing scooter :D

I'm actually not too worried about the scooter itself being stolen - I have two kryptonite locks, one of which includes an insurance policy covering the vehicle from theft if it is taken by cutting the lock. Also for long term storage (like in the bike room at my apt) I remove the battery, which I believe is another layer of theft deterrence.

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