It's Monday morning and yet another piece of bad news regarding a fallen mountain biker has arrived in our editorial inbox: A 23-year-old man from Lenggries was riding without a helmet on a forest road in the Steinbachtal valley at around 8 p.m. on Saturday 25 April 2020 when he lost control on a bend and fell into the rocky streambed next to the forest road. The man suffered serious head injuries and was taken by helicopter to the accident clinic in Murnau, where he died on Sunday.
An unfortunate isolated case? Yes and no. With regard to the fatal outcome of the fall, yes, because such serious, even life-threatening injuries are fortunately rare in bicycle accidents. Unfortunately not in another respect: riding without a helmet seems to be more commonplace than it has been for a long time and hardly a day goes by when you don't come across at least one helmetless biker at hot spots such as the Isar trails in Munich, not far from the editorial office. Organic bikers as well as those with a motor.
A matter close to the heart of the BIKE editorial team: the main thing is a helmet!
Modern mountain bikes are increasingly geared towards higher speeds. Increasingly long-travel suspensions smooth out even those key sections that would have catapulted a 90s hardtail rider through the air in a high arc. And even on less technical trails, it can be dangerous anywhere and at any time, as the example above shows. All it takes is a bit of overconfidence or a moment of carelessness. There is probably no need to explain any further that, in road traffic, the failure of others can also become a problem through no fault of your own.
Riding without a helmet is therefore dangerous, unreasonable and an absolute no-go! For us at BIKE and EMTB, the helmet is just as much a part of the bike as the tyres, gears, rims and brakes. And anyone who rides without a helmet is accepting the most serious consequences for themselves and is also setting a bad example for younger bikers. And all because of an apparent inconvenience! After all Modern MTB helmets stylish, well ventilated and even the cheapest models offer sufficient protection thanks to the EU-wide DIN 1078 test standard, but often don't wear quite as well as more expensive models. Every biker who is seriously injured due to a missing helmet is therefore one biker too many!
That's why our appeal at BIKE has been since 1996: Save your ass - wear a helmet! And feel free to urge others to do the same.
Adrian Kaether
Editor
