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Comment by UnoriginalGuy | Hacker News Reader

I find this the most important question. They aren't expensive (£15) and if you're going to bike then you're going to get sweaty, rained-on, etc with or without a helmet.

So I guess if you're put off cycling by a simple helmet then I really cannot seeing you sticking with it through any kind of adverse weather either.

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Bicycles can be left locked up where-ever you go, but helmets either need to be carried around once you arrive, or you need some place to put them.

Helmets can safely be left on the bike, because used helmets have no resale value.

I have left my helmet unattended for 8-10 hours a day in downtown Portland for four years, no thefts, even with fancy helmets.

Bikes themselves have almost no retail value; they are stolen despite this because it is so easy to steal them and because the consequences are largely non-existent. A helmet wouldn't last 30 minutes hanging from your bike in a larger/crummier city than Portland; people would steal it just because they could.

This simply isn't true; just try comparing ebay searches for "used bike" vs "used bike helmet."

Anecdotally, in the DC area people lock their helmets to their bikes all the time. I've had one bike stolen here but never a helmet. In fact when they stole my bike, they left the helmet that was locked up with it.

I think it is telling that I never see helmets left locked to bikes in public. Even if it is as safe as you suggest (and going by the amount of other worthless things that have been stolen off my bike, it is not...), the fact that the general public does not perceive it as such is what is relevant to the discussion.

It's very easy to lock a helmet up with your bike--just put the lock bar or chain through the "ear triangle" on the female clip side.

Sure, someone could still steal it by cutting that strap, but what is the point of a helmet that can't be clipped on? And if bike helmets are so unpopular, why would anyone steal one to begin with?

Finally, if your bike helmet is stolen, then you are simply biking home without a helmet--which is the condition you'd be in anyway if you didn't bring a helmet in the first place.

If you take off you engineering hat when you look at the situation it becomes less simple.

First off, having something stolen does not merely mean you now lack that object to most normal people. Theft is a violation of your property, and by extension, yourself. Having anything stolen carries with it psychological consequences; it is unpleasant. (And this is to ingore that for many people bikes serve several roles, some of which people may see helmets as necessary and some less so. Furthermore the options are not "bike with or without a helmet" but rather "bike with or without a helmet, or just avoid the mess and get there any other number of ways". When mandatory helmet laws are in effect, that is the decision people are making).

You are also attributing to much logic and planning to theives and vandals. The people who sell their wares online are the tip of the iceberg, damn close to the "criminal masterminds" of the bike crime world. The junkie who is just looking for crape to trade or give to a pawn shop doesn't give a shit what something is worth; if he can easily steal it, he will. And the punk kids who think it is fun to trash stuff don't really care either.

If you want to leave your helmet locked to your bike, more power to you. There is no way in hell I am going to do that in a city though.

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