Rapha’s 2014 City Lines Oct 19, 2014

Let’s face it, commuting wear has come a long way in the past few years and Rapha always delivers…

  • Mike

    “this machine…” will kill you if you operate it in city traffic at night without a helmet or visbility.

    -resident fred

    • klaus

      nope, its the cars killing you. helmet is a myth.

      • People in the States forget that a lot of Europeans (Rapha is a European company after all) don’t wear helmets.

        • Edward Hann

          Only really Scandinavian countries or those with decent cycle infrastructure forego helmets. UK helmets are mostly the norm… London probably half and half.

          • klaus

            disagree.
            hardly no helmets commuting: spain, italy, greece, portugal, france, belgium, netherlands, sweden, norway, denmark, former eastern germany, all eastern european countries.
            50/50 helmets commuting (excluding larger towns): austria, switzerland, western germany.

      • .,`

        I definitely lost a friend from a bike accident far away from any cars. not wearing a helmet is unfair to your friends and loved ones.

        • klaus

          thats a very individual opinion and everybody should choose for him/herself. you should also wear a helmet whilst driving a car. would prevent a lot of injuries. oh, and as a pedestrian of course. and when you are at home – most accidents happen at home!

          here in germany, bicycle helmets are tested hitting the ground vertically with 20km/h with 5kg weight inside. not very likely this to happen in an accident. you almost always got your bodyweight on top of that (50-120kg), you won´t hit vertically, you wouldnt hit an even surface und you are most likely traveling with more than 20km/h caused by your reflex movements. what is it even tested for?
          the by far biggest cause for headinjuries (or even accidents in general) whilst commuting are accidents involving cars. in germany it is trucks running over cyclists. what should a helmet do at this point?
          on the opposite there are experiments saying that a cyclist with helmet is at a much higher risk being overtaken by cars much closer than without – the cardriver thinks the cyclist is protected! with a helmet you have less ability to hear, see and move your head to prevent critical situations. some physicians are indicating a higher risk to upper spine and neck injuries due to the restricted headmovement and prolonging of the spine because of the additional material of the helmet.

          all in all – not an easy topic. not just black and white. not done just by a simple advise and guilty concious.

          greets, klaus

        • joe pesci

          how you treat your life and personal safety is ultimately a personal choice. your friends and loved ones have no say whether it is “fair” or not, it is none of their business. ultimately biking is very unsafe, with or without a helmet. perhaps being a biker is unfair to our friends and loved ones.

    • klaus