Seriously. I've taken a few spills on the road and I can't imagine having not had a helmet.

A side note: I met a guy at a bar once who had a serious speech impediment, so much so I thought had severe down syndrome. He said almost verbatim "You think I talk this way because I'm retarded. Well, I'm not. I was standing over my bicycle and lost balance when getting on and hit my head. Now I talk like this." He was totally competent in every way but speaking.

Also, thanks for reminding me about "Where's your helmet, Kyle".

Because helmets don't keep you from burning to death.

also because bicycle helmets don't help at 50mph.

Yeah, if this thing crashes, a measly little helmet's not going to save you.

A motorcycle helmet would, but just the straps on a bike helmet wouldn't hold up, not considering all the other problems.

Even at 50mph a helmet can make the difference between walking away and not, EvilHomer. Sorry man, you're wrong.

Professional cyclists approach 50mph during finial sprints (Mark Cavendish was clocked at 49mph) and sometimes there are crashes. The bicycle helmets do indeed mean the difference between walking away and not.

http://www.poetv.com/video.php?vid=111072

case in point.

YOLO FTW!

Number of friends I know who have been in serious bike accidents: 1
Number of them who are dead: 1
Number of them who were wearing helmets: 0
Number of them who are dead specifically because of head trauma directly related to not wearing a helmet: 1

That said, in this case I am fully in support of them taking as few safety precautions as possible because that's pretty much the whole point.