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corrado33 t1_j9ostcj wrote

Reply to comment by PaulRudin in ELI5: Why do people wear different types of helmets when skiing and bicycling? by LucasUnited

> Skiing typically involves higher speeds than cycling

Really? I would not have thought that. Coming from a mountain and road biker who very often bikes above 20 mph, but very often bikes much slower than that as well. That said, most of us don't wear helmets on the way UP the mountain. In montana the way up is basically just up for a couple hours till you reach the top. You're going, at max, a few MPH and the worst thing you'll do is fall off (while stopped) and hit your head on a rock, which is easily enough avoided.

Down though, yeah, most of us wore full faced helmets (which was another reason why we didn't wear them on the way up. Wayyy too hot.)

I had a convertible helmet that had a strap on lower half so I could wear the upper half while climbing and I'd strap on the lower half for descending. It was nice. Not cheap, but nice.

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Otherwise-Way-1176 t1_j9swqur wrote

>I would not have thought that. Coming from a mountain and road biker who very often bikes above 20 mph, but very often bikes much slower than that as well.

Downhill skiing (as opposed to cross country skiing) is done going only downhill. So the speeds will tend to be higher than an average for cycling that includes flat and uphill regions.

I’m a casual skier, and I know I’ve hit 50 mph for short stretches. It’s very easy to pick up a lot of speed under the right circumstances. In contrast, when I cycle it’s on flat ground at a pace that evidently is slower than Google maps expects, so presumably quite a lot slower than my skiing speed.

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