New Helmet plus the E-Bike Evangelists....

My new Louis Garneau Helmet.

Rear of the new helmet.

I have had my Catlike helmet for a number of years now and it has stood up to the wear and tear of regular riding pretty well....However last year it had finally started to fail me with a clip on the strap giving up and a problem with the retention system as well.....
I managed to repair both items and it was safe to wear but Anne wasn't convinced and insisted that I get a new one....
Apparently we are advised to replace our cycling helmets every few years anyway as the effects of UV light can weaken the structure of the helmet......
Anyway just before Christmas we were in Plymouth and we popped into Evans Cycles to see what they had in stock....

Apart from all the usual run of the mill models what I did see was a Louis Garneau helmet that was being sold off as a sale item.
Apparently Evans are no longer doing business with the supplier of these helmets so were clearing their stock....

Now I did know something about these helmets as I had read a review on Bike Radar about them back in 2013 when they first came out.
At that time the price was £159.99 and Evans were now selling them for £50 so there was quite a saving to be had.
They only had two of them left in stock and luckily one of those was in my size... A purchase was made.......

The helmet is described as an aero design and is reasonably light and very airy..... I have managed to ride with it for about 200 miles and have found it to be very comfortable and due to the shaping around the ears it doesn't interfere with my Oakleys which is a good point as I was a little concerned that they might not be compatible.
If I get the same sort of life out of the LG as I did with my Catlike then I will be well pleased..... Obviously I hope that the protection element of the helmet is never put to the test........

Now over the past few years e-bikes have become very popular.... For people that might have a health problem I can understand that they are the perfect solution allowing people to continue riding when otherwise they might have  had to give up bikes altogether.

Indeed for people like myself with a heart condition they are ideal.... Mind you I am not about to buy an e-bike yet as I intend to ride an ordinary bike for as long as I possibly can.

I have noticed as I travel around that a lot of people with E-bikes don't really need them.... They are perfectly able to ride an ordinary bike but because they have bought one of these things they seem to be intent in getting everyone else to buy one too....
The number of times I have met people on a campsite with one of these bikes and when they see me with my bike they seem to want to convince me that I should get one too... "try it" they say "it's so different to riding a bike like yours" We'll of course it is...it has a motor in it.

I ask them if they have a health condition that necessitates them having a powered assistance bike and mostly the answer is no... I ask why they have bought it then and they tell me "because it makes it easier"

For me this misses the whole point of the purity and simplicity of cycling...doing it under your own power.....

Now it could well be at some point in the future my cardiologist forces me on to one but until that day I will continue to cycle under my own power.
I will carry on resisting the enthusiastic utterings from the E-bike evangelists.....