Alternative response from Fizz could have been, “If you and your fat lazy ass wouldn’t be endangering people by driving a SUV that has no practical purpose other than satisfying your selfish, self indulgent, insecure ego; I wouldn’t need to worry about you running me and my mommy over while you’re talking on your cell phone and eating a Big Mac. Thanks!”
Yes, it is cute, but is everyone here really that much against the “pro helmet” camp that they don’t see the logic that a youngster likely should be wearing one?
Neither of my crashes were caused by cars, and thankfully I wasn’t hurt. But you can bet that those experiences have taught me that if I ever have a child he/she will be wearing a helmet until they are old enough to make the choice themselves.
hey, captain–
i think you need to read the owner’s manual that came with your captain costume. it says on page two that you can’t make comments like that.
@Stephen – good point. But I think the big lady would be able to see if there was a helmet in the box from her high vantage point. Of course, momma could have taken it into the store (or where ever she is) with her, but I doubt it.
Fiz is perhaps too disrespectful and might face a punishment, but it rings true as heck. Who’s endangering themselves and others more–those on a bike getting excersize while shopping/book browsing or those who drive everywhere and burn gas?
Thistle is in the background in the Library door. Fiz never wears a helmet in any of the strips while in the fiets. IMHO, that is horrible parenting and is actually against the law in most states (not sure in a fiets front box though…) In any case that’s one of my pet peeves I hit on when teaching CPR…parents who don’t make kids wear helmets or wearing them wrong. at least IMHO…
Chris, I agree with you totally. We are an avid bike riding family and I would never ever ever ever ever ever allow my child to go without a helmet. I love my daughter’s brilliant brain to much to allow it to be crushed.
Is there a valid reason why a child should not wear a helmet?
Chris, I agree with you totally. We are an avid bike riding family and I would never ever ever ever ever ever allow my child to go without a helmet. I love my daughter’s brilliant brain to much to risk it being crushed.
Is there a valid reason why a child should not wear a helmet?
driving [or being a passenger] is much more dangerous than cycling.
by the way, captain, kite flying IS one of my favorite activities. i have maybe 7 or 8 kites around the orphanage. when i take my helmetless grandkids out in the burley, or riding on their bikes, i take at least one kite along. i have a neat little fanny pack kite that is a great self-contained flyer, and the kids have their own faves, too. nothing like bikes to ride, books to read, kites to fly, and a stop at the ice cream shop on the way home. a prefect way to spend a day.
but you aren’t supposed to talk when you’re sitting in the corner. )
Fizz doesn’t need a helmet on the bakfiets because she’s strapped in to the seat (same as she would be in the back seat of her dad’s car). When she’s old enough to pedal a bike herself, THEN she will most likely be required to wear a helmet.
Oh god, helmet wars
I’ve seen a newgroup basically destroyed because of this – pretty much every post is a pro or anti-helmet flame. And even the non-flamey ones are just tedious and have been said a hundred times before. I’ve come to the conclusion that both the pro and anti-helmet evangelists are morons.
hmmmm, “Little Girl, where’s your parents?” might be a better question. I should think leaving the kid unattended in the bike would be just as inappropriate as leaving them unattended in the car. Rick, while I appreciate the helmet approach, I would never ever ever advocate leaving a child unattended for even a brief minute or two in the parking lot. Far too many kid snatchings take place as is. OK, I’m a real downer. We return you now to your comedy.
Over weight people ride bicycles too so advocating that Fizz call someone fat and lazy and being disrespectful is reinforcing stereotypical discrimination towards people of larger size. Not all cyclists are of your idea of a perfect size, what ever that may be.
I don’t think it was a good idea to leave fizz in the baks either
If you notice in the background, Thistle is dropping off the books in the deposit slot and coming right back. She couldn’t have had enough time to go inside in the span of that conversation.
Also, kids sometimes take offense to being called little, so may have called the lady “big” as a defensive remark.
You know, I think I actually have a nuanced view of helmets. I wear them myself, but I always remind bike noobs that it’s not compulsory for adults to wear helmets.
In my mind, if we want kids to be the absolute safest, we’d make them wear helmets whenever there was a potential of falling (which is… ehrm… all the time) and stay within 3 feet of their parents at any point in time (except for the times when their parents are doing the abuse, not random people).
I think a good maxim to follow is… always wear a helmet when you are about to do something dumb.
Which brings me to last Saturday, where I was testing out my new front brakes without a helmet. Oh well…. I’m sure I could spare a few brain cells were I to have faceplanted.
I thought it was a given – children should always wear helmets, from the moment they emerge from the womb until their eighteenth birthday, when they are allowed to take it off and face the viscious, hard edged world with a naked, helmet shaped head.
Thistle should get a good talking to from the local cop for leaving Fizz in a parking lot unattended. That is bad parenting and an unecessary risk to Fizz. We have to many news stories of missing kids as it is. No need to promote leaving a kid, even as quick witted as Fizz, by herself in a parking lot.
Fizz’s mom is in view yet you can’t let it go. You fools think that the kid needs to be at Mom’s side all day or he/she will be kidnapped. Wake up–you obviously don’t have kids and you watch the news too much. Bad parenting is better described as hounding your kid all day and never letting them venture or explore on their own. All you’d end up doing, if you watched them at your side all day, is control them constantly. It’s unhealthy for you, too, as you get too hyper watching them that closely.
Woops my bad! I thought that the big lady was in a SUV. Upon closer examination I now see that she was piloting a 4 door, fully enclosed HPV. Her helmet must be just out of view too.
I hate people that ascribe the author’s views to whatever his or her characters are doing. Thistle made a decision. Joe makes a different one. Which is the author’s opinion? Oh, right, it’s a <i>comic strip</i>.
You know what’s really cool? How Rick can write and draw such a cool strip and with very few words and a few images, create a daily dialogue like this!
Well said X2…I read these comments sometimes and I see the same helicopter parent mentality as everyone has these days. I was raised being allowed to go ride my bike all over town, looking for tadpoles and playing with my matchbox cars alone for hours and even a whole day at a time. I never had any trouble with people trying to kidnap me or do anything untoward.
Get a friggin’ grip people! The news media is making you people into sheep! Learn how to make your own choices as to whether the reports are valid for you!
Finding a bike for a big person can be difficult and expensive. Most bicycles are not up to the challenge. The European manufacturers that do make cycles big enough will not export to the US because they don’t want to get sued. That basically leaves trying to put together a bicycle from sturdy parts or buying something custom. Regular folk can get a decent bike for less than $1000. Heavy folk can look forward to spending $3000 at a minimum for something that is safe and durable. If you don’t have the funds, you’re pretty much up a creek without a paddle. If the fat lady in the comic doesn’t have $3000 for what amounts to a luxury item for most Americans, her answer to Fizz is “it doesn’t exist.”
In Austin, TX, minors legally need a helmet on a bike. Of course, they stopped enforcing the law when it was showing that 95% of the recipients of tickets for the law were black or hispanic …
If any of you ever have to pick a kid up off the street after a crash without a helmet and you realize their head feels like a bag of marbles because it is so badly broken would probably think helmets aren’t too bad an idea. I still think it is your choice and always should be, but make an informed decision at least. I will admit that I have seen more dead people in cars and that doesn’t seem to matter to many people keep driving.
EMT/Firefighter for many years if you are wondering.
@ Big cyclist: a bakfiets should be quite up to the job, and will be sold close to you. Not at Wlmrt but at least in a decent bike shop no too far off. If you have friends who would like to ride, give them a tip!
Grace and peace!
Actually, no one around here sells Bakfietsen, or any other Dutch bikes for that matter. I could have ordered one, but it would have ended up costing as much as I spent on a custom bike ordered through my friendly neighborhood bike shop. My bike is an absolute joy to ride — properly fitted, I now understand drop bars. Not everyone has the dough to drop on a bike like that, though. This is just that much more true for a fatty like me, since starting out we are simply not in shape to commute with a bike to get savings on gasoline.
If I did buy a Dutch bike, I’d probably get something other than a Bakfiets. Though they are rated to carry quite a bit, a heavy rider is going to load the frame differently than full box. Also, driving around a bakfiets with nothing in the box would just be weird.
The Dutch do know how to build a bike for a tall guy, though. That doesn’t help the lady in the comic, but it means I’d like to add a Bakfiets to my collection when I’m thin and rich (har har).
I never wore a helmet as a kid, of course back then your choices were the stuffed leather “hairnet” or the styrofoam Bait Bucket. These days I rarely test ride a bike in front of my house without one. At the risk of sounding trite, recent events should convince you that a helmet is probably a good idea. ie: Natasha Richardson.
One more little detail: Unless that woman imported her car from Britain or straight from Japan, she’s the passenger, not the driver, since she’s on the right-hand side.
@Kim – “fanny” has an . . . ahem . . . different meaning in the UK. Say that in front of a group of kids here and you’re likely to get arrested
Anyway. Great, great strip today. And so nice to see that Helmet War is alive and well in the comments. Here’s my two penn’th:
Should children wear helmets? Yes. And No.
Yes, because children do often have the kind of fall that a helmet will offer some protection – mostly low-speed tumbles resulting in lateral forces on the skull, as they learn what staying upright, setting off, and stopping is all about. They also learn by pushing the boundaries of what is and is not possible, and this inevitably puts their cycling as *play* in a more risky category. In the same light, much recreational adult cycling is probably best done with a helmet (even just training for road racing, TT, triathlon, mountain trails, etc), as the adult acts in the same way as the child, and pushes the boundaries of physics, their own skills and their own stamina.
Then there’s the flip side. Tomorrow I’m teaching a group of 26 children to Bikeability Level 1 (see http://www.bikeability.org.uk/). This is their first step towards riding on the road, and they are expected to wear helmets as part of the course’s standards (unless they have written parental consent not to). BUT when you ask a child why wear a helmet, their response will generally be, “In case you get run over”. At 8, 9, 10 years old, they are not capable of understanding the fine nuances of risk, and view helmets as the magic protector that will save them. And the chances are that it won’t – even if their brain is perfectly protected, a big impact or drive-over by a vehicle is likely to at best permanently disable them, or more likely kill them outright (not that I’ll be pointing it out in such blunt terms. I might be a big meanie, but I don’t want to make all the kids cry).
What I have to get across tomorrow is the fact that wearing a helmet is a good idea for most of the kind of riding children do, but it will not protect them if Mrs SUV from today’s strip runs them over: They need to avoid that ever happening, by being more aware of every vehicle around them than the drivers are, riding to be visible rather than gutter-bunnies out of driver’s sight line, and doing more to make their intentions clearly understood by drivers than they’d ever think necessary. That way, they can avoid the need to ever test the magical properties of a small piece of expanded polystyrene.
@Big Cyclist -
Perhaps you’ve hit the nail on the head there – “$3000 for what amounts to a luxury item for most Americans”. Yet the $40,000 (+ running costs) SUV is considered ‘essential’.
Alternative response from Fizz could have been, “If you and your fat lazy ass wouldn’t be endangering people by driving a SUV that has no practical purpose other than satisfying your selfish, self indulgent, insecure ego; I wouldn’t need to worry about you running me and my mommy over while you’re talking on your cell phone and eating a Big Mac. Thanks!”
@Dont be hating
Woops my bad! I thought that the big lady was in a SUV. Upon closer examination I now see that she was piloting a 4 door, fully enclosed HPV. Her helmet must be just out of view too.
@ unibiker
the problem I had with your comment was more the fact that you said she should call her a lazy fat ass.
It looks like she’s a passenger in the SUV and not necessarily the driver. There is no evidence from the drawing that she’s using a cell phone or eating a big mac which your comment shows your further stereotyping.
Regardless of if she were driving or not, encouraging any child to call any overweight person a lazy fat ass is teaching a child to be disrespectful. Some of us get the crap yelled at us even when we’re the one on the bike and the lazy ass thinner person behind the wheel of a vehicle.
to each their own… I just know my two daughtors will never ride without a helmet as long as their in my house. And yes, I have kids and ye, I’m a medic/EMT
How come it’s ok for old people to call young people young, for big people to call little people little, for fat people to call skinny people skinny, for car people to make suggestions to bikers, but not vice versa? Fizz can get away with it at her age, and should take advantage.
Big Cyclist wrote:
“Finding a bike for a big person can be difficult and expensive.”
Kevin’s comment:
I’m rather big myself. I am over two metres tall (203 actually) and a shade over 100 kg when I left the Army (have not weighed myself recently).
My bike of choice is the Pashley Sovereign Roadster, because it fits. It was not that expensive at about a week’s pay.
Not to stoke the fires (too much), but do your daughters only ride with you, or do they ever venture off on their own? If they do, um … I can promise you that those helmets will spend a lot of time fastened onto the handlebars instead of on top of their heads. Especially if your daughters are between 8 and 14 years old, when peer pressure is at its most intense.
Anyway, didn’t you ever climb a tree or something like that even though it was forbidden by a parent?
@ Capateto
One daughtor is 9 and she does not ride her bike without me… I live in San Diego after all. The other is a year old.
I realize I can’t control them when they’re not in my sight. But, I can promise them both this…if I catch them without their helmets, they won’t have the bike or the privallege to be out on their own for a while. BTW- We do lots of stupid things when we’re young (and now), it doesn’t mean it was the smartest thing to do…
Just for everyone’s info, there are less abduction crimes now than there ever have been. It’s safer to be an unattended or free-range kid now than it was in the 50s. It’s just that every time a kid is abducted, it’s headline news nationwide for days.
Thistle’s right there in the background.
Yikes! I guess I didn’t think about your proximity to the border and all that it entails. I guess childhood’s a little more harrowing than it used to be (or maybe it always was and our folks just did a good job of keeping us innocent for a while).
Free Range Children! http://lmgtfy.com/?q=free+range+children http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/
March 18, 2009 10 year old kid is walking a few blocks to the neighborhood soccer practice field, where he has walked to as a group many time, gets 3 blocks, and the police are ready to charge her with child endangerment.
Well, in Australia it’s the law – you have to wear a helmet. I love this particular strip. One of my friends has been going to gym and working out to lose weight. She has also just bought a car on finance. I use my bicycle for the mostly less than 5km/3.5mile journeys I make every day. So far I have lost 9kg/20lbs over the past 3 months. Lets see now – I have saved the equivalent costs of operating a car and gym memberships. Not bad ey?
Chris in San Diego–come to grips with the fact that one day, when your kids are older, they will feel tremendous peer pressure regarding many, many things. That day they won’t wear a helmet. If you tell them then they don’t ride–they won’t. Ever. You’ll be lucky to get them out on a family ride once a year.
Having thought about this for a day, I realized that for Fizz riding a bike is the norm. To not ride a bike is odd. I’d love it if more people would think of cycling as normal behavior.
update: yesterday, my helmetless granddaughter, whom i taught how to safely crash her bike [tuck and roll, then check for blood, dust yourself off, check the bike, and then continue riding] fell out of her mom’s car, and smacked her head on the parking lot. just a few scrapes, but it reaffirms my belief that bicycles are safer than cars.
she’s fine, by the way, with just a few little scrapes.
Should be “Fat Lady” – carries all the honesty and innocence of a child but the full “weight” of the argument. Rick should make this one a tube sticker for sure…
@Steven ummm yes! that bike could fall over!! omg /sarcasm.
Anyways for whats its worth, helmets are great for front wheel lock ups, which I have had happen (never rig a cheap fender with a coat hanger).
I am SO GLAD that I was born in the mid-fifties. It’s sad that kids today don’t have the privilege (and the fun!) of growing up in a world where NOBODY wore helmets on bikes, or kneepads and elbow pads on roller skates (and skateboards, once those came along) Scraped knees and elbows, black eyes, and casts on arms and legs were a normal part of childhood. (Some of my friends thought it was weird that I never had a broken bone.) Our parents let us go out to explore the neighborhood in the morning with nothing more than an admonition to “be home before dark;” and assuming we obeyed that instruction, we were allowed to go out again after supper and ride our bikes until bedtime. Yet somehow I (and all the kids I knew while growing up) survived, at least long enough for some some of them to be killed in automobile accidents after they were old enough to drive.
LOL! Classic!
Perfect!
Bwahahahahaha!
arf
Rick, you’re a genius!
Well where is hers; just as much use in a car, and at least the sensible one is wearing a harness/seatbelt
A+
Brilliant! I’m going to have to use this one sometime!
Ha! Best strip yet! Classic!
Love it!
little girl should have had said yo,ma.. you FAT where your bike,i’m healthy girl.instead.do love the strips
Thistle must be in the restroom cleaning off Y’s snot rocket from yesterday.
Love it!
Fizz is one of my favorite characters. And the Bak is being used for groceries!
Once again, Fizz rules!!
Even Fizz knows we do not have a sustainable system. Why don’t more people realize it?
Alternative response from Fizz could have been, “If you and your fat lazy ass wouldn’t be endangering people by driving a SUV that has no practical purpose other than satisfying your selfish, self indulgent, insecure ego; I wouldn’t need to worry about you running me and my mommy over while you’re talking on your cell phone and eating a Big Mac. Thanks!”
Rick forgot to have a cigarette hanging out of the woman’s mouth to complete the picture…Fizz Rocks!
Is Rick getting any kickbacks from http://www.dutchbikeseattle.com/html/bikes/bakfiets.html ? I just wonder because this comic keeps making me want a bakfiets!
Yes, it is cute, but is everyone here really that much against the “pro helmet” camp that they don’t see the logic that a youngster likely should be wearing one?
Neither of my crashes were caused by cars, and thankfully I wasn’t hurt. But you can bet that those experiences have taught me that if I ever have a child he/she will be wearing a helmet until they are old enough to make the choice themselves.
hey, captain–
i think you need to read the owner’s manual that came with your captain costume. it says on page two that you can’t make comments like that.
go sit in the corner.
Does she need a helmet when she is just sitting in the bakfiet?
Has anyone seen my bicycle clips?
I got my captain costume at goodwill. I’m learning as I go.
Go fly a kite.
This one’s getting framed
@Stephen – good point. But I think the big lady would be able to see if there was a helmet in the box from her high vantage point. Of course, momma could have taken it into the store (or where ever she is) with her, but I doubt it.
Love it! Love it!!
Fiz is perhaps too disrespectful and might face a punishment, but it rings true as heck. Who’s endangering themselves and others more–those on a bike getting excersize while shopping/book browsing or those who drive everywhere and burn gas?
Out of the mouths of babes…
I hope Thistle is standing there just outside the panels. Fizz should not be left unattended in a parking lot.
I rhink Rick’s been listening to my kids: That’s just the response they’d come up with.
Thistle is in the background in the Library door. Fiz never wears a helmet in any of the strips while in the fiets. IMHO, that is horrible parenting and is actually against the law in most states (not sure in a fiets front box though…) In any case that’s one of my pet peeves I hit on when teaching CPR…parents who don’t make kids wear helmets or wearing them wrong. at least IMHO…
Helmet or no helmet, this is a definite WIN!
Ahhh spring! Baseball and biking. Love it! Sorry – not a winter rider. Somebody give unibiker a hot dog. Relax dude!
“Big Lady” << Love it! Rick you complete my days. Today’s strip is hilarious!!
Chris, I agree with you totally. We are an avid bike riding family and I would never ever ever ever ever ever allow my child to go without a helmet. I love my daughter’s brilliant brain to much to allow it to be crushed.
Is there a valid reason why a child should not wear a helmet?
Chris, I agree with you totally. We are an avid bike riding family and I would never ever ever ever ever ever allow my child to go without a helmet. I love my daughter’s brilliant brain to much to risk it being crushed.
Is there a valid reason why a child should not wear a helmet?
@ Sweet Sassy
How redundant.
that coffin-stuffer got f-ed in the a
who here bets this leads to her calling the cops about the helmet? hmmmm?
driving [or being a passenger] is much more dangerous than cycling.
by the way, captain, kite flying IS one of my favorite activities. i have maybe 7 or 8 kites around the orphanage. when i take my helmetless grandkids out in the burley, or riding on their bikes, i take at least one kite along. i have a neat little fanny pack kite that is a great self-contained flyer, and the kids have their own faves, too. nothing like bikes to ride, books to read, kites to fly, and a stop at the ice cream shop on the way home. a prefect way to spend a day.
but you aren’t supposed to talk when you’re sitting in the corner.
)
Fizz doesn’t need a helmet on the bakfiets because she’s strapped in to the seat (same as she would be in the back seat of her dad’s car). When she’s old enough to pedal a bike herself, THEN she will most likely be required to wear a helmet.
@Pat, I’d LOVE a garden dog!
kudos to the commenters who actually commented on today’s content. Good job, Rick, Good job.
Best. Yehuda. Ever.
Gonna be the first Yehuda that gets printed and put up on my cubicle wall.
I just love that they are outside the library.
Fizz for President!
Oh god, helmet wars
I’ve seen a newgroup basically destroyed because of this – pretty much every post is a pro or anti-helmet flame. And even the non-flamey ones are just tedious and have been said a hundred times before. I’ve come to the conclusion that both the pro and anti-helmet evangelists are morons.
Helmet wars; just say no.
hmmmm, “Little Girl, where’s your parents?” might be a better question. I should think leaving the kid unattended in the bike would be just as inappropriate as leaving them unattended in the car. Rick, while I appreciate the helmet approach, I would never ever ever advocate leaving a child unattended for even a brief minute or two in the parking lot. Far too many kid snatchings take place as is. OK, I’m a real downer. We return you now to your comedy.
Brains belong inside the skull.
http://thegearjunkie.com/bike-helmets-do-save-lives
Correction of typo to last post; *newsgroup
(uk.rec.cycling , for anyone who knows it)
@jersey rider and unibiker
Over weight people ride bicycles too so advocating that Fizz call someone fat and lazy and being disrespectful is reinforcing stereotypical discrimination towards people of larger size. Not all cyclists are of your idea of a perfect size, what ever that may be.
I don’t think it was a good idea to leave fizz in the baks either
If you notice in the background, Thistle is dropping off the books in the deposit slot and coming right back. She couldn’t have had enough time to go inside in the span of that conversation.
Also, kids sometimes take offense to being called little, so may have called the lady “big” as a defensive remark.
You know, I think I actually have a nuanced view of helmets. I wear them myself, but I always remind bike noobs that it’s not compulsory for adults to wear helmets.
In my mind, if we want kids to be the absolute safest, we’d make them wear helmets whenever there was a potential of falling (which is… ehrm… all the time) and stay within 3 feet of their parents at any point in time (except for the times when their parents are doing the abuse, not random people).
I think a good maxim to follow is… always wear a helmet when you are about to do something dumb.
Which brings me to last Saturday, where I was testing out my new front brakes without a helmet. Oh well…. I’m sure I could spare a few brain cells were I to have faceplanted.
@ Unabiker: I prefer to indulge my inflated ego with sportscars.
I thought it was a given – children should always wear helmets, from the moment they emerge from the womb until their eighteenth birthday, when they are allowed to take it off and face the viscious, hard edged world with a naked, helmet shaped head.
Thistle should get a good talking to from the local cop for leaving Fizz in a parking lot unattended. That is bad parenting and an unecessary risk to Fizz. We have to many news stories of missing kids as it is. No need to promote leaving a kid, even as quick witted as Fizz, by herself in a parking lot.
You safety nannies out there tick me off!
Fizz’s mom is in view yet you can’t let it go. You fools think that the kid needs to be at Mom’s side all day or he/she will be kidnapped. Wake up–you obviously don’t have kids and you watch the news too much. Bad parenting is better described as hounding your kid all day and never letting them venture or explore on their own. All you’d end up doing, if you watched them at your side all day, is control them constantly. It’s unhealthy for you, too, as you get too hyper watching them that closely.
This one goes on the wall at my cubie. Fizz is the best!
@Dave
Well said!
@Dont be hating
Woops my bad! I thought that the big lady was in a SUV. Upon closer examination I now see that she was piloting a 4 door, fully enclosed HPV. Her helmet must be just out of view too.
I hate people that ascribe the author’s views to whatever his or her characters are doing. Thistle made a decision. Joe makes a different one. Which is the author’s opinion? Oh, right, it’s a <i>comic strip</i>.
You know what’s really cool? How Rick can write and draw such a cool strip and with very few words and a few images, create a daily dialogue like this!
RichardT, I’m with you. Say no to helmet wars!
@Dave
Well said X2…I read these comments sometimes and I see the same helicopter parent mentality as everyone has these days. I was raised being allowed to go ride my bike all over town, looking for tadpoles and playing with my matchbox cars alone for hours and even a whole day at a time. I never had any trouble with people trying to kidnap me or do anything untoward.
Get a friggin’ grip people! The news media is making you people into sheep! Learn how to make your own choices as to whether the reports are valid for you!
FYI: are minors in Cleveland required to wear a helmet as a passenger on a bike? even when it is parked?
Looks like legislators in Columbus are working to change that, if they are not.
http://bikecolumbus.blogspot.com/2009/03/ohio-helmet-law-proposed-for-juveniles.html
Finding a bike for a big person can be difficult and expensive. Most bicycles are not up to the challenge. The European manufacturers that do make cycles big enough will not export to the US because they don’t want to get sued. That basically leaves trying to put together a bicycle from sturdy parts or buying something custom. Regular folk can get a decent bike for less than $1000. Heavy folk can look forward to spending $3000 at a minimum for something that is safe and durable. If you don’t have the funds, you’re pretty much up a creek without a paddle. If the fat lady in the comic doesn’t have $3000 for what amounts to a luxury item for most Americans, her answer to Fizz is “it doesn’t exist.”
In Austin, TX, minors legally need a helmet on a bike. Of course, they stopped enforcing the law when it was showing that 95% of the recipients of tickets for the law were black or hispanic …
If any of you ever have to pick a kid up off the street after a crash without a helmet and you realize their head feels like a bag of marbles because it is so badly broken would probably think helmets aren’t too bad an idea. I still think it is your choice and always should be, but make an informed decision at least. I will admit that I have seen more dead people in cars and that doesn’t seem to matter to many people keep driving.
EMT/Firefighter for many years if you are wondering.
Sweet Sassy!
You think a helmet will stop your child’s brain being crushed? You don’t understand how helmets work, do you?
@ Big cyclist: a bakfiets should be quite up to the job, and will be sold close to you. Not at Wlmrt but at least in a decent bike shop no too far off. If you have friends who would like to ride, give them a tip!
Grace and peace!
Actually, no one around here sells Bakfietsen, or any other Dutch bikes for that matter. I could have ordered one, but it would have ended up costing as much as I spent on a custom bike ordered through my friendly neighborhood bike shop. My bike is an absolute joy to ride — properly fitted, I now understand drop bars. Not everyone has the dough to drop on a bike like that, though. This is just that much more true for a fatty like me, since starting out we are simply not in shape to commute with a bike to get savings on gasoline.
If I did buy a Dutch bike, I’d probably get something other than a Bakfiets. Though they are rated to carry quite a bit, a heavy rider is going to load the frame differently than full box. Also, driving around a bakfiets with nothing in the box would just be weird.
The Dutch do know how to build a bike for a tall guy, though. That doesn’t help the lady in the comic, but it means I’d like to add a Bakfiets to my collection when I’m thin and rich (har har).
I never wore a helmet as a kid, of course back then your choices were the stuffed leather “hairnet” or the styrofoam Bait Bucket. These days I rarely test ride a bike in front of my house without one. At the risk of sounding trite, recent events should convince you that a helmet is probably a good idea. ie: Natasha Richardson.
One more little detail: Unless that woman imported her car from Britain or straight from Japan, she’s the passenger, not the driver, since she’s on the right-hand side.
Or perhaps it’s Rick’s nod of appreciation to all you fans from across The Pond.
@Kim – “fanny” has an . . . ahem . . . different meaning in the UK. Say that in front of a group of kids here and you’re likely to get arrested
Anyway. Great, great strip today. And so nice to see that Helmet War is alive and well in the comments. Here’s my two penn’th:
Should children wear helmets? Yes. And No.
Yes, because children do often have the kind of fall that a helmet will offer some protection – mostly low-speed tumbles resulting in lateral forces on the skull, as they learn what staying upright, setting off, and stopping is all about. They also learn by pushing the boundaries of what is and is not possible, and this inevitably puts their cycling as *play* in a more risky category. In the same light, much recreational adult cycling is probably best done with a helmet (even just training for road racing, TT, triathlon, mountain trails, etc), as the adult acts in the same way as the child, and pushes the boundaries of physics, their own skills and their own stamina.
Then there’s the flip side. Tomorrow I’m teaching a group of 26 children to Bikeability Level 1 (see http://www.bikeability.org.uk/). This is their first step towards riding on the road, and they are expected to wear helmets as part of the course’s standards (unless they have written parental consent not to). BUT when you ask a child why wear a helmet, their response will generally be, “In case you get run over”. At 8, 9, 10 years old, they are not capable of understanding the fine nuances of risk, and view helmets as the magic protector that will save them. And the chances are that it won’t – even if their brain is perfectly protected, a big impact or drive-over by a vehicle is likely to at best permanently disable them, or more likely kill them outright (not that I’ll be pointing it out in such blunt terms. I might be a big meanie, but I don’t want to make all the kids cry).
What I have to get across tomorrow is the fact that wearing a helmet is a good idea for most of the kind of riding children do, but it will not protect them if Mrs SUV from today’s strip runs them over: They need to avoid that ever happening, by being more aware of every vehicle around them than the drivers are, riding to be visible rather than gutter-bunnies out of driver’s sight line, and doing more to make their intentions clearly understood by drivers than they’d ever think necessary. That way, they can avoid the need to ever test the magical properties of a small piece of expanded polystyrene.
@Big Cyclist -
Perhaps you’ve hit the nail on the head there – “$3000 for what amounts to a luxury item for most Americans”. Yet the $40,000 (+ running costs) SUV is considered ‘essential’.
I don’t think Fizz needs to be scolded at all! She’s cheeky but only because she’s cutting to the bone of a much bigger problem.
As for safety- well I bet the big lady is more likely to get sick and die from driving, than Fizz from growing up biking without a helmet.
If you want rude, look for the exhaust that car is going to spew in Fizz’s face as it pulls away.
Alternative response from Fizz could have been, “If you and your fat lazy ass wouldn’t be endangering people by driving a SUV that has no practical purpose other than satisfying your selfish, self indulgent, insecure ego; I wouldn’t need to worry about you running me and my mommy over while you’re talking on your cell phone and eating a Big Mac. Thanks!”
@Dont be hating
Woops my bad! I thought that the big lady was in a SUV. Upon closer examination I now see that she was piloting a 4 door, fully enclosed HPV. Her helmet must be just out of view too.
@ unibiker
the problem I had with your comment was more the fact that you said she should call her a lazy fat ass.
It looks like she’s a passenger in the SUV and not necessarily the driver. There is no evidence from the drawing that she’s using a cell phone or eating a big mac which your comment shows your further stereotyping.
Regardless of if she were driving or not, encouraging any child to call any overweight person a lazy fat ass is teaching a child to be disrespectful. Some of us get the crap yelled at us even when we’re the one on the bike and the lazy ass thinner person behind the wheel of a vehicle.
I swear I just had a comment deleted but unibiker’s comments have been left up??
GOLD!
to each their own… I just know my two daughtors will never ride without a helmet as long as their in my house. And yes, I have kids and ye, I’m a medic/EMT
How come it’s ok for old people to call young people young, for big people to call little people little, for fat people to call skinny people skinny, for car people to make suggestions to bikers, but not vice versa? Fizz can get away with it at her age, and should take advantage.
Big Cyclist wrote:
“Finding a bike for a big person can be difficult and expensive.”
Kevin’s comment:
I’m rather big myself. I am over two metres tall (203 actually) and a shade over 100 kg when I left the Army (have not weighed myself recently).
My bike of choice is the Pashley Sovereign Roadster, because it fits. It was not that expensive at about a week’s pay.
@Chris in San Diego:
Not to stoke the fires (too much), but do your daughters only ride with you, or do they ever venture off on their own? If they do, um … I can promise you that those helmets will spend a lot of time fastened onto the handlebars instead of on top of their heads. Especially if your daughters are between 8 and 14 years old, when peer pressure is at its most intense.
Anyway, didn’t you ever climb a tree or something like that even though it was forbidden by a parent?
@ Capateto
One daughtor is 9 and she does not ride her bike without me… I live in San Diego after all. The other is a year old.
I realize I can’t control them when they’re not in my sight. But, I can promise them both this…if I catch them without their helmets, they won’t have the bike or the privallege to be out on their own for a while. BTW- We do lots of stupid things when we’re young (and now), it doesn’t mean it was the smartest thing to do…
Just for everyone’s info, there are less abduction crimes now than there ever have been. It’s safer to be an unattended or free-range kid now than it was in the 50s. It’s just that every time a kid is abducted, it’s headline news nationwide for days.
Thistle’s right there in the background.
@ JRR-
Would you take that chance with your kid? I’m sure as heck taking it with mine….
We had something like 6 cases of people asking kids to get in cars or trying to grab them in January and I live in a good neighborhood.
@Chris in San Diego:
Yikes! I guess I didn’t think about your proximity to the border and all that it entails. I guess childhood’s a little more harrowing than it used to be (or maybe it always was and our folks just did a good job of keeping us innocent for a while).
Free Range Children! http://lmgtfy.com/?q=free+range+children
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/
March 18, 2009 10 year old kid is walking a few blocks to the neighborhood soccer practice field, where he has walked to as a group many time, gets 3 blocks, and the police are ready to charge her with child endangerment.
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/let-em-eat-dirt/ Parasitic Worms and Bacteria Are Good for the Immune System.
Time to change the phrase ‘Dirt Floor Poor’ to ‘Dirt Floor Healthy’ ?
Great strip.
It is not about helmets but about fat lady in a SUV. The genius is that even Fizz knows the life style the fat lady represents is unsustainable.
How about a “Leave argument” button.
The HIDE COMMENTS button does not work for you?
Well, in Australia it’s the law – you have to wear a helmet. I love this particular strip. One of my friends has been going to gym and working out to lose weight. She has also just bought a car on finance. I use my bicycle for the mostly less than 5km/3.5mile journeys I make every day. So far I have lost 9kg/20lbs over the past 3 months. Lets see now – I have saved the equivalent costs of operating a car and gym memberships. Not bad ey?
@ Mike Schwab
Works fine. Click.
Chris in San Diego–come to grips with the fact that one day, when your kids are older, they will feel tremendous peer pressure regarding many, many things. That day they won’t wear a helmet. If you tell them then they don’t ride–they won’t. Ever. You’ll be lucky to get them out on a family ride once a year.
@ Dave,
That’s fine, most teenagers won’t ride anyway…but, they also won’t have other privillages as well, like having the freedom to go out…
Having thought about this for a day, I realized that for Fizz riding a bike is the norm. To not ride a bike is odd. I’d love it if more people would think of cycling as normal behavior.
update: yesterday, my helmetless granddaughter, whom i taught how to safely crash her bike [tuck and roll, then check for blood, dust yourself off, check the bike, and then continue riding] fell out of her mom’s car, and smacked her head on the parking lot. just a few scrapes, but it reaffirms my belief that bicycles are safer than cars.
she’s fine, by the way, with just a few little scrapes.
Should be “Fat Lady” – carries all the honesty and innocence of a child but the full “weight” of the argument. Rick should make this one a tube sticker for sure…
Mike Schwab — thanks for the Free Range kids link. Wonderful.
@Steven ummm yes! that bike could fall over!! omg /sarcasm.
Anyways for whats its worth, helmets are great for front wheel lock ups, which I have had happen (never rig a cheap fender with a coat hanger).
Did anyone stop to think Fizz could have called her a ‘big’ lady simply because the lady called her a ‘little’ girl ?
For all those wondering whether a helmet may have been seen in the bak, or whether Fizz’s parents should have been around.
You are aware this is a cartoon and not real life, right?
>;o)
Keep pedaling and stay happy!
Gazza
Here’s an example of real-life ‘Dutch parenting’ I snapped in Amsterdam… I’m sure Mum was only away briefly!
http://tiny.cc/vnZKh
Check it out!
I am SO GLAD that I was born in the mid-fifties. It’s sad that kids today don’t have the privilege (and the fun!) of growing up in a world where NOBODY wore helmets on bikes, or kneepads and elbow pads on roller skates (and skateboards, once those came along) Scraped knees and elbows, black eyes, and casts on arms and legs were a normal part of childhood. (Some of my friends thought it was weird that I never had a broken bone.) Our parents let us go out to explore the neighborhood in the morning with nothing more than an admonition to “be home before dark;” and assuming we obeyed that instruction, we were allowed to go out again after supper and ride our bikes until bedtime. Yet somehow I (and all the kids I knew while growing up) survived, at least long enough for some some of them to be killed in automobile accidents after they were old enough to drive.
Rick: Amazing.