[SA Chris]

Started taking eldest down local wall. Free for under 5s which is nice but a fiver for helmet hire, which seems excessive.

Want him to get in the habit of wearing one, and not keen on buying one quite yet, is there any reason a bicycle helmet is not OK for easy top roping on short vertical or slabby walls?

thanks

[Johnny Brown]

No. Mountaineering helmet standards are designed primarily with rockfall in mind, not to protect the head in a fall. The bicycle standard is more appropriate for such scenarios, so bike helmets actually make a lot more sense for indoor climbing. If you look carefully the better foam helmets (Petzl Meteor etc) conform to both standards.

[Paul B]

a fiver for helmet hire

You don't live in London do you? That's a tad excessive, in fact I think the helmets where I work are free.

[Footwork]

thats a bit of a joke charging for a helmet. Maybe a quid tops, but a fiver! They were free where I worked. Not many people seemed to want a helmet though.

[underground]

AFAIK the Petzl Picchu is intended for biking and climbing. My kids have a size 1 Elios as I was advised it'd be more appropriate for the repeated bashing a in caves. Plus pisspot style bike helmets can be had for little money so they have those for biking aswell

[lagerstarfish]

the cheap decathlon bike helmet that I use is also suitable for climbing - it said so on the label

I think one of the kids' helmets had a similar "rating"

a quick scan of their website indicates that they no longer make such claims (except for the Picchu)

[dave]

Word my petzl meteor III+ is adjustable enough to fit our eldest's head and he's 4, so if I take him to the crag he can wear mine.

[Oldmanmatt]

I've been using bike helmets for my four.
Falling and head bumping are much bigger risks for them than falling rock (they mostly climb indoors, but when out we tend to still be on easy angle slabs).
A good quality BMX helmet from Halfords (ie one with a rigid plastic cover over the polystyrene, not the thin "shrink wrap" cover), seems to me to be the best option.
They are light enough to get them to keep them on whilst bouldering (and falling off bits of Bonehill is the leading cause of injury in this family), and thick/tough/energy absorbing enough to give significant protection.

[Snoops]

I'm beginning to think I'm a bad dad reading this thread. My 2 wear helmets for biking and scooting, but I've never bothered when top roping at the wall.

[dave]

I've only had ours domed up on routes (at the crag).

[Oldmanmatt]

Actually, only the two eldest wear them indoors and only when leading, not top roping or bouldering. When climbing Outdoors, all of them, everywhere, always.

[bolehillbilly]

My kids started with cheap bike helmets for top roping at the wall and on the occasional easy top rope outdoors.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/images/dbpage.html?id=121721   

Now they're older and occasionally leading/climbing more outdoors and doing crazy bike stuff too they've got Petzl helmets that do both standards.  A bit more pricey but works well and less to shoehorn into the boot for holidays.

[SA Chris]

My 2 wear helmets for biking and scooting,

After 1 non-helmeted scooting incident (and trip to A&E) we're erring on the side of caution, and trying to get him used to wearing a helmet as much as possible (starts on dry slope skiing later in the month!)

Cheers for all the info, we do have a bike helmet already, will take it along next tme. And yes, price seemed excessive to say the least!

(thread title was supposed to be kid's lids btw!)