Head case

 Lately, the title of this blog has been a bit of a tease. I know you click in anticipation of witty comments about flat tires and roadkill, investigative reporting on the latest gears and scandalous sitings of men in white bike shorts. At last, I will quench your thirst for cyclecommentary with an insight into the hottest trend in Australian helmet decorating, zipties.

That's right! Zipties, those snappy strips of plastic, the ones that are seem like they are going to be really useful when you buy the pack of 100. Then you use one once and the rest haunt you by finding their way into the bottom of every bag and drawer you own. Australian cyclists on the other hand, have found a way to put them to good (?) use.
I couldn’t manage to get a photo so here is an artistic rendering.

A wide range of Australian cyclists sport these ornamental helmets; young, old, men, women, racing bikes, mountain bikes and commuters. They attach them with the spare trimable bit sticking up like a spike (see sketch above). Some helmets have as few as five while others have at least twenty-five. Zipties may be a variety of colors. I saw black, grey, blue, and white.

In my 10 days of keen observation, I have concluded that these plastic antennae are attached for decorative purposes only. This conclusion is scientifically supported by the failure of other hypotheses. Here is a list of my other hypotheses and reasons why they failed:

1) lightning rods   -   zipties are made of plastic
2) radio    -    again, plastic lacks receptive properties
3) signal of gang affiliation  -   wide range of demographics sporting zipties -  zipties are not very intimidating
4) halloween -  not a popular holiday in Australia -  would be crap costume
5) deter birds from building nests- there is an abundance of superior nest
building sites  - birds generally like stationary nests.
6) helmet anti-theft device- how would a flexible strip of plastic deter greedy helmet burglars?

The only question that remains is, will this aussie fad catch on in other places? The answer is, probably. When it does, just remember that you heard about it here first, on the hippest blog that is almost about cycling.