Of course, you have to be hammering it, to look the part.
I think that's the point, if you are tootling round town you don't need one imho. But, if you are hammering down some typical British secondary roads, you don't need a pebble thrown up into your face! Helmets become de rigueur.

Now who's going to LMC in 2012 by 3W, maybe we should have a new thread on a sticky or is anybody else mad enough to be even thinking about it?