its not his helmet that looks dorky. its those tapered jeans and that stiff casual shirt. c'mon obama!

Is his back wheel flat? It looks flat or under inflated to me.

its his pants .. the helmet looks fine, and his shirt looks fine too. It's like at the last second he decided against black spandex shorts.

I am confortable with the idea of a dorky president however ... it would be a nice change from the drunken frat boy.

It would be like the revenge of the nerds for me.

Agreed, its the jeans. And he's riding in a crosswalk.

But this picture looks staged, some things are out of place:
He's "cross chaining" (smallest wheel in front, small on in back), his derailleur looks like its folded back on itself.
The bike seems too small for him.
The balls of his feet aren't over the axles of the pedals (which is the natural position to bike in)

I doubt he could ride very far with any one of these.
(Although in fairness the small bike may cause him to put his feet farther forward to reduce the cramped feeling)

I ride that same bike! That's kind of awesome.

I'm proud of him for a. biking and b. wearing a helmet. At least someone with a bit of power in this country can be a good example.

It's like a Catch-22 with this helmet thing.
People get made fun of when they wear one....and then if someone gets killed because they weren't wearing a helmet, you hear, "Well, the idiot should have been wearing a helmet."
So......yeah.
In any case, I'd love for Obama to change his presidential motorcade to Priuses or at least get those huge monstrous SUVS converted over to electric.

Um, President Bush is an avid mountain biker and is often seen riding and wearing a helmet.

I'm far from a fan of Bush, but you have to be fair on that point.

And megoneill is right, it's the jeans that make him look dorky.

Um, President Bush is an avid mountain biker and is often seen riding and wearing a helmet.

I'm far from a fan of Bush, but you have to be fair on that point.

And megoneill is right, it's the jeans that make him look dorky.

Looking like a dork in a helmet is far better than looking like an accident victim in a hospital.

Bush also rode a Trek, FYI, a mountain bike, and he managed to look a little dorky as well, but mostly for his socks and other attire.

Good to see them promoting cycling and safety no matter what the political affiliation and other issues.

Re: not wearing makes you look dumb

The best ones are the guys who are riding with their helmets hanging off their bikes somehow. Why, oh why, do they even bother? Is it so that if they see a cop, they'll take the two minutes to put it on so they don't get ticketed (not that people get ticketed for such things, in spite of the law)?

Why oh why oh why the cultish insistence on helmets, despite all the evidence that they are not a cure-all and that there are many other daily activities that put you in similar or greater risk of head injury. Kudos to him for riding a bike, but is he really a regular bike commuter? Points off for mindlessly falling in with the bike-phobic mentality that you need to wear one of those things to be safe biking as if biking were somehow particularly dangerous.

What he should be doing is paying attention to the real research about bike safety by people like John Pucher at Rutgers and furthering bike-centric infrastructure in place of car-centred transportation networks. *That* is what ensures safety; whether or not you wear a low speed scratch-and-bump-protective helmet is beside the point. Forget the myths, follow at the solid safety research.

Why does the way a man looks matter? We are hurdling our planet toward an uninhabitable place with fossil fuels... but when a man who cares about stopping that does something about it... we call him dorky?!

I was hit by a car while riding - and thrown head-first into a curb. I think the fact that I sustained no head injuries far outweighs whatever the fashion police think. Senator Obama, thank you for being a man that will stand for something without worrying about being dorky.

He looks fine.... his saddle is too low though. If he's not careful the US will end up with a new president with knee problems. In fact the bike is too small for him... he needs a size up.