[Misguided]

Long ago I used a full helmet, now days I am using a half helmet, but am thinking about going back to a full helmet due to the noise, what do you use?

 

[skydoc]

Although there isn't a helmet law where I live, I use one anyway. I own both full face and half helmet, but use the half helmet almost all of the time. I do wear ear plugs because of the wind noise and the V & H pipes. I already have a hearing loss in my left ear with some accompanying tinnitus (ringing) and am trying not to make it worse. I also believe that helmets should be a matter of choice and not mandated by law. Being in the military, I am mandated regulation to wear one on or off duty otherwise I am liable for medical costs and/or if I am killed, the Govn't won't pay off on the life insurance to my family as I've stated in previous posts. Just my .02

 

[Boismier]

I started with a full helmet in 1972, switched to a full-face in 1978 and have used them ever since. Helmets are not required for adults in Indiana, but I wear mine all the time, earplugs too.

If your major concern is noise, get earplugs. Without them any bike at speed is loud enough to damage hearing - even with a good full-face (though a full-face is noticably quieter than the others). Pipes don't matter here, at speed the wind noise is the killer for the rider. If you don't like foam earplugs, go to your local audiologist and have him/her make you a set of custom 'musician's' earplugs - very comfortable, better protection and in the long run much cheaper than doctor visits and hearing aids. About $100-150 bucks.

I run the balance and dizziness center in a large ENT practice. We see too many bikers with hearing loss and tinnitus, not to mention the guys who crashed sans helmet (and lived...) and now are in our balance and gait rehab program learning how to walk again. Good motivation for me to wear the helmet every single time.

[climbing on soapbox ...]

Even if you survive a no-helmet crash, it will change you forever. Your brain is where *you* live, don't mess it up, or your family and friends will wonder where *you* went.

Even if you never crash, deafness is a bitch. Think about everything you love to do, and how those things would be different if you couldn't hear well enough to understand speech. Hearing aids are a poor substitute. Tinnitus (head noises) can make you nuts, literally. Folks lose their jobs, get divorced, get depressed, shoot themselves, because they no longer have quiet.

I kid you not. Don't mess with your brain or your ears.

[end preachy mode ...]

 

[gdemarco]

I live in California where there is a pretty tight helmet law, but if you ask me i would tell you that I 'd wear it anyway, with or without law.
I wear a half helmet and noise and wind do make it tough for your hears, expecially on long trips out of the city.
I usually use hear plugs and one of those head bands that cover your hears.

G
Crazy Italian

 

[manny]

I, too, live in the Bay Area. I wear a beanie most of the time, although I have a Simpson full Face 'Bandit' for occasional use in winter or rain.

I don't want to wear a helmet, and whenever I leave the state I put the helmet on the back of the pack and wear only a dew rag.

I think it should be a personal choice and I have no criticism for those that wear them. I have ridden for over 30 years and hated it when they implemented the law mandating my use of one.

"Do you want to live forever???"

manny

 

[wyodude]

"Do you want to live forever???"

manny

As a functional human..yes as a brain dead vegetable ..no.

 

[Big Al]

Full face and half. Wear the half occassionaly when skootin' around town. Wear full face when taking trips or high speed runs, cold or expecting bad weather. No hearing issues that I'm aware of after almost 40 years of biking. Something I should have known?

 

[Boismier]

"As a functional human..yes as a brain dead vegetable ..no."

I don't want to pick on Manny here or any other rider who prefers to go lidless. Wearing a helmet is a choice just like riding a motorcycle is a choice. You can end up just as dead or disabled with a helmet on too - it's just that the odds of a good outcome are better with a lid on. We all have a different level of risk that we're comfortable with. The wise rider weighs the risks and acts appropriately.

It's not as easy as just saying 'if I die it's my problem' or 'it won't happen to me because of my safety gear". Bottomline is that regardless of your choice, IF you crash and IF you end up disabled, that will have profound effects on your family and your community.

Forget the vegetable scenario, just break a hip without health insurance and figure on $50,000 to $100,000. You can't choose to put a gun in your mouth, because you'll be unconscious when the decisions are made. You, your family or your community, somebody's gonna pay for it. I owe my kids a start in life, my responsibility is to keep that cost off their backs and off their mom's back, so they can have a childhood, an education and a chance to have a life.

My responsibility is to support my family and safeguard my kids. My fun is riding a bike. For me the risk of riding a bike is acceptable IF I take all the reasonable precautions - helmet, armored leathers, added lighting, health and life insurance, safety classes, no booze on a riding day, no riding with guys who have a deathwish.

If I didn't have a family to support and 2 kids that will need to go to college in a few years (the days of making a good living right out of high school are long gone brothers and sisters...), my assessment of risks and benefits might be different. (In fact they were a lot different pre-marriage and kids...) If my employer gave me long-term disability and an enormous life insurance benefit, that might affect my choices too.

And of course if I still had hair I might like to feel the wind in it once in a while ... ;-)

 

[FifthGear]

This helmet thing can be quite an emotional subject....especially for those who live in a state where they can't make their own decision legally. I'm for the rights of the riders to make that decision. I feel for those who have to wear a helmit and have no other choice by law.

There is risk in riding. There is risk in sky diving, scuba diving, skieing, rock climbing, racing, etc. There are risks envolved in a lot of things that we do. I just don't like being forced by the governments(local ,state or fed) to do what they think is the safest thing and the best thing for me.

On the other hand, I'm aware of the added protection of a helmet. Nothing gives one the feeling of freedom and comfort like not wearing a helmet though. I am guilty of not wearing one at times. But the choice not to wear one depends on the place and conditions I'm riding in . For example, on the Houston freeway system with rush hour traffic I wouldn't be without a helmet with the way the maniacs drive. As a matter of fact I try to avoid these conditions if I can. But on the long smooth stretches of open roads in west Texas I feel the risk is lessened and I am prone to only wear a dew rag (and I be smiling! LOL).

A half helmet is what I usually wear but I am tempted to get another full face for winter riding like I had back in the mid-eighties. It's hard to beat for warmth.

I don't want to live forever because I know that I can't. I do want to enjoy my life day by day and if that means excepting the risks without wearing a helmet at times it's what I should have a right to do.

It would be nice to live long enough to pay my Sears card off though!

Later,

 

[Boismier]

No hearing issues that I'm aware of after almost 40 years of biking. Something I should have known?

Hearing problems with noise exposure are due to a combination of volume and duration (they work together to determine the 'dose' of noise), genetics (some folks are more prone to hearing problems than others), and plain dumb luck (can't help it of the guy next to you blows his engine ...). For more info on bikes and hearing loss see:

http://www.hope4hearing.org/motorcycle.htm

http://www.vh.org/Patients/IHB/HealthProse/Otolaryngology/hearingloss.html

(Geesh, I gotta climb down off the soapbox now, I'm gettin' a nosebleed ... oh that's why, the soapbox is on top of my high horse ... ;-)

 

[Misguided]

I allready have the hearing loss and the tinnitus and been diagnosed with intermintent vertigo

can you beleive I am still on active duty

These are the reasons I started thinking about the helmet issue and posted the question/poll.

"And of course if I still had hair I might like to feel the wind in it once in a while ... ;-)

Boismier you made my day! Mine may be gray, but its still there

 

[Mike M]

I wear a Shoei 3/4 helmet (I guess you are calling it a full helmet) that is Snell and DOT approved when I'm on the cruiser and full face when I'm on the dual purpose (Cagiva Gran Canyon). On the Cagiva I ride much more aggressively, thus the full-face.

I must say in Colorado, I am in the minority wearing a helmet on my H-D. I agree wholeheartedly however, to each their own. It's just that you can break a leg or an arm and they put it in a cast. I may limp a little and maybe I won't be able to take up golf when I retire. But if you bust your skull, they feed you baby food with a spoon the rest of your life. If you live.

I'm comfortable with a helmet on. Started riding that way and I'm OK with it. Many folks are not. As I said---to each their own.

Mike M

 

[pjmac]

I live in Ohio where you can make your own choice whether to wear a helmet or not. I choose to wear a 3/4 Harley-Davidson helmet with a flip up sheild. For me it keeps my eyes from watering and it keeps my eye glasses from flying off. Also it helps alot from all of the noise. I think that it should be your choice if you want to roll the dice if would happen to go down. I feel it gives me a better chance. ( IMHO )


Ride Safe

PJ

 

[JimmyK]

".....

My responsibility is to support my family and safeguard my kids. My fun is riding a bike. For me the risk of riding a bike is acceptable IF I take all the reasonable precautions - helmet, armored leathers, added lighting, health and life insurance, safety classes, no booze on a riding day, no riding with guys who have a deathwish.

Personally, I think your position is crap and selfserving. If you believed what you said, you would not ride at all.

Your scenario shows that you believe that you have the corner on what is a "reasonable precaution."

You do tend to preach this crap and not simply leave it as what YOU have decided for YOU.

What YOU decide for YOURSELF is your God given right as far as I am concerned. When you PUSH what you believe on others then you have trespassed on THEIR God given rights.

Don't worry about "picking on" my brother by the way. You could be wearing a damn suit of armor and a HELMET and STILL get yer ass kicked right square between a head of lettuce and a turnip.

I don't care if you wear a damn helmet while screwing. To each his own I say. But it is folks like you who insist on what is best for everyone else based on your own thoughts on the subject that piss me off.

"Gee! I think that if I crapped in your helmet, it would offer even more support and therefore be even more effective!" There ya go now. I think you should let me crap in your helmet so that you could make sure you covered all the bases. No? Well tell me now, if a study came out that said that helmets with a load of crap in em reduced head injuries by 45% over helmets with no crap, would ya **** in yer lid? If not, why not?

Bla HAHAHelmetLawsSuck HA!

 

[pjmac]

JimmyK


I wish that you would stop holding back and let us know how you realy feel ! LOL. I think we know where you stand. Please let me buy you all a cold one.


PJ

 

[Ape Hanger]

I wear a wool cap most of the time and no helmet.

I realize that RIDING IS DANGEROUS and that something could happen to me and possibly ruin the lives of the one's that I love. I pray that never happens but it could.

I've been surounded by cautious people my entire life who either died young or are paralyzed. Normally due to someone elses stupidity (bad MD's, Drunk drivers, etc...)

If you wear a lid... cool... if not... cool... I just say ride and enjoy it, love life and live it to the fullest.

But what do I know... I just started wearin' shoes!!!

Ape

 

[guido]

I don't wear a helmet.

And I owe no one an explanation!
guido

 

[HIPPO]

It takes all kinds.

The way I look at it is that it is already written in stone somewhere how and when you will make your final trip.
Fate. When your number is up, your number is up.

I don't wear a helmet when riding the Harley. I wear a beanie when riding thru a state that requires a helmet. I wear a full face when riding some other bikes under some conditions (and full leathers).

I happen to believe that if you are concerned with safety wearing anything other then a professional grade full face is a placebo.
All you can do is play the odds, but you might consider that a full face helmet is most effective when integrated as a part of a protective system.
The helmet alone, without clothing that properly interfaces with it, can save you but it can also kill you.

Whatever works for you, but if you think that just throwing on some helmet while wearing street clothing will provide major protection, think again.

 

[JimmyK]

There now, don't you feel better. You can always count on the government to look out for your best interest. Just don't sit to close to the saftey device cause it might kill ya.

Bla HAhahahahhaha

 

[Straydog]

Anyone seen a beatup ol' white helmet laying around anywhere? The turn was too sharp and the barbwire fence just ripped it off my head. No one ever found the helmet! STRANGE - But True!

I wear a helmet but I don't condemn, complain about, gripe at, b!tch at, or throwup on anyone that doesn't.

Our purpose for riding is enjoyment. If we are too afraid to do that, then we should sell our rides and get a minivan. (Sorry - I forgot that most of us are much older and already have minivans! )

No matter which way you go, with/without a lid, be careful and enjoy the ride.