I was one of those that hated helmets and helmet laws for 20 years. Took a year off to ride coast to coast, border to border. Had been out 7 months and after having a close call with a blowout (shop had left a small chisel inside the tire/rim when installing new back tire)... and then the next day, going down the Interstate west of Allentown, Pa.....I was locked in the left lane with no place to go and hit a recap off a semi coming down the road straight at me. It was going end over end and when I got right to it, it opened up like a "U" and I drove right through. Two close ones in two days, pulled off the next ramp and decided to take a secondary road, and cool it for a day or two. Got out my map, took a look...and saw a bridge off the exit road it was on..went over the river and then up into the Pocono Mts. Got on, fired up...put it in gear...then for some reason...shut it down and got my helmet off the sissy bar. 18 miles down the road a deer jumped out of the brush and I hit him in mid-air, launched me like a rocker and hit head first at an angle and started sliding downt the road. PAHP said I slid about 135 feet face down on the pavement. Hospital 13 days with bad 2nd degree burns, totalled bike....I all happened so fast it was unreal...remember blinking and the deer was there..in my windshield. Next thing...sliding down the road, face down, looking up at those trees on the right thinking.."I got this damn helmet on...I'm gonna live." Laying in the hospital, I promised The Man I'd never get up again without a helmet. Rode without one for 20 years and never put a bike down. This all happened in 1987...I'm still riding...but never without a helmet. I ain't preaching....because who was I to talk. But I'm here because of that one simple act. Everytime I hear about one of our brothers or sisters leaving us because of a wreck...the first thing I want to know is.... were they wearing a helmet? I still don't like wearing it...never did...never will....but I do it. Just think about it....that's all. And you can bet on it...when I see people riding down the road...no helmet and the wind thing...I'm envious....feel like a kid that can't come out to play, but I made a promise. So if you don't wear one....may you never, never come close.
Helmets
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I've been riding for 31 years and always wore a helmet. That helmet saved me twice. They're both long stories so I'll just skip that part. 10 years ago I started wearing a full face. Full face helmets match metric bikes / they don't look so bad. I'll be getting my first Harley in September. I just can't see myself riding it with a full face, I would look real laughable. Like you I've never enjoyed wearing a helmet and the full face can get real hot in the summer. I've seen a person's face that met the pavement, it wasn't good.
In a nearby town Wednesday night is "cruiser night". On any given wednesday there are anywhere from 200 to 500 Harley-Davidsons alone as well as other bikes. I'm the only guy I've seen wearing a full-face helmet. It's interesting to me that there's all this legend, lore, and Harley culture about the so called "rugged individual" at the same time that strict conformity to the dress code is like unwritten law. I'm surprised and disappointed at how little true individuality there really is among the crowd. It's sad that one would even consider compromising one's personal safety for the approval of a bunch of "tough guy" wannabees. (You know the type, 1000 miles a year riding to the bar and back home.) Mind you, it's not that I completely don't care what other people think, it's just that I don't organize my life (nor my personal safety) around some one else's idea of style-correctness. We ought to be smarter and more courageous than that. I've got some tan gloves, too
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200 Posts
Helemets are funny. I almost always where one when i ride but it has to be the first thing in a long time that i thought, I bet people think i look silly in this(I actually live in a helmet free state). I have never in my life felt like that over anything. I have always dressed and did what i wanted and said f*** what they think of me. I have almost always had strange colored hair or a mohawk, or something really stange. But that helmet plagues me constantly. But usually after the first 2 minutes i am having so much fun riding i could care less if they were dead chickens tied to my head. So i wear it, especially since i am a fairly new rider.
I also always wear a helmet, unless I am in a parade, (Rolling Thunder through DC or 4th of July parade). I have an open face and I am very seriously considering a full face. I too like the idea of full protection and don't really care what people think about what I wear or look like, hell I am riding a Harley. I even wear goofy looking goggles, were the band is on the outside of the helmet, (moto-cross style), they were the only ones I could find that fit over glasses.
Quicksilver,
Great idea for lunch -- got a good laugh.
VA V-Rod,
Speaking of goggles -- a buddy of mine that lives in Europe sent me a set. They are the ones used by the German tankers. They look brand new. I asked where did you get these, he said don't ask. Talk about some funky lookin goggles. He knows I'm waiting on my Harley so he wanted to give me something.
Great idea for lunch -- got a good laugh.
VA V-Rod,
Speaking of goggles -- a buddy of mine that lives in Europe sent me a set. They are the ones used by the German tankers. They look brand new. I asked where did you get these, he said don't ask. Talk about some funky lookin goggles. He knows I'm waiting on my Harley so he wanted to give me something.
OK, I have a half helmet that I wear when going back roads but If I am doing any long ride (like going down to Virgina or up to Baltimore on one of the busy roads) I will whip that full face right out.
Plus, when I wear my full face in the daytime, I have a black tinted face plate that freaks people out when I look at them
Plus, when I wear my full face in the daytime, I have a black tinted face plate that freaks people out when I look at them
I have a half helmet I wear with goggles. I am planning on purchasing a dot legal skid lid and a full face (for the long trips). I to have seen the benefits of a helmet. They have saved my melon plenty of times while riding in the dirt. Just the thought of riding with out one makes me cringe.
makes me cringe.
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724 Posts
There are people out there that keep saying that a full face limits your vision. I say BS! Every one of the racers, of any kind, where a full face helmet or at the very, very minimum of a 3/4 helmet. I raced moto-x and I'm well used to wearing one and don't have one complaint about it! I have just switched to a half helmet when just riding locally. I say you can't beat a full face and you have complete vision!
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1,119 Posts
I too use a full face helmet, eliminates the grit I feel in my eyes when I used to wear a half. Also one night last summer riding home from work on a back road a bat hit my face shield. At least I think it was a bat as it was way after dark. I just saw a flash of a wing, then "bang"! Probably going after a one of those bugs that you see in your headight fixing to kamikaze into the light.
Riding in Europe, there is just no question, helmet laws are so strict so that the option of riding without one does not simply exist (unless you're a HA member and get a doctor's permit). I too ride with a open helmet in order to meet the unwritten "cruiser rules". However, a friend of mine crashed a few years ago with an open helmer and polished the pavement with his face - doctors had to do a lot of work to screw teeth and jaw and face bones back together. He now rides with a full cover helmet from Bandit - matt black with black visor- and looks like a mean s-o-b! Check those helmets out at www.bandithelmets.com. I think that is the way to go if you want hard-core looks and safety...
Ride safe!
Ride safe!
It is a shame that so many choose not to wear a full face for the "image". So what if the "Hard Core" bikers don't wear them. I love to ride, I ride whenever I can. I have a loving wife to look forward to returning to. I have heard the argument of "they will know I died doing what I love". Well, I will live to ride again. That, and I am ugly enough as it is
After being hit in my full face with so many damn rocks, I don't know how people get away with not wearing one
After being hit in my full face with so many damn rocks, I don't know how people get away with not wearing one
Full face is the way to go, if you value your face that is. You dress for the fall, not the ride.
I read this one once: The guys on rice burners go tearing down the road in shorts, tennis shoes & a t-shirt but with a full face helmet.
Harley riders cruise down the road in chaps, boots, leather jacket and no helmet.
The ones with the brains (enough to get a hawg) don't protect them.
The ones with less sense, protect what little they have.
Go figure...
Me? '03 Fatboy, 69 XLCH - always full face & leather. I'm not good looking, but would hate to make things worse....
I read this one once: The guys on rice burners go tearing down the road in shorts, tennis shoes & a t-shirt but with a full face helmet.
Harley riders cruise down the road in chaps, boots, leather jacket and no helmet.
The ones with the brains (enough to get a hawg) don't protect them.
The ones with less sense, protect what little they have.
Go figure...
Me? '03 Fatboy, 69 XLCH - always full face & leather. I'm not good looking, but would hate to make things worse....
Sounds like I am going to buck the general trend in here. I prefer a pot helmet in states that order us to wear them, and no helmet in states that allow us the freedom to make our own choices. My wife works in a large X-Ray department and has relayed to me over the years all the bike accidents she sees. In general if you're in a sliding accident and whack your head into a bridge, you'll want the hemet on... if you're in a roll-over where your head is flopping around in the breeze, that 5 pound weight strapped to your neck is not a good thing. She's seen as many broken necks CAUSED BY the helmet as blunt force PROTECTED BY a helmet.... if it's 50/50, I choose to enjoy it without. Bottom line is it's my problem...
I ain't gonna strap on a body-airbag either if they pass that law, may as well fu(%in' walk to work.
about the only time I wear my 3/4 helmet is on a rain ride for the visor, or if I am forced on an Interstate for more than a couple hours, and then only to listen to Pink FLoyd or ZZTop or something on the headphones to put me out of my misery for having to ride an interstate.
Ahhh, I like stirrin' up ****.
I ain't gonna strap on a body-airbag either if they pass that law, may as well fu(%in' walk to work.
about the only time I wear my 3/4 helmet is on a rain ride for the visor, or if I am forced on an Interstate for more than a couple hours, and then only to listen to Pink FLoyd or ZZTop or something on the headphones to put me out of my misery for having to ride an interstate.
Ahhh, I like stirrin' up ****.
Hey Muthuh...
Those Broken necks, were they full face or pots? I wear a Shoei full face that has a neck roll to stablize your neck. It's way comfy too. I've found that the extra bucks for a Shoei or an Arai is worth it for the comfort alone, not to mention the lighter weight. If Shoei's don't fit then Arai's usually do.
Those Broken necks, were they full face or pots? I wear a Shoei full face that has a neck roll to stablize your neck. It's way comfy too. I've found that the extra bucks for a Shoei or an Arai is worth it for the comfort alone, not to mention the lighter weight. If Shoei's don't fit then Arai's usually do.
I'm not a in the medical field, but on my fall, the only part of my body not to be effected was the neck and head. Most of my body even without visual signs still had the old "gonna feel that in the morning" routine from the muscle strain.
Pick your evil. All the accidents I have been made aware of either had only moderate injuries (including broken bones), could have been prevent if they were wearing a helmet, or there was no chance. I prefer not to fall into the "Could have been prevented" slot myself.
As far as right to choose, that is an entirely different subject.
Pick your evil. All the accidents I have been made aware of either had only moderate injuries (including broken bones), could have been prevent if they were wearing a helmet, or there was no chance. I prefer not to fall into the "Could have been prevented" slot myself.
As far as right to choose, that is an entirely different subject.
No - I'm referring to legal helmets - the weight of a pot wouldn't make any difference to the broken neck scenario. I know of damned few people around here who DO wear helmets that wear the full-face styles, 'cept for the rocketeers. I'd be the first to agree with you that a full-face helmet with neck padding will sure help in many cases.... but then again I prefer sex without wearing three condoms either. At some point for me,- HEY LISTEN UP! - for me, it ain't worth riding if I'd have to wear full leathers, a full-face helmet, put training wheels on the scooter and ride on the sidewalk...but I'd be a damned site safer. Don't worry America, I have insurance, death benefits, and no desire to grow too damned old anyway - so I won't be a burden on you. In the meantime, I prefer the wind (including the rocks, June bugs and sunshine) in my face as I ride. It's my opinion, and there ain't nothing humble about it.
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