Motorcycle helmet questions... (long, probably too long for most)

[MacArtist]

I always bought Shoei helmets. I was out of motorcycling for 8 years and recently got back into it. I have a Shoei RF-700 full face helmet. Bought it for $150. Snell and DOT approved.

Do yourself a favor and avoid the cheap line of helmets. The critical thing is to buy something comfortable. If it's not comfortable, you won't wear it. And like others said; wear it all the time. You can't plan when you will have an accident. It will be when you least expect it.

I live in a state with no helmet or eye protection laws. Seems absurd to me but there is a strong anti-helmet lobby in this state (ABATE). I don't care if it's 120º F outside; if I am on my motorcycle, my helmet will be on my head.

[mrbigstuff]

read this, you will be better-informed:
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbo...et_review/

and, if i were you, i'd go for the FF helmet, gloves, boots/shoes that cover your ankles and possibly a padded jacket. sounds like overkill, but if you fall, you will wish you had it all on.

[mrbigstuff]

oh, one more thing - NEVER, ever ride to the right of traffic in the city like a bicyclist might (don't know where you live). a scooterist was horribly killed by an 18 wheeler near my house a couple years back. he was riding to the right of said truck when the truck took a right onto a ramp, got on the highway and dragged him and the scooter many yards down the highway.

[(vikm)]

Oh man... that sounds horrible. Thanks for the tip. And yeah, that was a pretty good article. I'd found it earlier as well. It's actually noted on many different moto boards. Many seemed surprised that the mega expensive helmets weren't necessarily providing better protection. Seemed the extra expense was more towards the comfort than protection.

Thanks again to everyone who has added their input. Much appreciated.

[Racer X]

[quote MacArtist]Do yourself a favor and avoid the cheap line of helmets. The critical thing is to buy something comfortable. If it's not comfortable, you won't wear it. And like others said; wear it all the time. You can't plan when you will have an accident. It will be when you least expect it.

I live in a state with no helmet or eye protection laws. Seems absurd to me but there is a strong anti-helmet lobby in this state (ABATE). I don't care if it's 120º F outside; if I am on my motorcycle, my helmet will be on my head.
this pertains to a bicycle accident, but the same issues. I posted it last month

"We did see quite a 2 car/2 bike wreck. The cyclists were OK (last I heard). There were these 2 cars really close together at the edge of a parking lot, waiting to cross traffic and head down the road. There was a group of maybe 6-8 cyclists several hundred yards away, and the dumb-ass in the first car decides to slowly pull out. WTF? No way to have missed the oncoming traffic, even if they are cyclists. So he continues to creep out slowly, and when he is almost to the turn lane, and the cyclists are about 10 yards away, the rope pulls taught and come up to about waist height. The mother effers were towing the second car, and had pulled out in front of a bunch of cyclists!

The guy in front hits the rope and his wheel stops instantly and he goes over head first and cartwheels about 30 feet maybe shoulder height and lands on his shoulder and hip. He wasn't wearing a damn helmet, the idiot! The second rider, a young woman, slows enough to stop and she falls over, as the towed car is still rolling right for her. Several others dump their bikes and grab hold of the towed car and are able to slow it down enough so she can roll away.

The first police car shows up in about 3 minutes (many cyclists carry cell phones in races like these) and within maybe 7 minutes total, an aid car, a fire truck, and a second patrol car shows up. The two cyclists are pretty beat up, but don't need to go to the hospital. But the cops, the EMTs and the firemen give the guy without a helmet so much grief, I don't think that will ever happen again. He had one, and had taken it off, and bungeed it to his handlebars so he could cool off a bit. His bike is toast. I have never seen a chrome-moly bike frame fold and crumple like that. Hers is pretty beat up as well, but neither should ride home anyway. And of course during all this, our "team" rides by and my wife suddenly recognizes me and almost falls off her bike she did a double take so energetically. I call out everyone is OK, and wave her on.

We get to talking with them, as most everyone else had to continue with the race, and it turns out that they weren't riding the STP, they were riding something called the PCP. The PCP is a Portland to Centralia (mid-point of the STP) and back to Portland. Same distance as the STP, but you end up where you start, and those that live in Portland don't have to drive to Seattle for the start. So now these two are stuck maybe 60 miles from home with bent bikes, and no way to get back. That's where we come in. It turns out that the girl slept in and got a late start, and she met her friends about 25 miles into the race, and left her car not too far from one of the pit stops. So we load up the two bikes on my friend's Jeep, and we each take one of the cyclists with us to meet our team at the next appointed spot, and then on to their car. During the ride, we talked to our passengers to asses whether they really were OK, and if one was able to safely drive.

She works at a Portland triathlon supply shop, and he builds custom bike frames from scratch (his bike is probably rebuilt by now) so we now have a bike builder and a triathlon shop clerk who REALLY REALLY owe us. They asked why we went so out of the way, and I just replied that we just hope that if our partners ever get in a jam somewhere where they need help, someone will do the same.

Anyway, the cops ticket the tow car with failure to yield, and then they discover that the driver of the towed car doesn't have a license! But wait, it gets better. HE argues that since the car doesn't have an engine why does it matter? Arguing with a cop like that shows you what types of "characters" these two are. (That and they hiked up their "jailers" and tossed away their cigarettes when the cops showed up. I thought that was rather comical) The second cop wanders over and looks at the towed car to verify that the car has no engine, and sees that the car has the brakes disconnected (no master cylinder or brake booster) They are towing a car with no power, and no brakes! That's why the girl was almost run over by the rolling car, no way to stop it. So the cops cite the towed car's driver with operating a motor vehicle without a license, and they also gave him an equipment violation ticket for malfunctioning brakes. They then tell him if he wants to contest them, he is free to tell the judge all about it. It would make the judge's day, they assured him. "

when you take all the precautions, and pay attention, there are always idiots trying to kill you because of their own sheer stupidity.

[tuqqer]

[quote mrbigstuff]read this, you will be better-informed:
http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/gearbo...et_review/
OMG, someone is finally addressing the duh! part of making helmet material hard as rocks, where in fact, they should be softer, softer, softer.

Thanks for that link, mrbigstuff. I'm just amazed that it's taking this many years for someone to come out and realize, "Hard helmets don't prevent as many injuries as one with a soft interior." What helmets need is soft padding, to slowly absorb the G forces. Not rock-hard material that is designed solely to not crack in an accident. Kudos to that site for waking up the issue.

[Psurfer]

Riding w/visor flipped-up: You won't want to do it much unless you're going Really slow. As mentioned, the wind will feel like it's pulling your helmet off. Which brings up Eye Protection- also mentioned above, but worth repeating. -Even if you must go helmet-less on a short ride, always ALWAYS wear that eye protection.
I don't know if you've ridden much; if so, you've already found that even just tooling around at 25mph will get you bugsintheeyeballitis!

I used to have -and miss- an old 70's Vespa Rally 200, which I found languishing in a shed at a garage sale. (Bought it for something like $35!) A very fun ride.
I've since kitted up a small-engined modern scooter to move! at very high revs, but admittedly, the vintage stuff had far more Soul. Enjoy it.

[Pat]

One problem with some of the 3/4 helmets is noise. My first one had the removable cold weather ear/neck extender. With it off, the wind noise through the straps at speed (I did take mine on the freeway) was unbelievable. Louder than anything else around, including emergency vehicles.

And I'll have to agree with BGnR, the only time I went down on my Vespa was on a quick jaunt to 7-11 for smokes. Screwing around riding wheelies, came down crossed up. Helmets were not required in CA then. As a result I made at least one dentist plenty of money, and have pretty much had a goatee for the past 20 years to cover the scars.

Why I did not wear a helmet on the street when I always wore one in the dirt is beyond me. I guess I always planned on going down in the dirt, and never on the street. Proved myself half wrong.

[BigGuynRusty]

[quote Pat]And I'll have to agree with BGnR, the only time I went down on my Vespa was on a quick jaunt to 7-11 for smokes. Screwing around riding wheelies, came down crossed up. Helmets were not required in CA then. As a result I made at least one dentist plenty of money, and have pretty much had a goatee for the past 20 years to cover the scars.

Why I did not wear a helmet on the street when I always wore one in the dirt is beyond me. I guess I always planned on going down in the dirt, and never on the street. Proved myself half wrong.
Glad your alive to tell the story!
Chuck Woolery (Love Connection host) lost a son who was just going to the corner store, helmet was in the bikes saddlebags, nerfed a curb at ten MPH, head first into the street, DOA.

BGnR

[RAMd®d]

My preference is for full face helmets (my favorite is an old Simpson, no longer made for the street) but I have some three quarters as well.

Most of my bikes have always had a fairing and windshield, which makes a 3/4 very comfortable. With the 3/4, I use a visor and half-shield. I *always* were eye-protection, even when I didn't where a helmet.

I've never had a noise problem with them compared to most of my full face versions.

Also, for long rides at speed (>40mph) I wear foam ear plugs. Though not legal in CA, these provide low level isolation and eliminate most of the howling wind noise. This means I really can hear better. (Try shouting at a riding partner wearing a full-face, and lifting the visor up to "talk".

You can wear battle dress every second you're on two wheels, but even that doesn't mean much if you don't ride well, defensively.

I've very comfortable with a 3/4 helmet. Yes, any number of vortexes, confluences, gods, and idiots in other vehicles can injure, maim, or kill you, regardless of the precautions you take.

Life is a continuing series of compromises. Motor officers compromise with 3/4 helmets, whether working surface streets or freeways. Their visibility as police officers and their continuing bike training (though not as frequent as it should be) do much to offset the danger of wearing a 3/4. But somewhere, sometime some officer will/could have benefited from a full face helmet.

For most, that has never made a difference.

Again, the care you exercise will probably serve you as well or better than [which] helmet you decide on.

"Live to ride, ride to live" sounds trite, but it's a great guide.