Anyone From Springfeild MA???

SkyHog said:
Oh, believe me, I wear the jacket, and I wear gloves. I don't wear a helmet. That's why I'm thinking of getting an open face.

That said, I have done many short rides without any gear except sunglasses. If I die going to buy a soda, at least I'll know I died doing something I love.
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OK. Get a lid man. You might like the HJC "full/open" faces, so you can flip the face up and go full open, and drop it when you want a little chin protection.

Cheers,

-Andrew
 
I'm in full agreement - helmet laws do suck. I think everyone should have the right to choose to wear or not wear a helmet (or seat belt, or any other gear) as they see fit. It's a personal choice. You also don't see me riding around without a helmet for distances further than about 2 blocks.

Power is a tool on a motorcycle that can make it safer. I've powered myself out of a number of situations that slower bikes wouldn't have gotten me out of. But, you need to know how to use it.

Nick, as to helmets, I have a Nolan N100. Extremely comfortable, and it's got a flip up visor and a flip up face. I like riding around with the visor flipped up. It gives you the wind in your face, but still gives chin protection.

Of course, I don't have facial hair that's experienced more than most ordinary men like you, so I'm sure that's worth some protection. ;)
 
I'll have to try one of those full face flip ups. sounds interesting
 
SkyHog said:
Hehe, yep. Now, if i could find a way to mount a cupholder....
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Here you go, Nick:

http://www.ngatraders.com/motorcycle_beverage_holder.html

coolrider.jpg


I was thinking about adding one to my VTX. Another friend has one on his Goldwing.
 
I think the helmet law here is a good comprmise. Eye protection is allways required, helments are required if you are 1) under 18 or 2) Under 2 years of motorcycle experiance and have not taken the basic MSF class. 3) if you are the passenger of someone who is requred to wear a helmet due. You must wear a helmet as a noobe and by then you probally have gotten use to it so most people do.

I'll admit, I've gone helmetless. 1) in camp Shoeller under 10mph. 2) on the back of the goldwing from Camp Shoeller to Applebees and back. (and I probally should have been wearing it then but I didn't want to drive and my friend only had one helmet with him. That will be diffrent this year, even if he doesn't have room for the second helmet, we will send one out in the car or Aztruck)
 
In my youth in Southern California I never went without until they passed the helmet law. At that point I stopped going with until the law came into effect. Less than bright, admittedly. Now reserved for the occasional slow maintenance ride to listen to the bike. Our helmet law is not dissimilar, and I don't object to a helmet law for noobs.

The Pony has shelves of helmets reaching the ceiling. I bought a full face Snell-rated helmet and an armored mesh jacket for my wife and came away with change from $100.
 
I now always wear all my gear. Especially my helmet. The ONE time I went to ride without the helmet (get gas and check the rear brakes) I lowsided the bike. Granted I was only doing like 10-15mph, but it still sucked. Plus it was embarassing as hell and put some nasty gouges on myright side valve cover.

But then again it's personal choice, and I'd rather give myself a better chance at continuing to live, so I war my gear.
 
Dropping a bike is always embarassing, even if nobody else sees you do it.

Perhaps people will make fun of you less if you're in the hospital and the least if you're in a coffin, but I'd take the good ribbing over a broken rib any day.
 
My brother and I did a road trip to the Bay area one year. We camped in Monterey, and to get out had to do a roundabout on a steep incline. I watched him dump his bike on it, and had a good laugh, until I did the same on my bike. Ahh, those were the days.

I drop my bike now and I'll have a thousand dollars worth of busted fairings. Oh well, the old bike couldn't do triple digit speeds by accident either.
 
Nick,
I have to say that I want to encourage you to continue to wear the leather and gloves, but not the helmet. I don't know if you realize it, but there's a real dearth of usable organs available, so I really appreciate your efforts to ameliorate the situation! Thanks again! Way to serve your community! (You have signed your organ donor card and put in a DNR order, right?)
 
gprellwitz said:
Nick,
I have to say that I want to encourage you to continue to wear the leather and gloves, but not the helmet. I don't know if you realize it, but there's a real dearth of usable organs available, so I really appreciate your efforts to ameliorate the situation! Thanks again! Way to serve your community! (You have signed your organ donor card and put in a DNR order, right?)
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Either way, when my brain hits the concrete, I'm assuming, from the talk of the "ATGATT" folk, my entire insides will spill out through my eyes, in a slow, painful form of death.

Or something.

lol.

I laid down a minibike a bit ago going about 30-35mph. No gear, no helmet, and yeah, it hurt like a mother. My head did not hit the ground, I suspect from my wrestling training? Not sure. It happened so fast, I didn't even realize what happened until I was lowsiding under it.

So I figure, if I came out of that ok, I can come out of a 30-35mph accident on a real bike just fine, minus my legs being crushed by the bike (which no safety gear would protect against anyway).
 
SkyHog said:
...My head did not hit the ground, I suspect from my wrestling training? Not sure...
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BTW kids - your head does not need to hit anything for brain injury, vegetative state, death, etc. to occur.
The internal slamming about of your brain inside your skull will work just fine for that.
Similarly, shearing forces acting on tissues, nerve fibers, and vessels within your brain... :yikes:

Acceleration kills.
 
JoeSelch said:
BTW kids - your head does not need to hit anything for brain injury, vegetative state, death, etc. to occur.
The internal slamming about of your brain inside your skull will work just fine for that.
Similarly, shearing forces acting on tissues, nerve fibers, and vessels within your brain... :yikes:

Acceleration kills.
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How would a helmet protect against that?
 
SkyHog said:
How would a helmet protect against that?
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It is rather unlikely--if your head never hit the ground--that you would receive serious brain damage. You're not attached to your motorcycle therefore you are not going to receive massive de-acceleration like in a car. If you do massively de-accelerate it's because you hit a solid object..and if that happens..your head will be hitting the same object.

All of that said, helmets are designed, if your head does hit the ground to absorb some of that impact and protect your brain. They also do wonders for abrasion which is also a major problem at high speed.

As far as thinking that you can stop your head from hitting the ground. Good luck with that. If a car hits you someday it won't work like that.

When I was 6 years old my dad was hit by a car on his motorcycle with his girlfriend. He was traveling about 20 mph and the car around the same. (Car screwed up).

Neither of them were wearing a helmet. His girlfriend was killed instantly upon impact and his skull was cracked. He had received some fairly serious brain damage that the medical folk didn't think it was going to be recoverable. It happened so fast he didn't know what happened he just woke up in intensive care after several surgeries. He was not in-experienced, and like I, had been riding since he was 5 years old.

Somehow he survived. He appears fully normal--no obvious side effects. Everyone that I know said he is not the same and his life went rapidly down-hill since then. It is likely that I never have, nor never will really know my real dad.

Wear a damn helmet. I ride about 10,000 miles per year and simply cannot comprehend why someone wouldn't wear a good full-face helmet. It provides so much more than protection from a crash. It will protect you from rain, massive bugs, birds, flying road debris. etc.

I once had a rock kicked up by a semi that did so much damage to my helmet that I bought a new one. I really don't want to know how I would have went through that without one. If you ever run into a big thunderstorm on a trip--good luck--HEAVY thunderstorm rain hurts my hands through my armored gloves. 8 hours of that to the face? No thanks.

Don't stop with the helmet either. Get a good armored jacket with some type of energy reducing material on the impact points like your elbows. Also make sure it has something to protect your spine. From there you want good armored gloves, pants, good boots..etc
 
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jesse said:
<SNIP>

Wear a damn helmet. I ride about 10,000 miles per year and simply cannot comprehend why someone wouldn't wear a good full-face helmet. It provides so much more than protection from a crash. It will protect you from rain, massive bugs, birds, flying road debris. etc.

I once had a rock kicked up by a semi that did so much damage to my helmet that I bought a new one. I really don't want to know how I would have went through that without one. If you ever run into a big thunderstorm on a trip--good luck--HEAVY thunderstorm rain hurts my hands through my armored gloves. 8 hours of that to the face? No thanks.
<SNIP>
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Disclaimer- I don't ride motorcycles. But I've gotten enough junk kicked up by other vehicles that have damaged a car.

Most recent example-2 weeks ago I was going to a demo in Iowa- a grain truck kicked up a rock and I wound up replacing a windshield although I was 50-100 yards behind the truck. I've been startled by cicadas smacking the windshield too- I wouldn't care to have one of those bugs hitting me directly in the face at those speeds.

Bottom line- if it causes that much damage to a car, it would cause more damage to a person and the helmet is relatively cheap protection.
 
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