"at 60 MPH a helmet won’t do anything" - some motorcycle riders

Bikes are inherently extremely hazardous , especially on the public roads .

You can't control or predict what other drivers will do .

But good safety gear can help save your life and preserve your brain function .

Medical science is very limited in repairing CNS damage . Humpty Dumpty ! :eek:
 
MolokaiRider said:
Something else to ponder...

If you accidentally drop a motorcycle helmet on pavement or a rock, it's a good idea to throw it away and buy another.

They are sort of designed to work once.
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They also have expiration dates. Also just being in a shed or garage, with vehicles can damage them. The gas fumes over time deteriorates the styrofoam
 
Been riding since 1984 and got left turned in 2017 for my first motorcycle accident, I was going 30 mph and the car was going 30 mph for a delta of 60 mph. I had a full face shoie helmet, Kevlar jacket padded pants, leather and Kevlar gloves and steel toed shoes, landed on my head, damaged the helmet, ruined the gloves and I only had a small spot of road rash. Brain bucket saved me from brain damage or death. The right gear saves lives.
 
An interesting side note, my wife used to work in the medical field sometimes working with transplant patients and one of the doctors at her hospital recommended patients waiting for various organs to move to states without helmet laws so they could have a better chance to receive the organs sooner, hence the phrase donor cycles...
 
You know what else won't do any good? Those safety videos when you're flying. Hitting a mountain at 500 mph? Hold on let me brace first.
 
Funny that, the debate on helmets with small aircraft pilots is even more polarized. But the stats are weird. If you compare the speed and angle of the impact on any given crash, you should be able to predict the outcome. But unless the bump is really gentle, the result is almost always fatal, and it's almost always due to a failure to self-extricate before the fire starts. Some guys have taken to calling it "ten seconds of consciousness" You smack the ground and need ten seconds to get yourself sorted enough to find the seatbelt and door handles..... too late. You wear the dork-bucket and keep your eyes clear to find the exit, a determined man can get far enough from the flames with two broken legs to survive... If he's awake. I was in a climbing/rock scrambling situation that came inches from going bad, but if we'd had helmets, the situation would have been a whole lot calmer, and we could have made better choices, how we walked out of there is just shear dumb luck given how many rocks were falling. I just make sure I'm watching my mirrors as best I can when traffic is slow to watch out for the guys lane splitting who don't have narrow bikes or good balance.
 
Arai self portrait

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I was an EMT a lifetime ago and the absolute most stomach turning injury I ever saw was a rider not wearing a helmet. He lost control, went off the road and hit a j-hook coming off a telephone pole with his face. Tore his jaw completely off and the poor guy was conscious when we got on scene. I managed not to vomit, but it was closer than I like to admit. At least it made intubating him pretty easy.
 
Riding a motorcycle is inherently dangerous as it is. Seems to me like a good idea to wear anything that could improve your odds.

Around where I live we got real jive turkeys who like to do wheelies on the highway and weave in an out of car lanes- no signaling- squeezing in any space that a motorcycle can physically occupy. I get passed doing 75 MPH like I’m standing still.

Motorcycles are really cool. What people do with them sometimes isn’t. How people drive in their cars is already enough to make the road inhospitable for motorcycles. Safety gear just seems like a good idea. So is slowing down, but I have a feeling it’s harder to get that point across.
 
A few years back I got hit in the head by a hawk at 60 mph. Its the hardest I've ever been hit by anything. I literally saw stars. I remember rolling my head forward and opening my eyes (don't remember closing them). My first thought was, "I'm still on the bike!". It whiplashed me, which still gives me problems periodically, but otherwise I was fine. I'm sure if I had not been wearing a helmet, I would have been concussed at a minimum, and possibly dead. I most likely would have crashed the bike. I can't say the helmet saved my life, but it sure helped prevent additional injury at 60 mph.

I understand why riders like to ride without a helmet. I myself prefer an open face helmet, but wear a full face for the protection it provides.

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I always protect myself. TN is a helmet state, but I feel naked without a helmet, earplugs, gloves, boots etc.

I can't imagine the hearing damage from no head/ear protection let alone crash protection issues.

As an aside, it was quite the eye opening moment when I discovered mesh riding gear for warm weather.

No more swamp nuts.
 
mqqn said:
I always protect myself. TN is a helmet state, but I feel naked without a helmet, earplugs, gloves, boots etc.

I can't imagine the hearing damage from no head/ear protection let alone crash protection issues.

As an aside, it was quite the eye opening moment when I discovered mesh riding gear for warm weather.

No more swamp nuts.
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I sit here listening to my ears ring due to too many years wearing a helmet, but no earplugs. Bikes are the most fun things ever invented, except maybe sex, but they're dangerous. Wear the gear.
Of course, the same thing could be said about sex :p
 
mbkr said:
I sit here listening to my ears ring due to too many years wearing a helmet, but no earplugs. Bikes are the most fun things ever invented, except maybe sex, but they're dangerous. Wear the gear.
Of course, the same thing could be said about sex :p
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is the ear plugs thing for motorcycles with... ahem... louder-than-stock exhausts?
Or is there more road noise/air noise/something else?
 
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