Helmet or No Helmet?

[ajcadoo]

I am interested to know. You guys go helmetless?

Just visited Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Missouri last week and I was VERY astounded to see motorcyclists without helmets. I always assumed it was a nationwide law. Since this was my first trip east of the mississippi since I have started riding, I immediately noticed it.

I have no idea why people would ever think it is safe. It makes no sense to me. Even crashing at 25 MPH without a helmet is surely deadly, let alone at highway speeds.

Anyone who does not wear a helmet: explain your logic for the rest of us.

[Sirref]

as someone who always wears a full face helmet and has had a visor broken by a rock kicked up from a truck. I like being able to see and would much rather buy a new smoked visor than lose an eye, not to mention all the other things that would regularly hit my face (bugs/dirt)

to not wear a helmet to me is like going out on a very uncomfortable suicide run

[ajcadoo]

Originally Posted by Sirref

to not wear a helmet to me is like going out on a very uncomfortable suicide run

Well said indeed.

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by Sirref

to not wear a helmet to me is like going out on a very uncomfortable suicide run

what can I say. i like to feel like the Taliban.

[GHill762]

Pretty uncommon for people to wear helmets here. You can definitely move around better and see better. If I'm just commuting/joy riding I don't wear one. If I'm going out to ride aggressively I'll wear one. It's a trade off between comfort/freedom and safety. Nobody is claiming that it's safe or smart, but it definitely feels better off. You definitely need to understand the risk, and most people will tell you "yeah I know I should but..."

[ninjabrewer]

Only helmet I have ever worn is a full face,

Well said Sirref.

nb

[iplante]

Oops. I voted for "My state requires helmets and I wear them!" but Minnesota does not, in fact, require helmets.

[GHill762]

Originally Posted by Sirref

to not wear a helmet to me is like going out on a very comfortable suicide run

Ftfy

[beazy411]

I've been hit by enough bugs and rocks both on the motorcycle and on my mtn bike. On the former, I have a jacket and full face helmet and it only hurts when they hit my arm. On the latter, all I have is my ice-chest on my head and a set of sunglasses and those bugs & rocks hurt. Given the option, I'll wear the helmet. Rocks hurt, blindness would suck.

[JohnnyBravo]

Florida doesn't require one for folks of a certain age, I'm over that age but I def wear my helmet most anytime I'm on my bike. If I'm just going slow around the Parkin lot, moving around I may not put it on, but if I head out into the wide world it's on like bing bong

[Aggrotech]

Originally Posted by GHill762

Ftfy

helmets are uncomfortable for you? sounds like you're buying the wrong helmets lol.

[GHill762]

Originally Posted by Aggrotech

helmets are uncomfortable for you? sounds like you're buying the wrong helmets lol.

I'll give you that. I have one helmet and it's a cheap one. I plan to buy a nice one on vacation here in a couple weeks. But no helmet is still more comfortable than a nice helmet.

[kevheads]

Not many wear helmets in Illinois, I'd guess 95% of Harley riders don't wear them and 50% of the rest of the riders don't wear them.
Thins out the Gene pool.

Here's a Harley co-worker that low sided in July.

[KawiKid860]

NOT wearing a helmet is uncomfortable. Everything is so noisy too. I've ridden around parking lots and what not helmetless and going 25 feels like I'm flying and makes my bike sound like a beast. I'll never legitimately ride without one. To each their own.

[leia]

I voted that my state doesn't require them (but I wear one). My state REQUIRES one within 2 years of getting your M license, but not after that.

[slickt0mmy]

Here in Ohio I see riders without helmets all the time. At least 50% of the riders I pass are wearing nothing more than a t shirt and shorts. Makes me look like the ATGATT ninja everywhere I go. Oh well.

My uncle is one that rarely wears helmets. He claims that he can see better without one and when the Lord wants him to come home, it'll happen with or without a helmet on. I think both of those arguments are bs excuses not to look silly around the Harley group he rides with, but that's just me. The few times he does wear a helmet, it's a german-style that he bought at Iron Pony on sale.
"They were 2 for $30! You can't beat that deal!"

[alex.s]

gear is for pussies.


we race in tshirts and flip flops.

[GHill762]

And if you go down put yourself under the bike. Skin grows back, paint doesn't.. Lol

[Snake]

I wear a helmet weather the state requires one or not.

[rasta]

Does it count if I wear a bicycle helmet?

[alex.s]

i have in fact crashed @Trailerboy531's 250 wearing no helmet, no jacket, no gloves, no boots... tucked the front! luckily my flip flops saved me from most of the damage.




does that make me a squid?

[Old Lemon]

Originally Posted by alex.s

does that make me a squid?

yus

[Daks]

It's too weird for me to even go glove-less across a parking lot. Less gear has never made me feel more "free". Only more vulnerable.

CA requires them but I'd wear one regardless.

My Poppop was made fun of by his Harley friends for wearing a full-face and leathers all the time until he hit a bear in PA and the entire front of that helmet was just gouged full of scratches so deep some went all the way through the plastic.

He pretty much vaulted over the bear and slid on a downhill doing like 45mph.
Escaped with nothing but a broken collarbone at 67 years old.

FULL FACE EVERY TIME.

[This Girl Rides]

I live in FL, home of the helmet-less squids.

I ride geared up EVERY time I ride, I don't even make a trip around the block without my full gear. I got hit in my cage a mile down the road by TWO deer, YES TWO, so I never take chances on my bike for the mere fact you cannot predict the future: how people will drive or how environmental factors will play out.

[parox91]

I now wear:
snell shoei qwest
gloves with armor for knuckles
boots
dynasei jacket with thick armor on the back
Kevlar pants with knee pads


I love walking into a store when it's 85F outside with all my gear on, I get the weirdest looks

[dfox]

no helmet makes no sense.

It's not comfortable to have bugs and rocks in my face.

Sometimes people are so thick-headed that they need to experience something themselves in order to see the risk. Thankfully my helmet and gear lessons were learned while younger, and at lower speeds, while participating in far different sports that still provide similar risks.

[ninjamunky85]

I've worn a full face helmet since I was a little kid riding dirtbikes. I wouldn't ride with anything less.

I've ridden a handful of times without a helmet and it was terrible, and that was only down the street or around a parking lot. I can't imagine riding on the highway without a helmet. I honestly don't think I could do it, unless I was on something with a big windscreen.

[dfox]

an acquaintance once told me a story once that her friends husband fell while practicing figure 8's in a parking lot without a helmet, hit his head on a parking curb, and died. no lie

I'm not sure if I want to believe her or if it was one of those circulating fables out there, but I could see it happening for sure. Sometimes you just hit your head wrong, and it's lights out.

[ninjamunky85]

My Grandma had a good friend that rode without a helmet. He crashed one day and suffered mild head trauma. Even though he lost most of his short term memory he continued to ride without a helmet.

He had another crash, and was basically brain dead after that. Think about the emotional and financial burden that he put on his family. It all could have been avoided if he would have just worn a helmet.

I hate the mentality that wearing a helmet or gear doesn't matter because if you wreck on a bike you're dead anyway. What if you don't die?., and then you have a lifetime of pain and endless medical bill. That's just stupid.

[LNasty]

Saying that you don't wear a helmet when your are just going a short distance or down the road, but when you go on longer or more aggressive rides you do has to be the most retarded thing I have ever heard. Most accidents happen within 1-2 miles of your destination. Plus you don't even have to be moving to be killed. I was at a dead stop, about 300 yds from my doorstep, waiting to turn when a van was pushed over into my turn lane by another car. Van came head on towards me and missed me by about a foot. No helmet, would have died for sure; helmet, would have been beat up pretty bad, but more than likely would have survived. Dont' want to wear a jacket and gloves, whatever that's your choice, but at least wear the helmet, especially on short rides. I truely hate that states have no helmet laws, blows my mind.

[dfox]

Originally Posted by LNasty

I truely hate that states have no helmet laws, blows my mind.

I don't think the helmet laws do much anyway.

the guys who don't want to wear a helmet in the states that require them wear tiny skullcaps that really aren't going to do anything more than a baseball cap to protect you. They're there just because they have to be to avoid getting pulled over.

I live in a state that requires helmets, but is surrounded by states that don't. It blows my mind when I drive into the surrounding states and see guys on 1000cc sportbikes ripping down the road well in excess of the speed limit, just sunglasses on their head and a helmet strapped to the side of their bike in case they have to cross the boarder.

[GHill762]

Originally Posted by LNasty

I truely hate that states have no helmet laws, blows my mind.

blows my mind that the state feels the need to tell me how to live my life. same goes for seatbelt laws.

if insurance wants to put a policy in place that states they won't pay out for injuries unless you wear helmet/seatbelt, I'd be all for that. but to have it dictated by a government is completely wrong. it's not the government's job to protect me from me..

[Numbersix]

I did, once. My Coocase had (has? I think I fixed it, that's another thread) an issue where the lock jammed. I'm out in the world and my helmet is locked in a case I can't open.

Fortunately I'm only a short distance to home, but I didn't enjoy it a bit. Kept thinking "this is a stupid way to die." Would've been, too, if something had gone wrong.

I've read of bicyclists falling over at 0mph and dying from hitting concrete. I've slipped on ice riding nothing at all and been saved only by good ukemi (falling). I've also had everything from pebbles to junebugs, and a near-miss by a wild turkey, come at my head while riding; I don't want any of those in my face.

Sure, I lose a bit of the extreme peripheral vision, but a normal scanning pattern picks that up anyway, and it's a lot easier to see without wind in your eyes. It's *easier* to hear things other than wind with a helmet and ear plugs.

What exactly is the downside to a helmet? Mussy hair?

[Numbersix]

Originally Posted by GHill762

blows my mind that the state feels the need to tell me how to live my life. same goes for seatbelt laws.

if insurance wants to put a policy in place that states they won't pay out for injuries unless you wear helmet/seatbelt, I'd be all for that. but to have it dictated by a government is completely wrong. it's not the government's job to protect me from me..

Read my above, and then ... I also agree with this. I do not need the collective to tell me which soda to drink, how to walk, what to wear, for my own good.

I'm actually irritated by actuarial systems (whether state-run or private insurance) because one of their consequences is that we end up financially responsible collectively for each others' decisions. We (humans) already have enough proclivity toward wanting to rule each other, this just gives us another excuse.

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by Numbersix

Read my above, and then ... I also agree with this. I do not need the collective to tell me which soda to drink, how to walk, what to wear, for my own good.

I'm actually irritated by actuarial systems (whether state-run or private insurance) because one of their consequences is that we end up financially responsible collectively for each others' decisions. We (humans) already have enough proclivity toward wanting to rule each other, this just gives us another excuse.

exactly! My insurance is high enough because of dip shits riding unsafe or not riding legally. Your choice to not wear a helmet does not just affect you. Might as well just get it over with sooner and go blow your brains out in the back yard, would save us all a few bucks

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by GHill762

blows my mind that the state feels the need to tell me how to live my life. same goes for seatbelt laws.

if insurance wants to put a policy in place that states they won't pay out for injuries unless you wear helmet/seatbelt, I'd be all for that. but to have it dictated by a government is completely wrong. it's not the government's job to protect me from me..

If it only affected you than great, do what you want. All of us other riders end up paying for your mistake in our higher insurance premiums. Thanks

[CC Cowboy]

There wasn't a "wear helmet sometimes" so I had to put no helmet.

I'm too beautiful for a helmet. Women lust after me and so do too many men. Besides, Gixxer riders are the greatest riders so we don't need helmets.

I do wear a helmet on many occassions; highway riding, running from the cops, it's so hot I don't want to fry my head, riding with a group of knuckleheads, and on the track (just because they make you).

I do always wear gloves. Should you crash, the first thing you do is put your hands out to break the fall.

I have to add that I ride very slow and cautious.

[Numbersix]

If it only affected you than great, do what you want. All of us other riders end up paying for your mistake in our higher insurance premiums. Thanks

If you are willing to accept this idea that anything you have a financial interest in you therefore get to control, be prepared to live life by committee.

If you're interested in being an individual, consider advocating for laws that reflect that.

For instance, MI's newish no-helmet law requires riders to carry additional insurance if they want to legally ride sans helmet. Do they all? Maybe not, but if they crash we (everyone else in a policy group) have limited our liability 'cause they didn't do the required. If they do carry the insurance, then that risk is accounted for there and also doesn't become my problem.

[Joshorilla]

I've never not worn full gear, with the exception of scaling a trials wall on a bandit litre rat bike naked drunk and what not at a biker festival shouting "I am the biker fairy I am immortal!"

[LNasty]

Originally Posted by Numbersix

If you are willing to accept this idea that anything you have a financial interest in you therefore get to control, be prepared to live life by committee.

If you're interested in being an individual, consider advocating for laws that reflect that.

For instance, MI's newish no-helmet law requires riders to carry additional insurance if they want to legally ride sans helmet. Do they all? Maybe not, but if they crash we (everyone else in a policy group) have limited our liability 'cause they didn't do the required. If they do carry the insurance, then that risk is accounted for there and also doesn't become my problem.

This may be true in some states, but here in craptastic Houston, our rates are sky high due to not only dumb ass riders but also dumb ass cagers (and some due to illegals w/ no insurance). Had I had my bike while I lived in Colorado it would have only been $25 a month for full coverage w/ state farm. Down here I am paying more than double that, and this is only for a 250. I check on what insurance would have been on a 600 and it skyrocketed to $160 a month, one of the main reasons I went with the 250. This is rediculous