Motorcycle Helmet Survey

[68820]

A full face Shoei X-8 saved me from certain facial reconstruction. In 1997, I was turning right onto a side street in DC. A nice lady in a car decided to pass me on the right as I was in the turn. My '95 R1100GS was totaled with a broken swingarm and punched-in gas tank. I landed on my head and chest. I had a mild concussion but no broken bones. Helmet has an abrasion from the top of it to the bottom of the chinbar. I keep it as a reminder to always wear a helmet.

I also ride mountain bikes and have totaled several in the last five years. I would rather replace an $80 piece of foam and plastic than go through rehab. I feel the same way about motorcycle helmets. I wear a Shoei RF1000 now. Next year it will be time for a new one.

[angysdad]

Mid 90s Newfoundland. I was trail riding my GS/PD. Came upon the top ledge of sand pit/garbage dump. As I manouvered to ride along the edge, I lost my balance and tumbled 10ft down, hitting my head on the edge of a 45gal drum. If I had not been wearing a helmet, I would be dead.
It was a Shoei...I do not remember what model. I purchased my fifth Shoei last week.

[racer7]

I believe in luck and good reflexes- no other possible explanation for how I survived my first few thousand miles in the 60s without an accident and without getting hurt with no helmet, no real training and all those old ladies trying to kill me- or so I thought until "act you're invisible" sunk in.THat was way before helmet laws or even special mc licenses.

Got my first, a Bell 1/2 helmet in the early 60s. Went flying off dirt bikes racing friends many times- vivid memories of ground sliding by at eye level still but never more than a bruise.

Got really convinced that helmets were "cool" while watching a TT at a long defunct Edgewater MD track- saw a racer split an early Bell Star when he hit a tree-from the noise I expected a corpse and when he stood up I was so astonished I knew I would never ride without one.

Never a street accident on an mc though hit (gently because I saw her coming and was able to pop the clutch and get moving) once at a light in my car by a distracted gal with a Pinto who got by far the worst of it. Around 1976 IIRC.

I teach on tracks(cars) andhave seen full face helmet chinbars shattered in accident in which the driver sustained no head injury.

My choice for the bike- Shoei RF1000 or 1100. Also own Bell and other brands for car use (and a HANS device) - total of about 5 helmets in the working inventory at any moment. Even got an HJC 3/4 for autocross play.

My MC taught me defensive driving (and I was lucky as hell to get through the first few thou unscathed). My track time and acquired vision skills honed my talents re time/motion judgement. Street stuff, even 80-100 mph, looks slow motion to me because my brain is trained to work with visual info at much higher speeds. I hope there's enough reserve there that as age (I'm 64 now) diminishes my reflexes, that extra margin developed through lots of exposure continues to keep me out of accidents. I also don't push the limits on bikes like I can easily still do on cars having recognized that aging bones heal slowly and my years for motocross and knee draggin are over....

[froggy]

Mid 90s Newfoundland. I was trail riding my GS/PD. Came upon the top ledge of sand pit/garbage dump. As I manouvered to ride along the edge, I lost my balance and tumbled 10ft down, hitting my head on the edge of a 45gal drum. If I had not been wearing a helmet, I would be dead.
It was a Shoei...I do not remember what model. I purchased my fifth Shoei last week.

Is that Montreals version of Dumpster Diving...Sorry could not help myself
Glad U came away unscaved.

[ClassicVW]

1978- Cheap, JC Whitney 3/4 helmet.
An 80,000lb dump truck pulling flatbed trailer with a bulldozer on it made left turn from my right shoulder across my lane. I locked the brakes on my 1976 Honda CB550 and stayed upright. I struck the dump truck body behind the truck's driver's door, right side of my helmeted head smacked the truck body. Momentum of truck dragged me/sent me left across the oncoming lane, still abouard the bike, and through someone's white picket fence and into their yard. I was completely uninjured but couldn't stop shaking for it seemed a 1/2 hour. That was in my unenlightened younger days and I kept wearing that helmet with the huge scrape in the side as a kind of badge of honor. If that was today, I'd have chucked the helmet immediately.

[glennhendricks]

1982 Arai full face. Crossed diagonal rail road tracks right after a light shower. Rear tire on the /5 went out from under me and before I knew it I was flat on my back and dazed.

Cracked the back of my head on the pavement, the Arai had a egg shell crack look where it hit. On reflection I had a concussion. Picked up the bike and rode the rest of the way in to work.

Didn't replace the helmet, didn't know any better at the time.

[A4Skyhawk]

Not my personal experience, but...

I was at Cecil Field, FL in the 70's and was using an open face helmet with snap-on visor. One of our sailors was returning to the barracks one night wearing an open face helmet when he dropped his front wheel into an open manhole in the street. Workers had failed to replace the cover when they finished their work. The poor kid's nose was ground nearly completely off! He needed lots of plastic surgery to get back to close to normal. On hearing of the accident, my Dear Sweet Wife went out and bought me a beautiful Porsche Design by Romer full face helmet. All black with a visor that retracts into the shell. I still have it, although it has aged out. Still have DSW, too (she hasn't aged out - just keeps getting better!), and we wear DOT and Snell-rated Bell full-face helmets. Over the years I have been down twice - once on an oil spot while cornering and once from being rear-ended and pushed into car ahead while stopped in traffic. Neither caused my head to hit anything.

George T'man
Old Navy Jet Jock

[sudani]

This past Spring, after dismounting the bike and removing my helmet to chat with the group, I sat on a curb to rest. Looking at the bottle of water on my bike thinking, "I need some liquid", I went to get up and lost my footing, stumbled backwards and landed on my back (in full gear except for my Arai), and bounced my head on the pavement. I was fine except for the concussion. Go figure!

[ELTIGRE1]

High-sided on pavement at 70mph and hit head first, then shoulder. I was wearing a Shoei RF800. I rolled, bounced, slid and did head-over-heels. No concussion, helmet interact (but discarded) and now am on my fourth Shoei,an RF1000. I don't know that Shoe is any better than other good helmets, just know it worked for me.

[bmwdean]

Years ago I was riding my R100RT south down two-lane Mission Road, south of Tucson, at about 50 MPH when a hot-tar roofer was driving north, pulling a trailer with his hot-tar machine on it. The left wheel came off his trailer and right into the left side of my R100RT. I had no time to react. If I was not riding a boxer BMW with a cylinder sticking out on the left side, my leg would have been mashed; the cylinder took the brunt of the damage. I was thrown off the bike and rolled down the roadway like a log. The bike was totaled. I was wearing full leathers, a Bell Star XL full-face helmet, and wound up with a broken right wrist. I was picked up by an ambulance and taken to St. Joseph's Hospital ER.

At the hospital an orthopedic surgeon came in to look me over. He was from Chicago and looked and sounded just like John Belushi. He hung my damaged arm from a contraption and proceeded to move my broken bones into some kind of alignment. He then put me in a cast up past my elbow. Jill and I then flew home to Wisconsin. When I got home, my orthopedic surgeon checked me over and said "Dr. Belushi" did so well nothing else was needed.

I was wearing the Bell Star XL because at that time there was no other helmet on the market that would fit my size 8-1/4 (XXXL) head. It saved my head as I had no concussion. I used that helmet for several years for show-and-tell sessions in my MSF classes.

Today I have found HJC and Shoei helmets that fit my fat head. That is good because Bell no longer makes XXXL helmets.


Also:

Ask 1.5 million-mile BMW rider Dave Swisher, of Bowling Green, Virginia. That's his helmet after he suffered a crash in West Virginia. Dave came out of it just fineÔÇöthanks to his full-face helmet. No facial reconstruction was needed. In fact, because Dave was wearing full gear, he was able to ride home!



http://www.bmwdean.com/swisher.htm

[f14rio]

http://www.geekologie.com/2010/07/23...-helmets-1.jpg

[ALIENHITCHHIKER]

I know that there are many times that a helmet saves injuries, however IMHO, there are probably an equal number of times that you would be better off without one, however they go unreported. The human body is awfully resilliant.

It's all a matter of perspective.

I'm a 58 year old RN. Over the course of my career as a nurse I have cared for and witnessed countless trauma victims. Many of them were on motorcycles when they were injured.

It has been my impression that the human body is awfully fragile - especially the brain. Life is a fleeting thing. I never ride without a helmet, even in states where they are not required.

[jpberens43639]

Been riding just over 30 years.

Low sided in a hot right hander when I ran over some spilled diesel fuel sloshed on an exit ramp that I like to hot run through. I mean used to like, that was 15 yr ago.
R100RS slid out and slamed me on my right side. Shoei abraded & flat spotted right rear just behind my ear.
Me OK,rode away after some tlc to the bike and flipping a valve cover over.

April 2008. Ran down from behind by a Honda Civic texting driver. Imprint of my bike plate in the hood 2' up from the radiator. Bike launched out from under me into the PU truck I had stopped behind. I had a 1/4 second to look left, no go semi truck passing, curb on right. Then it was lights out!
HJC CL15 was smashed & flat spotted the size of a softball on the back right dead center.
Bike totaled, I walked away. Pants & jacket, gloves & boots all worked. I needed rehab three weeks later when I could not get the soreness to go away. That worked great.

I've seen some dog aweful stuff out there in all those years.
Just out side Mt. Rushmore. HD's down, girl kneeling over her dead or almost dead SO. Her all bloodied and screaming, him on back, face straight to the sky, that's not right, his ears are almost touching the pavement? The crimson spread said the rest.
Had a co-worker get drunk and wind it up tight. Missed a wee little bend in the road. The open culvert pipe ate his ankle & most of his foot. His freaking bike lunched into the air and came down in a corn field over 200ft away like it was dropped out of a plane. No helmet, not a scratch on his head, but he's fooked anyway.

Your all riders out there. Draw your own conclusions & do what you can live with.

[zoridog]

I have been fortunate but a friend was rear ended at a stop light earlier this year. He was wearing a Shubert flip up helmet which was about 2 months old at the time of the crash.

At impact, the flip up part broke off. That accident influence the purchase of my helmet and two riding partners who all wore flip ups. A full face is a lot less convenient than a flip up especially when you need to wear glasses. It is also more difficult to talk to each other at traffic lights.

I live 2 miles from the Pennsylvania border where it is legal to go without head protection but never took advantage of that. In the end, your brain is fragile when it comes to impact (retired heavy weight boxers tend to disappear from sight for a reason).

I don't want my wife spoon feeding and changing my diapers just yet.

[OfficerImpersonator]

Latest edition of MCN rates flip-faced lids. My Shoei Multitech didn't fare so well. Looks like I'll be replacing it with a HJC Sy-Max 2, which was the highest rated lid and sounds like a great helmet!