All your thoughts are self speculation based on what you think without factual representation. The argument is whether or not you are substantially more protected in an accident vs somebody that wears nothing at all and the best factual answer is MAYBE.

Fact: Last summer a van pulled into the path of a non-helmeted couple that was travelling 60mph plus *Roadglide*. Neither had massive head injuries but both had major upper body injuries. Were they lucky? Yes of course they were. One flew across a ditch and the other into the field on the other side of the road. No two accidents are the same. Your or my helmet will not guarantee I survive ANY accident.

The Hurt Report details that major causes of accidents not injuries or deaths. DOT studies do. There have been many studies done on motorcycle and automobile accidents. Fact: Helmeted riders in general are involved in more accidents than non because they push their bikes harder where as somebody that rides without a full gamut of safety gear drives more conservative ie less risky.

I never wore a seatbelt until the US military said I had to. The offer some protection much like airbags do but they are not failsafe's. I figure its better than nothing and that's the exact reason I wear a 3/4 helmet, leathers , etc, etc.. They offer some protection.

I ride because its what I love to do. I don't like a FF helmet it interferes with my riding pleasure. That's why I only wear one for frost protection occasionally. It's all about acceptable risk by an individual and ultimately that's the deciding factor of those who choose to wear or don't. It doesn't make either a wrong choice.

I wear a helmet just like gloves because its gotta be better than nothing. Helmets really are only rated for 17mph impacts. Your helmet might break your neck in a crash it might not. If you rupture a critical organ your done.

http://www.bikersrights.com/statistics/twisting.html

Live life like its your last day it just may be.

 

Live life like its your last day it just may be. Even worse, you may receive a head injury and live the rest of your life sitting in a wheelchair held up by a bedsheet tied around your chest with a string of spittle hanging from your chin.

Or if you don't rupture a critical organ, break your neck in a crash, or receive a head injury and you may live to ride, work, love, or just 'live' again. The first two would require a bad crash or a particular set of circumstances. A head injury would be fairly easy to receive.

Of course some helmetless people beat the odds, just as 1 person can win a lottery while hundreds of thousands win nothing. It all comes down to the numbers. Another number is that it is possible to go for 100s, even hundreds of thousands of rides, and never have an accident. Or it is possible to go for 1 ride, receive a head injury, and find yourself living in a hell that is worse then your worst nightmare.

My reason for riding a motorcycle was to use a fatal accident to escape a life I didn't really like. What I got was much worse. Ironically my life turned out pretty good because I was young enough that my parents were still in the picture, I didn't have a wife and children depending on me for support, and I was already in college planning on a life doing something that required more intellectual then physical skills.

Wear a helmet or don't, I really couldn't care less. But remember that any reason for not wanting to wear a helmet only has meaning during the time you are wearing, or riding and not wearing, a helmet. A head injury affects every part of your life for the rest of your life. Sorry, I just get so tired of people mentioning 'fatalities' in helmet threads. Death is the easy way out and IMO shouldn't even enter the equation.

Ron

 

False

Also false and falsely stated.

And there are false statements in the link you provided as well.

 

Like someone else on here said....."if yur dressin' for the crash instead a tha ride, wear a Prius"

If you believe you need a helmet, don't ride. Either way, don't preach. This isn't the UL forum it's the HD forum you dorks

 

there are tons of replies on this and the majority is to wear what you want. seriously who cares what people think. its no different then any other situation. people today will do what they want. and we should. its amerrricaa.

i wear a ff when cold or long rides. i have had to many real close friends killed because of head injury not only on bikes but quads. i have had my share of bad wrecks going offroad and only the helmet saved my life.

for example... i was four wheeling around my farm house and was wearing s 1980's helmet that had a crack in it. i was going approx 50mph and my rear axle broke while turning. i flipped god knows how many times and landed on my head. completly destroyed the helmet. walked away with just broken fingers. if i didnt have the helmet... ah i dont even want to think of it.

wear what you want ride what you want. just DO what you want.

 

If you believe you need a seatbelt, don't drive. Both are silly statements.

 

You might choke to death eating a Big Mac or be a perfectly healthy marathon runner who dies of a massive heart attack for no reason. I've known people like this. Sometimes life just ends for NO reason. You have no control of it nor does anybody. Your really going to waste a second of your life worrying about your demise? I don't

A young lady dies yesterday because of a judgment call. She passed without enough clearance, cut into soon got clipped, rolled and died. No reason other than a mistake.

Safety gear is ultimately designed to potentially save lives. Helmets do save lives in some situations just like seatbelts and take lives in others. I've wrecked a lot of bikes being stupid, hot rodding, being drunk. I don't do either anymore. Your greatest piece of safety equipment is between your ears. That increases your survival rate more than any helmet ever will.

Nothing I posted previously was untrue. What I love most about those who ride is the choices that they do something inherently unsafe not just because of the enjoyment of the ride but because they don't value there lives in how long they may live but the measure of how exciting their lives are every single day. I'm drinking a a few glasses of bourbon right now. I know its ultimately not good for me but I like bourbon and don't care what others say.

Society is too freaking focused on how long they may live in any situation that they forget what living actually is. Most bikers have not. I'm not irresponsible I'm a realist. Ride Safe.

 

My wife and I both wear snell approved full face helmets. Hers is really nice, it's an H-D FXRG lightweight carbon fiber shell. I'm jealous. I have a shoei RF1100. I don't have a problem wearing a full face helmet. It does suck when it's 95 degrees outside and your stuck in traffic. But, oh well I guess after 20 years of riding with a full face, you build a tolerance for it.

 

Most bikers, and people in general, don't 'live' with a head injury. It is not really 'living'. And in some cases it is worse then dying. You are a realist? All, I am saying is that every accident that results in a head injury isn't fatal. If you really believe that you can never have an accident, good for you. Just don't count on a head injury being fatal, you may be in for a rude awakening.

I have no idea where, how often, etc. that you ride. But for some people, an accident is possible no matter how safe/good they are. For these people the reality is a head injury wins every time, the only variable is the degree of victory.

This is what I meant a while back when I mentioned that I have never seen a post from someone that received a head injury and was satisfied because it was their choice. Don't misunderstand me, there are possibly people that feel this way, but most head injury recipients don't ride motorcycles anymore. Perhaps I should have specified 'brain' and not 'head' injures.

And no, I'm not scared. Of anything.

Ron

 

After riding for well over thirty years and being a former ABATE Member and an otherwise traditional Harley rider I am sort of surprised that in all that time the helmet issue still seems to be a real hot issue some people.

Since this is my first year wearing a full-face helmet fulltime (it's a Nolan N43 and not a true full-face but looks like one sort of) I just haven't kept up on this issue over the years. However since joining in on this thread I have been counting how many Harley riders I see wearing full-face helmets. I don't know what the numbers would be percentage wise but I think it is high enough that it is hardly uncommon anymore. Of course there are still days when it is below 60 degrees here and maybe that plays a part in what I am currently seeing. Who knows? Maybe in the summer I will go back to wearing an open-faced helmet myself.

In the meantime, today I was riding down the interstate in the rain and listening to music through the headset installed in my full-face helmet. I couldn't help but think that "Yeah, this full -face thing kind of works for me."