What helmet do you wear? and why?

Some years ago I ( 1990 ) I returned to riding bikes. I needed a helmet. An NHRA TF tuner buddy suggested a Simpson. ( Bill Simpson was his friend & sponsored his team)
I said, " sure! ". I went to Simpson Racing ( Torrance, Ca) and got measured. A week later I got a helmet in the mail.
Then a couple weeks later I got another version ( Voyager w/ nomex ).... then another one. And an open face 'NASCAR' style. Finding out Bill Sinpson was sending me 'blem' versions. Each helmet had different uses.

The only time I wore an open face is when I rode around town. Full face everywhere else.

I wear an HJC full face helmet which is Snell rated. I need the Snell rating because I also use thr helmet for sanctioned motorsports (autocross and car track days). However, it is probably a good thing to have that rating. Virtually any helmet can get the silly DOT sticker, and half the DOT stickers on helmets are fake stickers. DOT sticker does not mean anything. You need Snell rating if you want a proven safe helmet. As it happens, very few manufacturers are having their helmets Snell rated anymore. I think the HJC i10 is the only affordable one currently on the market.

I've worn a full face every time I've gotten on a motorcycle because its common sense. I dont want to die or cave in my face. Furthermore, I have caved in a full face helmet in a 40mph high side accident, hit nothing but the pavement. Crushed both eye sockets and my nose. The jaw piece on a full face is flimsy and will collapse in an impact. No helmet is perfect, but it is without a doubt the only thing standing between a rider and death.

Also, wearing a full face makes riding pleasurable. It is no fun having an 80+mph wind in your face.

brian10x said:

I have read somewhere, that in most accidents, the initial impact is not the worst of it. Its the sliding your head on the pavement for 100 yards that really hurts. Or so they say.

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I have heard all the excuses for not wearing a helmet. "I cant see anything in this thing." "I cant hear in this thing." Its BS and anybody who actually wears a helmet knows this.

But my favorite excuse, and I heard it on here so no offense to whoever it was, "I dont ride over 45mph so I dont need a helmet." Well, I used to work in a hospital and virtually every weekend we had a bunch of people in the ER who were severely injured when standing stationary and fell down and hit their head, and some of them absolutely did die from hitting their head on the ground at 0mph, so 45mph you can definitely buy the farm.

However, I've been in two accidents, both at like 40mph, and the slide damage to me and my clothes was totally nonexistent. Both times I was wearing only a cotton button down shirt and jeans. The only road rash I got was the second accident I must have put both hands out to break my fall because I skinned the bottom of both palms pretty deep (and broke my left wrist). That road rash on my palms was absolutely miserable to deal with and I ALWAYS wear gloves now. But I still feel pretty strongly that road rash or sustained friction injuries are not a big issue at sub-highway speeds, just based on my experience.

Another thing I've been thinking about is that helmetless motorcycle riders are tantamount to landmines for other motorists. Accidents are a fact of life and when you get into a fender bender with a car its no big deal because a few thousand later the cars are fixed and everyone is happy again. But tap a helmetless motorcycle rider and odds are good that it will turn into a multimillion dollar lawsuit.

I compare it to football. Imagine if Tom Brady declared that he would play on Sunday, but he was not going to wear a helmet. And that everyone better be perfect because anyone that injures him is financially liable for his injuries or death. It wouldn't be fair to the other players.

Again, I'm fine with people doing whatever they want with their life, but I don't see why everyone else has to pay for it.

I was thinking about this because we just had a young guy get left turned and killed in my town. The guy that turned in front of him fled and was arrested. But it happened in a 30mph zone. Gotta either be no helmet or reckless speed on the part of the rider to get killed in a 30mph zone. And it just makes me think about mistakes do happen, and often a lot of the responsibility falls on the actions of the rider even though authorities seem to try to spin it another way sometimes.


Edit: I read another article about this and the rider was wearing a helmet, so my uneducated guess is speeding was one of the contributing factors.