I have two favorite helmets that I wear most.  The first is a Fulmer half helmet that I think looks cool and gives me a little more air.  The other is an open face helmet fitted with a full face shield.  At high speeds the half helmet starts to catch air and feels like it's trying to pull my head off.  This begins around 50mph and is bad enough at 80mph that I seldom ride that fast in it.  The other helmet is more aerodynamic and offers better protection and makes me feel safer at speed.  I am much more likely to ride at 90mph with occasional bumps up over 100mph in the second helmet.  Which helmet is safer?

lol

I ride with at least a vest, gloves, jeans, riding boots, and helmet. Usually a denim jacket if the weather isn't to hot. Any protection is better than none at all.
Cooler and cold months,riding jacket,cold weather pants, and the above mentioned items. Getting older I just got a set of riding mittens with the first finger and thumb separate from the rest of the glove base. They even have a pocket for one of those hand warmer packets, that you snap to activate.

Paladin. wrote on 07/05/10 at 17:07:45:


what a load of crap

I finally found a pair of fingerless gloves that I can wear and ride in comfortably.  Bought a pair of leather ones first, but they were too bulky across the top of my palm.  They ended up in a wad between the grip and my hand.  Difficult to drive with, to say the least!
So I found these in the bicycle section at {geez, this thing even edits out the name of the Sporting Goods store... lol -  D i c k's.}
Rode almost 300 miles in them yesterday.  Took alot of the vibration out.  So now these are added to my wardrobe minimum of my 3/4 helmet, Harley boots & jeans.  The rest depends on weather.
Look at my cute little gloves.  (Hey, its tough being a woman with tiny little hands!)   

*Edit - Forgot to say Happy Belated Birthday Routy!!

 

bill67 wrote on 07/06/10 at 09:37:50:


You are too quick bill.  I was gonna say he is 10 days older than me, give or take a few years, but I don't know how old he is, so I took it out.

About 10 or so years ago, I owned my first bike.
Suzuki '87 gsxr250 hypersport - Death on wheels, redline@14k

Was cruising along on the Auckland (that's in New Zealand) motorway, approaching the Harbour bridge.
It was a Saturday afternoon, had finished work for the day, and there was a leather sale on at the waterfront in the city.

At this time I was riding with FF, fingerless gloves (not leather), track pants, and a standard leather jacket.

Beautiful sunny day, looking to my left at the Rangitoto volcano in the harbour (while riding at about 130kmph in the fast lane on a very slight bend), only glanced away for a second, looked back up and was face-2-face with the moveable medium barrier.

Had a split second to think before impact (Only thought "Not my bike!"), managed to pull bike parallel to the barrier, but clipped it with the right handle bar.

Vaguely remember going over the barrier into the oncoming traffic side, and sliding up the tarmac on my back.

Came to, and some guy's standing over me, thumbs up "Dude, saw you come flying (literally) over the barrier.  Awesomest crash ever", I said "Cheers dude" then passed out.

My FF was cracked from the base of the rear to the forehead from the impact of my head hitting the tarmac.

Came to in the ambulance bay, and doc said I had ground down the flesh to the bone on my little finger and the one next to it on my right hand; I had a hole the size of a fully grown man's fist in my right thigh (needed skin graft from left thigh for that one and the dressings were inside the skin of the leg so the male nurse had to stick his whole hand inside my leg to change the dressings), and 2 other smaller holes just above the right knee; broke my small right finger in 2 places, was temporarily paralysed on my left side from the shoulder down to the fingers for a week; and had (still have) small indent above my right eyebrow (any deeper and doc reckons it would have been curtains for me).  Spent 3 weeks in hospital.

Now ride with FF, proper riding gloves, jacket & pants, and my steelcap work boots.

Oh, and as for the bike...

I asked my bike mates how bad it was.  They looked at each other, turned to me and laughed.
I had kept the bike perfectly balanced when I ejected from it, it then crossed over 4 lanes of traffic, with no rider on, no car's hit it, then it rammed the arse end of a police jeep sitting outside the way-station just before the harbour bridge about 100m down the motorway.
Cops got out of the jeep, saw the bike but no rider.  Saw the crowd gathering around me on the other side of the bridge and realised where I was.

Outcome - $110 fine for careless use, & $20 per week for 2 years to repair the damage to the police jeep.
Bike only had a punctured front tyre, and needed 1 new headlight and the headlight frame was twisted.

Now I only occassionally wear jeans/trackpants and checkered shirt if I'm going 1km up the road to the gas station for milk etc otherwise I'm kitted up.

Joe F wrote on 07/07/10 at 18:55:02:


That's the best reason I've seen yet.