FF. dont have to bother with sunglasses flying off my face when i look over my shoulder to change lanes. oh and the protection is priceless

Paladin. wrote on 07/02/11 at 14:45:32:


Perhaps you're an extremely excellent driver.  47 years of riding experience without one accident is very impressive.  However, I don't trust myself to achieve that, so I also wear a full face helmet.  Plus, it reduces the wind noise.  I also wear earplugs.

1/2 shell in the heat, 3/4 shell when it is cooler or raining. I wouldn't wear one at all but TN requires it.

The day a clutch lever got punched through my chin I was wearing a full face. I'f I'd had a smaller helmet or no helmet it would have just left a bruise instead of breaking off and being forced into me.

Wife before Lisa got killed when her full face helmet broke her neck. She was t-boned by a drunk driver. Not another scratch on her, low speed impact into a muddy ditch.

MrBrownTX wrote on 07/01/11 at 19:22:37:

FF - 60%
3/4 - 39.9%
none - 0.1%

almost never go without helmet - like most here i think i'm a better rider than average  , but i know it's possible to make a mistake.  And you never know what someone else is going to do ...

a helmet won't save you in a head on- but it can be the difference between a minor road rash and severe brain damage or death in a low speed crash. a 17 yr old pulled into a rider about a mile from my house last thursday - just straight into the side of him both going about 10 mph (according to someone i know who knows someone who knows a local fireman) , pushed him over - he had on most of the gear - wasn't hurt - just TICKED!  If a bare head had hit the pavement, though ....

i wear FF more partly because i ride to work a lot - in march, april, some of may, september and october it's too cold for open face in the A.M.

FWIW, If I was Paladin, I wouldnt wear a helmet either. Ive always "Pushed it" if not a lot, then at least a little. Ive hit 3 cars with bicycles (One wasnt my fault, an angry woman turned across my path on purpose). & Ive totaled 3 motorcycles.  The last one I crashed, I had NO business even being on the road, in fact, I was so messed up( No, not drunk,, Ive been sick for years, sometimes Im okay to do things,, sometimes, Im not,, I havent accomplished ANYTHING for 2 weeks, cuz Ive been feeling pretty bad. No way wopuld I ride a bike right now) , I was on the Wrong road.. I was supposed to be going to Tyler, but was on the road to Lindale,, it was another of those day I shouldnt have even been out of the house,, but I had promised a friend Id come over,, stupid me..

Anyway, the point is, who you are, how youve lived your life. Those things play into whether or not you SHOULD be wearing a helmet. How many trips to the ER have you made in your life? How many times have you cut yourself working on things? Ever break any bones? How many times have you been knocked out? Me,, 13 or 14. I have a picture of me standing on the VERY Top Rail of a drilling rig derrick,, I walked the rail on an overpass over a busy highway out about 1/4 the way to the other side once,, I WEAR a helmet,, Paladin, OTOH,, ha lived  more reasonable life, a life more likely to be a long one,, his whole approach to life is one of carefully & painlessly doing what he wants to do, & I respect that & I am working to adopt.

FWIW, if I had been wearing a helmet on the first bike I totaled, Id be dead. I cracked 3 vertebrae in my neck when I landed on my head & shoulder, If a helmet had been in between head & shoulder, it would have worked as a fulcrum, & separated those fractures into serious breaks..  
When it comes to this decision, its like Popeye said,

Ya pays yer money & ya takes yer chances.

I hope you make the right choice for YOU.
Oh,, I wasnt wearin a helmet on the 2nd crash, either,, my head never touched the ground or anything else,, I did get 4 days in hospital from the hematoma at the thigh/torso junction where I broke the handlebars. But I walked away, went to ER about 4 hours later.

Worst crash results I ever saw was a man on his knees in the road, missing his face from an inch or so in front of his ears to just below his nose... that aint gonna fix..

Howitzer wrote on 07/02/11 at 21:04:57:

HA!!  I don't need earplugs!  All I have to do is turn off the hearing aid!  My hearing problem is from working in the Telephone Company.

Actually, I have found that I need earplugs when I wear the helmet on the Freeway -- the wind noise in the straps.  When I crossed the State Line and into Arizona I found I could remove the earplugs.

MrBrownTX wrote on 07/03/11 at 11:47:28:


We lead with our chins ...  45% of the time, anything less than FF is ineffective...
Not good odds...  
I wouldn't risk my face on a coin toss... ...