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Motorcycle Helmet Survey

Rudyjo

Dale Rudolph
Just Curious

As I type this,308 people have viewed this thread and 12 have told of their
experience with a motorcycle accident. Even taking into account that many of those 308 may have viewed this more than once, It leaves me with three
possible reasons for such a low number of reported accidents.
1.... Bmw riders are extreamly lucky.
2.... many of the 308 have had an accident and do not respond.
3.... The majority of people who have had an accident have decided not to ride
again and are no longer viewing a forum on a motocycle website.
Or maybe it is correct that only about 2 or 3 percent of motorcycle riders
have an accident in their lifetime. Any comments?
 
I was at Santa Rosa BMW when a guy came in with a Nolan 103. The chin guard was scratched up pretty bad, but the guy said he went down at about 60 mph and it held together.
I bought one. I like the way it's easy to wear with glasses, but the exterior dark visor whistles when it's raised even with ear plugs, and it's annoying.
I'm thinking about replacing it, maybe with the new Scorpion EXO-900.
 
Ziegelreiter:

The nolan helmet that has the external sun visor is the 102 and it can be removed. The 103 has an internal sun visor, I'm not sure if it can be removed.
 
As I type this,308 people have viewed this thread and 12 have told of their
experience with a motorcycle accident. Even taking into account that many of those 308 may have viewed this more than once, It leaves me with three
possible reasons for such a low number of reported accidents.
1.... Bmw riders are extreamly lucky.
2.... many of the 308 have had an accident and do not respond.
3.... The majority of people who have had an accident have decided not to ride
again and are no longer viewing a forum on a motocycle website.
Or maybe it is correct that only about 2 or 3 percent of motorcycle riders
have an accident in their lifetime. Any comments?

I didn't respond because my last accident was in 1982 and I don't remember what kind of Helmet I was wearing. I now wear a Shoei RF 1000 and my wife wears a Scorpion EXO-700.
 
It leaves me with three
possible reasons for such a low number of reported accidents.
1.... Bmw riders are extreamly lucky.
2.... many of the 308 have had an accident and do not respond.
3.... The majority of people who have had an accident have decided not to ride
again and are no longer viewing a forum on a motocycle website.

4... their helmet never hit the ground (or anything else) as part of their accident(s).

Not including the number of times I've dropped my bikes (countless) the closest I've been to an accident the last 10 or 15 years have been simple low sides. My helmet has yet to hit the ground (with me in it). Worst I've had to do was get some tears in riding gear patched.

Or maybe I'm just one of the lucky ones. :dunno
 
5. Bad joo-joo vibes of talking about incidents also

Many years...many youthful mistakes from age 16 wearing a Bell 3/4 heavy helmet...went down a few times on oyster shell roads being stupid on a small bike...didn't replace that scratched up helmet until the rubber finally gave up around age 19 for me. It had many battlescars.

Forward to 1977 and wearing a HD/Fulmer 3/4 when I was rear ended by a hungover make-up applying school mom while crossing a esplanade. I was knocked into the traffic coming from the right and bounced off my shoulder and back of my head. The helmet cracked but I drove back home with only a headache...20 and bulletproof?

Wore the barely legal beanies for about a year when I still had a HD...felt unprotected and looked a little silly in my opinion...went back to 3/4 until I switched brands.
Still have some 3/4 helmets that I tried in the summer a few years back...never will wear them again.


Last biggie was my deer induced wreck last Fall close to 50 MPH ...Nolan 102. Severe gouges in chinbar and right below top vent as the brunt of my stop was my helmet and shoulder hitting the rocky ground after going over the bars, it stayed latched as advertised but the visor was torn away... I replaced it with another 102
 
7:30 in the morning going to work, t-boned a 100 lb dog while going 45mph on a VFR. Bike went airborne and I followed, upon return to earth, Shoei RF bounced several times and then slid 20 feet across the asphalt before I came to a stop in the dirt. Walked away bruised and sore, bought a new Shoei since the old one was trashed.
 
...possible reasons for such a low number of reported accidents.

BMW riders are extremely lucky.

Any comments?

Luck has very little to do with staying out of accidents.

Judgement and decision making skills has everything to do with staying out of them which is why I've been accident-free for 35 years...on 2 and 4 wheels.

Now I have you wondering.
 
I am 59 now, had a driver's licence since I was 16. I've got about 250 miles
on 4 wheels for every 1 mile on a bike, but I too have never had an accident.
In all those years, I would think that there must have been many times
where if I had left the house a few minuets later or earlier, I could have been
in an accident. I think that no matter how careful you are, there is always a
little bit of luck involved. There are just too many people out there that are
not paying attention to what they are doing. You get as much training as you
can, use all the experience you have learned over the years, wear high
visability clothes, don't take chances, but you need some luck also. It has been
reported that motorcycle officers with their red and blue lights on, sirens going,
have been hit by people who say they didn't see the bike. Those officers have
about the best training you can get, but on that day, they were just unlucky to
be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
 
As I type this,308 people have viewed this thread and 12 have told of their
experience with a motorcycle accident. Even taking into account that many of those 308 may have viewed this more than once, It leaves me with three
possible reasons for such a low number of reported accidents.
1.... Bmw riders are extreamly lucky.
2.... many of the 308 have had an accident and do not respond.
3.... The majority of people who have had an accident have decided not to ride
again and are no longer viewing a forum on a motocycle website.
Or maybe it is correct that only about 2 or 3 percent of motorcycle riders
have an accident in their lifetime. Any comments?
Your having a lot of views because your post is titled "Motorcycle Helmet Survey"
I clicked on it as I was curious as to what type of helmets people prefer not how they did in an accident. I must say I find some of the postings fascinating. Why someone would buy a helmet that's listed "for novelty use only" pretty much leaves me at a lost for words.
 
Your having a lot of views because your post is titled "Motorcycle Helmet Survey"
I clicked on it as I was curious as to what type of helmets people prefer not how they did in an accident. I must say I find some of the postings fascinating. Why someone would buy a helmet that's listed "for novelty use only" pretty much leaves me at a lost for words.

Those are the same people who would ride without one...
 
A client of mine was riding near Las Vegas, fell asleep, and ran into the back of a car. He was wearing an open face helmet, and his nose was almost severed from his face.

Luckily, he had travel medical insurance, and they airlifted him to a hospital, where his nose was sewed back on. It looks fine now.
 
The reply's are very interesting. How about we change the subject alittle to
"Tell us about a motorcycle accident you were involved in or witnessed regardless
of what helmet you were wearing or if you wern't wearing one. Perhaps we can
learn something from those reply's.
 
The reply's are very interesting. How about we change the subject alittle to
"Tell us about a motorcycle accident you were involved in or witnessed regardless
of what helmet you were wearing or if you wern't wearing one." Perhaps we can
learn something from those reply's.
 
In 1989 I went down on a borrowed early 80s Kawasaki 440 LTD. I went into a fairly sharp left bend on a country road where, in the middle of the turn, the road went from pavement to gravel. My speed was fine for turning on the pavement, but too hot for the gravel. Its my own damn fault because trees blinded me to the second half of the turn and I didn't know the road, so I should have throttled back a bit. Anyway, the bike went out from under me and I went down. My head whacked the gravel and I slid and rolled for 30 yards or so. I lost a lot of skin on my left side, was sore as hell for a few days, but I was otherwise fine. The helmet saved me from a serious head injury and certain facial reconstruction surgery. I can still "see" that gravel flying past my shield when I was face down and sliding. There is no doubt that my face would've been ground to a pulp.

I was wearing an early 80s Bell full face helmet that I'd owned for years. The back of the helmet was cracked where it whacked the gravel. The paint and face shield were terribly scuffed up. I wish I'd have kept it as a conversation piece. I didn't immediatly replace it since I'd just sold my motorcycle before heading to law school. When I got out of law school I bought my first Shoei: a white RF200. I remain a Shoei guy to this day.
 
7 am March 12, 2009 commuting to work I was hit head on at about 11 o'clock between the front tire and left cylinder (R1100R). I was going about 35 mph, the car (Camry) that hit me, turning left into a "do not enter between the hours of 7 - 9 am" street was probably going around the same speed. Both my bike and the Camry were totalled.

I was thrown 20-30 feet and woke up on my back with a witness (MD) holding my head still. One of the first people on the scene later told me when she arrived I was rolling around on the ground trying to take my helmet off. Revit jacket and pants were cut off by the EMTs, Shoei RF1000 helmet was scraped up badly on the visor and had a nice indentation on back lower left. CT scan revealed a hematoma on the left rear of the brain, but I never had a headache or any other symptom of a concussion.

I would certainly be dead if I had not worn the helmet. I now own a Shoei X-eleven, which I find even more comfortable and ventilated than the RF1000.
 
~1974 - old JC Whitney fiberglass full face - Dented gas tank on dad's Yamaha 360 RT2 when it fell on my head when trail riding. I was ok, helmet was very flexable. Bought a new Bell Star full face. :)
2005 - Shoie RF900 full face - Over cooked a left hander at 65mph, went wide, hit guard rail. EMT had removed helmet when awoke. Never saw it, Insurance guy took the helmet and gave me a check for a new one ( and an Aerostitch Roadcrafter! ). Said it had a few deep scratches. Replaced with Shoei RF1000.
All family members have/wear a full face helmet. :thumb
 
I would post, but I have not had an accident. Been riding since 1966. Alway have worn a helmet. Currently have a Nolan 103. It is noisy though. But I always wear either good ear plugs or noise-reducing earbuds.

Of course, now that I have posted, I'll have a crash:banghead
 
High sided at about 35 MPH (don't ask, rookie mistake by a re-entry rider) wearing a Nolan 102. Head bounced pretty good upon impact. No visible external damage to the helmet. Bought another one after the accident.

Wife said she couldn't tell if there was any brain damage or not (of course, how could she? :dunno).
 
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