For the topic of this thread:
The one thing I don't agree on is the shelf life of the helmet. Who decides this? All of my helmets are better than 10 years old, and all in good to excellent condition as in never have been dropped or in a crash. So no cracks anywhere. I'll be damned if I'm just going to toss them just because someone thinks i should. "Oh no, it's past it's expiration date. it needs to be replaced!" type of BS. If your not going to buy me a new one, shut your pie hole.[/QUOTE] - Bonnie Storm

Just an FYI- it's the interior foam, under the shell, that deteriorates with time.
I'll buy a new one around 7-years, give or take, because I don't do the dew rag.
I cover my helmet hair with a ball cap. It's your choice though.

 

I still have my original Bell 3/4 that's 48 yrs old, and yes I still wear it on occasion.
Hey, it's better than nothing!

 

I should have said the interior foam is in excellent shape as well. No cracks, no crumbling, no signs of age. I also have a couple of helmets that date back to the early 70s where the foam liner is in excellent shape. The shell too! That's besides the other helmets I mentioned.

But of course it is a personal choice. Throw away your helmet that you spent several hundred on because of someone who has probably never owned a helmet, let alone ridden a motorcycle says so? The thing is, who stands to gain if I toss my perfectly good helmets and purchase more? Just something to think about.

 

I am 100% pro helmet CHOICE. Anyone who wants to play little hitler and tell folks what they have to wear can **** off.

 

^ Yeah. That.

 

If you're so worried that you need to dress head-to-toe in protective gear when you ride then you shouldn't be riding a motorcycle. Too dangerous for you.

 

I don't think many will argue that in the event of a crash, your better off if your wearing a helmet. The issue for me has ALWAYS been, no government should EVER tell me what I should attach to my body. That is not and has never been the purpose of government.

 

Why? I fully disagree. The gear works. Had it been me in her wreck, I would have at the least had road rash every where, but more like much worse with no helmet either.

While I have 100% that the rider should chose, just like the gear, jacket and so on. I often do not wear a helmet, I wear sleeveless t-shirts.

My wife, who spent several years as a MSF instructor wears all her gear all the time. She never tells me what to wear.

It saved her a lot of pain and agony Last March. An 18 wheeler passed her on I-75. The drive shaft came out of his truck. My wife hit it at a little over 70 MPH on her Road Glide. Impact broke the front rim, bent the forks back, tire was on frame, the rear rim was bent so bad my are could go between the tire and rim. She slide 50 yards down the interstate, the bike went farther than she did.

She went into the hospital at 2:45 pm. I took her home from the hospital at 0115. She had a broke left wrist from the handle bars snapping back, she had 3 broken ribs on her left side, a broken left shoulder and a sprained right ankle. She had road rash the size of a quarter on her wrist. She had no other road rash, her coat and chaps were destroyed. Her Full face helmet had a friction hole rubbed though it.

She was back on a new bike in May. Trucking company has had to pay for everything. I am sure my wife rides more miles a year than most guys on this forum. She put 15K on her new bike, after the wreck last year.

She still does not say a word when I chose to wear what I want. Makes me think a little more no though.

 

After 7 years my helmets begs to be thrown away it is sooo ready for the trash.. I threw one away the other day the foam liner was crumbling...Nasty.

 

Damn it! Now I can never look at bikers with leather vests & dew rags w/o laughing! You've ruined it for me!

I've never wanted a black leather vest and wear a baseball cap over my helmet hair.