Thoughts on helmets
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 6,863
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From: St. Charles, MO
Therefore, to cagers, you are also "stupid". Drive a Volvo SUV with full safety harness and helmet, otherwise we're all stupid.
See the problem?
You do you, judge not the rest of us.
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From: Central California
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From: Vegas, baby!
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Tourer
Joined: Jul 2008
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While I understand what you're saying here, I want to caution you against thinking nothing happens in the boonies. I am blessed to not have crashed a street bike in many years, but I've had as many close calls in the boonies as I have in town. Just, out there, it's cows, goats, and deer. In town it's idiots, morons, and (seemingly) blind people.
.
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Part of where I'm going with this is, I'm suggesting that the brain tends to sort risk into two categories, "likely" and "unlikely."
There's some evidence we can discount future risk, so if I say something like, "would you rather take a 2% risk today, or a 10% risk five years from now," people can sort that out for themselves. We have more trouble sorting out future risks that aren't time delimited. I think we tend to focus on marginal risk -- for example, what's the likelihood of doing a face plant on my *next* ride. And may forget Murphy's law: that, given enough time, anything that can happen, will happen.
I proposed that risk of doing a faceplant is non-uniform, and perhaps for short trips around town, for some people it may reach the level of "likely."
For unlikely future risks -- in other words, tail risk -- there are a couple of different strategies
1. Ignore it. Helpful if there's nothing you can realistically do anything about. Saves money and effort.
2. Buy insurance.
3. Change your strategy. Especially helpful in the case of "fat tails" meaning, the rare event is so catastrophic, it erases any benefit that accrues from ignoring it.
Please keep in mind I wasn't intending to take on the whole helmet-or-no debate, just drilling down into the marginal benefit of a chin bar. I suggested maybe the chin bar is most useful in town, and has less marginal utility out in the middle of nowhere. You're making the point that the marginal cost and effort is about zero, that running into a fat whitetail is the sort of risk that's easy to mitigate. Excellent point.
Last edited by AbqDave; May 27, 2020 at 08:04 AM.
living in a non helmet state, if i feel like it i do if i don't i don't. when i do i have the harley branded half lid. and there is no rhyme or reason to when i do. i think most has to to with the temp , yesterday it was around 75 * out went on 100 mile ride with a carhart beanie on . i can say with the beanie the wind noise was reduced considerably over the half lid, and my helmet has removable ear muffs. after three neck surgeries if a wear a ff helmet the pain and a migraine set in about 1/2 hr into the ride. i suffered a massive head injury and fractured discs in my neck back in 1985. short story came to an abrupt stop went over the handlebars i cracked the helmet when it hit the ground .
i still have mixed feeling about helmets, i grew up hearing, all the helmet does is allow the family to have an open casket, which was almost true for me. you think would after that i would be the poster child for helmets. just some days my wind therapy just isin't as effective with a helmet.
i still have mixed feeling about helmets, i grew up hearing, all the helmet does is allow the family to have an open casket, which was almost true for me. you think would after that i would be the poster child for helmets. just some days my wind therapy just isin't as effective with a helmet.
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Cruiser
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 129
Likes: 57
From: Nor Cal
I really have mixed feelings about helmets. Fifteen years ago I rode with a Harley half helmet. I didn’t realize it but there was a metal ring covered in leather that connected the helmet straps to the chin strap. On a day ride from Vegas to Reno I caught a lot of wind that got past my windshield. The wind hit the edge of the helmet enough to pull on it. Apparently the ring was in just the right place to align with my carotid artery. That night I had a full on stroke. The diagnosis was a crushed carotid artery with enough damage to let blood clot.
After years of rehab I still ride but my helmet of choice is now a modular Schuberth. Prior to getting the Harley helmet I rode with a beanie but I wanted better protection and ‘upgraded’ to the DOT compliant Harley helmet. Hindsight is always 20 20 but without the upgrade who knows. At least through my efforts Harley has redesigned their helmets and eliminated the metal ring.
After years of rehab I still ride but my helmet of choice is now a modular Schuberth. Prior to getting the Harley helmet I rode with a beanie but I wanted better protection and ‘upgraded’ to the DOT compliant Harley helmet. Hindsight is always 20 20 but without the upgrade who knows. At least through my efforts Harley has redesigned their helmets and eliminated the metal ring.
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Joined: Nov 2017
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From: Texas
Please keep in mind I wasn't intending to take on the whole helmet-or-no debate, just drilling down into the marginal benefit of a chin bar. I suggested maybe the chin bar is most useful in town, and has less marginal utility out in the middle of nowhere. You're making the point that the marginal cost and effort is about zero, that running into a fat whitetail is the sort of risk that's easy to mitigate. Excellent point.
And yes, I am in agreement with you, I was just expanding the circle of risk to say that there are (perhaps unforeseen) risk factors out in the boonies too. Near home, familiarity with the local roads may breed contempt and have us lowering our guard, which raises the risk, etc. I think the concept of highest risk = suburban neighborhoods is one that someone with a research grant should study. But the way I come to it, the chin bar costs me nothing, and saves my face if the worst were to happen. And while crashing is a very remote risk, the consequences of crashing without a face bar are so high that I choose to take the absolutely inconsequential effort to always have a full-face helmet. Same reason I carry a gun -- I know I'm almost certainly never going to need it, but if I DO need it, I'll be awfully glad it's there. I've done 40,000 miles on three different bikes in the last 30 months, from around-town to coast-to-coast to adventure riding through the Rockies and on the Continental Divide trail, and there never has been one flat second that I've thought "boy, I wish I would have brought a helmet that doesn't have face/chin protection". I've been hit by so many bugs and rocks over the miles that I can't fathom not having at least a full face shield, and if you're going that far, why not get actual protection?
That's my take, anyway; everyone's free to choose whatever they want and evaluate their individual risk individually.
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