Haha!...well, I am fortunate in that most of the bugs in AZ are "normal size." If I get up into the higher elevations here, they do get a little thicker. Seems most of them down the low-desert are fairly tiny, comparatively speaking. I'm originally from Wyoming and riding up there was a little more "interesting" on the bug front, in the Spring. I'd love to have lower fairings, but the paint on my FLHX is pretty unique and they want a pretty penny to paint a set to match. I think I might look at those soft lowers though.

Rubber-side down! Ride-on...ride safe.

 

The worst I've had was a bee slam me on the neck at 60 mph. I swept it away but I had to pull the stinger out. No kind of helmet would have stopped it.

 

Interesting but actually a truth built on lies like other state stats built around helmet law changes, in either direction.
In the time frame immediately after a helmet law requirement, number of riders go down, and other factors such as a shortened riding season due to weather is not considered, but they brag about 90 something percent of riders now use a helmet which is strange since it should be 100%. However, ridership stays down for many many years. That is one of the freedom angles.
In the time frame immediately after a helmet law is removed, ridership goes up, people without knowledge of how to ride without a helmet multiply greatly, and the naysayers get their lovely stats without stating the reasons. However, after a short number of years the deaths, accidents, and injuries for helmeted and non-helmeted percentages are very close.
It's all about what the stat creators want the stats to say, and whether the audience is using critical thinking.

 

Your car vs bike obstruction comparison elicits two responses. 1. You're promoting every style less than ff because they have even less obstruction thank you, and 2. it's actually an invalid comparison since in the car the obstructed vision is cancelled out by the walls of protection, belts, and air bags, but on the bike obstruction can kill you with loss of milliseconds.

"controlled track". You left out that everyone is going in the same direction on a singular path at the same speed, with the same goal, no cross traffic or other types of vehicles or pedestrians, or road hazards, so they don't have to look in all directions. Not to mention they have practiced those same roads/turns. FF is very appropriate for racing, whether on the track or on the streets due to the much higher percent of pushing the limits of safe riding. If you watch racing videos of crashes though, very few of them hit their head.

I encourage you and everyone to wear a quality ff if you are so inclined. Just don't push it without respecting other equally safe choices, especially as a law. Thanks

 

Same here. I just shake my head when I see people give reasons for why they wear a ff. There are just as many weak illogical reasons. I just turn my head more (verified in tests, and my own experience). It's cooler than 3/4 or half. It protects from bugs and cold (so does a drop down sealing face shield). I have no problem putting it on over my glasses (no your glasses have to have a thick frame and you have to carefully jam them into the hole) Please face it, there are pros and cons. It's simply much better personal face/chin protection, to be considered in safer riding vs safer crashing preparation. You can go with low probability stats, or you can go with I know someone who needed a ff and here's the pic.

By the way my EMS friend rides helmetless. My son works the ER and says helmets don't save many because of other injuries. Ride safe; enjoy the ride.

 

My father told me, when I started riding at 13, to Wear the helmet that equals the value of your head.

$5 head = $5 helmet

So I go for the full face, don't like eating bugs and dirt.

 

Both sides of the debate have axes to grind. You just proved it with this post. All the points you made are to defend your side of the debate and can just as easily be refuted as you did my points. So it is what it is. I just like the added safety a FF provides my head. But I'm one of those weird people who cares more about my personal safety than I do about whether someone thinks I look cool.

 

Norick Abe race repicla

 

From your several comments, I get that you're a skeptic about wearing a helmet. I'm cool with that. In fact, there have been a few times I've chosen to go without and I enjoyed the experience. That being said, I've had a helmet save my life a few times.

The vast majority of those times have been rippin' it up on a dirt bike. I've had bikes land on me. I've gone over the bars and face-planted. I've washed-out the front end on a looser than expected turn and slammed the left- or right-side of my head into the ground .......all wearing a helmet. Most of these were just "fun" moderate speed events involving jumps, wheelies, and "friendly" trail-ride racin'. But even so, the helmets undoubtedly saved several brain cells and likely my ability to see, speak, and smell.

I've been down one time on the pavement. It's a long story, but suffice to say, I acknowledge it was my fault. Traffic was erratic ...slow...fast. I was attempting to merge into the freeway and cars previously doing 65+ had come to a complete stop. I nearly swerved around the car in front of me but caught the right-front fork on a car's left-rear bumper. I went from a braking swerve to watching the granularity of the blacktop rip my faceshield apart in an instant. After I stopped skidding my face ....er, my faceshield down the blacktop, I stood-up ....picked-up my bike and pushed it to the side of the road. I banged-up my right shin pretty good, but that was my only real injury. Without the helmet on....today, my face would look like a meat-lover's pizza.

I've recently gained a new affinity for wearing a helmet in that it allows me to use BT intercom systems with my riding buddies, and my wife when we ride two-up. I don't really want to talk to anyone when I'm riding, but it's pretty damn nice to talk thru 2-lane highway passing with the brothers. It's also nice to have a 2nd set of eyes from my wife when we're riding two-up in heavy traffic.

There will still be some times here and there when I opt for no helmet, but my life experiences have shown me that helmets make a huge difference in your safety level. I don't care what this or that study says. I have a brother that's an ER physician ....a cousin that's an Anesthesiologist ....my sisters are both RNs .......every single one of them endorses the use of a helmet. Certainly there are some on the medical community that have challenged the effectiveness of helmets; however, they've been pretty far and few between.

I was at the American Flat Track series races in Phoenix (today). We saw no less than 6 accidents of riders going into turn 3 and getting high and into the barrier out there. Speeds were probably between 60-75 mph. Every one of those guys got up and walked away after hitting the ground (including their heads) and sometimes hitting the bike on their way into the barrier. My Dad raced AMA Flat Track back in the 1970s. The worst wreck he ever had was the one that ended his career. Fortunately, he kept all of his faculties & limb usage. But after being hit head-on by another rider, he was more than happy to be wearing a high-quality helmet. His body took a major blow (and it took several surgeries to fix his gut), but his head was completely unscathed. I was four years old.

Lastly ...I will echo a recent post in that I think helmet laws are authoritarian BS. People should be able to choose for themselves. This "impact to society" BS is ....BS. If you don't want to wear a helmet....don't. But it's what's right for me based on my experiences.

 

I think there's more to the laws than just watching out for you as well. Not knowing what it costs to put someones head back together and they die anyway or support them forever in a hospital bed I can only assume its expensive. Up here in Canada where we don't need medical insurance as its part of our taxes I think the law is mainly looking out for their bottom line. So we have to wear them. So if someone makes the choice to not wear a helmet (as it really is anyone's right, I agree 100%) then their insurance company, life insurance or medical plan should be allowed to say good luck you're on your own with your expenses.