I hate helmets

[Hovmod]

I like helmets because:

I still have a face.

[tkent02]

I wish I had picture of them all.

[cowboyup3371]

Here are a couple of mine...the funny part to me was I didn't even realize I'd hit my head

[1_v8_merc]

I pick my "no helmet" days carefully, like if I'm sticking to back roads on a Sunday afternoon. Sorry, but there's just a sense of freedom in some situations, and I refuse to give it up.

But If I'm riding to work, or going on the highway, I go full gear, because I ride like I'm in a pursuit! haha.

[Gregory]

Thats an interesting observation. I have notice that I actually drive a little more racey or radical when wearing a full face helmet.

[80GS1000]

I'd rather keep my brain in my skull, thanks. And my face intact. All my "road-tested" helmets had scuffs like you see above - like somebody took a belt sander to them.

You never leave the house thinking today's the day you're going down, but it happens.

[Bevo]

Up in Canada where out medical coverage is free it makes sense the have helmet laws dollar wise. The cost to fix up a persons head can be massive and the recovery process is long which is mostly all paid for plus your insurance.

In the US to not have that depth of free coverage is insane (to me) as you can lose everything like house and family due to the debt of the medical expense. And I don't mean getting killed just hurt.

[Mr. Sinister]

Painted this old Shoei to match my bike:



It's my size, but it doesn't fit my head right, so on the shelf it stays!!
I had to order another helmet, it's the law in Maryland (not that I wouldn't wear one anyway).

[themess]

I've motorcycled about 50,000 miles. 49,999.75 with a helmet.

I would have been killed in Texas in March, 1997, if I had not been wearing a good helmet.

In actual practice, the law is treated as a joke. Very few people wear them and if they do it is the operator, while the passengers on the same bike will rarely wear a helmet.

It is also common to see the rider who has a helmet ride bare-headed, with the helmet sitting on the gas tank.

Please resize the photo. It is waaaay too big!

[Doug B.]

I'd most likely be dead twice over if it weren't for helmets, once after a 21 foot fall on a mountain bike, and once when a bat (the furry kind) made contact with my visor and upper portion of my helmet.. I was doing about 60 and it knocked my head back as it splattered in a most guesome manner.. it would have blinded me had I just been wearing glasses..

I started riding sans helmet, and was lucky in that other than eating bugs and getting pelted with hail I never had any problems, but at some point after a few of my friends crashed hard, I went the full gear all the time route.. its not just the crash Im worried about, its rocks and other debris getting kicked up in front of me, or random bird strikes..

I have never intended to make any mistake I've ever made, the only answer is to always be prepared for the worst.

[850GT_Rider]

I always wear a helmet but don't believe the government should be telling me I have to. One thing that seems odd to me is that some don't wear helmets around town because they feel there is less risk because of low speeds but consider that when seated on a bike your head is approximately 5 feet off the pavement and if you fell striking your head from that height it can easily kill you........ it has happened.

Anyone who wears a hard hat at work (by mandate or by choice) knows you don't have to be riding a motorcycle to get hit REALLY hard in the head. I've retired two or three hard hats that have saved my skull, either thru my error or someone else's.

ATGATT

[lurch12_2000]

I rode my Bandit yesterday with only a stocking cap, sneakers and paper thin jeans and I didn't die or get hurt. It actually felt good feeling the air, able to see more peripherally, and to hear stuff like how the engine noise really sounds....but my face got cold after a few miles, my ears ached from the wind rushing noise and cold, my eyes watered up behind my prescription glasses, and I was afraid to turn my head too far and loose them....I'll stay with a full face helmet and recommend others do so too. Oh, yeah, safety is a concern too if another dog runs out at me like while on the GS450 ride yesterday!

[Griffin]

Here's my "busted helmet, not head" picture:

[gsgeezer]

I have been using helmets since the sixties and have many reasons to continue wearing one. Here's one example: when I was headed to Colorado from Missouri, one time on I-70, near Colby KS., a large crow bounced off my helmet, it hit me right above the shield.I thought I was gonna lose it, but with no helmet I just would have been dead.

That was in '79, and I have had my head and eyesight saved many times since then.

[tlg1100]

I grew up in Illnois and like many didn't wear helmet in town, and thats wear a person should with all the traffic!!

Last time I rode to Illnois I didn't wear one on old highway about 60 miles...no traffic.

But I wear one most all the time, maybe not always full face.

If on cruiser I wear half, on gs or any sprtbike full face.

But I always preach full face helmets to everyone!!