Yet another example of why half-helmets suck

My work colleague was riding with his father and brother this past weekend when his dad had a nasty crash, on a grated bridge surface at relatively low speeds. All of the riders are experienced, and while the accident was avoidable, sometimes things happen to the best of riders - I know I've had my share of close calls on wet wooden and gated bridges. (Niehart, you remember the wooden bridge up in Canada that we all puckered up on?)

His dad was wearing one of those Harley-style open face helmets and paid a painful price. Besides a broken nose, his dad had deep cuts to his chin and upper lip, plus other potential facial fractures. He is facing reconstructive surgery. Lest you think wearing a half-helmet is only putting risk to you, read the linked post. Clearly a whole family is impacted by this choice. Could've been much worse - I can't imagine sliding face first over a grated bridge with no face protection.

I think his post says it best:

"Open-face and half-shell helmets are stupid. Plain, simply, stupid. Had dad worn a full-face helmet, he would have walked away from this accident. Most of the injuries were to his face, which was unprotected."

On a ride with several other forum members several years ago, I made the poor choice of high siding off of my FZ1 and landing face-first on Quincy-LaPorte Road.

Fortunately I had previously decided to ALWAYS wear a full face helmet so I didn't end up with an uglier mug than I've naturally been blessed with. Besides suffering what I believe was a concussion (don't remember all the events that the running GoPro and photos detailed) and needing a new helmet I was none the for wear.

Full face, all the time!

I bought a real nice half helmet with a retractable sun visor to use locally in the blast furnace months in Florida. I felt naked and it was sooo freakin" loud I gave it to YummYam in exchange for him buying my lunch at one of our RTE's. Between you and me, I got the better deal!

I pretty much stopped wearing open face helmets after going to a local hospital ER unit to pick up a freind that worked there. While waiting for his shift to end, they brought in a 20-something year old guy that got clipped by a car while on his bike. Basicly his bike got knocked away from underneath him and he found himself flying head first into the pavement. Although his gloved hands hit first...his face hit second...at around 30 mph I was told.

His nose was simply gone. Gone, like Skelotor, gone....He had sunglasses on, which broke and shaved off his eyebrows...along with the connecting meat. They came within a fraction of an inch of cutting his right eye open. The skin on his chin was hanging off under his neck like a bandanna....his lower jaw flesh and lower lip were gone....he was a skeleton there.....

The image of his face, or what was left of it, still burns in my mind every time I look up at (my now unused) open face helmets on the shelf .....

His choice his pain. He may not be alive if he wasn't wearing one at all.

I bounced my head off the pavement in my recent tumble, about a three inch dia chipped area on the back of my full face Arai. I guess it saved my life, no road rash thanks to my jacket. My big toe was bent under my foot, only bruised, I was wearing steeltoe boots.

Not my first crash but it luckly took the first one to learn.

Had 2 crashes, one in the 70's and one in the early 80's. Both with 3/4 helmet, and no facial damage at all. I was lucky.

I ride with FF helmets now, not only for sound deafening, but I think FF helmets look badass.

Very sorry to the victim of personal choices.



My V-Max solidly slammed me down on the 19.4% area. I was lucky to only have my teeth cut my lower lip and a fairly substantial concussion. Without the helmet - which I still have as a reminder, the results would have been much, much worse.

There are three primary contact areas to the helmet so only part of the % total is shown

kieefjr said:

His choice his pain...

Click to expand...

Obviously everybody makes their own choices...but it is good to have the brutal knowledge (like the nastiness of knifemakers post as well) out there for the kids (young and old) on the street before stepping up and paying the cashier.

After going face first into a rock, after going over the handlebars, but before the bike went back over me, I threw my 1/2 helmet away and have never worn anything but a full helmet since. Thank goodness I had the sense to wear by 3/4 helmet that day. Glasses broke my nose, but could have been way worse!

I am ugly enough without having reconstructive facial surgery so it's not only safer for me to wear full face but doing a service to the community.

9-30-77 a Ford station wagon (driven by an old man) turned left in front of me. (I remember a block away to this day).
I was on an RD 350, (19 years old, coming home from college) and was wearing a 3/4 helmet.

I hit his car (probably doing 30-35 MPH) in the rt, rear door. My jaw hit the "drip rail"..

It busted my jaw in 4 places, locked open, broke my rt leg in two pieces, dislocated shoulder,
blood from the ears, etc.

Had I had a full helmet, there's no doubt, it would have broke my neck upon impact

(transferring the full impact to my neck) and I would have died on the spot.

(it was borderline for several days if I'd survive). (no road-rash, instant stop....)

My jaw took the brunt of my face vs "drip rail". To this day, I wear a 3/4 helmet.

In any case, you have to ride like your invisible, count on the worse case scenario

and prepare/ slow, etc for all possibilities...

came across this

https://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=1053950

Oh...No wonder. It's a Harley ********* Forum. Those pictures are bad-*** though. Ouch. I'm a big sissy, so I'll stick with good gear. I once wore a half helmet and a 3/4 helmet. As a matter of fact, I think I was wearing that 3/4 the day I bought my FJR, even though I had a really nice fullface hanging in the garage.

What's funny, is it was a guy called "Chick," as in Chick's Harley Davidson who explained to me why anything but a fullface helmet was a bad idea. The guy dressed in full leathers, wore a full helmet, and rode the **** out of every bike I saw him on. I figured a guy with that much skill had to know what he was talking about, so my ride home on the FJR that weekend was the last time I wore that 3/4 helmet. The half is also sitting on the shelf collecting dust. Should just throw them away....

Just threw a Half Helmet in the trash last week

I don't give much thought to guys who,knowledgeable of the risk and impacts (to themselves and their families), decide to ride without adequate protection. Nothing I say will likely change any minds, and with some, I'm not convinced that a crash would knock any more sense in.

However, most folks who I talk with aren't so knowledgeable or haven't thought deeply about this. At my company, we have an online discussion list for the motorcycle riders (about 3500 world wide) and every week, we get 3-5 or more asking about what kind of gear to get. Many come from overseas (e.g. India and China), where wearing gear wasn't really seriously considered. Others are riders who are returning to ride after a ten-15 year gap, and just assumed they'd wear the same jeans and leather jacket they wore in college (even if they did fit). Or they assume the cheap $100 mesh jacket they got when they bought the bike was all they needed.

Many who ride cruisers buy the costume that goes along with the bike, assuming that is what is ok to wear because everyone else on a cruiser wears this. One guy even ventured that only sport bike riders needed better gear because cruiser riders rarely crash. The group kinda dog piled on him with statistics and youtube videos about cruisers and crashes.

Anyways, amazing about all the myths that continue to exist out there. For those riders, these posts are valuable.

Before my crash last summer, I invited Wayne from Motoport up for a day of presentations at my company during lunch. We did 2 sessions, and had a total of 40 riders attend. It was a really practical discussion about how gear is made, where gear is most likely impacted in a crash, how well different fabrics and stitching and assembly holds up in a crash, and different approaches to armor. No scare tactics - just super useful consumer information which is sorely lacking when it comes to gear.

About half bought either a jacket or gloves or pants or all three. Motoport stuff is not cheap, so that was pretty interesting.

When I posted pix of my crash a few months later and how well the gear performed, many more signed on to buy gear. Nothing like a personal testimonial from someone who put their own money down.

A few months ago, one of the riders who bought gear had a get-off about 30 mph. His gear made the difference between light injuries and more substantial injuries. He sent around a great write up of the crash and his gear, and thanked the group for giving him the inspiration to upgrade his gear. It was more money than he or his wife had ever considered, and while he could afford it, I know it wasn't a quick or simple discussion. Since I know his two kids and his wife, it feels great to know that the family was not significantly impacted by his crash because of his choices.

This year, I sent around a poll asking the online forum which topics they wanted to see addressed in a presentation. Safer gear topped the list, higher than maintenance and moto-camping and moto-tech. About half of the participants are pretty new to riding (about 2 years or less) but the other half have been riding for many years.

A few months ago, one of the riders who bought gear had a get-off about 30 mph. His gear made the difference between light injuries and more substantial injuries. He sent around a great write up of the crash and his gear, and thanked the group for giving him the inspiration to upgrade his gear. It was more money than he or his wife had ever considered, and while he could afford it, I know it wasn't a quick or simple discussion. Since I know his two kids and his wife, it feels great to know that the family was not significantly impacted by his crash because of his choices.

Click to expand...

Well done, Hudson, well done.

I was going to find that percentage impact zone picture. I show it to folks all the time when they say they wear a helmet and it turns out to be a dome or 3/4. I always ask them to tell me which way they face while riding. Next question is why then would the back of their head be the part that hits the ground????

I myself can speak clearly and chew my own food because my jaw was unexposed in my first crash.

They have a place, but not on a motorcycle on a roadway ( or off-road for that matter!)

We have laws that allow us to take our quads and side-by-sides on county roads but must wear a helmet. While many of us choose to risk a ticket when putting over to a neighbours or to the beach, a half-helmet is easy enough to toss on the head to appease Bylaw Bob.

It is interesting to note that it would be a lot more difficult to get tossed from one of our side-by-sides than from an LSV (like the GEM) but as far as I know, helmets are not required in any jurisdiction that they are legal. Our GEM is awesome around the lake community, but unfortunately, they are not registerable up here and are illegal on the roads like golf carts, go carts, pocket bikes, etc...

bigjohnsd said:

Just threw a Half Helmet in the trash last week

Click to expand...

Damn... I coulda used that!