"Crashed" Helmets

Reading this thread https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?s...122423&st=0 got me thinking about how passionate people are about helmet brands/types. I'm forever sold on only full face due to my wreck in Oct. of 1976. Pics of the Shoei full face that saved my life are below. My orthopedic surgeon said with an open face I'd have no jaw on the right side, with no helmet at all, no life! I'd be interested in hearing about other "saves" and what you do different now that you didn't do then. Fill in the fields if you please, heck it might even be educational.

Bike - 1973 Honda XL250

Conditions- dry, dark country road (no street or house lights), chip seal had just been done on 2 lane road, not yet swept up by road dept.

Speed- 55 mph

Gear - Shoei full face, clear shield, T-shirt, jeans, tennis shoes, no gloves

Cause - hit black dog (60-70 lbs) t-bone style

Effect - Went airborne over the bars, bounced and landed 150' down the road stopped in oncoming lane (no cars thank God)

Resulting injuries - Broken clavicle, scapula, multiple road rash, embedded gravel in left side, 3 hr. surgery.

Lessons learned - very simply ATGATT! I'm convinced that if I'd been wearing my now regular gear, [Full Face helmet, Aerostitch w/ back pad, Held Gloves, Oxtar Boots], I'd be up right away instead of 3 months of light duty. Oh, and HID lights help too!

I like this "data collection" idea. I know whose helmet is gonna win, though, if you call it winning.



Bike - 2003 FJR

Conditions - Gravel in road. Road had gravel shoulders, apparently some gravel either washed into the road from rain, or was carried in by someone who'd pulled off.

Speed - Really slow, hairpin left turn

Gear - HJC AC-12, Cortech HRX jacket, Tour Master Venture Aire pants, Tour Master Solution boots, Joe Rocket Phoenix 3 gloves

Cause - Lost front traction in gravel

Effect - Bike went down to the left, I hit hard and stopped, bike slid into armco barrier. I didn't slide, roll, or even move, I don't think. It's like I was just thrown into the ground.

Injuries - Sprained left ankle (caught under bike) and sprained right thumb (small spot bruise on end of thumb indicates it was driven into something.) No road rash. Somebody called 911, every med tech and flashy bus in the county showed up, but I was not transported.

Lessons learned - Don't lean in gravel.

It's pretty clear the my face would have been whacked pretty good without the full-face lid. Single impact to the left front. No headache, but a serious adrenaline high, my first get-off.

I also have to say that the people who tried to assess me were . . . . . not very good. Three people tried to take my blood pressure, and over a period of 20 minutes got readings that varied from nearly zero, through normal, to walking aneurism. They used that ("Your stats are all over the place!") as evidence of needing to be transported. They gave me an O2 bottle which made me dizzy, turned out to be empty, I was sucking less oxygen through the mask than before they stuck it on me. Then they used the dizziness as evidence of needing to be transported. I was not going anywhere that used people like these!

Bike - 1897 FJ1200

Conditions - Four lane highway; rush hour traffic; interchange with another major road.

Speed - ~55-60 mph

Gear - Shoei RF-1000; Joe Rocket Phoenix 1.0; FirstGear HT Air pants; Teknic Defender boots; Teknic Violator gloves

Cause - Following too close behind SUV; checking mirrors; traffic checked up

Effect - Front wheel locked (R1 calipers), wheel tucked; bike slid down the road for about 20+ yards, mainly on Renntec engine bars; broken mirror; I slid, bounced, tumbled down the road; luckily the guy behind me was on the ball and stopped and didn't pinball me or squish me.

Injuries - Huge bruise on right hip; sore right shoulder; left foot pain for some reason. Picked the bike up, checked it out, and rode home the remaining 15 miles.

Lessons learned - Don't let traffic compress your following distance; maintain plenty of space; expect the unexpected. All the things you're supposed to know and do already. And....ATGATT works!

MadMike, paging MadMike?

dcarver said:

MadMike, paging MadMike?

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Having seen his helmet and been there, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Aug 18, 2007

My Dads helmet.. 50 mph high side, DR650, on paved twisty country road with pea gravel.... His last ride, 6 broken ribs, doesn't feel

like riding anymore. He is in his 60's, heals slower now.









Helmet did ok since he landed on it. I went out and bought a Nolan flip after seeing the plastic Fulmer flip fail so easy,

its all plastic inside the hinges and the latch. I wrecked that day too riding my KTM 950 with an off road helmet. I came

around the corner pretty fast trying to catch up with Dad after sight seeing and got a surprise. I lost it trying to keep from

running over his bike which was sliding just in front of me as I was exiting a corner still leaned over in 4th gear with the throttle open.

It was a bad day to say the least. I never took pics of my gear, my HJC motocross helmet did very well and I still wear my Killi 4.0.

Dads MeshTex jacket did well, it burned through a little. Road rash was limited to his legs which were covered by jeans. I was bruised

up pretty bad on my right side and heavily bruised my right leg bones after going over the bars, hitting gravel etc.. Took me a month to

walk without a cane and my Dad was out 5 months. I got back on my bike that day and road home, it took me a week before I could ride

due to leg pain. I haven't crashed since, hopefully my last get off on pavement and sadly my Dads last ride. He rides my 4x4 Utility ATV now....

I rode daily to work during my recovery, just strapped my walking cane over a Gobi side case. I think I'm a better rider now, I dont blast around blind corners

like I did in the past....Both bikes did very well and sufferd very little damage... Thank you crash bars!

dcarver said:

MadMike, paging MadMike?

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exskibum said:

Having seen his helmet and been there, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Aug 18, 2007

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Exactly who I was referring to:

wfooshee said:

..... I know whose helmet is gonna win, though, if you call it winning.

Click to expand...

exskibum said:

dcarver said:

MadMike, paging MadMike?

Click to expand...

Having seen his helmet and been there, I was thinking exactly the same thing. Aug 18, 2007

Click to expand...

D'ya mean THIS article :

Most of you know I had a rather violent get off while riding my KLR 650. I am finally getting clear headed enough to use my digital camera and I took some photos of my crashed helmet.
Photo of the right side. Evidently I landed on my right side (from the bruises and injuries) and slid: See the scratches?

From the front, scratches on the right side of the helmet. Can you see the mishaped indentation (flat spot) to the right of the top vent?

From the left side, where I must have slid into the guardrail's 12X10 support beam. Notice that the helmet shell is broken just at the bottom rear of the visor opening.

Different angle of the above picture.

Straight view of the indentation.

I can't see any flex or broken foam from the inside. I've pulled the cloth back and looked but found nothing worth taking a picture of so I left it intact. Evidently the foam liner did what it was supposed to do...compress and protect!

According to the Life-Flight crew, my riding gear saved my life. I choose to not argue about that. ATGATT and thank God I purchased the CyclePort Kevlar @ WFO and I was wearing it.

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Bike: KLR650

Conditions: Hot Summer day, 95+ degrees, pavement (after riding dirt roads for hours)

Speed 40-45 mph

Gear:Above shown helmet, Cycleport Kevlar Mesh, IIRC: Hiking Boots, Riding gloves

Cause: DEHYDRATION. I passed out and fell off the bike.

Effect: KLR fell on left side, I landed on my right side and slid headfirst into a guard-rail support beam....[SIZE=8pt]it didn't move a silly millimeter and suffered no ill effects.[/SIZE]

Result: Very expensive helicopter ride I don't remember followed by even more expensive hospital/medical expenditures (Thank God for good company medical insurance).

Injuries: No road rash! 2 cracked vertebrae, right shoulder blade cracked in 2 places, right shoulder dislocation, multiple cracked ribs, right knee ligaments stretched (3 main ligaments) when my foot tangled with the bike as we were sliding, concussion, major muscle strains on left side of my neck (I couldn't turn my head left for 2 1/2 months until Physical Therapy loosened and helped heal that muscle group).

Recovery, because of my age (62), is an ongoing event. I still have remnants and must continue a stretching regiment for my shoulders and neck muscles

Lessons: Stay hydrated! Where the best gear you can afford.

Discussion: Will like be engendered. I know there are those who are evangelists for different helmets based on different test models. I also know that some of them argue using the misfortune of myself and others as the basis of their subjective arguments, HOWEVER, none of them have been willing to subject there own equipment or bodies to the objective limits of misfortune suffered by those of us who have seriously crashed have survived.

You WILL hear some say that my injuries would have been less severe had I not been wearing a Shoei. My response, "Perhaps!" Neither they or I can know with any certainty. It's just as likely a different ("softer") helmet may have broken away at the chin bar or given way. It's also likely that since my helmet was older and well used it didn't give me the protection a newer helmet might have afforded. Again....until someone is willing to subject themselves to the same set of impact parameters (and I simply refuse to duplicate the scenario) we will never know.

The discussion about the severity of my concussion (Yes, I had a blood pool on my brain that was x-rayed daily when I was in the hospital and then twice weekly during follow up Trauma Clinic visits for a month while the doctors were monitoring the absorption of that pool back into my system, the volume of my lung cavity, the healing of my bones (neck, shoulder blade and ribs) along with the soft tissue damage (I was black and blue from my right knee to my right shoulder) and my pulled ligaments. Would a different helmet have prevented my short-term memory loss? NONE of us can know.

Would a different helmet have lessened the impact and thus the shock/impact injuries to my neck, shoulder and ribs (thus ameliorating the need for a

on each lung)? It seems to me that it's rather easy to use my instance to jump to a convenient conclusion in support of whatever position one wants to take.
My opinion: Own the best equipment you can afford and WEAR IT. It's YOUR responsibility to decide what is the best for you. That's part of being a grown-up in our society.

Game over. MM2 "wins" in more ways than one. I doubt there can ever be a helmet that has taken more abuse where the wearer didn't go home in a body bag. You are one lucky old mofo Mikey...

But I'm sure that I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know!

Bike - 2006 FJR 1300

Conditions- dry road in excellent condition

Speed- 60 mph in a 25-30 mph corner

Gear - HJC AC-12 full face, clear shield, Rev-It Cayenne, Tourmaster Caliber pants, Sidi On Road boots, Held Steve gloves

Cause - Excessive throttle input.

Effect - Some sliding, some rolling, and a totaled FJR.

Resulting injuries - Separated clavicle, severely sprained wrist, some road rash.

Lessons learned -

1) Good fitting quality gear is worth the money. None of the medical personnel could believe how few injuries I had for the speed I was going.

2) The Caliber pants do not take a crash well. :glare:

3) Make sure that you practice under all conditions. I have conditioned myself through practice to use smooth throttle inputs while trail braking. Not up to the standards of the racers we have on the forum to be sure, but I'm pretty good at it. Well I wasn't trail braking in this corner, and guess what, I wasn't smooth (quite the opposite really).

4) Pay attention to your tire temps and pressures if you are going to ride aggressively.

5) Don't ride on fire sale tires if you are going to ride aggressively.

I bet you thought I was going to say slow down. I hope I do, but I really like that throttle thing.

v65 said:

Cause - Excessive throttle input.

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This made me smile. Sorry for your down though.

Fred W said:

Game over. MM2 "wins" in more ways than one. I doubt there can ever be a helmet that has taken more abuse where the wearer didn't go home in a body bag. You are one lucky old mofo Mikey...
But I'm sure that I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know!

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Trust me, Fred, I'm thankful and grateful every day. I cherish and enjoy my family, friends and the simple joys and pleasures of life more than I ever did. The FJR and the friends I've made through riding this bike have added a deep wonderful life experience. This forum, the ability to communicate and be encouraged was a huge part of my recovery.

It was over 2 months before I could move and bend well enough to work on the KLR. I took my first ride around the block on it in November. My first FJR ride was in mid December when I surprised the NorCal clan by riding to a lunch gathering in Auburn, CA. That 80 miles round trip was the extent of what I could ride but I did it, then took a nap and rested for 2 days.

So, yes, lucky, fortunate, blessed, etc., is a true statement.

Barber Race track

Bike GSXR 750

speed 120-130 mph

Highside

cause of accident - unsure still, loss of traction/ hamfisted throttle hand at mid portion of back straight

dislocated shoulder + minor other injuries

Scorpion EXO 700

------------------------------

Did about the same with an EXO 400 on the same bike

Speed 70-90mph

Talladega GP track

Cause: I felt the back straight should have been a little longer before the 70 degree turn, the tack paver felt it was long enough.

Fencer said:

Did about the same with an EXO 400 on the same bike
Speed 70-90mph

Talladega GP track

Cause: I felt the back straight should have been a little longer before the 70 degree turn, the track paver felt it was long enough.

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Oh sure....blame the track designer, the engineer and the paving crew. :lol:

It sounds like you did your best to lengthen the straight.

Bike -



Conditions- deluge level rain event, cement driveway with slight downslope

Speed- 3 mph

Gear -









Cause -



Effect -



Resulting injuries -



Lessons learned -

Thanks Patriot. I laughed out loud.

Patriot said:

Various goofy pics

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Your momma dressed you funny, huh?

So many things become clear now. :lol:

Great responses everyone, good food for thought and interesting how different helmets faired. The reason for my post was to share info, not have a winner, but MM2... DAHM! I get a headache just looking at your used up Shoei pics, but it did it's job at least to the extent of allowing minimal enough injuries to recover. I'd obviously wish for you zero injuries, but as we all know, sometimes it aint in the cards. Patriot, you made my better half crack up with your steed and safety gear, but seriously, I'd like the address of that road, I want to tackle it on my trials bike. Keep the reports coming, I'm learning from all your responses, like for instance "note to self, don't try to extend the back straight at Talladega."

madmike2 said:

Oh sure....blame the track designer, the engineer and the paving crew. :lol:

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Well, we all know I am never wrong, so it could not be anything I did