Harleys \ helmets..

Author
Discussion

peteO

1,790 posts

184 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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black-k1 said:
peteO said:
it'd be interesting to see pictures of peoples old helmets and leathers if they had any....

how have 2 piece leathers changed over the last 30 years?
My first 2 piece was from Hideout (then in Cambridge but still going now) and were made of goat skin. They looked like a current zip all around 2 piece touring leather suit but had little in the way of armour other than extra layers of leather on elbows hips and knees.
what speed could you get up to back then? did you have an off? how'd they stand up to it?

black-k1

11,889 posts

228 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
quotequote all
peteO said:
black-k1 said:
peteO said:
it'd be interesting to see pictures of peoples old helmets and leathers if they had any....

how have 2 piece leathers changed over the last 30 years?
My first 2 piece was from Hideout (then in Cambridge but still going now) and were made of goat skin. They looked like a current zip all around 2 piece touring leather suit but had little in the way of armour other than extra layers of leather on elbows hips and knees.
what speed could you get up to back then? did you have an off? how'd they stand up to it?
Top sports bikes would just about scrape 150mph but there were more small and middle sized bikes than now.

I had a BMW R100RS that would manage about 125mph for real, about 135mph on the clock.

I never crash tested my leathers but they were well put together (and were still being used 20 years later) so I have no reason to think they wouldn't do a good job if needed.

Motorrad

6,811 posts

186 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Stu R said:
Where I live helmets are optional. Quite liberating riding without a lid smile
Yep used to ride all the time without one in Texas.

I didn't die in a ball of flames with my brain scattered across the scenery as an interesting accompaniment to my skin spread thinly on the tarmac.

The proper attire for a Harley, in it's native environment, seem to be a knackered old pair of piss stained jeans/jacket and a crappy bandana which you can soak in cold beer before you set off to the next bar on your pub crawl.

Renn Sport

2,761 posts

208 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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I am late to the topic...

Read the whole thing and have yet to read a holier then thou posting. It just looked like a interesting observation, although like many postings these things come around every summer.


However those offended by this discsussion why not just flipping 'not' click on this post and simply read about something else. Isn't exactly rocket science is it?


srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Renn Sport said:
I am late to the topic...

Read the whole thing and have yet to read a holier then thou posting. It just looked like a interesting observation, although like many postings these things come around every summer.


However those offended by this discsussion why not just flipping 'not' click on this post and simply read about something else. Isn't exactly rocket science is it?
Someone being so offended by people being offended by a post on a thread they have to post to tell everyone how offended they are rather than add to the topic.

Oh the irony hehe

Prof Prolapse

16,160 posts

189 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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We all like a good vent.

Even if it's barely relevant.


HD Adam

5,144 posts

183 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Hello, Gay Pirate Harley rider here.

I wear my full face when it's cold and my open face when it's warm.

HTH.

catso

14,771 posts

266 months

Thursday 17th July 2014
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Stu R said:
Quite liberating riding without a lid smile
Indeed it is, when I started riding (in Italy) helmets were optional and I often didn't wear one, especially in 40 degree traffic. I even crashed without one, obviously I was killed to death*.

I never understand the arguments over what is and what isn't best, right or even legal. Why would anyone care what gear, or lack of, another rider wears?... confused




*I got better though


peteO

1,790 posts

184 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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catso said:
Stu R said:
Quite liberating riding without a lid smile
Indeed it is, when I started riding (in Italy) helmets were optional and I often didn't wear one, especially in 40 degree traffic. I even crashed without one, obviously I was killed to death*.

I never understand the arguments over what is and what isn't best, right or even legal. Why would anyone care what gear, or lack of, another rider wears?... confused




*I got better though
because being a minority we are under scrutiny. when people see the chav on his gixxer doing wheelies from the lights wearing a vest, shorts and sandles it reflects bad on us all!

catso

14,771 posts

266 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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peteO said:
because being a minority we are under scrutiny. when people see the chav on his gixxer doing wheelies from the lights wearing a vest, shorts and sandles it reflects bad on us all!
Or if said chav dressed like you, people might think you're him. At least whilst he's dressed 'inappropriately' you can better distance yourself from him.

Better still let him get on with it and hope that the law/Darwin catches up with him, there are always going to be dicks in every activity, life's too short to worry about how others present themselves...

peteO

1,790 posts

184 months

Friday 18th July 2014
quotequote all
catso said:
peteO said:
because being a minority we are under scrutiny. when people see the chav on his gixxer doing wheelies from the lights wearing a vest, shorts and sandles it reflects bad on us all!
Or if said chav dressed like you, people might think you're him. At least whilst he's dressed 'inappropriately' you can better distance yourself from him.

Better still let him get on with it and hope that the law/Darwin catches up with him, there are always going to be dicks in every activity, life's too short to worry about how others present themselves...
people can do what they want. i dont give a st. you asked why people care what others wear. i presented my opnion on it

HertsBiker

6,300 posts

270 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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Got to be said an open face lid feels great. And scary. I may have to get one again. Life without risk is boring. Bikes are exciting, why be boring?

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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HertsBiker said:
Got to be said an open face lid feels great. And scary. I may have to get one again. Life without risk is boring. Bikes are exciting, why be boring?
I'll be doing a couple of hundred miles wearing mine this weekend smile

Keep looking at more modern design ones but I can't bring myself to replace the Davida!

marksx

5,052 posts

189 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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I bought an open face when I bought my Triumph. Never did like the massive Shoei I had anyway. I also wear jeans and ten pound gloves.

Try not to get too upset.

theblackbaron

6 posts

123 months

Friday 18th July 2014
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Triumph Thruxton here. Fell in love with the look of the bike: an open-face helmet to suit with a kinda 'Bobba Fett' style face visor was the only choice for me, so minimal bee and wasp attack.

I'm not a fast rider and I'm not a particularly brave rider, but I found that doing my training with a full-face restricted my vision and movement and I was never comfortable.

I'm happy with my choice of helmet (always gloves, jacket, boots etc) and I guess we just pays our money and takes our choice. Each to their own.

I more despair when I'm at lights with a GSXRider with a full face but who is wearing shorts and no gloves. Where is your overall protection when you punt it down the road wearing beach clothes?

Whatever. It's all bloody good fun.

Jujuuk68

363 posts

156 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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Well, the amount of bugs and crap across my visor and helmet front yesterday from my ride home yesterday alone, suggests for me, a full face is the way to go.

A helmet doesn't just protect agaisnt losing your face on tarmac/lorry/insert hard object of choice, but stone chips, wasps, birds, litter, rain, what ever.

I guess if you pootle down the shops on a scooter/Harley cautiously, enjoying the view, when the weathers nice, a full face might be too much for the risks involved, but only the other week, a stone chip hit my visor and f**king hell, it was like I'd been hit by a BB gun or something - fair shook me up.

I'd not ride in an open face helmet, and not just for the safety, but the protection of all the other crap it collects on the journey that would otherwise be mouth and eye bound.

srob

11,566 posts

237 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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Jujuuk68 said:
Well, the amount of bugs and crap across my visor and helmet front yesterday from my ride home yesterday alone, suggests for me, a full face is the way to go.

A helmet doesn't just protect agaisnt losing your face on tarmac/lorry/insert hard object of choice, but stone chips, wasps, birds, litter, rain, what ever.

I guess if you pootle down the shops on a scooter/Harley cautiously, enjoying the view, when the weathers nice, a full face might be too much for the risks involved, but only the other week, a stone chip hit my visor and f**king hell, it was like I'd been hit by a BB gun or something - fair shook me up.

I'd not ride in an open face helmet, and not just for the safety, but the protection of all the other crap it collects on the journey that would otherwise be mouth and eye bound.
Never happened to me. Have had a few insect strikes but I can cope with that.

Not to say it won't happen, but in the 15 years I've been wearing one it's not happened so that's 15 years enjoyment I'd have missed out on (yes, I enjoy wearing an open faced lid more than a full faced one) if I'd followed that train of thought. Just checked with the old man, he's been wearing one on a bike since 1957 and it's not happened to him in that 57 years. Still, better be safe than sorry thumbup

spoodler

2,072 posts

154 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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A serious question here, not just stirring... Do folk who post similar to the above about protection from bees and wasps etc. carry the same thoughts into every activity they partake off? D.i.y. without ear defenders and safety glasses? Cut the grass in shorts but worry about stones, hawthorns being flicked at them? Chainsaw logs for the fire but need leather apron, gloves, ear defenders...
Just wondered if they approach all risk the same or if they consider motorcycling to be particularly hazardous?

kev b

2,708 posts

165 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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When I was 16yrs old I rode a Fizzy, the helmet law had not long been introduced and I wore an open face helmet as did the majority of riders.

As a consequence of riding in all weathers and seeing what racers wore, I bought a full face when I changed to a 250 Yamaha.

Not long after, I crashed and the chin bar sustained some major scrapes, along with losing a fair amount of leg skin from which the scars are still visible.

I will never ride in an open face helmet, if I had worn mine the day of the crash my face would have been ground into the tarmac like my knee and my already challenged looks ruined, it's not worth the risk to me YMMV.

I just wonder though if those open faces with a chin protector are any good as they seem like a good compromise for cruisers/adventurers.

bogie

16,344 posts

271 months

Saturday 19th July 2014
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I guess everythings relative...as a kid i used to muck around on field bikes down the disused railway with no helmet on. Since falling off a few times during my teens I soon realised the benefit of safety equipment and since wear all the gear all the time

My favourite helmet in recent years has been a Shark Evo 3, which is flip up and can be worn as a jet or full face. Its nice around town on hot days to have it open, but as soon as you are doing 40-50mph its too windy/noisy and way better with the chin bar/visor down at speed. It covers all bases for me, and gets used the most

On the other side of the coin, you can go on US based bike forums and still find long running debates on whether a helmet should be worn at all ....who needs all this safety kit? you should just try not to fall off....and it makes no difference anyway in a high speed accident hitting immovable objects you die anyway.....right...okaaayyyy ? wink

each to their own...wear what you like, learn by experience...or others experience might be easier.....