Harleys \ helmets..

[Jujuuk68]

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?



Well, I use my bike for commuting, in all weathers. In the freezing cold of winter or even rain/hail of summer, an open face would be no use, too "impractical". But I don't know why you think that mowing the lawn is the same risk as doing 70mph *cough* on a motorbike. On a bike theres a real chance of being struck in the face by something hard with some velocity behind it it's not like for like - unless your Robson Green and into some kind of "extreme mowing" or something. And as for chainsawing - I have economy 7 radiators in my flat and even if I didn't, I wouldn't spend 2 hours a day chainsawing. I do spend 2 hours on a bike per day, and a monthly mileage of over 1k miles. If I did that much chainsawing, I would have the best protection equipment I could afford.

All I know is that at speed, a wasp, bee or stone strike is incredibly distracting, even with a full face on, especially when its right between the eyes - and there are times on longer journeys in summer, when you literally have to clean off the visor of bugs at the end of a single journey that would otherwise be in your eyes/teeth/nose. Even last night, I tried with the visor up for a few miles leaving work, and had so many insect strikes in my face in a mile, that it had become mildly annoying. Perhaps I just don't like a lot of st in my face and hair, which is what differentiates me from a "Harley Guy".

Sure, wear a open face, I understand the arguments for - but I take the view that if I have to wear a helmet on mandatory grounds, I'd rather wear one that does the job effectively than one that doesn't because it somehow "looks cool". In much the same way I don't wear massively baggy jeans that hang halfway down my arse crack - it might look cool to some segment of the population, but tripping me up and making me walk like a gorilla isn't what trousers are primarily meant to do.

[srob]

kev b said:

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.

Where do you draw the line though?

I know people who have lost legs, arms, shoulders, backs, internal organs and all sorts of other horrors from bike crashes. Had they been in a car then I'm sure they wouldn't have suffered these injuries. And that's the point, motorcycling is about balancing risk versus reward. For me, I enjoy wearing an open faced lid so I do so. I'm sure others consider you irresponsible or a high risk taker for even swinging a leg over a motorcycle. Fact is though that as a group we have all chosen to accept these risks to one degree or another by riding bikes. And as this is a a bike forum I don't see any benefit in people going on at someone who has a slightly more risky approach.

If someone comes on asking about the pros and cons of an open faced lid then I would entirely agree that they need to be educated on the safety, if they're not aware. What gets my goat is that nobody has asked on this thread but people jump straight in with the "you could lose your face if...' comments. It's no different to a car driver posting on every single bike thread with a 'you could lose your legs if...' For some reason though it's only open faced helmet threads that ever seem to draw these comments.

[spoodler]

Jujuuk68 - I wasn't implying that cutting the grass is as dangerous/less dangerous/more dangerous than riding a motorcycle. I was simply asking about the mindset when folks consider risk and whether it was one that they applied to all they do or just to motorcycling. I'm not interested in whether you ride in the rain or not, simply asking how you approach risk...
For what it's worth to anyone, I've had accidents (motorcycling and otherwise) and at the ripe old age of fifty they are coming back to haunt me in the form of crippling back pain, inability to walk or ride far etc. so I fully understand why anyone would want to protect themselves from anything the world may throw their way... on the other hand I still have a fairly relaxed approach to risk and in a lot of circumstances would actively welcome it. I find that in a lot of pursuits risk enhances the experience... I don't consider the risk of sliding down the road to be enough to compel me to wear safety kit, in the same vein I don't wrap myself in a flameproof suit when welding or chain mail when cutting logs, still drive a 1930's car without seat belts etc... some might consider it daft but it's an approach throughout my life not just with regard to motorcycling.

[aeropilot]

vonuber said:

RumpleFugly said:

There's a certain aesthetic that is synonymous with a style of bike and many people chose to adopt said style.

I see what you are getting at, I just never really thought to much about people buying into that sort of thing (mainly due to my complete lack of interest in fashion / style etc!).
Although coming to think of it, seeing someone wearing a full face helmet on a Harley would seem... odd.. in a way, I guess that's the power of marketing.

Nothing to do with marketing.

Yes, there an element of 'appropiate style of clothing' for the appropiate style of bike, but that's not marketing it's just damn obvious. You'd look pretty stupid riding an air-cooled Harley dressed in a multi-coloured power-ranger leather romper suit and race-rep helmet.....just as you'd look pretty stupid riding the latest Jap road missile wearing an old leather flight jacket, open faced helmet and oily jeans with turn-ups and engineer boots.

I don't see many V-Rod riders wearing open face helmets.

When I bought my Harley Dyna, I rode it back from the dealer wearing my textule clothing that I wore on my Ducati Monster, complete with FF Arai helmet. With the eat/bar position on the Harley, you are not in a pressed forward body position meaning that I found wearing a FF lid not easy, as the chin protrusion, was not pointing down, and shoulder checks were not easily accomplished.
It's a lot easier to ride a Dyna or Softail Harley in an open face for this reason.

[Dr Jekyll]

aeropilot said:

Nothing to do with marketing.

Yes, there an element of 'appropiate style of clothing' for the appropiate style of bike, but that's not marketing it's just damn obvious. You'd look pretty stupid riding an air-cooled Harley dressed in a multi-coloured power-ranger leather romper suit and race-rep helmet

You look stupid in a multi-coloured power-ranger leather romper suit whatever you are riding.

aeropilot said:

.....just as you'd look pretty stupid riding the latest Jap road missile wearing an old leather flight jacket, open faced helmet and oily jeans with turn-ups and engineer boots.

No you wouldn't.

[MagnaJeep]

Ooh, my father used to love his stupid braincaps (bought 4) till his pirate appearence starter kit got heavily mocked and he was convinced to try a more upright bike with more ground clearence.

Speeds slowly increased and he got nailed by some bugs, so borrowed my full face Nolan and is now taking advice how to properly gear for any type of bike, which is great as he never understood why buying chaps and sporting a moustache isn't such a great idea , as that combo might leave people perplexed.


Don't think that his matte black X-Lite clashes with the style of his V-Rod, looks purposeful on any type of bike really.

[jhoneyball]

As a vrod owner...

I used to have an open face helmet. The BMW Airflow2 which I thought would be nice in the summer.

However:

a) bugs in the face are not nice
b) worse still, rain REALLY stings
c) it was noisy as hell
d) it broke (stupid design flaw) and BMW told me it was my fault (no... its crap)

And I never really felt safe with it, always worried about what would happen if I came off/chin meets tarmac etc.

It is fun to ride in hot weather at slow speeds with an open face. I have done it in USA on a rental harley around las vegas, valley of fire etc.

Over here? No way.

And vrod riders are atypical in their speed compared to aircooled HD owners. In fact, the boss at las vegas HD told me they wont have vrods on their rental fleet "because customers will come in and just want to rent them for doing drag racing up and down the main street - HD rentals are for much slower riders" which says it all.

[Hooli]

I'd suggest open face lids are a bad idea in a torrential thunder storm. I was riding down the M18 through an inch of standing water yesterday with sunglasses so misted up all I could do was follow a pair of tail lights & hope to find my junction.

[Spudler]

jhoneyball said:

As a vrod owner...

I used to have an open face helmet. The BMW Airflow2 which I thought would be nice in the summer.

However:

a) bugs in the face are not nice
b) worse still, rain REALLY stings
c) it was noisy as hell
d) it broke (stupid design flaw) and BMW told me it was my fault (no... its crap)

And I never really felt safe with it, always worried about what would happen if I came off/chin meets tarmac etc.

It is fun to ride in hot weather at slow speeds with an open face. I have done it in USA on a rental harley around las vegas, valley of fire etc.

Over here? No way.

And vrod riders are atypical in their speed compared to aircooled HD owners. In fact, the boss at las vegas HD told me they wont have vrods on their rental fleet "because customers will come in and just want to rent them for doing drag racing up and down the main street - HD rentals are for much slower riders" which says it all.

Each to own but I personally I can't stand wearing a full face.

I also ride a V Rod (muscle) and only ever ware an open face, sometimes a skid lid.
It may well sound stupid but I actually feel safer, more aware of surroundings with an open face.

[vrod]

As a Harley rider I have a FFH and an open, not for fashion, but for comfort.
I normally wear a FFH for 'normal' journeys, I have found that eating bugs at 70 mph can hurt!
Have an open face for short town journeys, less sweaty and better vision when in traffic.

Always wear a leather jacket, wrote off my ZXR at 30 mph on rough tarmac, everything was a mess, so even on my Harley (V-Rod) I'm not sure I want to risk it.

The other day I saw some sport bike riders in town wearing tee shirts and shorts, Harley riders in leather jackets and jeans, each to their own I guess.