First in a series…
A professional
acquaintance of mine – a Registered Nurse – approached me the other day
brimming with chagrin or, perhaps, something else. It seems her son had returned from overseas and, after
having read portions of my blog (which, I believe she turned him on to), purchased a Honda 750 Shadow. As all concerned mothers are, she was
interested in him surviving this phase.
(After 40+ years of my riding, my mom is still concerned about my “phase.”) The conversation steered itself toward
riding gear. I promised to gather
some resources and share some thoughts, all of which prompts this short series
of posts.
The most important single piece of riding gear one can use
is a helmet. Helmets are
engineered to withstand and distribute tremendous force all in an effort to
protect the rider’s delicate cranium better than the mere ¼ inch of bone matter
with which we are all naturally endowed.
I’m no expert, but it seems to me like the physics of a bare
head hitting a freeway divider at 65 miles an hour are a lot more unforgiving
than that same head encased in Kevlar, Fiberglas and thick foam
padding.
Helmets must meet regulatory requirements that have been
established both in the US and Europe.
Two standards setting organizations are ANSI (American National Standards Institute) and Snell. The US Department of Transportation awards "DOT" stickers to helmets meeting specific standards, but the Snell benchmarks are far more rigorous, so I look for that Snell approval. While most (all?) marketed helmets meet accepted standards, there are styles of helmets that are
inherently safer than others.
Full coverage helmets are one-piece units that that
fully cover the rider’s head from the top of the skull to below the chin. A thick, padded band of the same
material that makes up the helmet wraps around the lower part of the face
protecting the rider in situations where one may be tossed over the handlebars
and skidding along the pavement on one’s face. Full coverage helmets have a clear or tinted visor that
rotates into place protecting the eyes from bugs, debris and wind. Full coverage helmets come in range of
prices, but price should be the lesser of the buyer’s concerns. Comfort, fit – it should be very snug,
ventilation, and weight should enter into one’s thinking. Mine is white in color because it shows up better and because it is
cooler on hot summer days. Also, find one from which it is easy to
remove the face shield for cleaning.
Convertible or modular helmets serve as an
alternative to the full coverage model.
Although they look the same as full face, the chin bar is hinged so that
with a push of the button, the bottom of the unit can be rotated up and out of
the way when safe. “When safe" does not include while riding. Modular helmets can only fully protect
the rider at speed when closed.
However, when filling up or when stopping by the side of the road for a
conversation, the flip-up nature of these can prove to be more convenient than
having to take the whole thing off.
Convertible helmets used to get a black eye for product integrity in the
event of impact, but manufacturers and enthusiasts seem to think this is no
longer the issue it once was.
Modular helmets can be a tiny bit heavier than full face. I wear mine on short trips around town.
Open face helmets are those units the more gentrified
among us may have remembered as kids.
A.J. Foyt? Indianapolis 500? They lack the chin bar.
Snaps are provided around the front from ear to forehead to ear so that
plastic eye protection can be added.
Open face helmets are cooler but do not afford all the protection that
the full-face units provide. I use
mine only if I am driving around the
block to dry the bike after a wash.
And once my open face helmet is worn out, I’ll not replace it.
Shorty helmets offer the least protection. While many are padded like their
afore-mentioned cousins, chances are that in the even of an impact, parts of
the head and neck will be less protected.
Resources:
Snell Foundation helmet standards: http://www.smf.org/stds
How to identify unsafe helmets (from the National Highway
Traffic safety Administration: http://www.nhtsa.gov/people/injury/pedbimot/motorcycle/unsafehelmetid/pages/page2.htm
Enthusiast magazines offer product reviews on helmets from
time to time. Here are just a few
of many, many magazine websites worth exploring:
Rider Magazine: http://www.ridermagazine.com/
Cycle World: http://www.cycleworld.com/
BMW Owner’s News: http://www.bmwmoa.org/ownersnews/
Also: plugging “Motorcycle Helmet Product Review” into your
search engine may access many on-line sources.
California has a mandatory helmet
law for all riders of motorcycles. Three years back, riding home from work, I-80 was
clogged. Rescue personnel had
arrived, their bobbling red lights indicative that something up ahead wasn’t
good. To avoid the jam, I exited,
taking an available off-ramp to an overpass and planned to use surface streets
to wind my way home. Looking down
on the six-lane, medicos were just draping a green plastic sheet over a
crumpled body recently moved away from the concrete divide. Later, I found out that the victim had
just rented the Harley he’d wrecked some three miles up the road. In keeping with the law, he had
equipped himself with a “beanie” style helmet, one that is thin in structure
and that passes over the rider’s ears, offering little protection for the temple
or the base of the skull.
Frequently this style of inadequate protection bears an after-market
protest sticker reading “Helmet Laws Suck.” The Church of the Open Road believes that being dead (or
permanently disabled) sucks more.
© 2012
Church of the Open Road press
