Motorcycle Riders?

[melensdad]

That's good info. Could you post a few suppliers for future use?

Link to their English language website -> https://www.motocard.com/en/

And for those worried about not having a DOT sticker on a helmet, you can buy them from eBay or amazon and stick them on whatever you want to stick them on. Nobody has ever asked to see the certification sticker on any helmet we have ever owned.

 

[tmschuller]

I would take helmet rating comparisons with a grain of salt. As far as I know, there has been no study showing that ECE helmets reduce head injury or fatality rate in real-world motorcycle accidents compared to DOT helmets. A lot of factors such as fitment, full vs. half face, or modular, is likely to have a far greater impact.

A recent controversy involving Snell (viewed by some as the gold standard)

Snell Relaxed Its Motorcycle Helmet Standards And Now The Rating Is Meaningless (jalopnik.com)

illustrates that standards and safety ratings are not black and white. All else being equal I prefer ECE rated helmets myself, but other factors such as fitment, comfort, features, and ventilation trump when deciding what to buy.

Cycle world or motorcyclists did a helmet test a few years back the compared expensive to cheap helmets
Drop test. Simulation of wrecks and impact testing with sensors to register trauma. Very surprising results. They lost sponsorship from large helmet companies because the big money the were charging didn’t give anymore protection than much cheaper helmets.
I ride with a full face modular helmet. Shopping for a new one. Looking for input for my decision.

 

[melensdad]

. . . I ride with a full face modular helmet. Shopping for a new one. Looking for input for my decision.

Fit, Comfort, Quiet

Those are my criteria. I frequently make long rides, helmet on for hours at a time, day after day. I want a well made lid, as safe as I can get, but if it is wrong for my head shape (fit) and if the materials are not wicking with good airflow venting, and it is not quiet then I won't consider it.

Personally I don't want built in headsets, I like my Cardo PackTalk Slim, I like the JBL speakers, I like the voice control because it works. So I don't want some inferior brand pre-installed. It is an added cost with no benefit to me.

I've been looking at modulars lately. HJC RHPA 90s is fairly nice but at that price point, or slightly more, there are Schuberth C3 or E1 helmets still available although supplies are drying up as Schuberth is pushing out the new C4, with a built in speakers. Shoei NeoTech is a bit more. AGV SportModular, in some colors, is available on sale and probably the nicest modular on the market.

If you use an add on headset pay attention to where the sun visor control is on some of the helmets, there are some that won't play well with headsets.

 

[melensdad]

Cycle world or motorcyclists did a helmet test a few years back the compared expensive to cheap helmets ...

I would point out that they did test genuine helmets. There are a lot of counterfeit helmets. There are some legitimate videos testing those, they are not pretty. So be careful if you find "a great deal" that is too good to be true.

 

[airhog]

I would agree with you on the point that there is little proof.

However, there is a lot of information that shows that many DOT helmets are not tested at all. Ever. Huge numbers of them are also counterfeited and can be destroyed by even minor impacts.

A cheap DOT full face is far more protective that a DOT brain pot, largely because most injuries to the head involve hitting areas of the head that are not covered by the little brain bucket helmets. But also most of the "DOT" brain pots actually don't meet the minimal standards for DOT at all. And the stickers are easily purchased at flea markets, eBay, etc.

The ECE helmets make it legal for me to ride in all areas of the Americas, the DOT helmets do not. And we ride outside of the USA so I'd rather have an ECE. The newest ECE 22-06 is the gold standard but there are only a few helmets that currently meet that standard, which goes into effect in 2024. The story you linked is essentially written for most future helmet. ECE 22-05 and SNELL 2015 are pretty equivalent. FIM is the race standard, a tiny fraction of street helmets meet this standard.

I tend to buy higher end helmets for a few reasons. First, they are a hell of a lot more comfortable than mid-priced or cheap helmets. The fabrics are anti-bacterial fabrics, they utilize cooling/wicking fabrics that reduce sweating, they have far better airflow, the controls are more robust and less prone to breakage during simple use, etc.

My wife rides with a mid-grade HJC full face, DOT approved. She also has a mid-grade HJC 3/4 that is SNELL approved. She picked them. I offered her Arai and any other brand. Visor control on the full face broke off after 1 year. Air flow is a frequent complaint. Sweating against the fabric is a frequent complaint. Pressure points are a frequent complaint. Yet it was actually a HJC regional salesman who personally fitted her helmet for comfort. Perhaps she should have chosen a high end HJC? Perhaps she should have chosen a Shoei? Arai? Schuberth?

Unfortunately I have not found a correlation between fitment/comfort and price. Sometimes I find folks wearing Arai or Shoei helmets complaining about fitment, their main reason for enduring discomfort being the perception that they're safer than less expensive brands. My comments pertain what I consider a general misconception stemming from marketing instead of empirically established facts.

As to quality control, the instances where one needs to be especially concerned about are higher end counterfeit products. Whether I buy a Mitutoyo caliper, Benchmade/Spyderco pocket knife, Hakko soldering station, and it appears some pistol red dots, due diligence must be exercised to not be saddled with a fake. Reduce the likelihood by purchasing from reputable outlets. Even then, don't trust labels and do your own verification to the extent feasible.

 

[melensdad]

Unfortunately I have not found a correlation between fitment/comfort and price. Sometimes I find folks wearing Arai or Shoei helmets complaining about fitment, their main reason for enduring discomfort being the perception that they're safer than less expensive brands.

As noted earlier, Arai makes different helmets for different shaped heads. I believe 4, if memory serves me?

I’ve run across people who buy the helmet based on the paint design not on the fit. Other buy the brand but don’t know about head shape.

Some people will always be ill informed.

 

[tv1217]

Yeah, but you have a giant sized watermelon misshaped head!

You put your helmet on so you don't scare children

Top of the line Bell helmets are good stuff too, yours is one of their high end units. Got to find what fits.

We've only met in person one time but you are exactly right lmao

They both fit well, just... different.

 

[melensdad]

Planning to ride to the Oakdale Dam Inn Bar & Grill for lunch tomorrow, south of Monticello at the dam.

Leaving our house around 10am? Should arrive 2 hours later. I believe there is a time zone change, so probably arrive around 1pm. Give or take a half hour, depending upon when we actually leave? We've made the trip before, hoping the weather is nice enough that we can sit outside overlook the dam/river.

 

[melensdad]

Tenderloin sandwich on the patio.

 

[chezuki]

Rode down to Montgomery and had lunch at Gasthof Amish Village. It’s an absolutely perfect day to ride.

 

[melensdad]

Rode down to Montgomery and had lunch at Gasthof Amish Village. It’s an absolutely perfect day to ride.

 

[chezuki]

Exactly!

 

[Indyhd]

Found what might be the nicest road in Indiana yesterday, and I thought I had ridden them all. Hwy 58 east from Bedford is now my new favorite road. If you get the chance to ride it it sure beats riding across 50 in that area.

 

[melensdad]

Another death

Not a Hoosier native but he lived here the last 5 years. Coached fencing at Notre Dame, retired after the end of the collegiate season a couple months ago. Formerly lived in the northeast and NY.

Got hit on his motorcycle and killed yesterday.

Notre Dame Mourns the Loss of Former Fencing Assistant Coach Buckie Leach

und.com

 

[melensdad]

I forgot to mention, he just coached the US Women’s Foil Fencers at the Olympics and a Notre Dame alumnus won the Gold Medal. He was on of my fencing *daughter’s coaches last year.

(she is not my natural daughter, rather a foreign exchange student, who lives with us and is a fencer at my club)

 

[semperfi211]

It was a nice ride tonite taking the long way home from work. Just had to keep an eye out for deer, I had a couple times when they were on the side of the road watching me and I was watching them.

 

[melensdad]

Driving home after move-in day at Notre Dame I saw a truck that made me happy. I hate college move in day. It is always a cluster.

So which of you is getting a new R.E. scooter?

 

[tv1217]

Thinking about buying a utility trailer and adding some wheel chocks and tie downs for my bike.

The bed on my Taco is too short so the rear wheel would have to rest on the tailgate, which isn't optimal, getting it up the ramp is also a chore.

I considered one of those hitch mounts that has the bike hanging off the back of the vehicle like a dead deer, but the reviews on anything that would save me money over a utility trailer vary on any particular model from: "This thing is built like a rock, I'm gonna buy 62 more of them!!1!" to "What a cheap piece of crap, it's tac welded together and the screw holes don't line up. Also it ate ⅔ of my children"

 

[dvd1955]

Thinking about buying a utility trailer and adding some wheel chocks and tie downs for my bike.

The bed on my Taco is too short so the rear wheel would have to rest on the tailgate, which isn't optimal.

I considered one of those hitch mounts that has the bike hanging off the back of the vehicle like a dead deer buy the reviews on anything that would save me money over a utility trailer vary on any particular model from "this thing is built like a rock, I'm gonna buy 62 more of them!!1!" to "What a cheap piece of crap, it's tac welded together and the screw holes don't line up. Also it ate ⅔ of my children"

Why not just ride the bike to your destination?

 

[tv1217]

Well, for one, when I'm getting either of the two vehicles service done, it would be nice to have the other available to run around doing other errands and such instead of sitting and waiting.