Helmet-less

[Alan Oakley]

I am not advocating anyone change their safety gear but I am curious regarding those who may have decided that a trike is somewhat safer and therefore are riding without a helmet. I am simply curious. I have been noticing more and more helmet-less riders...probably due to the heat and humidity here in the South. Just want your 2 cents worth

 

[trike lady]

I wear a helmet because the Florida law requires it unless you pay for insurance to cover yourself and ride without one. I wear a doo-rag under the helmet and for my safety I wear a half helmet so that I can hear what is going on around me. As a Wing owner I do not use speakers in the helmet.

 

[Big_Steve]

While I absolutely resent helmet laws for adults, I wear a half helmet on my trike. 25 years ago I wore a full face helmet on my 2 wheelers, wore it probably 95 out of 100 rides back then.

 

[Lunchbox1983]

I wear a helmet on 2 wheels, my wife does not wear one on the Stallion.

 

[Simdog]

Well ... since my reason for going for more wheels was for safety, I don't see much logic for me to then stop wearing my helmet ... kinda like drinking diet coke to reduce sugar intake but chasing it with a bowl of ice cream. On the other hand, there should be some point of balance between safety and comfort. <img src="images/smilies/smile.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Smile" class="inlineimg" />

 

[denviola]

I do occasionally ride without a helmet, but not often and only on short trips at relatively slow speeds. First, after 39 years of legal riding it feels a bit naked without one. Second, I have had to lay a bike down one time to minimize the accident when someone turned in front of me. Can't lay a trike down, and no where else to go except off the front.... may not make a difference but....
Sorry 'bout the doom and gloom, just my thoughts. Get a good helmet with multiple vents to maximize cooling. I use a Scorpion EXO 900 (in black cherry of course), it's convertible to 3/4, has a sun shield and has user controlled ventilation. The helmet has the mike and speakers installed, as does the wife's.
Denny

 

[Greydog]

To paraphrase the Motorcycle Safety Instructor, "There are two kinds of riders; those that have dropped their bike and those that are going to". In my case, there are bikes I have crashed and dealers who won't let me near a test drive!!!! The ones that know me won't even let me sit on them in the show room!!! <img src="images/smilies/mad.gif" border="0" alt="" title="Mad" class="inlineimg" /> That's not really true but I have had a couple pretty bad crashes on two wheels over the past 40 years so I won't even ride my trike around the block without a helmet. When I was on two wheels it was All The Gear All The Time!!! :yes:

 

[Nauga Mok]

Even though helmets are NOT required in Nevada for trike riders, I wear one. Here in Las Vegas are a LOT of tourists taking in the sights, so they're not totaly focused on their driving.

NM

 

[ricle41]

After two wrecks on two wheels with serious results, I'm a helmet advocate. First wreck with a 3/4 helmet and full face shield I got a little road rash on my face after the shield tore off. The second time, I was wearing a 1/2 helmet and never again! The helmet slammed down on the left side, and the C-2 vertabrae, which is directly inline with the lower edge of the 1/2 helmet was fractured. I'm lucky to be alive and/or walking.

I ride the trike up town for errands or to get the mail without a helmet, but any hiway driving I won't leave home without it.

I'm against all helmet laws or seat belt laws, but I think anyone that doesn't use both is being very foolish.

 

[Monkei]

I am not advocating anyone change their safety gear but I am curious regarding those who may have decided that a trike is somewhat safer and therefore are riding without a helmet. I am simply curious. I have been noticing more and more helmet-less riders...probably due to the heat and humidity here in the South. Just want your 2 cents worth

If I am going somewhere on my trike where I do not control the other driver(s) I wear a helmet, therefore I always wear a helmet. But I have no problem with others not wearing theirs ... and trusting the other drivers.

 

[2fromTX]

I treat helmet use by myself and others a lot like I treat religion. I respect your views,please afford me the same courtesy. Living in the Texas panhandle,it can get mighty warm,and more often than not we are helmetless just for the sake of comfort.

 

[msocko3]

Being an adult gives us the right to make good and bad desisions. To me not wearing a helmet is one of the bad ones. A trike is no more safe than a 2 wheel bike when someone pulls out in front of you. We just had a person who was riding without a helmet die. He and his wife had a car pull out from a side street in front of them. His wife was wearing a helmet and survived with some non life threatening injuries, he however was not so lucky. They were riding a bike, not that T-boning a car with a trike would have had much of a different outcome. I've ridden in close to 100 degree temps with high humidity and I had a helmet on, yes I did sweat but I got over it.

 

[jaxbobg]

I know this an old thread, but was out riding today (great weather!) and saw the usual mix of HD and Honda riders on the beach road. I particularly noticed a couple of old geezers (I know, I'm an old geezer too) who rode by with their scraggly hair blowing in the wind, them thinking that they looked all Cool Hand Luke.

My first thought was "Dead Men Riding", since they were on 2 wheelers and I always wear a helmet even on the trike. Had a couple of bad spills years ago on 2 wheelers and helmets saved me from scrambled brain syndrome.

We don't have a helmet law here, but I've noticed that every time I have ridden with local clubs, neighbors, and informal groups of riders here, everyone (yes 100%) of riders and passengers wear helmets.

I wear shoes when I leave the house, put a belt on my trousers, a knife in my pocket, and some small bills in my wallet. Why wouldn't I be wearing a helmet? Some guys still wear hats. Seems like helmet haters are just like the old 1970s crowd that were opposed to the seat belt laws.

Their day will surely come, and when it does I won't bother to say "I told you so". I'll just call the guys with the scoop shovels to clean their remains off the road. (And, yes, I did witness a gruesome scene like that years ago.)

 

[Grandpa1]

Well a trike is safer to a certain point. Being a retired MSF Instructor I have seen the horrible results of motorcycle accidents and a helmet is the best way to go. However, there are sometimes a helmet cannot be worn, or let me rephrase that, there are some people that do not feel safe wearing a helmet sometimes.
When i purchased my trike I could not wear a helmet and feel safe riding. Why? Because I am deaf and have to wear cochlear implants to hear. The dang things stick on the side of my head with magnets. I could not find a helmet big enough to fit over them. I made a decision to ride without a helmet almost 500 miles home the day I purchased the trike. I did not want to ride deaf. My choice. I knew how to ride a motorcycle and I knew what would happen in case of an accident but I chose to ride with the ability to hear.
Once I got home I searched for big a-sed helmets and finally ended up with a 3XXX half helmet. I still had to modify the inside to fit over my magnets. Now I have modified my headsets to a direct connect from my audio system to my hearing processors and can hear the CB, stereo and intercom quite well.
The Goldwing trike is safer. Unless you get run into or run into something then you will be launched. As long as a rider realizes that I think it's their decision to wear or not wear a helmet
I will always wear a helmet unless a time comes that I cannot. Then I probably won't ride.
Strictly my choice and my two cents. I think a person should be able to do what that person wants to do until it affects me or mine.

 

[Ozarkryder]

I've seen a bunch of folks that have gone away from helmets when they went from 2 wheels to 3, on the theory that if you come off a trike there is a lot more going on than simply having a bike go out from under you. For myself, I have gone the other way. I live in a helmet mandatory state, and it used to be when I would get accross the boarder on the 2 wheeler I'd stop and take off the beanie lid. When we got the Goldwing we got the helmet speakers, they didn't work well with the half helmets with speaker adapters so we both got 3/4 or jet style helmets. Got used to wearing the lid I even bought a retro silver flake Fulmer and a bubble screen to wear on the Harley. Now if I don't rear a helmet it feels very strange, almost uncomfortable.

 

[Shimpy]

The large majority of motorcycle accidents are caused by vehicles turning left in front of them or drivers pulling out in front of you not seeing you. Being on a trike gives many a false sense of security. On a trike you have no seatbelts so chances are you are going to be launched over or thru the windshield when you hit and that will be head first. I once saw a study somewhere in Europe that estimated that 60% of the time you will hit on your chin. Full face helmet? I wouldn't ride wthout one.

 

[werewolf]

Not for me.
Outside of the little one mile square town I ride around in,
I wear the helmet.
This year as re enforced that idea..
One hit of a bird on the leg and then it bounced off the side of the helmet.
One dragon fly hit dead center where my eyes would be, except for the face shield.
One meeting of a farm truck hauling wheat untarped in the wind. Yes wheat STINGS at 65 mph.

 

[Geezzer Glide]

Well I live in Nebraska which does have a helmet law now. I started riding in 1970 before Nebraska had a helmet law. I only live about 10 miles from the Nebraska/Iowa border. Iowa does not have a helmet law. I do a lot of my riding in Iowa. If I'm some where that has a helmet law I do wear a legal helmet. If they don't have a helmet law I don't. Been riding that way for 43 years now.
Been hit by a car 3 times over the years. Wasn't wearing a helmet those 3 times either. Don't get me wrong here. I never have and never will say anything about anyone that chooses to were a helmet. That is their choice and I completely respect that. But I am a firm believer that it should be a persons choice.
When the good lord decides my time is up then that's the way it is regardless of where I'm at or what I'm doing.
I also had a heart attack in 2004 and from what all the doctors tell me it should have done me in. Well it didn't. I go see my cardiologist every year and he still don't have an answer to that. Guess it just wasn't my time yet. Seen him last month and he says I'm good. He also tells me that riding a motorcycle dangerous and that I should consider a safer hobby.
Dan

 

[jaxbobg]

Well, I guess this will always be a personal preference and bone of contention among riders.
The only reason I revived this thing was that I had a really bad feeling about the guys I saw on the road without helmets. You know the "spidey" sense you get when something doesn't seem quite right?

Hope they survived their ride. Unfortunately, there are way too many bikers who don't make it through the day because they think they are bullet-proof and indestructible. Odd how life can prove otherwise.

 

[captdanwh]

myself , i actually had a car hit the side of my 2 wheel bike and i ended up crashing into a persons porch. i was wearing a helmet that was totally destroyed and i had over 100 stitches in my head alone but i survived. i should have kept the remains of that helmet just to show it to all of you the only reason i am still on this great earth today. it is a free world we live in and if somebody wants to ride without a helmet that is OK with me but my family all wears them.

 

[GARYD]

As long as I get the freedom to choose what I want to wear, I don't care what anybody else wears. Most times I wear my 3/4 and sometimes I wear my fullface and other times I wear nothing. It all depends on the situation. I think both sides of the arguement should just shut up and stop pushing their agenda on others. If you want people to do what they don't want to do - become a politician.
The problem with helmets is they give people false security. Granted they do protect to some extent, but there are a lot of riders that were worse off because of wearing one. I'm with the AMA on this one = Let those that ride-decide.

And, yes, trikes are a lot safer then 2 wheelers.

 

[tom w]

I've seen a bunch of folks that have gone away from helmets when they went from 2 wheels to 3, on the theory that if you come off a trike there is a lot more going on than simply having a bike go out from under you. For myself, I have gone the other way. I live in a helmet mandatory state, and it used to be when I would get accross the boarder on the 2 wheeler I'd stop and take off the beanie lid. When we got the Goldwing we got the helmet speakers, they didn't work well with the half helmets with speaker adapters so we both got 3/4 or jet style helmets. Got used to wearing the lid I even bought a retro silver flake Fulmer and a bubble screen to wear on the Harley. Now if I don't rear a helmet it feels very strange, almost uncomfortable.

isn't the law the same about 2 or 3 wheels in mo? after being a human cannon ball and launched from my ultra a few years ago in Arkansas (with out my helmet on) I wear mine all the time.

 

[FRR]

Many many years ago Ohio had a helmet law but got rid of it years ago. Doubt if that would now happen since we live in the United Nanny States of America and gov'ts, state and federal, always know what is best for us. Up until a few years ago Kentucky had a helmet law and most harley guys wouldn't ride down there. Now that they repealed the law Ky is seeing an increase in motorcycle riders in the state. As for me, I never rode without a helmet until about 10 years ago,,,, and then I just stopped. I still have a 1/2 helmet that I wear when I ride at night, which is rare, and if I am in heavy traffic, especially at rush hour. I realize lids are safer, but I absolutely HATE wearing the damn things. I think I am at a place in life where,, as much as I love to ride, if Ohio enacted such a law I would move, and this is from a guy that lives on the land he was raised on since he was 3 yrs old in 1948. Most of my friends do wear helmets, and I certainly respect their choice and will admit they are smarter than I am. And, I do feel a little safer on my trike as opposed to my 2 wheeler.

 

[John Luciano]

Conn Has no helmet law Every state that borders us has a law. When I ride with the 2 wheel HD guys, when we get to the signs that say .... WELCOME TO Connecticut.... They stop and remove the lids... Not one foot over the line. Reading the previous posts. Wear it at night ? We Wear it only in the states that say u have to or at night . Logic .... u can't split your head open in states that have a no helmet law or during daylight hours.

 

[2006gold]

Riding the Harley it's helmet, armor jacket and pants, Bate's boots. Not so much on the trike, but I'll have it with me none the less. Depends on the traffic and situation. Most always wear in town. Not so much on non-interstate highways - try my best to avoid interstates.

 

[nevtat]

Wife and I, (me a retired MSF instructor), wear helmets all the time on 2 or 3 wheels.

 

[Lucky]

I wear a helmet whenever I ride.

 

[cirbtap]

Take the guess work out of it and wear a helmet all the time

Ride safe

Pat

 

[retread83]

We always wear helmet,armored mesh jackets,gloves,jeans,boots.

 

[StorminNormin]

This is interesting. Almost as interesting as Harley vs Honda! I myself always wore one when I rode. I don't ride now as I am Trikeless. But, I too would not be here today if I had not had mine on in 1997. We hit so hard that it split one of our helmets 6" up the side. But we both survived. We were only going 35 mph. Speed didn't have much to do with how hard we hit the pavement in that one. The OP asked how many wear and don't wear. A valid curiosity. I for one agree that YOU should have the right to make the choice whether or not to wear a helmet. I also think that the insurance company should have the right to cover you or not depending on the way they see it. Whether you wear one or not doesn't speak for ones intelligence or lack there of, but it is simply a matter of choice. As in everything that we do we have to live with our choices. There are those that would seriously question our intelligence for even riding a motorcycle, 2 or 3 wheels!! Personally, Riding is the greatest passion in my life and I cannot wait till the day that I can get on a Trike and start cruising down the highways again. And I am going to put my helmet on every time before I move the Trike...