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Author Topic: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states  (Read 41710 times)

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Chains

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Traveled up to Ohio on Wednesday to a supplier conference to get an award for my company.  Been a few years since I went back home and was taken back by the riding attire in Kentucky and Ohio.

Saw more riders in shorts, flip flops, no shirts, no helmets on the I75 going well over 80MPH.  I enjoy riding without a helmet probably more than the next guy, but riding in shorts, no shirt flip flops at a high rate of speed is against all the ways I know to stay safe.

Wide variety of bikes from Harley's to Honda's, ages varied from teens to seniors.  I believe you should have the right to wear a helmet if you want to or not, but half dressed just doesn't seem right.

Have I slipped into senility or has the heat affected the riders I witnessed with a death wish?
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Ghost Rider

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2011, 11:03:36 AM »

Saw something similar the other day at the local dealership.  A young man had just bought a new wide glide and was getting ready to ride it home wearing a wife beater, shorts, and tennis shoes.  I told the sales guy when he came back into the building after the kid left that he should have sold him a pair of boots and some jeans to.  He just smiled a little.  I guess he will learn his leason when he gets a bumble bee up those shorts going down the road.  I'm guess also, the kid has never riden a 110 Harley with shorts on.  OUCH!
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Mount'nman

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2011, 11:15:11 AM »

No helmet law in CO but I ware one most of the time... so do a lot of other riders I see on the road.  Have not seen many in shorts etc... 
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JCZ

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2011, 11:25:24 AM »

Saw something similar the other day at the local dealership.  A young man had just bought a new wide glide and was getting ready to ride it home wearing a wife beater, shorts, and tennis shoes.  I told the sales guy when he came back into the building after the kid left that he should have sold him a pair of boots and some jeans to.  He just smiled a little.  I guess he will learn his leason when he gets a bumble bee up those shorts going down the road.  I'm guess also, the kid has never riden a 110 Harley with shorts on.  OUCH!


Just like we had to learn lessons in life.....the school of hard knocks.  I'm a real knucklehead so sometimes I had to learn the lessons more than once.

By the way, it doesn't take a bumble bee to learn that lesson..........a couple little ol' honey bees will teach that lesson just as fast.  That was one lesson that I never had to learn the hard way.  But there was a time not to many years ago that I was riding my Heritage and got stung in the throat about six times.....guess I rode through a swarm of them and didn't know it.  Ended up in the hospital for the night.  But it does occur to me when I see guys in shorts....especially if they don't have fairings. :o
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guppytrash

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #4 on: July 22, 2011, 11:35:55 AM »

Guilty!  I have ridden in shorts and still do on occasion.  Sleeveless T-shirts, guilty again.  Shoes of all types but never flip flops.
If I could get that bee to sting certain areas and make it swell to twice normal size....well then my wife would probably make me wear shorts riding all the time. :huepfenlol2:

I do guess Chains it maybe just a matter of prioritizing, whats more important to save if you do go down...legs, arms, face, head.  I dunno, to each his own.

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grandpadoc

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2011, 11:38:35 AM »

I bet that was a wasp JC, they will get you over and over again. Nasty damn things. You can probably remember the days when it was cool to wear those big bell bottom jeans on stretched choppers, all kinds of stuff went up those funnels...did it and ouch.  Doc
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CVOThunder

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #6 on: July 22, 2011, 11:39:30 AM »

Got so used to wearing all the gear all the time when I was in the service that I still do. We were told that if you weren't wearing protective gear and got in a wreck and died they didn't have to pay the insurance. Not sure if it's still the same but I hardly ever ride without all the gear.
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reo

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #7 on: July 22, 2011, 11:48:08 AM »

Been stung on two different occasions, funny thing is both were inside my helmet. Once I got stung 5 times on my cheek as I was driving hitting and moving my helmet around by the time I got to a place I could stop I found a dead wasp laying between my legs on the seat....whew that was bad

I always ride with at least jeans, sometimes chaps, always riding boots and leather jacket even when 90 deg. Don't wear a helmet when in a non helmet state though.
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JCZ

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #8 on: July 22, 2011, 11:58:56 AM »

Some of the members of this forum can tell you what it looked like from the back when I got a cricket (or was it a beetle) inside my helmet, jumping all around.  Between trying to get my face shield opened and trying to get the bike stopped (yes, in the middle of Hwy. 50 somewhere in Nev.) it was apparently quite funny to those riding behind me. :nixweiss:

Let me just tell you that no matter how small it is......when it's flying or jumping all around inside your full face helmet it's bigger than life:o
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charles05663

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #9 on: July 22, 2011, 12:02:38 PM »

I always ride with full gear on.

The only evidence that I have ever seen that Darwin's theory might have some validity is when I see the shorts/flip-flops/no helmet people riding a motorcycle.
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reo

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #10 on: July 22, 2011, 12:17:16 PM »

Some of the members of this forum can tell you what it looked like from the back when I got a cricket (or was it a beetle) inside my helmet, jumping all around.  Between trying to get my face shield opened and trying to get the bike stopped (yes, in the middle of Hwy. 50 somewhere in Nev.) it was apparently quite funny to those riding behind me. :nixweiss:

Let me just tell you that no matter how small it is......when it's flying or jumping all around inside your full face helmet it's bigger than life:o

It's not fun, the story of when that wasp just started stinging me was while I was doing 65 on the expressway. Your story sounded just like mine, brought back some bad memories, kind of funny if your on the other side but something like that could get ugly real fast.
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Chains

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #11 on: July 22, 2011, 12:26:52 PM »

Got hit in the upper lip one day by a bee going around 70, felt like a rock hit me.  Got stopped, wife pulled the stinger out and we went on.  In less than one half hour, my upper lip looked like Mary Jo Buttafucco's and I talked like Elmer Fudd.  Last time I rode my Road King without the windshield.  Had a helmet and full gear on but no shield.
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GtreetSlide

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #12 on: July 22, 2011, 01:37:17 PM »

40 years ago I went down at 50mph without any riding gear... It was an awful painful expierence that lasted for months. Not quite as bad as the time I jumped sand dunes and went in face first with my mouth open. I got all "choked up" over that one.

Then my wife and I were hit head-on by a woman who just flew past a stop sign and hit us head-on. At that point I figured I was well protected by a hellmit, jeans, Tee shirt, etc. After leaving the hospital, I was stuck on a couch for two weeks before I could even get up and go pee. And even that was difficlt with two casts on my arms. Forget about going #2, it was good to have a wife. Did I mention my crushed leg and football size foot? Oh, and a fractured back was big fun too... At least I got to watch 911 on TV as it happened, since I couldn't move anyway. Kinda pointless screamin at the TV sayin; "Let me at those guys!" when I was basically just a vegetable, huh? However, since the only decent riding gear I had on was a hellmit, I didn't die from the impact of flying thru the air and landing on my head and right shoulder.

In 2004 I was actually geared up pretty good with hellmit, leathers, boots, ect. when I was hit from behind while turning by another bike going at least 65mph. Even with gear I ended up with two broken wrists, broken arm, broken nose, and my face crushed in breaking off a section of my skull. At least I didn't suffer any major road rash, LOL. Of course my brain had bounced off the front and rear of the skull inside causing the loss of a few very useful brain cells, but at least they did bolt my skull back together so I still looked "Purty"... And, they used that "high quality" plates and screws made from titanium. That was thoughtful of them because I don't set off alarms in airports now...

If you ride casually dressed because you think there is no chance of you going down, get ready for some serious pain and make sure your doctor gives you good pain meds...
If this happens to you, I have lots of good info on assisting recovery I will share if needed. I am considering writing a book. How to make those anoying motorcycle injuries fun and exciting, by jimbob

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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #13 on: July 22, 2011, 02:02:27 PM »


Real riding boots, full gloves, heavy denim jeans, helmet, and either a leather jacket in cold weather or a lightweight windbreaker type of jacket in hot weather (the kind Harley has sold for years for riding, with the clipped down collars and zippered pockets).  I used to do without the jacket, but in recent years I've decided that having to constantly slather on that greasy feeling sun screen was a bigger PITA than just wearing a jacket.  So even when it's 90° out, I wear the jacket and all the other gear.  When the temps climb well above 90, like this past week, I just park the bike.  The old body doesn't tolerate that kind of heat anymore.

I've seen my share of knuckleheads in flipflops or sneakers, shorts, no shirt, no gloves, no helmet, etc., but for some reason I'm seeing a lot fewer of those types the past couple years.  Not sure if it's got anything to do with them becoming wiser (probably not), or maybe it has something to do with all those folks who weren't real bikers but just Johnny-come-latelys trying to be "cool", who have probably either sold their bikes or lost them to repossession since the depression and are no longer out there acting like fools.  Who knows.

No skin off my nose if folks want to ride naked, but it's likely to result in some skin off them eventually.  And maybe those nasty burns on folks legs and ankles from exhaust pipes is a badge of honor these days.  We do seem to have a large segment of the population that seems to think doing really dumb and painful stuff is "cool".


Jerry
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Re: How many wear helmets and proper attire in non helmet states
« Reply #14 on: July 22, 2011, 02:09:48 PM »

Boots, Jeans and or leathers, helmet and gloves 100% even if I am going to the corner store.
Leathers and full finger gloves when it is cold in Tampa HA! will put on the fullface if it gets too cold
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