"at 60 MPH a helmet won’t do anything" - some motorcycle riders

mqqn said:
I always protect myself. TN is a helmet state, but I feel naked without a helmet, earplugs, gloves, boots etc.

I can't imagine the hearing damage from no head/ear protection let alone crash protection issues.

As an aside, it was quite the eye opening moment when I discovered mesh riding gear for warm weather.

No more swamp nuts.
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Apparently that's known as 'gooch grease' 😂
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Yes, the wind noise can be very loud. My Shoei is quiet by helmet standards, but the roar of the wind is too loud for sustained exposure, at least for me.

The plugs actually allow you to hear the mechanical noises better over the wind noise in my opinion.
 
I believe in personal choice. I have always worn a helmet even before it was mandatory in this state. I also wear protective boots, gloves, pants and jacket, etc. This is a personal choice and what others think is irrelevant. That said I don't know what Quora is and think that is probably a good thing.
 
EngrSorenson said:
is the ear plugs thing for motorcycles with... ahem... louder-than-stock exhausts?
Or is there more road noise/air noise/something else?
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Danke42 said:
No it's wind noise that gets you.
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D Danke42 is correct. Its the constant roaring of the wind noise. One thing I have observed is wind noise is less noticeable without a helmet, and less noticeable with an open face than with a full face. Totally counterintuitive. The helmets cause turbulence and turbulence is noisier than clean laminar flow. It never bothered me all those years I wore an open face - which is why I rode without ear plugs and now have tinnitus 😒

I had one full face helmet, an AGV I think, that tended to be noisy. One day I flipped the face shield up and it was instantly a LOT quieter. Aerodynamics are fun 🤪
 
mbkr said:
A few years back I got hit in the head by a hawk at 60 mph. Its the hardest I've ever been hit by anything. I literally saw stars. I remember rolling my head forward and opening my eyes (don't remember closing them). My first thought was, "I'm still on the bike!". It whiplashed me, which still gives me problems periodically, but otherwise I was fine. I'm sure if I had not been wearing a helmet, I would have been concussed at a minimum, and possibly dead. I most likely would have crashed the bike. I can't say the helmet saved my life, but it sure helped prevent additional injury at 60 mph.

I understand why riders like to ride without a helmet. I myself prefer an open face helmet, but wear a full face for the protection it provides.

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Glad you survived that. Years back in San Antonio a guy was riding over 100mph and hit a grackle which took him off the bike killing him. I got a call from my brother who was LEO because I had the same bike and used to drive it fast all the time.
 
David Mary said:
I’ve met hundreds of riders in my life who love to throw this idea around… That at 60 MPH a helmet won’t do anything.
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Even if we accept this as true, you can still put it in perspective with one simple question: "Are you always going 60 mph or above?" The answer is no, so wear a helmet. Think of your friends, think of your family, and think of the poor S.O.B. who has to scrape your brains off the pavement. It's not a happy moment for that guy.
 
Danke42 said:
The right gear and the right place you'd be surprised. You'll be banged and rashed up inside the leathers but alive on the outside at least.
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Oh, yeah- with the right gear you’ll stand a chance. I was more referring to the fact that when something goes wrong it’s easier to react when you’re traveling slower.

… also the bird impacts are less significant.

… and as I wrote that a motorcycle just flew past my house. Seems appropriate.
 
Danke42 said:
I think they use a hose now.
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Yech. 🤮 Somehow that sounds even worse. Do you mean to say that they'll just power-wash chunks of brain off the ground? Think of the backspray... I wouldn't do that without a freakin' hazmat suit on, or unless I'm standing at least 20-25 feet downwind from where the water hits the ground.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Oh, yeah- with the right gear you’ll stand a chance. I was more referring to the fact that when something goes wrong it’s easier to react when you’re traveling slower.

… also the bird impacts are less significant.

… and as I wrote that a motorcycle just flew past my house. Seems appropriate.
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Rider at the IOM just broke his ride into a lot of pieces by hitting a pheasant.
 
Guy McVer said:
Yech. 🤮 Somehow that sounds even worse. Do you mean to say that they'll just power-wash chunks of brain off the ground? Think of the backspray... I wouldn't do that without a freakin' hazmat suit on.
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Yeah well whenever you pass an accident on the Hwy roll up the windows and put the air on recirculate.
 
Why does any discussion about motorcycles turn into a gore fest?

I’ve been riding since 1990. I prefer a half. Lighter, more comfortable and I can see and hear much better. Which, along with constant situational awareness, imo is critical in avoiding trouble in the first place. No ear buds for me, that’s nuts. Most of the wind noise comes from the side straps. A bandana pulled down over the ears will cut that down considerably.

Ride responsibly, wear protection, leave the tricks to the pros. YMMV.
 
As someone who knows a lot of old Roadies (like the guys who load in the band) just because it doesn't "sound" loud, doesn't mean it isn't. White noise doesn't really sound all that loud because the frequency spread is wide, but that also means that damage is occurring across a wide band of your hearing. That said, if you are the kind of person who already is predisposed to visual situational awareness, good for you, but for many folks their brain defaults to audio, and long durations of white noise is also very mentally tiring, which means they end up not paying as much attention, and if their brain is getting basically spammed with audio information, they are losing their hearing for no real gain in actual safety. It's good to know yourself, and I'm not going to do anyone else's risk assessment for free, but it's always worth remembering that the survivorship bias means that the old guys with bad habits may be teaching you to rely on their luck. On that note, the difference between someone doing a 20 minute easy commute on the same road every day faces a huge difference from someone doing constant 4-8 hour days on different roads, and may need different considerations. Just like the is a difference between the guy running a chainsaw to buck a few fallen branches once a month in the yard over a full time tree feller. That also being said, the full-timer is not immune to making a dumb mistake clearing his driveway after a storm because he doesn't engage his whole awareness because he's not at work. Conditions can lead us astray.
 
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