Hi all,
From helmets to politics hey!!!
My own view on helmets...
I bought my 1st helmet in 1974... Sort of a trial rider affair (the type you see on H-D XLCH Sportsters ads in the 60s...), an outside layer of GRP, then riveted tension straps inside, bits of foam, bit of an eyebrow over the eyes... Not much I hear you say...
Been riding on the road with it ever since...
Tried a few others over the years cause my friends can't believe I can ride fast with THAT thing... So tried to ride with them full face, 1/2 face, with no side vision, with hearing impediments due to umpteen layers of foam and never mind the extra weight and the poor aero that bogs me down... Basically, I did not felt safe with these and keep going back to my old death trap...
So, obviously, I ride with a deadly intent to not fall and will do anything I can to avoid fall or crashes. This is not easy I admit... So far since I had the bike test in 74, 3 crashes which resulted in bruised skin.
Since this forum is in the States, not in the Europeans Nanny States as we call them over here , that want to regulate every aspect of your life and welfare, I feel I follow the US practice of looking at the problems and taking some personal decisions to analyse where is the acceptable risk to me...
Somewhere along the lines in our life, passive safety as become the ugly standard, overtaking active safety (your brain mainly...) which is more efficient in my point of view...
Patrick
PS, used to ski a lot in my youth, never had an helmet for that, same as for bicycles, horse riding, the lot...