How I got married today--to my helmet

GoldenMotor.com

Tom Allen

New Member
Aug 20, 2013
77
0
0
Chicago
Riding down Forest Hill Rd today at about 4:30 PM I started to get that mouse-in-an-elephant-stampede feeling. I jumped the curb and started riding on the grass.The grade was level, the going pretty smooth. I put a little speed into it. I was probably doing 18 MPH when suddenly my front wheel dipped into a hidden gully. I was pitched off the bike over the handlebar and broke my fall using only the top of my head--look ma no hands-- against the curb.I immediately got up saying over and over, "Wow! Wow!"because I knew by the force of the shock of my head on that curb that I should by all rights have been dead or unconscious if I hadn't been wearing my snazzy blue Schwinn bicycle helmet.Part of the "Wow, Wow" had to do with recalling that earlier in the week I had been considering ditching the helmet--I mean you can only look so cool in a bike helmet and I had seen lots and lots of scooter and motorcycle jockeys bareheading it lately. Anyway, to shorten my tale, while I stood in the shade of a tree waiting for my little flooded 4 stroke Honda engine to recover I took off my helmet and gazing on it with the look of love promised it that NEVER NEVER NEVER would I go off on my ride and leave it to sit home alone without me.
 
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2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
I consider you a lucky man. Bicycle helmets aren't designed or made for that kind of impact.

Keep it if you want but DOT motorcycle helmets are far superior to bike lids.
Glad you're able to report on this from home and not a hospital bed. Thanks for reinforcing our beliefs that wearing a helmet, any helmet, is a smart thing to do.

Tom
 

Mike B

New Member
Mar 23, 2011
2,256
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0
Central CA
Keep nothing, throw that thing inna trash where it belongs.

One impact, helmet done it's job. Get a new one.
 

2door

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 15, 2008
16,302
175
63
Littleton, Colorado
Even DOT helmets should be retired after an impact. The warnings that come with them will tell you that even if dropped hard, the helmet integrity could be compromised.

Buy a new one and go DOT.

Tom
 

GearNut

Active Member
Aug 19, 2009
5,104
11
38
San Diego, Kaliforgnia
I am very glad to hear that you came out of that ok!
I am a strong advocate for wearing a helmet. I learned the hard way and I do not wish that lesson even on an enemy.
Please do retire that Schwinn helmet ASAP. It cannot protect you any further now.

You are darned lucky it was as effective as it was.
For a replacement, go DOT all the way!
As for a price, I go as expensive as I can afford.
How valuable is your head to yourself?
Do you have a $35 head or is it worth more to you? How much will it cost you to replace your head if it does get broken?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....
 

Tom Allen

New Member
Aug 20, 2013
77
0
0
Chicago
I am very glad to hear that you came out of that ok!
I am a strong advocate for wearing a helmet. I learned the hard way and I do not wish that lesson even on an enemy.
Please do retire that Schwinn helmet ASAP. It cannot protect you any further now.

You are darned lucky it was as effective as it was.
For a replacement, go DOT all the way!
As for a price, I go as expensive as I can afford.
How valuable is your head to yourself?
Do you have a $35 head or is it worth more to you? How much will it cost you to replace your head if it does get broken?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....
I agree, I was extremely lucky to learn so deeply so cheaply. Yes, I'm going to retire the Schwinn and get something DOT certified. I have a motorcycle helmet already, but for the buzz bike I think something like what Mapbike suggests has its beauties.
 

Davezilla

New Member
Mar 15, 2014
2,705
10
0
San Antonio Texas
I got a few of those half shell helmets and I really like them in the summertime... They look cool and they will protect your skull in a wreck, but if you do wreck and the helmet takes a hit it's time to retire it and replace it.
The Skid lid brand is very popular both for good looks and a decent price so I definitely recommend that brand. There's another brand called Daytona that make similar half shell helmets at close to the same price and I really like that one since it's even smaller and lighter than the Skid Lid but still DOT approved. There are other DOT approved half shells out there but they tend to give you the mushroom head look because they use really thick linings to get the DOT approval.
When I ride my motorcycles on a longer trip or when I ride them on a daily basis tho, there's no substitute for a full face helmet since they're nice and quiet, they protect from the weather and from the cold, and they'll save face... literally... My favorite helmet also has built in speakers, a microphone, and a bluetooth connection to my phone so I can listen to music or talk on the phone while on the road, that part isn't needed, but it sure is nice on a really long ride.
 

curtisfox

Well-Known Member
Dec 29, 2008
6,041
3,935
113
minesota
This is good got to save when I find my right size and get one. Been wondering what would be a good one to get thanks for sharing this .........Curt
 

Tom Allen

New Member
Aug 20, 2013
77
0
0
Chicago
I got a few of those half shell helmets and I really like them in the summertime... They look cool and they will protect your skull in a wreck, but if you do wreck and the helmet takes a hit it's time to retire it and replace it.
The Skid lid brand is very popular both for good looks and a decent price so I definitely recommend that brand. There's another brand called Daytona that make similar half shell helmets at close to the same price and I really like that one since it's even smaller and lighter than the Skid Lid but still DOT approved. There are other DOT approved half shells out there but they tend to give you the mushroom head look because they use really thick linings to get the DOT approval.
When I ride my motorcycles on a longer trip or when I ride them on a daily basis tho, there's no substitute for a full face helmet since they're nice and quiet, they protect from the weather and from the cold, and they'll save face... literally... My favorite helmet also has built in speakers, a microphone, and a bluetooth connection to my phone so I can listen to music or talk on the phone while on the road, that part isn't needed, but it sure is nice on a really long ride.
Yes, I know. Some of those motorcycle helmets--you don't so much put them on as move into them.
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
Tom Allen said he has already ordered a helmet but for anyone else searching I've had good look with these folks > http://www.ironhorsehelmets.com/
Good quality and good prices plus a heck of a selection to choose from.

Tom
Thanks for the link here Tom, I needed a new shield and they just happen to have what I was looking for so I ordered one and a quick release for my newest Z1r Jimmy Retro 3/4 helmet.


This is the shield I ordered, $24.99 on ebay and only $15.00 on ironhorsehelmets..



Map
 
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Nashville Kat

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2009
1,501
55
48
Jacksonville, Florida
I was 24 and nearing the peak of my cycling career back in 1978- a year out of college-
I was in a roadrace in Milwaukee in a huge field of road riders- expecting to return the next July weekend after earning a spot in the National Road Championship race. We were well into the race, and the big field of 150 or so were descending the Snake Hill down beside Lake Michigan, where we were usually moving nearly 60 into the sweeping turn at the bottom,when the very first rider scraped his pedal and fell in front of everyone.

I was about 15 or 20 back and saw the whole thing develop and watching everyone in front of me going down on the pavement. But moving at that speed there wasn't much time to get slowing down with the corner just in front. The path was completely blocked and I got pointed toward the traffic median in the middle of the road, which I instinctively jumped over as I had over railroad tracks many times. But that put me into the two lanes left open to traffic, and my thrill of escaping the huge pile-up and then defeating the median was quickly dampened when I looked up and saw a huge Chevy Impala coming right at me.

Time became very long in that moment, and my life literally flashed in fron of me, and I even had a strange embracing of the idea that I was gonna die. But it was the thought of being paralyzed that got me into action somehow-

the car didn't slow down one little bit- I thought that if it did I could just clear the other side. Instead I hit it on the front end and somehow spun around backwards where the force my body ended up going onto my left hand thrust out like a stiff arm in footbal- I felt the fingers snap as I then flew across the hood and onto the front end of another car parked on the right side of the road.

On the parked car I whammed my head about as hard as it could have hit anything. I had for a couple of years then been wearing an extra thick hairnet helmet a Kucharik like this one- heavily padded also on the front and back:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-LEA...51340162852?pt=US_Helmets&hash=item233c939f24

It looked a bit dorky compared to the standard hairnet- but a few of us wore them- the hard Bell helmet had just come out but no one wore them racing then.

Anyway I had some bad injuries- two broken fingers- the ring finger bone sticking out the finger bent backwars at 90 degrees and my first thought was I wasn't going to have a finger there- Had very deep bruises on my thighs and legs- and was knocked then out of the National Roadrace the next week. But I knew immediately that the helmet had saved my life- I was amazed I didn't suffer any head injuries from the hit on the parked car- I was still probably moving nearly 40 or something.

Anyway- I ALWAYS wear a bike helmet when I ride the MB- and have a blue Schwinn helmet too. They are making some strange ones anymore- this one's about 5 years old now and hasn't seen any falls than god.

Six weeks after the Milwaukee incident I was behind a semi-trailer truck for several days and filming that sequence in Breaking Away, on the flimsy little sew-up tires we used to use- and without my red Kucharik- only a stupid cycling cap, the way it was in the Oscar winning script.

there's no fool like an old fool!
 

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