Leather up helmets

Elvis said:

If I rode like some of you guys at 75-100 mph 99% of time I might consider wearing one then but most of my riding is at 60-70 mph.

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I suspect that bouncing one's face off the asphalt at 60-70 will still do a fair bit of damage. But, as others have said, its your head and its your decision.

As to the heat, not many places get hotter than Phoenix. I've found that a 'quality' full face helmet like the Shoei X-11 and Schuberth R1 both have excellent ventilation. A short screen or preferably no screen and a good helmet will provide sufficient air flow.

As to the rest of the gear, well if you've seen someone in shorts and a t-shirt contact asphalt that's been baking in 110+ degree temperatures all day, the propect of years of skin grafts suddenly out weighs a bit of sweat at stop lights. A light colored, armoured mesh jacket will just as comfortable as that t-shirt when you're moving.

Sorry for the sermon, but when ask opinions you occasionally hear from opinionated old farts like me.

Actually, I do wear a Joe Rocket mesh jacket most of my riding time because I'm required to have long sleeves when I ride on base ( I work on Lackland AFB). It does flow air through very well.. I've also started wearing it on longer trips to keep from getting sun burned..

How to beat the summer heat...

TxRIIIRider said:

Actually, I do wear a Joe Rocket mesh jacket most of my riding time because I'm required to have long sleeves when I ride on base ( I work on Lackland AFB). It does flow air through very well.. I've also started wearing it on longer trips to keep from getting sun burned..

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Having grown up in FL and having lived in S.FLA for a number of years, I can attest to the trails of riding in SFLA during the height of the summer heat. I wore a mesh jacket almost year round down there. I've always chosen to wear a fullface helmet. I wouldn't be this pretty otherwise.

I did find a trick to the heat on long trips across the Everglades. If you get your shirt wet and then put your mesh jacket on, you'll stay nice and cool. The jacket keeps the shirt from drying out too fast.

Try it sometime this summer.
-RB

Heh heh, sweating like I do, my shirts, pants, socks, undershorts, are always wet in the summer !

Talk about STANK !

Beat the heat

For those of you in hot areas, take a look at Bohn body armor. It's basically a mesh shirt holding together all of the armor plates. I have used one in TX in August with just a T shirt over the top and it was light years better than any jacket I have tried.

GPMAZ said:

I suspect that bouncing one's face off the asphalt at 60-70 will still do a fair bit of damage. But, as others have said, its your head and its your decision.

As to the heat, not many places get hotter than Phoenix. I've found that a 'quality' full face helmet like the Shoei X-11 and Schuberth R1 both have excellent ventilation. A short screen or preferably no screen and a good helmet will provide sufficient air flow.

As to the rest of the gear, well if you've seen someone in shorts and a t-shirt contact asphalt that's been baking in 110+ degree temperatures all day, the propect of years of skin grafts suddenly out weighs a bit of sweat at stop lights. A light colored, armoured mesh jacket will just as comfortable as that t-shirt when you're moving.

Sorry for the sermon, but when ask opinions you occasionally hear from opinionated old farts like me.

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............Like I said in a previous post, the most erotic part of high speed epidermal contact with pavement is it don't hurt right away. If you are conscious, you look at the bloody mutilated remains of your elbow or calf or whatever and you think to yourself....this is gonna hurt like hell......and it does, after a while, about halfway to the hospital. After a nice trip in a meat wagon to ER and they get you on a gurney, the the cute little nurse begins her task of abrading the shredded area with the iodine pad, the one with the pseudo Scotchbrite on one side and the iodine swab on the other and in her other hand are the tweezers and when she says 'don't move', you won't. I've been there. I know.

Remember, care givers can't feel anything.

Believe it or not, but it gets warm here, too. Not like AZ or FL but stop and go for an hour with dozens of 18 wheelers gets hot.

Then I remember what a not so pretty guy told me one day. He said "if you knew you were going down today, what woul;d you want to be wearing"? He then described pain in terms that made me a bit uneasy.
The soaked shirt thing works well. Crossed the dessert in the SouthWest like that.

If I'd known that I was going to crash the day I did, I'd been wearing a tank.



Might of saved me from this.








I didn't get a spec of road rash anywhere, that tends to happen when you come to a sudden stop. But what I did get was to lay in the hospital for several weeks unconscious, being fed through a tube, a round of brain surgery and the ability to say that I am a stroke survivor. My helmet (A skidlid) came off in the crash and according to my orthopedic surgeon that was probably a good thing other wise the added weight would have quite possibly broken my fool neck, I still got three cracked vertebrae even without it.
Even knowing that, I ride with a full face helmet now at least most of the time. I do consider myself very lucky to have survived, God was definitely on my side that day and the weeks to follow.

I'd quote your post but it hurts too much just looking at your busted up ass. They have you wired for sound.

Sometimes, it's better to sleep through stuff like that. It's the body's way of protecting you from the pain.

I'm a member of the zipper club too. My zipper is higher up though.

Me, I don't think I'd get back on a bike.

I've had the rash (as I explained above) but never the bash on a bike. I was riding with a very good friend years ago who took the front of Ford LTD on a 2 lane. The guy was drinking and went left of center. I was out front about 500 feet and glanced in my mirror when the car went left and he went right over the car and landed clear of the car, in the street. He got a fractured skull, broken wrist and arm and a broken leg and he got his brain scrambled. His wife blamed me for lack of anyone to blame. His livelyhood went down the toilet and last I heard, his wife divoriced him and he was in an extended care facility. Life is cruel to some. Wear a helmet, it's always better than no helmet.

What has really got me to wear a full face and armor isn't so much the Rocket but rather the ADV bike. You have to be dressed to ride off road because the chance of a boo-boo are much, much greater and even dirt hurts at my age.

GPMAZ said:

I suspect that bouncing one's face off the asphalt at 60-70 will still do a fair bit of damage. But, as others have said, its your head and its your decision.

As to the heat, not many places get hotter than Phoenix. I've found that a 'quality' full face helmet like the Shoei X-11 and Schuberth R1 both have excellent ventilation. A short screen or preferably no screen and a good helmet will provide sufficient air flow.

As to the rest of the gear, well if you've seen someone in shorts and a t-shirt contact asphalt that's been baking in 110+ degree temperatures all day, the propect of years of skin grafts suddenly out weighs a bit of sweat at stop lights. A light colored, armoured mesh jacket will just as comfortable as that t-shirt when you're moving.

Sorry for the sermon, but when ask opinions you occasionally hear from opinionated old farts like me.

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I have been to Phoenix several times and the dry heat there does not compare to the 90% humidity we see here in KY in July and August, with a full face (I wear glasses) you could not see where you were going. I am of the opinion that the better you can see and hear it increases your reaction time and a couple of extra seconds makes a real difference. A full face prevents you from seeing and hearing what is going on around you. We have a group of ****** rockets here that meet every Sunday and they come padded and with helmets, but **** they ride like idiots and one of them crashes almost every Sunday. I am older and slow down for every car coming to an intersection. They guy that pulled out in front of me waved at me before pulling out in front of me. Now if a car is waiting to pull out I slow down and have an escape route.