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Do skull cap helmets have any value?

Discussion in 'General' started by SGVRider, Apr 13, 2019.

  1. 2blueYam

    2blueYam Track Day Addict

    The ones that could actually meet a DOT standard actually can help in some crashes IF properly worn and secured. As good as a 3/4 or full face? Well of course not, but still way better than no helmet.
     
  2. Steeltoe

    Steeltoe What's my move?

  3. joec

    joec brace yourself

    Just before I left Boston i remember reading a story about the cops doing dot helmet checks. Winthrop. Quincey. One of the beach town roads . Can't remember exactly which one. Inspection sticker. Lol. In all the years I rode my triumph up there, I never got one. Haha
     
  4. SGVRider

    SGVRider Well-Known Member

    This was the case here. Female victim was in a tanktop, no gloves no nothing. Her helmet was on the ground along with his. She had some nasty extremity injuries.

    This was my rule when I still had a street bike. It's your duty as the rider to protect your passenger, but some guys just don't know any better.

    Not necessarily. You should do all you can to reasonably minimize your risk. You can't eliminate it. Crossing the street as a pedestrian is very risky. I still do it, but I don't stare at my phone while crossing, I look several times both ways before crossing, wait a few seconds for red light runners and assholes not paying attention, and I'm extremely paranoid while I'm crossing. If you've done everything you reasonably could and you still come a cropper, that's just one of the vagaries of life.

    San Gabriel Canyon, GMR, Mt Baldy are all much safer than Santiago Canyon or Angeles Crest Highway. There are still some nasty accidents though. When it's cold, I've been up 39 and barely seen a soul. When the weather is nice like it has been all the fair weather only riders show up and start crashing into shit in their tennis shoes and t-shirts.

    So from what I gather, DOT certification means nothing. Snell is a mark of quality up to a point. Skull cap helmets might possibly be as good as my bicycle helmet, but most likely not.
     
  5. Johnny B

    Johnny B Cone Rights Activist

    Things are different now. Back then you took a motorcycle to a regular inspection station and the sticker that normally went on the car windshield was folded in half and put in your wallet. Now motorcycles go to motorcycle only inspection stations and a little sticker goes on the license plate.
     
  6. Sabre699

    Sabre699 Wait...hold my beer.

  7. joec

    joec brace yourself

    Yeah. I never got one for my license plate. :)
     
  8. gixxernaut

    gixxernaut Hold my beer & watch this

    I think it would be more accurate to say, "There's no such thing as DOT certification, but a helmet manufactured in compliance with DOT standards will afford considerably better protection than a novelty helmet of the same outer coverage area."
     
  9. SGVRider

    SGVRider Well-Known Member

    That sounds accurate, but it seems you can’t trust that the company is being truthful about the manufacturing standards.

    I guess it’s that time of year, saw another terrible one with the dude on the ground today. Sportbike. Looked like he had a full face and it flew off or was removed before they gave up on CPR. SB 405 in Santa Monica.

    Type of helmet and gear probably doesn’t make a difference with the really high energy crashes, but can make a huge difference with the survivable ones.
     
  10. Johnny B

    Johnny B Cone Rights Activist

    Probably Wollaston Beach in Quincy. A friend of mine (Can't remember his real name, we called him Sweathog.) walked out of a bar there and got hit by a car while crossing the street. He was in a coma, and when his wife ran out of money, she petitioned for him to become a ward of the Commonwealth. Eventually the Commonwealth pulled the plug and he died.
     
  11. I don't know if it's still a thing, but a while back in NC the squids used to cut the chinstrap off of their full-face helmets so they could pop the helmet up and wear it like a hat when stopped at traffic lights. Pretty much just made the helmet a decoration.
     
  12. freedomgli

    freedomgli Well-Known Member

    Helmet manufacturers self-certify to Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 218. NHTSA does not approve or certify helmets. But they definitely do spot checks. There is a compliance test program where helmets are tested to see if they really do comply with the minimum safety standards. Since 2003 NHTSA has tested over 500 different helmets. They’ve tested nearly 50 in the last two years. Some pass. Some fail. Those that fail are typically recalled unless there was some test anomaly.

    https://one.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/comply/index.cfm
     
  13. Mechdziner714

    Mechdziner714 More Gas Less Brakes

    50 people a year die from falling coconuts, they may be useful near coconut trees
     
  14. SGVRider

    SGVRider Well-Known Member

    Wow! Stupidity knows no bounds.
     
  15. beac83

    beac83 "My safeword is bananna"

    I occasionally see this behavior here in NYC (guys riding with the helmet as a hat instead of on). Foolish. Stupid.
    But hey, freedom.

    I hope they've signed their organ donor cards.
     
    pscook likes this.
  16. This old Rz

    This old Rz Well-Known Member

    GMR (Gkendora Mtn Road).
    I used to live in Gkendora in 1987-1990 . Loved that road!! on my built RZ350 , then I bought my 89 EXUP FZR 1000 and lived it even more!!!
    Back then ..NOBODY ..No one was there nor Azusa Cyn.
    Get up at dawn....prerun them check for sand or rocks then backtrack & Go! Go! Go!, Be home by 11a.m. with a breakfast. No ....WAY TOO MANY IDIOTS THERE AND EVERY SINGKE ITHER ROAD IN SO. CAL...IT SUCKS!!!
     
  17. SGVRider

    SGVRider Well-Known Member

    GMR both sides and GRR are closed due to land slides now so all the local assholes have been pushed onto 39. Dude died Saturday, some guy went over Tuesday and drowned by Morris Dam, and a dude went over and died in a ball of flame today up by Coldbrook. My money is on 2 more taking a dirt nap by Sunday.

    GRR is still pretty lonely even on weekends. GMR isn’t bad. 39 usually has a lot when the weather is nice.
     

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