If you`ve got a ten dollar head ............

Ducati works rider Giancarlo Falappa had a tumble in a corner at just 40 mph whilst testing a 916 , I think at Misano ........... despite this relatively low speed incident , the result was serious head injuries , a two month coma , and an end to his riding career .

He wore , and had a sponsorship deal with FM helmets .


They say your brain will just not allow you to walk straight into a brick wall ..... ( ever tried it ? ) ......... so it must be quite a shock to your nervous system when such a sudden impact actually occurs , and that safety sensor is over ridden ............
 
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One of the issues with wearing a helmet is that it makes your ‘head’ larger and heavier so in some incidents you end up hitting your ‘head’ when you might not have. However, you have to weigh that up against the potential damage to your ‘smaller’ head if you weren’t wearing a helmet and you head butt something hard or pointy….
Depending on the severity of the impact, it probably won’t make any difference whether you were wearing no helmet, a pudding basin or the most expensive helmet on the market.
 
Vince said:
What's the vents like, my Neotec 2 only issue is the lower vent blows hard directly into my eyes, a half opening with less venting would make it perfect. It's by far the most comfy helmet I've ever had.
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They are good the top one spreads a nice breeze across the top of your head and the bottom has a reasonable flow but not in my eyes - bear in mind my comparison is with an Arai RX7 which is not brilliant for flow - its is very comfortable at least as good as my Arai but quieter
 
Andy J said:
One of the issues with wearing a helmet is that it makes your ‘head’ larger and heavier so in some incidents you end up hitting your ‘head’ when you might not have. However, you have to weigh that up against the potential damage to your ‘smaller’ head if you weren’t wearing a helmet and you head butt something hard or pointy….
Depending on the severity of the impact, it probably won’t make any difference whether you were wearing no helmet, a pudding basin or the most expensive helmet on the market.
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Funny you mention that. Not bike-related, but in a previous life I spent 19 hours straight inspecting double-bottom tanks on a ship which was hard aground. Hopping from section to section through the lightening holes in the bulkheads. Didn’t hit my head once. A few years later was in a similar situation but health and safety had arrived and had to wear a hard hat. Hit my head so many times my neck was buggered from the impacts.
 
Max said:
Funny you mention that. Not bike-related, but in a previous life I spent 19 hours straight inspecting double-bottom tanks on a ship which was hard aground. Hopping from section to section through the lightening holes in the bulkheads. Didn’t hit my head once. A few years later was in a similar situation but health and safety had arrived and had to wear a hard hat. Hit my head so many times my neck was buggered from the impacts.
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Engine room the same, machine mob agreed totally with you, were forever hitting and catching their helmet on things. A bit different hitting the ground from a moto at speed. I don't even nip off to the shops on my bicycle without a helmet (on my head, not my elbow). No rain check on head injuries.
 
We had a customer wear an open face lid back to front-looked like a tank driver- guess he had a ten dollar head..
I have come off a sidecar fast and hit my head hard- actually saw stars ( floaty bright bits) can only imagine what my bonce would look like if I hadn’t been wearing a lid. Apparently it was Lawrence of Arabias Doctor who provided evidence that brought about the helmet law- good job too! My grandads cousin was a Brooklands racer called Ginger Wood- he is credited with having the first personalised logo on a helmet, a large winged “ W” …for Wood…not like the big “W” that someone drew on my van in the dust…
 
Familar physical boundaries...
On a Breganze trip, I popped into a cycle shop to buy some oil for my dry chain. On the way out I knocked over a long row of extremely expensive racing bikes, in a domino effect. The culprit was the knee pad in my leathers [added to my dim wittedness]. The extra half-inch made for the destruction derby.
 
Spent a few years on the High Rise wearing hard hats, hated them, later I worked in the Rail System, and they used a gadget called a Bump Hat. It's halfway between a baseball-style cap and a Hard Hat. So much more comfortable, they handled banging your head on structure and Sun Protection. Brilliant gadgets.
 
Vince said:
It's halfway between a baseball-style cap and a Hard Hat. So much more comfortable, they handled banging your head on structure and Sun Protection. Brilliant gadgets.
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I'm old enough to have been riding motorcycles before being compelled by law to wear a helmet.
At 70, it still rankles that I'm considered unable to make a choice, for myself in the UK, at least.
I carried out my own private war against the law, as a youngster, and used a helmet similar to the one you describe, Vince.
Having established that the legislation, as is so often the case was a result of a simplistic notion having gone through a committee of lawyers, allowed "a helmet of suitable shape and construction as would afford reasonable protection in the event of an accident", I established at my local police station that this one (pictured below) would satisfy the legislation.

Commando 850 Flares (disidentified).jpg
I wore it for a number of years, much to the annoyance of a local sergeant who positively frothed to have me prosecuted.
I learned from a friend, on the force, that there had been discussion, at higher levels, on the subject but, since I had followed every "reasonable" step to establish its legality, it might become a "Test Case".
If convicted, I would, almost certainly, be admonished.
If found "Not Guilty", everyone else could start wearing one.
The sergeant was instructed, much to his chagrin, to stay away from me. That anything he brought would be rejected out of hand.
A "Get out of jail free" card and, trust me, I wasn't averse to utilising it.
 
Speaking of test cases, they never actually got a Helmet mounted Camera Case before a Magistrate from what I read in either NSW or Victoria during the Major corfuffle on that subject a few years back. So, no Common Law precedent occurred; they waffled on about it being against ADRs, their vehicle build and import rules. The local Constabulary loves to produce outrage every now and then on trendy new ways to save us from ourselves. Here is the latest, this became unlawful a few years back. I am also old enough to be around for compulsory helmets and lights on always. I never did hear if the religious exemption for Sikhs and helmets still happens.
 
Vince said:
I never did hear if the religious exemption for Sikhs and helmets still happens.
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Zip to 1:35 for an answer, Vince?

I have been toying with the idea of getting a turban, just need to check how the police would be able to prove which particular religious belief you do, or don't, have.
Is having an uncaged dog in a car also against the law in NSW?
 
Dogs are supposed to be restrained in Cars. Definitely in the back of Utes, back in the day, every country bloke or builder had a loose Dog in the back of his Ute. Take care challenging the Boys in Blue re legal loopholes, they love a challenge, can be very petty and have unlimited time to pursue legal stuff. Just ask a mate who loved to use his New Zerland licase in Oz, one Cop got so pissed off he went through his Imagation and travel records and went after him for every offence he comited. They worked out that he spent too much time in Oz and needed a local license. Big Trouble for him.
 
Back in the `seventies when helmets became compulsory in the UK , there were demonstrations and so on arranged by the MAG / BMF / AMADL .
........ " helmets yes , compulsion no " ....... was the catchphrase at the time .

One of the chief poster babes at the time connected with all this was a English guy who had converted to Sikh-ism ....... Bardav Chardal Singh was the name he went by ..... ( or something like that , I can`t be bothered to look it up right now ) ...... presumably Dave Watkins or something before he became converted .......

He appeared as part of the campaign ....... in other words , what are Sikhs going to do if helmets become compulsory ..... lose my religion ? ....... ( copyright REM ) ........ and so on .

He was dumped by the riders rights groups when it was discovered that he ... ( pre Turban ) .... had convictions for armed robbery / knife crime / being a bit of a nuisance .........

But nice to see , despite that publicity backfire , that this exemption does exist ........ and as Hamish says , in these enlightened times , who`s to say I`m not a Sikh ?

Trouble is , if all us pseudo - Sikhs start riding around like that , we`ll just be buggering things up for the real ones .......
 
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It was exactly the same on Oz, for a couple of years after compulsory helmets, you could get an exemption with a doctor's Certificate. All sorts of medical reasons, but after a while, that ended. I used to love cruising about without a Helmet when camping at Race Cuicuts. Been a while since I did that, last time was camping at The Barry.
 
Vince said:
Dogs are supposed to be restrained in Cars. Definitely in the back of Utes, back in the day, every country bloke or builder had a loose Dog in the back of his Ute. Take care challenging the Boys in Blue re legal loopholes, they love a challenge, can be very petty and have unlimited time to pursue legal stuff. Just ask a mate who loved to use his New Zerland licase in Oz, one Cop got so pissed off he went through his Imagation and travel records and went after him for every offence he comited. They worked out that he spent too much time in Oz and needed a local license. Big Trouble for him.
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In Somerset there is a bylaw which states “ you may have a Jack Russel laying on the dashboard barking at everthing that moves if you are a tree surgeon” I don’t know if this applies to any other small dogs?
 
It’s odd how you can legally drive a pre seat belt car without belts but you can’t ride a pre helmet law bike without a lid?
Apparently you can still use an old Corker etc as they were legal back in the day - personally I would always wear a lid….unless I’m riding a motocross bike down my road like yesterday lunchtime…& I ran out of fuel…and had to push it past the cafe with all the miserable sods staring thinking “ that was that noisey bastard that just rode past!”🥵
 
Max said:
Funny you mention that. Not bike-related, but in a previous life I spent 19 hours straight inspecting double-bottom tanks on a ship which was hard aground. Hopping from section to section through the lightening holes in the bulkheads. Didn’t hit my head once. A few years later was in a similar situation but health and safety had arrived and had to wear a hard hat. Hit my head so many times my neck was buggered from the impacts.
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Exactly the same happened to me, and many construction workers, when hard hats became the norm.
It took a while, but eventually my brain worked it out and made me automatically duck an inch further 🤦‍♂️
 
Exmoor beast said:
It’s odd how you can legally drive a pre seat belt car without belts but you can’t ride a pre helmet law bike without a lid?
Apparently you can still use an old Corker etc as they were legal back in the day - personally I would always wear a lid….unless I’m riding a motocross bike down my road like yesterday lunchtime…& I ran out of fuel…and had to push it past the cafe with all the miserable sods staring thinking “ that was that noisey bastard that just rode past!”🥵
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It is legal to ride in a funeral procession without a helmet, but not back to the wake.
 
Tippie said:
I don't even nip off to the shops on my bicycle without a helmet (on my head, not my elbow). No rain check on head injuries.
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Funny you should mention the elbow thing. Very many years ago when I was in high school, compulsory wearing of helmets was a relatively recent requirement in Tasmania. A school mate of mine got pulled over by the cops and booked for riding his Bridgestone 90 bare-headed. He actually had a helmet with him, but for some dumb reason it was slung over his elbow.
He went to court and argued that he was wearing an approved helmet as required by law, but the law didn't actually state that it had to be on your head. Apparently the legal system has to uphold the letter of the law rather than the implied intent, so he got off on that technicality. The law was subsequently changed to say "head protection" rather than helmet.
 
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