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> the weight of the helmet becomes a serious risk of breaking the rider's neck

Since when? I've crashed at over 100mph and gone cart-wheeling down a 8 lane highway. Multiple times at over 50mph and my neck isn't even sore. Motorcyclists crash at all kinds of speeds and breaking their neck is downright rare. Weight has nothing to do with it. It's how quickly and into what you "stop".

I suggest you read an actually study on the matter.
https://www.msf-usa.org/downlo...

"How does anyone know that the brakes need service" Not a car guy, eh? Here's a hint: that terrible screeching sound you are hearing every time you hit the breaks means you need to get new pads, IF you haven't already destroyed the rotors.

Sounds like you are not the car guy. The screech you hear can be chatter from the brake pads, or from the wear indicator. It is NOT and indication that you need to replace the brakes, it is an indication that you need to inspect the brakes. Brand new brakes can cause a screeching sound if they do not have the proper shims installed, or an anti-screech compound put onto the back of the pads.

There is nothing to cause a screeching sound that would also destroy the rotors - neither brake chatter nor the wear indicator will cause damage to the rotor. If you hear a grinding noise, then the brake pad has been worn completely away (at least in one place, or on one side of the rotor). Of course someone can hear steel on steel grinding. You can feel it in the car when the brakes are applied.

As for rear drum breaks, they are only an assist. If they go out, it just makes the front breaks wear faster.

Anyone who understands physics understands that the rear brakes do not provide as much stopping power as the front, regardless of whether they are drum or disc. However, up to 40% of your stopping power can come from the rear brakes. If you're driving without rear brakes, you had better hope you never need to make a panic stop. In a brief Googling the best I could find for you is the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Basic Handbook that indicates that the average motorcycle has 30% of its total available braking power in the rear wheel. It does not say that the rear wheels provide nothing but brake assist, that is just absurd. And I would prefer to NOT ride in the car of someone who only has 70% of their total stopping power available to them.

I support the rights of the people, including their right to free enterprise without interference from men with guns, whether they be banditos or g-men.

You're right, people deserve freedom. However, being a member of society requires that you follow certain norms. For simplicity's sake, why don't we call these norms regulations? These regulations forbid you from murdering me, for instance. The general purpose of these regulations are to prevent injury or harm to others. If you'd like to go back to the days without any sort of government regulations, why don't we just go ahead and let you, your partner, your parents, your children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or any progeny of your family work in a factory for 100+ hours a week?

I too have been following the Skully and volunteered as a tester but was not selected. Do I think it's awesome? Heck yeah! But due to the steep price of this helmet and the shelf life of all motorcycle helmets at ~5 years, I'll be content with my Scorpion 1100 with Chatterbox X1 Slim as it does everything (protect the head and eyes, phone calls, bike-to-bike & bike-to-passenger VOX talk, turn-by-turn via smartphone, etc.) except the HUD and rear view camera and costs significantly less. And I can mount the Chatterbox to another helmet when this one is damaged or past it's shelf life.

I agree that getting the best gear for safety is great, but learning to ride defensively is the best.

I'd rather spend my money on learning to ride by going through an AMA backed MSF class. After taking the basic class, I realized how it made me a better driver in my car let alone on the bike. The intermediate and advanced classes just improved on that foundation.

For those that ask why I ride daily... the fact I can get 45-50 MPG mixed riding on a 1300CC sport bike and have more fun than the Prius driver is the main reason ;)

Bikes also have two skinny tires with small contact areas instead of a car's four wider tires with much larger contact areas.

It's surprisingly difficult to find concrete data on stopping distances, but here's something from a credible looking source: the best stopping distance from 48 km/h was 10.40 meters for a Yamaha FJR 1300 without ABS. That's already longer than your performance and only at 60% of the speed. Unfortunately, they only have one other test speed which is 129 km/h where the Yamaha was again best at 67.5 meters. That's more than double of what a good car can achieve from 100 km/h but of course different speeds make it hard to compare these numbers.

Here's the test:
A Comparison of Stopping Distance Performance for Motorcycles Equipped with ABS, CBS and Conventional Hydraulic Brake Systems
Also, here a GT-R races a Ducati 1098s on a track. Notice how the car always catches up at the braking areas.

What this statistic lacks though, is who is wearing a helment and proper gear. I live in Orlando, FL and on nice sunny days I see tons of motorcyclists (I myself am one). I ride with guanlet style double reinforced leather gloves, a tight body fitting armored textile jacket and a full face helmet. Pics here

You won't believe how many harley riders wear no gear. They think there bike is like a lazy boy on wheels. It's supposed to be as comfortable as possible. So I'm not surprised they die. As for the unsafe sport bike riders (we call em squids). They are pretty retarded. Granted most of them wear helmets, but that the only gear they wear. The rest of their outfit consists of a wife beater, shorts, and sneakers. It's also not uncommon to see people ride motorcycles with flip-flops on. One accident and you won't be walking properly.

Also, one more thing, most people who die here in the States don't take the MSF Litte fact, In the state of Florida, no rider has died, who has taken the MSF I think in like 2 or 3 years. That's pretty stunning. I would dig up some links but I'm sorry I have a final in an hour. :(

If my company didn't require a car for my job, I would cycle to work everyday.

Which brings up my everyday mode of transportation. Sure there's a little risk involved, but if you really want great gas mileage, take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course at your local Community College and then get yourself a bike. I'm averaging about 65mpg per tank right now and it's a hell of a lot more fun than driving a Prius.

The first video i watched shows this guy squeezing by a car waiting to turn left like he's a bicyclist, not a motorcyclist. Bad, bad, habit. That's the sort of behavior that entices car drivers to open doors as you pass with only six inches clearance.

Save that video. it's going to be excellent footage for the MSF on what not to do if you'd like to have a long life of motorcycling.

The number one cause of injury in motorcycle accidents is motorcycles being ridden by riders who have not trained themselves how to ride. Inexperience and ignorance are why get people hurt on motorcycles.

If the government and it's citizens want to make a law regarding safe motorcycle use, require all license applicants to take a 6 week motorcycle safety riding/training course as offered by the MSF.

Support your local A.B.A.T.E chapter or other Motorcycle Rights Organization.

Let those who ride decide!

With witty lines like that, I can't believe the poster refrained from making reference to 'murdercycles'. Helmets are largely a nonissue WRT motorcycle safety these days. They are 'safe enough', provided they are worn. (I'd like to ride in a state with helmet choice, but I'd always choose a lid.)

There are three issues that overwhelmingly appear in motorcycle fatalities. The first is alcohol. Alcohol use BY THE MOTORCYCLIST is the number one rider controllable factor in fatalities. Eliminate alcohol, and you eliminate 25% or more of motorcycle fatalities and accidents. That is why Harley does its customers a disservice by providing beer tents at events. Because of the number of factors a rider must juggle, the effects of alcohol are more readily apparant on bikes than cars.

The next issue is ignorance by other road users, primarily passenger vehicle operators. Nope, bikers aren't getting squashed by semis, they're getting squashed by SUVs and minivans. I've long been a proponent of tougher licensing standards in the US.

And the final issue is rider skill. Riders who are self taught or taught by friends and family are over six times as likely to be involved in an accident. That's why the MSF came into being. Yes, I'm an instructor, no, I don't speak on their behalf.

The value of HUDs, particularly WRT driver/rider safety at highway speeds found in the US (where this inventor is located) is of questionable. Lack of access to engine and/or vehicle statistics doesn't even appear in any accident statistics. Sure, this is a neat toy, but judging by the writing by the AC submitter, I think he's just pissed at having been passed by even the most mundane of motorcycles.

most people who ride sportbikes are better drivers than those who tool around in 2 ton cages. it is the idiots in cars driving 110mph (running reds, not looking, reading the paper, etc) that kill the "crotch rocket" riders. see this site for the type of training motorcyclists go through:

Motorcycle Safety Foundation

if everyone had to ride a motorcycle for a while, they'd gain a HUGE respect for driving, when they realize how often stupid drivers nearly kill motorcyclists. which would you prefer? ignorant reckless drivers, or a driver who's riden, knows how stupid other drivers are, and how to pay attention?

As a motorcycle enthusiast, I will tell you that according to the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, which is the most respected motorcycle instruction course in the USA, one of the best things you can do to improve your visibility to others is to ride with the high beam on in day time, and when no traffic is near at night. I'm sorry to inform you, but YES blinding you with a headlight is the way to keep you from hitting us, since by your own admission, you SEE us.

As for the helmet, you must be one of those misinformed people who actually believe helmets should be mandatory by law. Before I begin, I admit that I wear my helmet on a regular basis. However, let me tell you why many states are repealing their mandatory helmet laws recently. The official statistics from the biggest proponent of helmet laws is the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)contradict their own viewpoint. Their data shows that states WITH mandatory helmet laws have a HIGHER motorcycle fatality rate than states without such laws. In order to pass a Department of Transportation (DOT) certification test, helmets must be able to withstand an impact of 12 miles per hour. When is the last time you saw a fatal motorcycle wreck at 12mph? The DOT certification is a joke. For that matter, so is SNELL (higher standards than DOT, but just as useless). In a controlled environment, such as a motorcycle race where everyone is on similar machines and going the same direction, yes, helmets are a valuable asset. But take a 400 pound motorcycle and put it on an interstate highway where a sleepy trucker veers his 18 ton semi into the oncoming lane, and I will guarantee you, helmet or no helmet, the motorcycle will lose that dogfight.

Check your statistics before you go off on a diatribe on something you obviously know nothing about.

Weigh the inconvenience of scanning against the possible consequences of a get-off at speed. While I respect the position that people should be free to make their own decisions concerning (in this case) safety gear, to somehow associate with this position the idea that a rider ought not to wear a helmet is amazing. Frankly, tossing a bike away is a terrifying experience, one which I suspect many riders in the helmet-laws-are-evil camp simply haven't [yet] experienced.

Returning to the accident-avoidance topic, a significant number (I refrain from suggesting majority because I don't have the statistic in front of me) of motorcycle "accidents" are single-vehicle. Meaning that the rider failed to take some action which would have prevented the collision/highside/&c. In the case of the broadcast personality mentioned at the top of this thread, I believe the consensus was that he selected a poor line through a turn (continuing to run in staggered formation rather than apexing single-file), encountered gravel at the outer edge of the road surface, and washed. In other words, he made an error in judgment, possibly because he lacked experience or skill, and lost control. Better sensory information would have done nothing for him, because his decision-making process was faulty. To be blunt, his gear saved him from his own stupidity.

Combining this information with a post earlier in this thread, one might say that helmet use in this instance has interfered with Darwinian selection and caused a "problem" for organ donor programs. Please consider that the subject in question is a person's life, and to casually suggest that a person deserves to have their grey matter emptied onto a guard rail is, quite simply, offensive.

One last point, which seems to have escaped the other posts on this topic, is that full-face helmets protect from airborne debris. Being thwacked in the face by a pebble launched from the SUV in front of you is, to say the least, distracting. For those who have not ridden a modern motorcycle, the steering geometry on, say, a sportbike, is rather receptive to suggestion. Meaning that an ill-timed twitch on the part of the rider offers a nonzero probability of driving into another car, or a pedestrian, or the guard rail, and so forth. Full face protection goes a long way towards avoiding this response.

I can't say if legislative enforcement of helmet use is appropriate. But when forming your own opinion, try to base it on as much information as you can gather. There are costs to society associated with motorcycling injuries, but on the other hand, the matter at hand is someone's life. There exist riders who lack the experience needed to make good decisions concerning safety gear. If you don't like legislation, attempt to find other solutions to this problem. One obvious candidate is education, offered practically for free in my state by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation.

-jd
R6