So much for helmets! Worst I have EVER seen!

[Clark Kent]

Sorry about this.  

We should all look at this and think.

Don't let your kids or wife look at this!

http://media.putfile.com/Crash1' target='_blank'>Click here to watch 'Crash1'


CK

PS:  No simlies this time.

[Valker]

Looked like a cheap helmet, but I doubt the best in the world would have prevented that. The way he hit the sharp corner of that pole pretty much guaranteed that outcome.
I think this one needs MORE caution that first mentioned. NOTHING bothers me, and this one was sickening. :down:

[Marc S]

Didn't even bother to try the link, probably just as well.  Not a bad topic though.  Last summer I knew three people that were killed in motorcycle accidents.  In each case they were wearing their helmets but hell there is only so much they can do.  I still wouldn't leave home without one though.

Valker,

Since you are a MSF instructor, do you have any interesting statistics?  Do they know on average how much better your chances are with a helmet?  Any statistics regarding the different styles of helmets?  I also keep hearing that fatal accidents are up but the reports don't specify whether it's raw data or per capita so how are we really doing?  Do you know what percentage of riders actually have formal training?

Marc

can't get the website to work.

[Valker]

Originally posted by Digger
can't get the website to work.

[Valker]

Originally posted by Marc S
Since you are a MSF instructor, do you have any interesting statistics?  Do they know on average how much better your chances are with a helmet?  Any statistics regarding the different styles of helmets?  I also keep hearing that fatal accidents are up but the reports don't specify whether it's raw data or per capita so how are we really doing?  Do you know what percentage of riders actually have formal training?Marc

How much better? Well, that depends upon the type of accident. I will say that I know of three bikers who have fallen backwards while their bikes were stopped, either getting off when parking or losing their footing when stopped, who have died from head injuries. This was when stopped! Statistically, 41% of head impacts are on the part of the head NOT covered by an open face helmet. Fatal accidents are up, but I doubt whether any meaningful numbers will come of that until the new crash study is done by the government. My own feelings and observations on this are: many re-entry riders (rode back in the 60s & 70s, kids are gone now, time to ride again) still think they remember how to ride...I disagree. I see a bunch of them crashing within the first few months back on the bike. They are usually (at least in my area) wearing new $1000 leathers and a 'do rag'.
MOST riders do not have any formal training. In my experienced classes, I see riders with >10 years experience who have NO IDEA how to handle a motorcycle.

[rodeo1]

i highly recomend everyone take a course. no matter how many years you have ridden. i have over 40 years experience, so imagine how surprised i was to find out i had been cornering wrong all these years. the instructor showed me what i have been doing wrong and made a much better rider out of me.

we learn a lot of bad habits as we get older. we tend to think that with all these years under our belt, we know everything.

remember when a 650 was considered a "big" bike. remember when disc brakes were a new inovation ?

bikes have changed over the past 40 years, traffic has changed, roads have changed, peoples attitudes toward bikes have changed.

yup ! we all need a refresher once in a while.

dennis

[jwxspoon]

I second that.  The intermediate MSF course I took last year was fantastic.

jw

[jds]

Count me as a supportor of the MSF course. After having ridden for approx 25 years then stopping for 19. I retired and bought my 2001 I/S. I soon realized I needed help with my skills. I was embarrassed at first being the oldest rider in the class and on little 250's, (they were fun). That soon passed. I have comfidence now. Learned bad habits that I had not forgotten after being off all those years. Will be taking the advanced coarse in the near future.

[Marc S]

I know when I heard the brain is the consistancy of warm Jello I took notice.

Last fall I spent a week in the hospital from a spleen injury after hitting a deer 3 months earlier and I know that the spleen injury would have been minor compared to the head injuries I would've had if I'd not had a helmet on.  

As far as the MSF course, I took mine as soon as I could at age 16 and that was 8 years ago.  This morning I called about the experienced rider course and will enroll as soon as they start accepting admissions.  

Marc

[MGBRingo]

I am one of those riders who have not ridden for 30 years and bought an Interstate this time last year.  The first time I rode it I realized I did not know how to ride anymore.  My last bike was a large 250 Yamaha.  Seemed large at the time.

I took the safety class.  It was great.  I should have taken it way back when I rode the first time.

I will be signing up for the experiened class this coming summer and then every couple years after that.  I also bought the safety video.  That has some very good info.

If I have anything to do with it I am not going to be a statistic.  I ride much more conservatively than I used to.  I also bought the headlight modulator after riding for about a month.  That is the best investment I have made in a long time.  People quit pulling out in front of me.  I chuckle to myself daily about how long people wait for me to pass.  I highly recommend it.

By the way, I NEVER ride without my helmet.  All you have to do is experience a head injury of a close friend like I did and you will wear your helmet also.

[ossiningvalkyrie]

Have taken the advanced course twice in the last four years and each time was an eye opener.

I ride sometimes with an MSF instructor also who lets me know I am at the bottom of the class, but I am gettin better !!

He is my height 350 llbd and scrapes the piss out of  the floorboards on his road king,  Wish Valker lived near here it would be great to take a class from him

Plan to take it again but this time with my bushtec trailer this spring.

Hey Eric if you can make sweetwater how bout a countersteering class? or a 5mph u and s  turn clinic?


evan

[Valker]

Originally posted by ossiningvalkyrie
Have taken the advanced course twice in the last four years and each time was an eye opener.

I ride sometimes with an MSF instructor also who lets me know I am at the bottom of the class, but I am gettin better !!

He is my height 350 llbd and scrapes the piss out of  the floorboards on his road king,  Wish Valker lived near here it would be great to take a class from him

Plan to take it again but this time with my bushtec trailer this spring.

Hey Eric if you can make sweetwater how bout a countersteering class? or a 5mph u and s  turn clinic?


evan

Evan, I can't make Sweetwater as my wife's ONE weekend that she has had planned since last summer is THAT weekend! I think we need to get together some time just for teaching each other stuff. I really like the Ride Like a Pro DVDs, although live class is still better.
Best countersteering exercise??? The New ERC has as an exercise a one handed offset weave. That one is an eye opener for most folks.