To all of those members who scolded me for the post i did on helmets, i want to say thank you for saving my life. MY 07 1000 rr is my first street bike,and i didn't like wearing the helmet at first plus the guys at my work that i ride with made fun of me for wearing it. But after i heared all your commets about wearing one i thought since you'll wore yours then i should wear mine to. Anyways i was riding down I95 last night going about 70mph when i came up along side of this 18 wheeler. He blew a trailer tire when i was next to him,which sounded like a damn atom bomb,and before i could react i was hit in the face with a huge piece of rubber from his tire. It hit me so hard it broke my face shield and about knocked me off my bike. If i hadn't been wearing my helmet it would of knocked me out or off my bike,and i would be dead right now. It it hadn't been for all of you i wouldn't of been wearing it,so thank you. I am now going to the honda shop when it opens and buying some leathers to go along with it.

P.s Hey baxsom if my wife is still over there please send her home ,she does all the cooking around here and i'm fricken starving!

 

Glad to hear you're alright. Helmets do save lives.

 

wow that is crazy - im glad you are ok and you didnt go down! I have had many rig's blow tires around me but all have been when I was in my car. I would probaly crap my pants if I was on my bike.

 

it takes a real man to admit that and i give you props.. it always take that first time to when you drop the bike to realize how fatigue your body is, but thank god your safe and now your investing in leathers.

hope the bike is alright too, ride safe man.

 

Great post. Thanks for sharing that.

 

Amazing story, glad your alright. Are you walking fine? Your nutz for buying a 1000 for ur first street bike, and even thinking about riding with no helmet....but thanks for sharing, I dont know the whole story but I hate 18 wheelers, I try to get out of their as much as possible/ if its a 3 to four lane, I try and pass them on the far end somehow, and when passing them, I pick up speed to pass them by.
Good luck. hope to hear u get back in the saddle.

 

I got hit on the face shield with a piece of rubber that a car kicked up on my last trip to Mid-Ohio and the same thought went through my mind about how much that would have hurt!

 

mythbusters has an esipode of a tire explosion near a car window - and it can snap your neck into two (buster got F***ed up)

 

I'm not one to usually care whether someone wants to wear a helmet or not. If they want to make the decision to not wear it, I could really care less unless it's a good friend. But what really pisses me off is people that tease someone for wearing one. You said that the people at your work gave you crap about wearing a helmet. That is completely uncalled for. There is no reason that people should tease about the desire to wear a helmet.

I want to comment on this because I get that sometimes from mostly the Harley crowd around here (Ohio, no helmet laws). I find it terrible that they stoop to a level of encouraging others to be as unsafe as them so that they feel better about themselves. Like I said, I'm not gonna come preach to anyone about the benefits of a helmet, and in return I expect to be left alone about my decision to wear one. I do sometimes ride without a helmet on short trips (I live 4 blocks from where I work downtown) and feel like an idiot every time I see someone with a helmet on. I would NEVER tell the helmeted rider that he should take his helmet off.

There are a lot of other reasons to wear a helmet other than safety, which I think helmetless riders don't realize. First, I think someone with matched helmet and jacket looks way cooler than the person without. +1 for every other item you have on that matches your helmet and jacket. +2 if the whole getup matches your bike. That's sweet. Second, I got sick of getting hit in the face with crap, be it a bug or the truck dumping sand in front of you or the washer fluid from the chic that apparently doesn't realize that it hits you or whatever. I just like to be able to get where I'm going and not have to wash my face from the ride. I hear that chics aren't into the whole dirty face thing. Third, a surprising amount of people that see you carrying your helmet will show you respect as a rider as opposed to the disdain that they have for squids. Common folk may not know what the term squid means, but they still know one when they see one. And lastly, I can listen to my iPod with a helmet on. I have gotten more people to start wearing helmets with this than anything else. Once they see you are able to jam out while riding, it is instant jealously. It's not necessarrily legal to ride with earphones in, but it's a hell of a lot easier to get away with when they are covered by a helmet.

I ride a black 1000 with the Joe Rocket CBR jacket in the white/silver/black and have a Scorpion white/silver/black helmet with the chrome shield and an Axio forza hardpack in the white/silver/black with black gloves that I use as my daily ride outfit. Add in some jeans and black sketchers and I think that is one hell of a good looking setup. Safety aside, I like the way it looks and I get more compliments about the gear than about the bike. I think we've reached the point where it's no longer cumbersome to wear gear like it may have been years ago and it's almost more about cool new style than safety. I think it's becoming cool, even in states without helmet laws, to wear helmets and gear.

Anyway, sorry to ramble on. I meant to just say that no matter what the reason you wear your gear, nobody should tell you not to or make fun of you. Especially other riders. Now you got a firsthand experience with road debris that would have left one of those guys without half his face. That would have looked really cool as opposed to wearing a helmet.

It's big of you to not listen to them and to make smart decisions on your own, especially in the beginning. Nice job!

 

Thats a great story.

I will bet you did have to change your shorts afterwards.[8D]

Didn't the Federal Government just sign some legislation that will force the states to all have helmet laws or else. I just heard that the other day.
It happened now because there is some kind of multi year(?) study that showed that those without helmets have a50% chance of dieing. Those with helmets had an 80% chance of surviving. Something like that anyway. I wouldn't feel comfortable with bugs hitting me at 70+ anyway. Everytime I get home after a ride I have to clean the bugs off my helmet and mesh jacket. No fun to clean that off your face and fromdown your shirt.