Full or Open Face Helmet?

[meowguy_imp]

Why don't the Harley guys ever wear full face helmets? The only people I see wearing full face are riding "metric" bikes. When you do see a Harley guy wearing a helmet (only when required by law) it's one of those "in your face" half helmets that would only protect you if you fell off a bicycle.

A famous psychiatrist (Eric Erickson?) said all behavior has meaning. What does this behavior mean? It means "I frankly don't give a damn about myself and I don't give a damn about you." Myself because I am willing to spend the rest of my life in a constant vegetative state, and you because you are going to pay for it because I don't have any insurance.

A central component of H-D's marketing is to sell the lifestyle/image aspect of their products and they do so very successfully. As a result, many HD riders are buying the image as much or more as the bike. There are lots of riders who won't even look at other brands just because they aren't HD and, therefore, not part of the image/lifestyle. For example, if you randomly asked 100 people to describe what a typical HD rider looks like, you'd get a very consistent answer. If you asked them to describe what a typical Honda/Yamaha/Suzuki rider looks like, you'd get a blank stare. This is not to say all HD owners are like that. There are lots that just like a bike, they bought it, and it just happened to be a Harley.

The sad part is that the image requires a brain bucket helmet. On the other hand, how often do you see someone on a Goldwing wearing a full face helmet? So it isn't limited to the HD crowd

You are right the Goldwing crowd are into the lifestyle, but you rarely see them with no helmet even in states that do not require them. They go for an open face 3/4 most often with Blue Tooth.