Time to grow up: FIM rated helmet choices

[Mtneers]

He was, but I was too close to capture his feet lol. I pulled up beside him at a traffic light, lifted the visor on my white $125 HJC modular helmet, while wearing my $89 Tourmaster mesh Hi Viz jacket, $30 Olympia mesh gloves, $30 Wrangler blue jeans and $50 Bass Pro Shop boots and chatted while the light was green.

I would venture to say everyone on this board dresses safer than this guy, but in the end we all are at risk, and we all feel we have protected ourselves adequately to our own satisfaction.

Tell me why this guy was riding with license plates on the bike and his back? Pulled up behind him at a stoplight in Ironton, OH.


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[tod.branko_imp]

He was, but I was too close to capture his feet lol. I pulled up beside him at a traffic light, lifted the visor on my white $125 HJC modular helmet, while wearing my $89 Tourmaster mesh Hi Viz jacket, $30 Olympia mesh gloves, $30 Wrangler blue jeans and $50 Bass Pro Shop boots and chatted while the light was green.

I would venture to say everyone on this board dresses safer than this guy, but in the end we all are at risk, and we all feel we have protected ourselves adequately to our own satisfaction.

Tell me why this guy was riding with license plates on the bike and his back? Pulled up behind him at a stoplight in Ironton, OH.


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Tell me why this guy was riding with license plates on the bike and his back? Pulled up behind him at a stoplight in Ironton, OH.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Obviously he is a motor vehicle himself - a tank!

'14 CB1100 STD 5 speed

[misterprofessionality]

I spent more last October on my current helmet (Shoei Neotec II Excursion) than I’ve ever spent on one before. No regrets. Light and fits great. Not sure how you an assign a value to your head.


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Funny... one time I heard of a wrongful death case. The plaintiffs were asking for several million dollars for recompense for the loss of their loved one. Before passing judgement, the judge asked if the deceased had any life insurance. The plaintiff's attorney said, Yes he did your honor, but only in the amount of $ 50,000.00. The judge thought about it a minute and said, so he valued his own life at $50,000 but you feel it's worth several million now that he's dead?

What has this got to do with buying a helmet? It's the same as trying to place a value on your head, and it's the same argument for buying any piece of gear..Shuberth, Caberg, Arai, Bell, Shark or HJC, Aerostitch, Klim, Tourmaster or Joe Rocket, Dainese, Alpinestars, Sidi or Bilt, Black gear, red gear, silver gear or Hi Viz gear, air bag gear.

99% of motorcycle riders buy gear based on affordability, style, color, fit, or comfort. Very few will choose items based strictly on safety. There are a few, but I see weaknesses in nearly everyone's protective gear wardrobe, including my own. Buying safety gear is a balancing act, and few of us have very good balance. We choose our gear based on our priorities and we take our chances.

What do ya think this guy thinks his life is worth?

My head is certainly worth the money I spend on my Aria Signet X helmet , fits perfectly and well made , perhaps other riders think that their head is worth a lot less. It is YOUR choice !

Ok gang, I've pulled a few excerpts from your posts to try to respond to you all at once. Maybe I can explain my feelings on this better if I focus on this one common thread.

It isn't really a matter of placing a value on my head. What im seeing is the perception that im saying a safe helmet is only worth X dollars and no more.. That isn't strictly true. What I've been assessing this whole time is how much skepticism I should have about the true value (and, as i found the diminishing returns) of high end helmets. It isn't that im putting a dollar value on safety. Im questioning whether these helmets actually deliver a safety level thats reflected in their cost.

For example....MTC makes a point about the incremental safety difference between snell 2015 and FIM. Youre correct that it's a small difference in safety....but of a helmet only delivers Snell 2015 levels of safety, and its $800, then why in the heck wouldn't I just buy a helmet that delivers snell 2020 safety for $500 ? What value really is there in am inferior overpriced helmet? What I've really been discussing this whole time is the **COMPARATIVE** Value of helmets. Not the value of helmets vs the value of my head.

I set out looking for the BEST that the market has to offer, because I took a look at the market and saw that the BEST helmets are readily available for around $800. If this is true, then it becomes pointless and in fact wasteful to pay $800 unless you n fact get the BEST. Paying full price for sub-optimal makes no sense, when sub-optimal is already available at a reduced rate. (Remember, this entire discussion is assessing safety level vs. Cost, so im not really balancing comfort or aesthetics against safety). Houtmans Arai Signet fits him. To him it's the BEST fit and the BEST quality. So he paid a premium to get a premium. If youre shopping for the best fit, would ypu pay $800 for a suboptimal fitting helmet when a $500 helmet fits just as good? I dont think so. It just so happens that ypu were able to find your perfect fit.

What I ended up concluding was simply that the best in the world just wasn't within my reach. So why spend more money when the returns aren't proportional? I spent $459 on a new Shoei RF1400....rather than $800 on a shoei X14. With the extra money I upgraded my old, cheap, questionable summer jacket to a much higher quality new one, and had cash to spare.. My $800 purchased significantly more safety than it would have if I Hadn't scrutinized the value of these helmets and judged them on their incremental merits, no matter how small those increments. Getting more for less isn't putting a price on my head, it's the opposite. Its valuing my body enough to do the legwork and squeeze the most out of my purchase.

[the Ferret]

well put Mr P

[misterprofessionality]

I really need to use some of my leftover funds to get a license plate for my jacket tho

[Houtman_imp]

I’m betting he’s wearing sandals.


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I bet that he had loud pipes to save lives ( question who's live )

[the Ferret]

Of course he did. That's SOP around here.

[GoldOxide_imp]

... and don't forget to protect the neck during and after impact.

[Mscb1100_imp]

Funny... one time I heard of a wrongful death case. The plaintiffs were asking for several million dollars for recompense for the loss of their loved one. Before passing judgement, the judge asked if the deceased had any life insurance. The plaintiff's attorney said, Yes he did your honor, but only in the amount of $ 50,000.00. The judge thought about it a minute and said, so he valued his own life at $50,000 but you feel it's worth several million now that he's dead?

What has this got to do with buying a helmet? It's the same as trying to place a value on your head, and it's the same argument for buying any piece of gear..Shuberth, Caberg, Arai, Bell, Shark or HJC, Aerostitch, Klim, Tourmaster or Joe Rocket, Dainese, Alpinestars, Sidi or Bilt, Black gear, red gear, silver gear or Hi Viz gear, air bag gear.

99% of motorcycle riders buy gear based on affordability, style, color, fit, or comfort. Very few will choose items based strictly on safety. There are a few, but I see weaknesses in nearly everyone's protective gear wardrobe, including my own. Buying safety gear is a balancing act, and few of us have very good balance. We choose our gear based on our priorities and we take our chances.

What do ya think this guy thinks his life is worth?

Not as much as this guys. I think he may have a turbocharge kit in the storage container and he on the way to have it installed. He's ATGATT

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[j3gq_imp]

Funny... one time I heard of a wrongful death case. The plaintiffs were asking for several million dollars for recompense for the loss of their loved one. Before passing judgement, the judge asked if the deceased had any life insurance. The plaintiff's attorney said, Yes he did your honor, but only in the amount of $ 50,000.00. The judge thought about it a minute and said, so he valued his own life at $50,000 but you feel it's worth several million now that he's dead?

What has this got to do with buying a helmet? It's the same as trying to place a value on your head, and it's the same argument for buying any piece of gear..Shuberth, Caberg, Arai, Bell, Shark or HJC, Aerostitch, Klim, Tourmaster or Joe Rocket, Dainese, Alpinestars, Sidi or Bilt, Black gear, red gear, silver gear or Hi Viz gear, air bag gear.

99% of motorcycle riders buy gear based on affordability, style, color, fit, or comfort. Very few will choose items based strictly on safety. There are a few, but I see weaknesses in nearly everyone's protective gear wardrobe, including my own. Buying safety gear is a balancing act, and few of us have very good balance. We choose our gear based on our priorities and we take our chances.

What do ya think this guy thinks his life is worth?

I think this thread has firmly established that it is impossible to just read the test reports, find the cash, and buy the “safest” helmet. Such a thing does not exist by any yard stick. And this makes it very hard to buy “based strictly on safety”, no matter how hard you try, how easy you part with your money, or how precious you value your life.