Open Face Crash

[DAC]

You're absolutely right. Motorcycling is a risky activity. We all enjoy it and understand the risks. We can mitigate those risks to a great extent. We can get trained up. We can not drink and ride. We can gear up. We can avoid riding at night. On and on and on.

For my part, most of my loved ones let me back into this sport with some misgivings. The rest will never be comfortable with it. My wife rides and faces the same thing.

The first time I get hurt, those same people will be very difficult when I want back on. And I hope I will want back on.

As far as wanting to minimize the gear we wear a bit? Well, I get it. It's such a visceral thing that less between you and the experience enhances it somehow.

So make your choice and godspeed.

[Tortuga_imp]

You're absolutely right. Motorcycling is a risky activity. We all enjoy it and understand the risks. We can mitigate those risks to a great extent. We can get trained up. We can not drink and ride. We can gear up. We can avoid riding at night. On and on and on.

For my part, most of my loved ones let me back into this sport with some misgivings. The rest will never be comfortable with it. My wife rides and faces the same thing.

The first time I get hurt, those same people will be very difficult when I want back on. And I hope I will want back on.

As far as wanting to minimize the gear we wear a bit? Well, I get it. It's such a visceral thing that less between you and the experience enhances it somehow.

So make your choice and godspeed.

Very well put. I'm wrestling with my 'wild side' and my 'sensible Cyril' side. One wants to kill me. The other wants to neuter every experience in life...

[ThomWill_imp]

As I think we have discussed at length in another thread, it is not dying that gives me the chills... The overall mortality rate is still a solid 100%. It is the "not quite dying" scenario that gives me pause, but not enough to make me put the kickstand back down.

[Tortuga_imp]

As I think we have discussed at length in another thread, it is not dying that gives me the chills... The overall mortality rate is still a solid 100%. It is the "not quite dying" scenario that gives me pause, but not enough to make me put the kickstand back down.

Hey, look at Michael Schumacher, spent years risking like and limb as Formula 1 champion, then retired a few years back and bangs his head skiing. Been in a medically induced coma for months, and just left hospital yesterday, obviously a cabbage by all accounts. Sorry for the graphic language but this just illustrates how the things we fear may not be the things that get us.

Ever seen '1000 ways to die' on TV?

[ThomWill_imp]

Oh, I get it, life is totally uncertain. 23 years ago I lost a son at 17 Months old to a very rare and very fast moving bacterial infection. Mor recently my wife and I got run off the road last year in our full sized SUV. She has a leg that has been totally rebuilt and looking at the photos of the vehicle and crash site neither of us should have survived it. After those things the rest of our lives are to be fully enjoyed. I do laugh when people tell me they don't wear a helmet because at high speeds it will not save them... When you fall over in the parking lot at 3 MPH, that is when you will feel pretty silly about dying.

[emptysea]

The OP asked if any of us have crashed in an open face helmet. I have not. Nor have I crashed in a full face helmet. I think my survival odds are better with a full face helmet so that's what I wear and it makes me feel safer. You should do what feels right for you. You want to be comfortable and possibly fashionable, but you don't want to be second-guessing your gear choices on the road...you have too many other, more important, things to think about.

[Gingersdaddy_imp]

There is risk in everything for sure and sometimes, even with the best of gear you might not recover. I spent 6 years after I quit racing dirt track cars, begging and pleading with my wife to finally agree to let me even look at a motorcycle. She, being a nurse has seen the very worst that can happen. She has ridden with me and likes riding a great deal, she often comments on how differently I drive the motorcycle. I just try to be as safety conscious as I can even though I don't always wear all the right gear. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Wear what you want to wear and have fun.

[thumper_imp]

All of us have an internal "Risk Manager." And as I like to say often, we are all products of our experiences.

The OP asked about crashing in an open-faced helmet. I don't believe I've ever owned one, and at this point in my life I never will. But, I know a CHP officer who crashed his motor (t-boned in an intersection, went over the hood of the car), and had to have numerous reconstructive surgeries to his jaw/chin area.

My interal Risk Manager will allow me to violate a few speed limits on a back road, but he always says "no" to drinking while riding, and wearing sub-standard riding gear.

He's funny that way.

[rboe]

I have. Did a header over the handlebars when a pickup clipped my bike. Landed on my face and tumbled. I had on the big amber bubble visor with a flip up option. Shattered the bubble. Got a cut on my cheek from the shattering, black eye, broken ribs etc. This was in 78 I think.

After that accident I went full face and never looked back. Dress for the accident, not the ride. You don't get to choose how you'll crash and in most cases you aren't even allowed to react. Just recover. Stats be damned (I find them useful), the facts are we are very ill equipped to survive a good crash compared to a car with air bags, seat belts, crumple zones etc. so I think it makes perfect sense to grab the advantages that you can and hope you never need to test them.

[CIP57_imp]

I rode today 90 degrees humid with a half hat mesh jacket and jeans. Not the way i like to ride its just more comfortable.