Also remember Helmets expire after 5 to 8 years, and if yours is expired, it's almost worthless in a crash
An older helmet is WAY better than no helmet. I would take a 20 year old full face helmet over a brand new half helmet in a crash. I like my face.
Yeah I am not saying don't wear a helmet if yours is expired, a 10 year old helmet is definitely better than no helmet. But if your helmet is expired and you are in a crash, it could affect your legal proceedings/compensation and increases your chances of getting a head injury. Afaik the part that actually expires is the foam that actually protects your head from head/brain injury.
I rode for about 15 years with expired helmets I would get from thrift stores and garage sales before I found it they wouldn't help much in a crash. I was, however, in a minor crash where the expired helmet (Shoei) held up and probably saved me from a concussion. So better something than nothing.
That's why even though I ride a cruiser I wear a full face helmet. I am glad there are more casual looking full face helmets instead of only sport bike looking ones. No more excuse of "it ruins the style" or whatever.
I've got I've that looks a bit like this. ATGATT means a full-face helmet. That's why I have a face, on account of using it for an unconventional braking technique after a high-side caused by getting sideswiped by an SUV.
"unconventional braking technique", lol, I think we've all used that on occasion.
And we all have brown pants because of it.
Oh, I was talking about using my face to reduce my speed as I was going down the highway, with my bike catching up to me. No brown pants but a good 18hr hospital stay.
Tried to cuddle with your new cat?
And miss out on some cool brain matter scars?
A guy without scars is a guy without stories
In my experiences, the helmet is the least needed piece of gear. By that I mean, definitely also wear armoured jacket, pants, gloves, and boots. With all that and a helmet, you'll only need to worry about breaking bones, which is nothing in comparison to the other outcomes. Neglect the other gear and you'll wish you didn't wear a helmet.
Edit: Hm, apparently a lot of.Lemmingtons need to wear helmets off the bike too, or make it past the first line of a comment before reacting, or there's a lot of squids here.
If you skip the helmet the only thing your gear is doing is leaving an intact corpse
Conversely, neglect the helmet and there's a good chance that you will become a significant financial burden on your family due to a TBI.
