Vintage BMW Motorcycle Owners

I have a Davida pudding bowl helmet I have for riding around the small town I live in. Don't care about DOT approval, it seems fine to me. My state doesn't require a helmet, but I always wear one. I also recently bought a BMW helmet that is not DOT approved, I love this one as well. DOT to me is more about the outrageous fees for approval. The helmets are just fine.

I love the idea of wearing an inferior helmet because "It's only a short ride" or "just around the neighborhood." How long do you think a crash takes?

The one time I lost the front end on a ride I was really glad to be wearing full protection, including a full face helmet. It might not look quite as cool. Ask me if i care.

-J

A pudding bowl is probably pretty good protection against bird poop, but I don't think I would expect much protection to my skull in a serious crash. But it's your head.

miller6997 wrote: ↑

Sat Dec 12, 2020 11:14 pm

A pudding bowl is probably pretty good protection against bird poop, but I don't think I would expect much protection to my skull in a serious crash. But it's your head.

Unfortunately a full face helmet gets you some protection for a 6ft drop on your head right with average body weight. Slightly more than bird poop I guess, but it's not exactly a guarantee of anything. Just trying to put the risk in a real perspective.

You are certainly right that nothing is guaranteed, even with the best helmet, but it's also true that a well engineered full-face will offer a lot more protection than a minimal helmet that was designed sixty or more years ago. I guess it depends on how much protection you think your skull merits. I would be inclined to wear the Schuberth and put the Davida on the seat for the concours display.

I like Davida helmets, they seem pretty cool to wear but need legal certifications to ride in the US. Since it is a little risky, I would not go for an open face helmet.

miller6997 wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 14, 2020 12:20 am

You are certainly right that nothing is guaranteed, even with the best helmet, but it's also true that a well engineered full-face will offer a lot more protection than a minimal helmet that was designed sixty or more years ago. I guess it depends on how much protection you think your skull merits. I would be inclined to wear the Schuberth and put the Davida on the seat for the concours display.

I agree, the Davida is basically equivalent to a baseball hat. Those helmets, which were obsolete by the early 1970's, don't have any concept of modern neurological medicine and were intended to prevent lacerations and give the rider some relief from high speed airflow, not concussive forces.

The data on full face is undeniable. Vast majority of motorcycle accidents are low speed and include blunt force trauma. You can prevent death by about 40% in accidents with full face, but this is based on all speeds. You'll get the maximum protection effect at low speeds, which is the situation you will be in most of the time, which makes perfect sense. 70% of facial injuries can be prevented by good full face with real chin protection.

The problem is high speeds and everyone needs to understand that above about 25mph everything changes and any mistakes are usually always extremely serious. That's where the Davida and a Schuberth achieve a kind of safety parity.

Ironically, there is a bizarre relationship between low and speed in terms of ergonomic benefits in terms of vision and awareness. At low speeds, we don't need any aerodynamic aids and in general its better to not have a helmet on for general awareness (but obviously not safety, as this is the most probable time in which accidents occur). At high speeds, it's the exact opposite- our situational perceptions drastically reduce with aerodynamic forces, noise, etc. There we need the full face to even be comfortable- and it aids in our ability to perceive the surroundings.

The site I like the most for helmet safety is: https://sharp.dft.gov.uk/ and I use it often. Good tests and a good website...

A full-face helmet is the safest type of helmet. Since you ride only for short trips. you should check the legal laws of an approved helmet in your area. If I were in your place, I would care about wearing a DOT-approved helmet.

IMO...folks wear old timey helmets for the same reason they put tractor seats on bikes that almost never used that type of seat
Vintage novelty trumps reasonable function especially if u look more than ride.
I also have a SHOEI full face helmet. Fits gud, quiet & auto darken.
to each their own
look both ways twice !
b