moderator change / manifesto/ fishing trip/skulls & bones/nklr

[sleeths2]

Hey gang, Which type of helmet is best for dual sport riding, motocross or regular street (full face)? I anticipate riding about 80% street and 20% off road. I don't really want to buy two helmets. Will a full face street helmet be just as good off road? Obviously the two are designed for their specifically intended uses but being new to motorcycles, I don't understand why the difference in design is necessary. I've never done any dirtbike riding so I have no idea why a motocross helmet is better designed for this type of riding. I'm willing to be educated if anyone cares to respond! Steve

[Devon Jarvis]

You need goggles for dust. Goggles don't work with a street full-face. You need lots of ventilation for offroad riding, since it's physical work and you ride a lot slower than on the highway. When you get overheated, you get tired much more quickly. Street helmets don't flow enough air at low speeds to keep you cool. I rode half of an enduro with a street helmet on. It was a mistake. KJ rode the entire Curly Fern dual-sport ride (90 miles of sand, whoops, and tight woods trails in 90deg heat) in a street helmet, and he'll tell you it was the wrong helmet. Dirt helmets flow so much air that you have to use earplugs on the highway or risk hearing damage. They would be freezing cold in the winter. The windblast grabs the visor and the chinbar, and twists you neck a it when you turn your head much over 50. Rain at highway speed feels like rocks hitting your face. Fullface street helmets are quieter, more weatherproof, and have more comfortable padding. There are good dual-sport helmets (will fit goggles, but also have a faceshield that seals out the rain) but they are discontinued in the US so I won't bother. Tumu has one. For long trail rides, if I have a place to stash saddlebags I'll wear a street helmet to get to the start, then change for the ride. I wear my MX helmet around the city in the summer, it's just so much more open and cool, even for street riding. Devon sleeths2 wrote:

> Hey gang, > > Which type of helmet is best for dual sport riding, motocross or > regular street (full face)? I anticipate riding about 80% street and > 20% off road. I don't really want to buy two helmets. Will a full face > street helmet be just as good off road? Obviously the two are designed > for their specifically intended uses but being new to motorcycles, I > don't understand why the difference in design is necessary. I've never > done any dirtbike riding so I have no idea why a motocross helmet is > better designed for this type of riding. > > I'm willing to be educated if anyone cares to respond! > > Steve

[Matthew]

I recomend owning 2 helmets. Even on the highway i like the open face. Its what i use most of the time. I REALLY need to start wearing the ear plugs. When its cold or rainy the full face is a life saver. I recently got my first WACK of rain at 70mph with the open face on. It also just happend to be one of those large drops.. Man its suprisingly painful. Dont even get me started on drogon flys at the same speed. Luckily I got it in the shoulder. Matthew ===== ----------------------------------------------------------- For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. john 3:16 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better http://health.yahoo.com

[mbakarich]

Yep, two helmets. A pain in the ass, but worth it. You don't have to spend a fortune either. Probably spend more on the street helmet, on account of you probably going faster in traffic. Shop around and you can find a decent full face for $150-300. MX helmets are usually cheaper, but will also need the full chin protection. Make sure each helmet has both the DOT and SNELL approved stickers. Some folks only wear Aria$$$, others are fine with JHC$. Like a lot of other shtuff, you pay your money and take your chances. Just wear one that fits well and keep the darn thing strapped on snug. Mark. A11, Shoei TZ1 fullface street, white w/ mirror visor, THH T660 full MX, grey, w/ Scott goggles, ...and disposable orange foam ear plugs, always.

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., matthew wrote: > I recomend owning 2 helmets. Even on the highway i > like the open face. Its what i use most of the time. I > REALLY need to start wearing the ear plugs. > > When its cold or rainy the full face is a life saver. > I recently got my first WACK of rain at 70mph with the > open face on. It also just happend to be one of those > large drops.. Man its suprisingly painful. > Dont even get me started on drogon flys at the same > speed. Luckily I got it in the shoulder. > Matthew > > > > > ===== > ----------------------------------------------------------- > For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. john 3:16 > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better > http://health.yahoo.com

[sherparider]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., Devon Jarvis wrote:

> Dirt helmets flow so much air that you have to use earplugs on > the highway or risk hearing damage.

Full-face helmets, without exception, require the use of earplugs on the highway, too. Audiometric tests have shown that all helmets create enough noise to damage your hearing very quickly at highway speeds (on bikes where the windshield doesn't create a dead-air zone for your head, ie. the KLR).

[sherparider]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "sleeths2" wrote:

> Which type of helmet is best for dual sport riding, motocross or > regular street (full face)? I anticipate riding about 80% street and > 20% off road.

That pretty much describes my riding. Buy the full-face: it's far more comfortable on the highway, and for the off-road, it at least offers good branch-facesmack protection, even if it is a little warm. That ER trauma doctors refer to the lower part of the face as the "crumple zone" gives you an idea of the kind of damage that happens to the jaw and nasal areas in an accident...

[klrz4ever]

--- In DSN_klr650@y..., "sleeths2" wrote:

> Hey gang, > > Which type of helmet is best for dual sport riding, motocross or > regular street (full face)? I anticipate riding about 80% street

and

> 20% off road. I don't really want to buy two helmets. Will a full

face

> street helmet be just as good off road?

I'll just add my 2 cents to all the other good info you've gotten. I'd buy a full-face first since most of your riding will be street. And if you're new to motorcycling, you can do some easy offroad stuff in a full face without problems. I rode 500 miles of dirt roads in Utah last summer in a full face helmet, touring style, not motocross. All helmets sold here meet the DOT standard, some meet Snell. Whether that's important is an issue of debate in the motorcycling community. More expensive helmets usually have more features, and the features (like vents) tend to work better. Don't buy based on price or graphics. Buy based on fit. If it doesn't fit right, it won't be comfortable or protect well. There are good write-ups on fit at www.bellhelmets.com and www.araiamericas.com. Ear plugs in any helmet will save your hearing for important stuff like rock 'n roll. Happy shopping! __Arden Kysely

[Mark Cheramy]

I rode with a MSR system 3.0 MX helmet for about a year and half. Never used earplugs even when I rode out to Moab. Stu finally showed me the light when it comes to earplugs. Man what a difference! Long freeway stretches are better by about 200%. I still don't like to wear them at around town and I can't wear them off road (it messes up my balance), but for long stretches, I'll never be without them again. I'm thinking of getting some of those custom fitted ones with the little speakers inside. When my MX helmet got ran over by a number of semi's I bought the HJC Symax convertable. For me it works great, no visor to get jerked around on the freeway, and I can flip up the face at lower speeds to get that "no helmet" feel. I bought a Troy Lee Designs helmet visor tape graphic that goes over the top 1" of the faceshield that acts almost as good as a visor for blocking out the sun. (electrical tape works just as well). My current helmet choice was based on compromise. Yes I like the MX helmet more for off road riding, but the problem is many times you have to ride quite a stretch to get to the off road. Also, I took a realistic look at my riding habits: I'm about 80% on road and 20% off. So the flip up was the answer for me.

----- Original Message ----- From: sherparider Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 9:08 AM To: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subject: [DSN_klr650] Re: Newbie question about helmets-NKLR --- In DSN_klr650@y..., "sleeths2" wrote: > Which type of helmet is best for dual sport riding, motocross or > regular street (full face)? I anticipate riding about 80% street and > 20% off road. That pretty much describes my riding. Buy the full-face: it's far more comfortable on the highway, and for the off-road, it at least offers good branch-facesmack protection, even if it is a little warm. That ER trauma doctors refer to the lower part of the face as the "crumple zone" gives you an idea of the kind of damage that happens to the jaw and nasal areas in an accident... Checkout Dual Sport News at http://www.dualsportnews.com Be part of the Adventure! Visit the KLR650 archives at http://www.xmission.com/~dkenison/cgi/lwgate.cgi/KLR650/archives/ Post message: DSN_klr650@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: DSN_klr650-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Unsubscribe: DSN_klr650-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com List owner: DSN_klr650-owner@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Devon Jarvis]

Or as I read somewhere, Q- What do helmets and sinuses have in common? A- They both crush on impact to protect your brain. As someone who has seen the pavement sliding by, 2" from my face on the other side of the faceshield, I will never wear an open face helmet on the street. I've hit trees face-first twice, and the reason I rode away from both spills was a full-face MX helmet and armour. I look like a total idiot riding around (I wear the MX helmet and armour in the summer, instead of an armoured leather jacket). I have been asked why I dress like somebody from American Gladiators (I'm 5'7" 150lb), or a Power Ranger, or a Rollerball contestant. Someone asked if the tube clipped to my packpack strap was an oxygen supply But my favorite is the guy who saw me dressed like this, splattered with mud, and said "you got to get a Harley". Devon sherparider wrote:

> > That ER trauma doctors refer to the lower part of the face as the "crumple zone" gives you an idea of the kind of damage that happens to the jaw and nasal areas in an accident... >

[millerized_2000]

I heard it here first, but my personal favorite comeback to that is: "No thanks, I still have a working penis" You want to stand some people on their ass, that will do it. Just make sure that if they're bigger than you, you've got back-up. millerized

> > But my favorite is the guy who saw me dressed like this, splattered

with

> mud, and said "you got to get a Harley". >