Most of us riders wear helmets thinking that we are safe but do the helmets really protects us fully or just partially? At what speeds or circumstances are they effective? Do they enhance or penalize our vital senses needed for riding safely? Can you find a helmet manufacturer that can guarantee the safety of your head if you use their product? Why do they manufacture different kinds of helmets if the enclosed one is the best? The line the says "your head is only worth $10 if you use a $10 helmet", is it true? Or is it just half-true and is just used as a marketing line to justify buying expensive helmets? In USA, some states don't require wearing helmets, are they all foolish with worthless heads?

Pros:
1. Protects head up to a certain limit
2. Protects eyes and face from dust, insects, etc. for helmets w/ visors
3. Lowers road noise on some models
4. Gives some aerodynamic advantages on some models
Cons:
1. May limit peripheral vision
2. May impair hearing
3. May be uncomfortable on some occasions
4. Doesn't protect neck and may cause neck injuries sometimes fatal

This list is not comprehensive and I want your inputs, opinions, experiences and other things that you can contribute for a more thorough understanding of helmets.

cons : mainit

We all agree that there are a lot of benefits in wearring a helmet.

Now for the cons... hmmnnnn.... one definite consequence is:

Hindi nakikita ng mga chicks ang kapogian ko bwahahaha!!! At nagugulo ang hairdo ko.

if the helmet is uncomfortable, then it does not fit well and you need to get another one with better fit.

the helmet does not protect the neck because it is just a helmet. you need a cervical spine brace for that, like what the F1 drivers wear.

of course the helmet can only give limited protection to the head. excessive impact can severely damage the helmet and transmit the forces into the head inside the helmet.

you have to remember that in the event of a crash, it is not only the head that gets injured. keeping the head safe does not guarantee survival in a crash. there are other vital organs in your body, that if severely injured, can lead to fatal injury.

more..more..more plss.. :)

Response to CONS
1. A helmet certified for motorcycle use guarantees that your peripheral vision isn't affected. unless your eye has muscular limitations, that don't allow you to move the eyeball into the corner of your eye.

2. A helmet does not impair hearing, unknown to most, but experienced by everyone who wears a motorcycle helmet, sound is not just heard through your ears, but is also heard through your skull as it passes through the helmet's hard outer shell.

3. Yes, it can be uncomfortable, but the prevention of a possible fatal head injury can make it worth while. But you could consider not having Facial and Dental reconstructive surgery is a definite plus too. :clap:

4. That is a side effect product of wearing one, but I still have to hear of a substantial amount of cases where deaths are caused by wearing a helmet. Most deaths are still caused by not wearing one. You can purchase accessories that reduce the chances of neck injuries while wearing a helmet, but this would greatly hinder the standard practice of doing head checks for blind spots.

Bracing the neck would mean you would have to twist your upper torso to look around, but I do understand that there is a neck brace fits on the lower half of your helmet that deploys like an air bag in the event of an accident.



Pros:
1. Protects head up to a certain limit
2. Protects eyes and face from dust, insects, etc. for helmets w/ visors
3. Lowers road noise on some models
4. Gives some aerodynamic advantages on some models
Cons:
1. May limit peripheral vision
2. May impair hearing
3. May be uncomfortable on some occasions
4. Doesn't protect neck and may cause neck injuries sometimes fatal

This list is not comprehensive and I want your inputs, opinions, experiences and other things that you can contribute for a more thorough understanding of helmets.

as far as i'm concerned...the CONs that were stated above can be associated with wearing helmets that doesn't fit a rider perfectly...

>modern helmets are designed to have bigger eyeports in order not to limit peripheral vision.
>Hearing may be impaired by wearing loose fitting helmet since there will be wind turbulence inside
>fitting a helmet before buying one is one way to avoid having an uncomfortable helmet

i'm sure the PROs would definitely outweigh whatever CONs there might be...

Sometime I find threads that i personally view as a "useless" debate or argument. And unfortunately, this is one of them....

Bottomline, a IF you ride, you should wear a Helmet because it was designed to do one thing.... Thats "Try to preserve the life of the person wearing it". And if we are starting a thread to satisfy other riders in the community the issue of not wanting to ride a Helmet coz there are people out there who do, then I can only say... "PASS THE POPCORN" !!!!

Yes, a helmet WILL have its limitations, BUT bottomline, its a scenario we will have to deal with up to such time that a Manufacturer will come out with a 360' Helmet thats clear yet sturdy & durable enough to do what its suppose to do.... I can only pray that im still alive when it does finally come out.

Last thing I want to point out, "You only have one head where your brain sits, without a Brain, there is no life, so protect you life".

but what if he's sitting on his brain?

the pros outweighs the cons. enough said. just wear your helmet. it could save your life.

Pros: Helmets with Graphics are cool!

I would not want to wear a helmet if it was just a solid color. But, there are some great designs on helmets that I just want to own it and wear it.

eh kung sa tindahan lang sir o palengke? sa kabilang kanto o sa sumonod na kanto..

Cons:
1. May limit peripheral vision
2. May impair hearing
3. May be uncomfortable on some occasions
4. Doesn't protect neck and may cause neck injuries sometimes fatal

1. No it does not limit peripheral vision. Im using one everyday and I dont think it limits my vision at any degree.
2. It does not impair hearing. Read the #6 post I believe in that.
3. I feel more comfortable wearing a helmet rather than not wearing one. I cant bare those insects or other debris hitting my face when I ride.
4. It does not protect the neck of course because it is just a helmet. It does not protect any other part of our body other than our head. So, we must wear other protective gears in order to protect other vital parts of our body.

The only cons I can think of about helmet is "quality helmets are really expensive".

I believe someone (on another thread) mentioned that your pretty face will not be seen if you're wearing a helmet, hence one more for the 'cons' list.

Then again, this becomes one of the 'pros', if you are 'facially challenged'. :O

para sakin, having a cheap helmet and using it is much better than not wearing any type of helmet at all... of course, investing in a DOT, SNELL or ECE certified helmet is much better because of the degree of safety that it will give your head in case of an accident. it doesn't mean you won't get killed, but it does raise your chances of survival...

there are always risks. we can only maximize the protection our helmet and the rest of our riding gears offer if we use it properly. how? by riding with discipline and obeying traffic rules. wag pasaway sa kalsada

Why did I start this thread? To know the advantages and disadvantages of helmets themselves and not, wearing or not wearing them. We all know that there are many different types of helmets and one type's pros may be another one's con. Many may have misunderstood my thread because of my last question and I hope this clarifies it. I hope the discussions here may help riders understand the uses, limits and types of helmets they need and not what brand and/or models which most of them ask in different threads.

Peripheral vision on full faced and modular helmets are very slightly impaired at the sides and more at the downward side because of the chin bar. For normal riding, that is good enough, but for critical situations, it may mean life or death.

Hearing is definitely lowered using closed type helmets. The argument that sounds travel on hard objects is true and in fact travels much faster on solid objects than on air. But this is only true to objects of high density so that the vibrations can be transmitted with little loss in intensity. But on a helmet, the shell maybe hard, but the inner lining is made of expanded polysterene or commonly known as styrofoam. The purpose of this lining is to absorb the energy of the impact in case of an accident. So the sound vibrations pick up by the outer shell will be attenuated by this material and therefore less sound intensity will be pick up by the rider's aural senses. Well you can test it by talking to a person with and without the helmet on and see if there is a difference.

And lastly, I thought forums are where you can learn from the experiences and know-how of other persons in the same interest as you. But why is it that there are persons making remarks that inflames emotions rather than intelligent discussions based on first hand knowledge. If you did not get the point, then you can ask for clarification before you can conclude that this thread is useless. Any thread is useless for closed minded persons.

We should promote the use of helmet and we cannot do this if you are asking and telling people about disadvantages of using one. It hinders our purpose to draw people into using protective gears like helmet.

Have you seen the news lately about motorcycle accidents? Almost all of them are not wearing a helmet. Wearing a helmet could have saved the lives of those poor riders.

Sorry for flaming I hope you understand.

Cons:
1. May limit peripheral vision
2. May impair hearing
3. May be uncomfortable on some occasions
4. Doesn't protect neck and may cause neck injuries sometimes fatal



1. Not true because if it limits the wearer's peripheral vision then DOT and other safety bodies won't approve such helmet to be distributed in the market.

2. Even if I wear full face helmet I can still hear anyone on the road may it be cars, truck any other vehicle and mga tambay sa kanto if they shouted on me to stop...well in fact i also do wear ear plug to reduce the noise while wearing full face helmet.....Unless you're talking to someone who is also wearing a full face helmet then I can say you can't really hear each other, but what the heck I'm riding a motorcycle and not chit-chatting with someone while on the move.

3. Any new things you wear is somewhat uncomfortable but later your body will get use to it. By the way which occasion probably be that? Could you elaborate please.

4. It really doesn't protect the neck, because its main purpose is to protect the head. Maybe you mean that during accident you have to be very careful in removing the helmet of the person involve to avoid neck injury... Well if you have the dough you can buy a neck protection (Neck roll or Collar) normally worn by racer to reduce neck injuries, it cost something like 20-40usd. then that would be the time you'll have neck protection....So 'hope don't be fooled by saying helmet cannot protect the neck which is really true 'coz it does not serve such purpose.



One thing really I don't like wearing helmet.....is that ...mahal magpa-parlor at nasisira ang hairdo kwo...charing.

And lastly, I thought forums are where you can learn from the experiences and know-how of other persons in the same interest as you.

read-worthy threads have really decreased in here. if one's intention on opening a thread is to inform or be informed, then by all means, post it -that's why we call this a community. a legit post from a rider is useful and can really be informative. let's be responsible forumers and not waste space by posting questions we already know the answer to.

GIMC'ers take on helmets: 1) you get fined if we catch you not wearing one 2) you get in trouble in the event of an accident - whether you like it or not 3) we take pride in our helmets and we value our heads

cheers.


ej

the other week our HR analyst had an accident along west service road in front of Columbian Motors near Bicutan. according to him, his front wheel got caught on a deep pothole because he thought i was just water on the road. his bike flipped and he was thrown to the ground head first. good thing he was wearing his helmet because his chin bar absorbed the impact. if he was't wearing a helmet his chin would have been smashed. i saw a thread here somewhere where it had a link to a site which showed the percentage of protection a person gets when wearing a type of helmet. i'll look for it

one disadvantage of wearing a full face helmet is you tend to inhale deeper than normal to compensate for the lack of oxygen in the air inside of your helmet. This becomes an even bigger factor during long rides when your body is taxed and you need a lot of oxygen. In several occasions, inantok ako dahil sa kakulangan ng oxygen. Kinailangan naka bukas ang helmet ko para magising ako. Same reason why i don't like to wear a balaclava.

true purpose of a helmet is to protect the rider's head during impact, preventing or reducing head injury or saving the rider's life

pros : added pogi points,protect your head from road projectiles, protect your head from the sun and rain, atbp...

cons: mainit, mabigat, masakit sa leeg, kuminsan pag kinati ka hindi mo makamot ulo mo

360 view??hindi ba 360 na view ntn??

impaired?hmmm i think your helmet lense causes that...or baka nmn ibig mong sabihin eh limited vision??but you can turn your head freely left,right,up and down...ikaw ang mag aadjust pag suot mo helmet hindi yung helmet ang mag aadjust sau......sanayan at adjustment lng


Vision impairment means that a person's eyesight cannot be corrected to a "normal" level. Vision impairment may be caused by a loss of visual acuity, where the eye does not see objects as clearly as usual. It may also be caused by a loss of visual field, where the eye cannot see as wide an area as usual without moving the eyes or turning the head.

Why do I want to know the cons of helmets? To know beforehand what to expect when wearing a type of helmet and being forewarned is big factor in being safe. A good example is what noypito posted that insufficient ventilation inside his helmet is taxing his body and sometimes cause sleepiness. Now that I know this, whenever I use a full faced helmet in long rides, I will stop and rest more often to avoid being sleepy. That is the reason why I want to know the cons, to know beforehand, then make adjustments, or formulate strategies to compensate for the disadvantages of that type of helmet. I am not advocating the non-use of helmets and for me, using any type of helmet is better than nothing.

Safety and practicality should go hand in hand to be effective. How many riders do you think will wear full faced helmets at high noon on summer days in traffic heavy areas? For me, I will use a different helmet suitable for the place or the kind of riding I will do. This is until they can design a helmet suitable for all occasions

In my opinion, as long as you pick the right helmet for you...it's all Pros...no Cons...

a certified helmet will not guarantee that you wont be killed in case of an accident....but it will protect or prevent head injuries that may be fatal if you are not wearing one....
try to stay away from those lids that are not certified....
kwentahin mo na lang kung magkano ang ct scan (not to mention the professional fee etc, etc and the pain you will experience if something bad happens)knock on wood.....and you will see that a certified helmet is much more cheaper

uhh...and ive seen riders wearing helmets on their arms....tsk tsk tsk...they are preventing their elbows from getting scratched????

if you are used to wearing helmets it feels uncomfortable when you are not wearing one......

think of safety...and think of your family....

imho, a modular helmet is the closest thing. if you have trouble breathing you can raise the chin guard. the only thing i know of that can limit your vision is because the chin guard hits your shoulders when you try to look behind you (my full face helmet's chin guard hits my body armor's shoulder guard so i'm having trouble looking over my shoulder. using a side mirror helps a lot) so if you use a modular helmet you might get a better view if you raise the chinguard and visor. :)

PRO Helmet:

pag may aksidente sa news involving motorcycle ,sino usually ang PATAY nakahelmet o di nakahelmet?

eto pa... kung magka-minor accident ka , yun bang embarrasing accident, gusto mo bang kana-helmet ka o hindi :D

eh kung sa tindahan lang sir o palengke? sa kabilang kanto o sa sumonod na kanto..

maglakad ! exercise pa yun :D

maglakad ! exercise pa yun :D

tama ka pre kanto lang magmomotor ka pa...

YABANG na yun diba

Good topic.
But for me, it's still better to ride with helmet.
No violent reactions please! :O :O :O

sanayan lang ang pag gamit ng helmet kasi dati ayaw ko din maghelmet pero ngayon sanay na ako maghelmet at alam ko protected ulo, dun sa mga ayaw mag helmet dito kayo magmotor sa batangas kasi may proposed ordinance dito na bawal ang naka helmet hehehe kakatawa ordinansa

From what is posted in this thread, everyone is in agreement that wearing helmets is a must when riding motorcycles and that is very good. Looks like everyone is conscious of their safety, but it is better if we can elevate this safety a lit bit higher by knowing the advantages and disadvantages of different types of helmets so that we can make an informed decision when buying and using a certain type of helmet.

I don't think there is a perfect helmet and I can't test many of them, that's why I started this thread because I know almost all members here uses helmets. With thousands of members using different types of helmets, much information can be gathered here from first hand experiences for the benefit of all readers.

With regards to motorcycle helmet certifications, I think the ECE certified helmets are more reliable because of more rigid and mandatory testing. The ECE standard is adopted by more than 50 countries worldwide. The DOT certification is not mandatory and base on honesty system. Random tests in the US of DOT helmets show 20% failure. http://mxdirtrider.com/h-resources/s-about-Dot-helmets.htm

From what is posted in this thread, everyone is in agreement that wearing helmets is a must when riding motorcycles and that is very good. Looks like everyone is conscious of their safety, but it is better if we can elevate this safety a lit bit higher by knowing the advantages and disadvantages of different types of helmets so that we can make an informed decision when buying and using a certain type of helmet.

I don't think there is a perfect helmet and I can't test many of them, that's why I started this thread because I know almost all members here uses helmets. With thousands of members using different types of helmets, much information can be gathered here from first hand experiences for the benefit of all readers.

With regards to motorcycle helmet certifications, I think the ECE certified helmets are more reliable because of more rigid and mandatory testing. The ECE standard is adopted by more than 50 countries worldwide. The DOT certification is not mandatory and base on honesty system. Random tests in the US of DOT helmets show 20% failure. http://mxdirtrider.com/h-resources/s-about-Dot-helmets.htm


i test/fit 4-5 different kinds of helmets...read reviews...ask friends....and i ended up buying hjc helmets.....kasi it fits my needs very well....very comfortable...affordable...kaya before buying dapat fit sa hindi lng sa ulo mo pati na sa lifestyle ung helmet na bibihin mo.....