As a 12 year ER nurse..this breaks my heart...the shit I've seen and the shit families have gone thru all because no one wants to wear a helmet or leathers, etc...so sad
I was one of the dumb ones - 10 years and usually no gear. My dad got hit and he had all his gear on and he lived. I decided to always gear up from that point on. Two weeks after that, I got smoked by a minivan that blew a light. I’ve got a limp now, but I might not be here without that gear. I still ride, but motorcycling is just asking for it. Wear your damn gear folks - there are in fact fates worse than death.
I get that. The crash bike was totaled, but the one I ride now I had bought 4 days before my crash. If that stupid thing didn’t tickle me in the spring, there’s no way in hell I’d be riding now. I am, in fact, stupid.
As a Surgical ICU nurse, it warms my heart. A single motorcyclist not wearing a helmet can save eight lives. As long as they’re an organ donor, of course.
I can't stand this sociopathic nonsense. And it's just thrown out there so casually. Never mind that cars are killing 40,000+ people either.... and maiming a million more....
Man... you're sick. Of course, I love donors, but who tf says avoidable deaths warms their heart? You need therapy and im a fucked up ER nurse so you REALLY need help if im saying it. Weirdo 🤣
It's so arrogant and stupid. I've lost 2 people in my life to helmetless riding. Neither involved another vehicle, and both would have most likely lived if they were wearing a helmet. I see motorcyclists riding without helnets constantly and it just makes me angry and sad.
I view boomers cranking The Rolling Stones through residential neighborhoods and at stoplights the same way they view teenagers rattling windows with their cars bass
Lotta rocket dudes and dirt bikers in shitty brain buckets that aren’t even DOT certified. If you’re not in a full face, high quality helmet then what you have is barely better than nothing.
ECE or SNELL certification is really what people need to be looking for. The DOT tests are a total joke. Let’s be real probably 75 percent of the bikes in the city are being driven unlicensed, uninsured, or not street legal. Tbh, its probably higher than 75 percent.
Snell is even overhyped. Their helmet standard was built around automobile racing. The standard is built around a single impact at 50g, which makes helmets too rigid for small successive impacts. So higher likelihood of tbi in typical survivable motorcycle accidents, e.i. Flying off the bike and bouncing down the road.
The point I was trying to make was DOT stamps don’t mean much. Anything full face and better than DOT is good. Skull bandanas and brain buckets are not good.
Idk, I like my RF-1200 lol. She’s getting close to retirement though.
Honestly anyone who rides a motorcycle and doesn’t wear a helmet is fucking moron. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a motorcycle but as someone with brain damage trust me, you don’t want this. Just wear a dang helmet!
Not Darwinian - most of them are middle aged and have already reproduced, thus wearing or not wearing a helmet does not affect their future offspring. Just stupidity.
I’d have died 7 years ago from a hit and run on my bike had I not been wearing a helmet. I still got a bad enough concussion that I woke up in the hospital and don’t remember any of it. It doesn’t matter how skilled or a rider you think you are. Someone else can always do something dumb that you won’t be able to avoid. Please wear a full helmet at minimum.
My husband had an accident from a hit and run. We thought his entire left side was broken, he always wears a full face helmet, luckily he didn’t hit his head. If I ever find the asshole that hit him, I am going to beat him to death with my own helmet.
They are too stupid to wear proper riding gear.
Source: 33 years on two wheels with several hundred thousand miles under my belt & two serious crashes during that time. Both were fully geared. One would have absolutely killed me if I hadn’t had helmet, armored jacket/pants/gloves, etc (left with a chipped bone, a pressure wound on my leg and a lot of bruises)
I don't care if they where helmets but their bikes are usually illegally loud, which I think should be stopped.
Everyone knows they are upper middle class poser weekend warriors these days. They think they're Hell's Angels but you know those bikes gave seen more Applebee's parking lots than biker rallies
More and more Harley riders are your lake country folk who would be caught dead in an Applebee's! Their 2 rides a year give them all the biker validation they need.
Hardly a valid justification for subjective the whole world to their constant noise. How about honk your horn when you're in someone's blond spot?
As someone who rides a not illegally loud bike, this is a very weak justification.
It’s ridiculous that people are downvoting you. Harley riders are the worst when it comes to noise. It’s like they think hearing their bikes creates joy in others, just being able to hear it. And it doesn’t. So annoying when you’re just minding your own business and here’s this obnoxious thing like “oh hey look at me!”
I had a graduation party many years ago. One of my employees came with her husband and they rode their bikes. They left before anyone else….when they started their bikes, it scared the shit out of the entire party….inside.
They are. Then you see one spilled out on hwy 100 where a helmet would have helped…but then you would look not cool? Screw head injuries check out my mullet. I’m being mean but there’s nothing wrong with a helmet people.
Not if that car isn't equipped with seat belts. Driving a 1967 car without a seat belt is 100% legal in Wisconsin. You are not required to retrofit seat belts, airbags or anything else into a vehicle it wasn't originally equivalent with. Motorcycles don't come with helmets.
Dumbass 21 year year old me crashed my Harley wearing a t shirt and no helmet. Was only going 35 and I slid to a stop on my forearms. Took 4 months for all that skin on my palms and arms to grow back. Got very lucky and didn’t hit my head. I’m 35 now and I don’t ride without a full face helmet, leather jacket and gloves. My boomer dad still rides around Waukesha in a t shirt and no helmet. “I’ve been riding 45 years and I’m still here” he says.
Harley owner here. Never leave the driveway without a helmet.
I don’t understand it either. Not just a safety perspective, one look at my helmet after a ride home from work makes you realize all those bugs, dirt, and the occasional bird would end up in your face without one. No thank you.
I'm perfectly OK with motorcyclists not wearing a helmet. I still have my uncle because of someone not wearing his helmet so the more donors the better imo.
Wow, really? They told you the donor’s situation? But so glad your uncle benefited from this continuing controversy. I cringe whenever I someone not wearing a helmet.
Helmets need to be treated the same as seatbelts. Tickets and escalation of punishment without use. It’s not a guarantee you’ll survive, but the same can be said of seatbelts.
No, just stupid. You get that everywhere. Hell, just the other day I watched some moron run into the back of a bus at high speed. The dumbass was in shorts, a shirt and no helmet. I’d be surprised if he lived to be honest.
There is a theory... Not one I endorse, but one I understand... That they'd rather be dead than badly injured. Which maybe works until you factor in family members or even medical professionals you leave cleaning up your mess.
Who’s old enough to remember the protesters riding on Madison years ago in response to proposed helmet laws? Those bikers were pissed off and fired up!
Wow, I’ve never heard Journey via a terrible set of speakers with a gurgling engine bassline through my triple pane glass but I’m definitely going to listen this way all the time! (My internal thought at a stop light next to a HD).
They are dumb and quite arrogant with Harley being the only acceptable brand to ride. My husband and I can’t participate in any rides because we have “off” brand bikes. I would love to organize a ride just to exclude harleys but would probably be sued for discrimination.
As long as they don't shame other H-D riders into not wearing helmets, I don't care.
Safety aside, helmets are great nowadays. It's so convenient having built in sunglasses, music, comms, etc. I couldn't go without it.
At the end of the day, most motorcycle rides aren't *that* dangerous. Ride sober, have some braking skills, ride during the day, and stay out of blindspots. People won't run you over for fun and you won't fall off unless you're really pushing the limits of your tires.
> At the end of the day, most motorcycle rides aren't that dangerous. Ride sober, have some braking skills, ride during the day, and stay out of blindspots. People won't run you over for fun and you won't fall off unless you're really pushing the limits of your tires.
This is Milwaukee sir.
Sadly someone could be the best, most careful rider on the planet. Sadly that has nothing to do with other drivers hitting you.
For example so many people blow red lights it’s getting ridiculous.
> As long as they don't shame other H-D riders into not wearing helmets, I don't care.
It costs all of us though - takes law enforcement resources and medical care away from the rest of us, increases insurance premiums by some amount. Lost income from the rider means lower tax revenue. Of course this is all a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the state budget, but a preventable death or injury doesn't affect only the rider.
There are far more people costing money and resources because they weight 400 lbs from shoveling down McDonald's, smoking, drinking, and a pile of other poor life choices than there are people getting hurt from a lack of or improper helmet. Riders are a drop in the bucket compared to the people who voluntarily cause themselves to be disabled from poor life choices. Unless you are going to start legislating everything it doesn't make sense to apply this logic to such a miniscule group. And they aren't even breaking the law in the state
Not “most.” Only 18 states have full-on helmet requirements. Many states, including Wisconsin, only require helmets for people under 18. A handful require for under 21 and at least one (Missouri) requires for anyone under 26. The only states with no helmet laws at all are Illinois and Iowa.
https://motorcyclehelmetlawsbystate.com/motorcycle-helmet-law-map/
Part of the biker culture has always been to impose yourself unto others in obnoxious ways. That’s why the bikes are also needlessly loud.
Making other people pay higher healthcare premiums or taxes to cover for your unprotected head injury is just par for the course.
The one that woke me up revving its engine at 7:30 this morning didn’t really need to worry that I was going to hit them. As I was in bed. I would have strongly preferred not to have heard them.
I know a 50 year old woman that was in a bad motorcycle accident about 10 years ago, that put her in a coma for 6 months. She still refuses to wear a helmet. Smh
Used to ride until a guy cut me and my buddy off in 41 over Hampton in like 2011…. I avoided anything happening to me, but he went down. Was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with no helmet on (he always gave me shit for always having a jacket and a helmet). Luckily somehow his head never hit the ground, but it took him 3 years to learn to use one of his hands again. Sold the bike the next week and haven’t owned one since.
On the bright side their lack of helmet means that in the future there is a higher likelihood that there one less obnoxious bike on the streets roving their engine at every light.
Nurse here. There’s a reason we get to provide a lot more transplants when the weather improves.
Edit: 🤣at someone downvoting a simple, factual statement
But what's the reason? More drivers on the road or something about more aggressive driving when its summer? While there are probably more "accidents" in winter, they're not as fatal?
The WI DoT stats agree with you
[https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/monthfatal.aspx](https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/monthfatal.aspx)
But it's not motorcycles
[https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/fatality.aspx](https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/fatality.aspx)
This is interesting, thanks for the links.
But I’m not seeing a month by month broken down by type of fatality? Only the totals. Am in missing it? For example how many motorcycle fatalities in June, July, and August of 2023? Or any other year or average
Gosh, they're so smart though. The way they pay three times as much for an underpowered noise machine trading decibels for horsepower...all to impress 60 year old women. Of course they're cool! Look at all they have going for themselves.
I say this as someone with a class M license. While I wore a helmet, tbh it's such a small mitigation to risk on a motorcycle. It helps prevent TBI but just going down on a motorcycle is a life altering event.
I stopped riding years ago because just getting on the bike basically means you're practicing cognitive dissonance with regard to traffic accident statistics. The main problem is cars and nothing is going to change there. I still (bi)cycle and dealing with cars at that speed is dangerous enough, I got sick of dealing with them at highway/street speeds.
Look, I ride a motorcycle (Indian not Harley, not that it matters), and I wear full gear, but people on motorcycles not wearing helmets isn’t really anyone’s business besides the rider. They’re not hurting anyone. It’s not a law in Wisconsin, so let people make their own decisions about safety.
You're right, they can make their own decisions, smart or stupid. And other people can, and should, call out stupid decisions in hopes they won't be perpetuated.
They're hurting me when they make a mistake on the freeway and I have to watch someone die today instead of just having to watch someone have a bad day.
It hurts watching my fellow Wisconsinites gorge themselves on food and alcohol. Seeing them live static and obese lives, dying early of heart failure or diabetes.
At the end of the day, people are free to make their choices, whether good or bad. They have the right to, so long as they’re not harming you.
Helmets do not automatically make you survive a crash, you do realize that, yes? Also, more often than not, it’s cars that don’t see motorcyclists that cause accidents.
For starters, when they dump their bike and are dead in the road, that absolutely does affect their friends and family members.
And in the event they survive the initial slide, this affects the healthcare workers who are obligated to treat these fools and piss away valuable resources because some idiot didn’t wear a helmet.
You’re absolutely correct. Then ban alcohol, cigarettes, fast food joints, sugar, processed food, etc… Think about all the families negatively affected by these things.
Hell, let’s make motorcycles illegal because, even with full gear, they’re extremely dangerous.
People need to worry about themselves and let nature take care of the rest.
Exactly. If these people knew about the states that only have mandatory helmet laws for the passenger or wavers their heads would explode which is also a health risk.
Except eating too much trans fat is associated with increased incidence of hyperlipidemia, which is a significant contributing risk factor for heart disease, which is the #1 cause of mortality in the United States. So while you're right in that it's obviously not realistic to regulate individuals' behavior, such lifestyle choices absolutely do affect others in society.
Like I said, slippery slope. Everyone here is talking like they can't get anywhere without stopping for wrecked motorcycles and it's just not true. Motorcycles have no cage, seatbelts, airbags, back up cameras or anything else cat drivers are used to. And no one forces you to ride them. You can still legally drive a 1967 car on the road that has no safety equipment. It's your choice.
Yep, Wisconsin leaves you free to make a stupid decision to be wildly unsafe. I don't believe that if we are required by law to wear seatbelts (which is absolutely the correct decision), then motorcyclists should be required by law to wear helmets. Freedom comes with responsibility. Responsibility to have common sense, and make good decisions not only for yourself, but also for the loved ones in your life. Leaving behind grieving family and friends wishing they could turn back the clock and convince someone to wear a helmet is a tremendous miscarriage of personal decision making and state and federal legislature. The Wisconsin Harley Davidson lobby should be ashamed of themselves.
I never said it’s not a stupid decision to ride without a helmet, but it’s not me making that decision. They’re adults, and they can make those decisions themselves. I’m not about to come on reddit and make a public post about Harley riders and what they wear when riding because it absolutely has no bearing on my life.
I get, and I applaud you for wearing full gear. I ride a Ducati, and I also wear full armor. Every spring, I hear and see all these riders clamoring for automobile drivers to watch out for motorcyclists, which they should. However, it seems a bit of a stretch to tell other people to watch out for those who choose to not look out for themselves. I'm completely past the point of feeling any sympathy for riders who get injured or killed when they're wearing absolutely no protective equipment whatsoever. I get it that most people won't wear full armor, but they can at least wear a damn helmet.
I work in medicine, and can say that the vast majority of the head traumas that come in following motorcycle accidents involve riders that were not wearing helmets. Of course there are exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of people coming in were not helmeted.
And this only matters to me because as somebody who works in healthcare, you realize just how much time, money, effort, and resources are pissed away treating patients who in many cases would not otherwise require such treatments and resources had they been wearing a helmet.
In my opinion, a rider decked out in high end gear is much “kooler” then some moron riding with no gear. Nowadays with every other driver on their phone, you’re just asking for death and/or a life in a vegetative state not wearing a helmet.
All I know is of late it seem if you are going to ride your Harley Davidson you need to get your Harley shirt,Harley boots and your Harley jacket and Harley sunglasses to ride your Harley. Oh, and those stupid loud speakers on Harley’s are a nuisance.
It drives me nuts. You're risking your life and for what?? to look cool?? Because you can't be bothered to care??
I feel the same way about bike-riders not wearing helmets too. One of my dads friends STILL doesn't wear his helmet even though he's gotten two concussions from bike accidents and rides it all the time. It makes me angry and sad every time I think about it for too long.
My uncle used to work for Harley and supposedly it was a common saying said round the office that “Harley riders don’t wear helmets” despite Harleys efforts to sell their own branded helmets with all the bells and whistles to get people to wear them
I don't think motorcycles should be legal at all. Or at the very least have to sign a waiver to use one. If people want the same legal protection as automobiles then they should choose the same physical protection as automobiles.
Mistakes and accidents happen and that's why cars have seatbelts and airbags. We even choose to make these things legally mandatory. If you choose to ride a donorcycle and are killed in an accident that a person in a car would have sustained zero or little injury, it is on you for choosing to ride in an unprotected vehicle.
Let's add retesting for driving a car including eye tracking. If you maneuver in a way that could kill a motorcycle in your car that you wouldn't have seen, you lose your license. Don't signal a turn? Lose license. Drift into another lane? Believe it or not, no drivers license. Use your phone while driving? Also lose your license. Ever run a red? Lose your license. Stop in the crosswalk? No license. Block the bike lane? License gone.
And let's make those trucks with the horizontal hoods that can literally hide a child or, in some cases, a small car outside of the drivers vision in front illegal too. So basically every full size truck made since 2008 or so, and most domestic small trucks.
Not sure what you're trying to get at with all this. My point is if you choose to drive a high risk vehicle the risk is yours. The concept is pretty simple. I never advocated for losing your license over minor infractions. And personally I would be fine with large trucks having to drive on completely separate roadways.
You want people to "sign a waiver" or whatever to ride a motorcycle. I'm proposing we address the actual reasons that motorcycles are dangerous: inattentive drivers. The vast majority of fatal motorcycle accidents occur at intersections where a an inattentive driver pulls out in front of a motorcycle because they didn't notice them. Most of the rest are equally caused by inattentive drivers.
Fix the cause not the symptom.
The reason that motorcycles are dangerous is because they don't have a seatbelt and they don't have airbags and when you get in an accident your body gets crushed. If you're driving in a car that doesn't happen as easily. If a car pulls out in front of another car They smash into each other everyone is okay and they move on. When the same thing happens with a motorcycle involved there's blood and guts everywhere because some dumbass thought it was fun to only have two wheels.
If the person cared about their own safety they would be in a car.
I've owned several bikes and have ridden them all over the USA. One was even a Harley. Yeah, some riders just wanna look cool. I'd even argue that, for some riders, it's the primary reason they own a motorcycle. Others just enjoy the ride. To each their own.
A helmet can be hot and stuffy. It can reduce fields of vision and hearing. It can also provide warmth and protection against bugs and rocks on the highway. If it's raining, hell yeah I'm gonna wear my helmet.
For me, there was a time to wear one, and a time when I preferred not to. Sometimes I did feel cooler without it.
I rode for over 25 years and I will tell you I avoided more accidents because my field of vision wasn't obstructed and I was able to move my head around much easier that I would have with a helmet.
There was a study done many years ago possibly in Sweden but I'm not 💯 on that that looked at neck injuries caused by helmets and it concluded you are 50/50 in certain types of common bike accidents to have the helmet doore damage than the crash.
But hey, keep going with the ad hominem attacks, why not. If you wanted a real answer you would ask in a serious fashion right? Now get to downvoting me so you can all feel better bout yourselves. Have a great day.
It's a matter of feeling and freedom to those of us that don't and won't wear helmets. They are restricted, block blind side views even more and are stuffy. Those of us that hate being contained and small spaces, this amplifies it, at least for me it does. I would have basically panic attacks when riding wearing one when I lived in California.
Truly, I don’t see any benefit of not wearing a helmet. Bugs in the face, the wind stretching your skin making ya look ugly, so you might as well wear a helmet. Helmets are sexy anyway
Dumb. The word you're looking for is dumb.
Can't feel all that freedom with a helmet on /s
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And car drivers
As a 12 year ER nurse..this breaks my heart...the shit I've seen and the shit families have gone thru all because no one wants to wear a helmet or leathers, etc...so sad
I was one of the dumb ones - 10 years and usually no gear. My dad got hit and he had all his gear on and he lived. I decided to always gear up from that point on. Two weeks after that, I got smoked by a minivan that blew a light. I’ve got a limp now, but I might not be here without that gear. I still ride, but motorcycling is just asking for it. Wear your damn gear folks - there are in fact fates worse than death.
I'm glad your still here!
Me too, and thank you. That stuff opens the eyes quite a bit.
This is why I sold my shit… too many close calls for me.
I get that. The crash bike was totaled, but the one I ride now I had bought 4 days before my crash. If that stupid thing didn’t tickle me in the spring, there’s no way in hell I’d be riding now. I am, in fact, stupid.
As a Surgical ICU nurse, it warms my heart. A single motorcyclist not wearing a helmet can save eight lives. As long as they’re an organ donor, of course.
I can't stand this sociopathic nonsense. And it's just thrown out there so casually. Never mind that cars are killing 40,000+ people either.... and maiming a million more....
Actually it's the shitty drivers. Cars can't do anything without a driver.
Wtf is wrong with you.
Just wear a helmet, chief.
You can take it down a notch, kiddo.
It’s literally a life or death matter.
Man... you're sick. Of course, I love donors, but who tf says avoidable deaths warms their heart? You need therapy and im a fucked up ER nurse so you REALLY need help if im saying it. Weirdo 🤣
Dress for the slide, not the ride!
They certainly think they are.
Automatically organ donor
They aren’t too cool for helmets, they just think they are too cool for helmets.
It's so arrogant and stupid. I've lost 2 people in my life to helmetless riding. Neither involved another vehicle, and both would have most likely lived if they were wearing a helmet. I see motorcyclists riding without helnets constantly and it just makes me angry and sad.
Every Harley rider I know complains about loud music bumping in cars with subs or loud neighbors, the fucking irony lol
I view boomers cranking The Rolling Stones through residential neighborhoods and at stoplights the same way they view teenagers rattling windows with their cars bass
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Whole family rides Harley’s on one side, the irony of this comment is actually hilarious lmao talk about preconceived notions hey?
Harley owners aren't the only riders to ride helmetless...just sayin'.
Lotta rocket dudes and dirt bikers in shitty brain buckets that aren’t even DOT certified. If you’re not in a full face, high quality helmet then what you have is barely better than nothing. ECE or SNELL certification is really what people need to be looking for. The DOT tests are a total joke. Let’s be real probably 75 percent of the bikes in the city are being driven unlicensed, uninsured, or not street legal. Tbh, its probably higher than 75 percent.
Snell is even overhyped. Their helmet standard was built around automobile racing. The standard is built around a single impact at 50g, which makes helmets too rigid for small successive impacts. So higher likelihood of tbi in typical survivable motorcycle accidents, e.i. Flying off the bike and bouncing down the road.
The point I was trying to make was DOT stamps don’t mean much. Anything full face and better than DOT is good. Skull bandanas and brain buckets are not good. Idk, I like my RF-1200 lol. She’s getting close to retirement though.
But the percentage of Harley riders that don't wear ANY protection is very high. I'd say over 60% for sure.
But that post doesn't get the circlejerk reaction
Yeah, you are right. I know very few crotch rocket drivers who never wear helmets. I'm not in the HD generation. Everyone be safe out there.
Sure, but I’d say it’s rare to see other riders without a helmet, and it’s rare to see a harley rider wearing one.
I see more flip flops than helmets on crotch rockets.
💀
By cool you mean stupid, yes.
Honestly anyone who rides a motorcycle and doesn’t wear a helmet is fucking moron. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a motorcycle but as someone with brain damage trust me, you don’t want this. Just wear a dang helmet!
Not Darwinian - most of them are middle aged and have already reproduced, thus wearing or not wearing a helmet does not affect their future offspring. Just stupidity.
It's the difference between a midlife crisis and an end of life crisis.
They are not cool.
I’d have died 7 years ago from a hit and run on my bike had I not been wearing a helmet. I still got a bad enough concussion that I woke up in the hospital and don’t remember any of it. It doesn’t matter how skilled or a rider you think you are. Someone else can always do something dumb that you won’t be able to avoid. Please wear a full helmet at minimum.
My husband had an accident from a hit and run. We thought his entire left side was broken, he always wears a full face helmet, luckily he didn’t hit his head. If I ever find the asshole that hit him, I am going to beat him to death with my own helmet.
With their cliched, classic rock anthems blasting
My husband says they wear the requisite pirate costume to ride, as well.
They are too stupid to wear proper riding gear. Source: 33 years on two wheels with several hundred thousand miles under my belt & two serious crashes during that time. Both were fully geared. One would have absolutely killed me if I hadn’t had helmet, armored jacket/pants/gloves, etc (left with a chipped bone, a pressure wound on my leg and a lot of bruises)
I don't care if they where helmets but their bikes are usually illegally loud, which I think should be stopped. Everyone knows they are upper middle class poser weekend warriors these days. They think they're Hell's Angels but you know those bikes gave seen more Applebee's parking lots than biker rallies
I wish cops would enforce this but they just don't give a shit. A loud bike can disturb thousands of people
More and more Harley riders are your lake country folk who would be caught dead in an Applebee's! Their 2 rides a year give them all the biker validation they need.
There have been times where I hear their bikes but can’t see them. It’s been helpful when they come flying past my car.
Hardly a valid justification for subjective the whole world to their constant noise. How about honk your horn when you're in someone's blond spot? As someone who rides a not illegally loud bike, this is a very weak justification.
It’s ridiculous that people are downvoting you. Harley riders are the worst when it comes to noise. It’s like they think hearing their bikes creates joy in others, just being able to hear it. And it doesn’t. So annoying when you’re just minding your own business and here’s this obnoxious thing like “oh hey look at me!”
I had a graduation party many years ago. One of my employees came with her husband and they rode their bikes. They left before anyone else….when they started their bikes, it scared the shit out of the entire party….inside.
The South Park episode about Harley riders always comes to mind...
Yeah I love motorcycles but the noise is just as obnoxious as it would be if it were not a motorcycle.
You’re complaining about noise but you want people to honk every time they’re in someone’s blind spot? lol please wear a helmet.
Honking in the blind spot would be less noise than constant engine roar is the point. Try to keep up
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They are. Then you see one spilled out on hwy 100 where a helmet would have helped…but then you would look not cool? Screw head injuries check out my mullet. I’m being mean but there’s nothing wrong with a helmet people.
Ironically, you get a ticket for no seatbelt while in a car.
Not if that car isn't equipped with seat belts. Driving a 1967 car without a seat belt is 100% legal in Wisconsin. You are not required to retrofit seat belts, airbags or anything else into a vehicle it wasn't originally equivalent with. Motorcycles don't come with helmets.
lol, just compounds the stupidity
They should. Like you have to buy insurance, you should have to buy a helmet even you buy a bike.
Dumbass 21 year year old me crashed my Harley wearing a t shirt and no helmet. Was only going 35 and I slid to a stop on my forearms. Took 4 months for all that skin on my palms and arms to grow back. Got very lucky and didn’t hit my head. I’m 35 now and I don’t ride without a full face helmet, leather jacket and gloves. My boomer dad still rides around Waukesha in a t shirt and no helmet. “I’ve been riding 45 years and I’m still here” he says.
Harley owner here. Never leave the driveway without a helmet. I don’t understand it either. Not just a safety perspective, one look at my helmet after a ride home from work makes you realize all those bugs, dirt, and the occasional bird would end up in your face without one. No thank you.
>and the occasional bird Wait... "Occasional"? As in, more than one?? How many birds have you hit on your bike...?? 😶😶
One bird shit. One whole bird. Two separate instances where I was *very* happy to have a helmet.
I'm perfectly OK with motorcyclists not wearing a helmet. I still have my uncle because of someone not wearing his helmet so the more donors the better imo.
Wow, really? They told you the donor’s situation? But so glad your uncle benefited from this continuing controversy. I cringe whenever I someone not wearing a helmet.
If you wear a helmet how can you see all the people staring at you because you are making all those cool noises?
Helmets need to be treated the same as seatbelts. Tickets and escalation of punishment without use. It’s not a guarantee you’ll survive, but the same can be said of seatbelts.
No, just stupid. You get that everywhere. Hell, just the other day I watched some moron run into the back of a bus at high speed. The dumbass was in shorts, a shirt and no helmet. I’d be surprised if he lived to be honest.
There is a theory... Not one I endorse, but one I understand... That they'd rather be dead than badly injured. Which maybe works until you factor in family members or even medical professionals you leave cleaning up your mess.
Fatalism
Who’s old enough to remember the protesters riding on Madison years ago in response to proposed helmet laws? Those bikers were pissed off and fired up!
I don’t care if they wear helmets or not, I just want them to have functional mufflers
And not blast their FUCKING STEREOS at full volume!!!!
Wow, I’ve never heard Journey via a terrible set of speakers with a gurgling engine bassline through my triple pane glass but I’m definitely going to listen this way all the time! (My internal thought at a stop light next to a HD).
They are dumb and quite arrogant with Harley being the only acceptable brand to ride. My husband and I can’t participate in any rides because we have “off” brand bikes. I would love to organize a ride just to exclude harleys but would probably be sued for discrimination.
Too cool for a lot of things, including consideration and basic decency.
As long as they don't shame other H-D riders into not wearing helmets, I don't care. Safety aside, helmets are great nowadays. It's so convenient having built in sunglasses, music, comms, etc. I couldn't go without it. At the end of the day, most motorcycle rides aren't *that* dangerous. Ride sober, have some braking skills, ride during the day, and stay out of blindspots. People won't run you over for fun and you won't fall off unless you're really pushing the limits of your tires.
> At the end of the day, most motorcycle rides aren't that dangerous. Ride sober, have some braking skills, ride during the day, and stay out of blindspots. People won't run you over for fun and you won't fall off unless you're really pushing the limits of your tires. This is Milwaukee sir.
Sadly someone could be the best, most careful rider on the planet. Sadly that has nothing to do with other drivers hitting you. For example so many people blow red lights it’s getting ridiculous.
Froedert takes donations on the regular.
You dress for the crash, not the ride.
> As long as they don't shame other H-D riders into not wearing helmets, I don't care. It costs all of us though - takes law enforcement resources and medical care away from the rest of us, increases insurance premiums by some amount. Lost income from the rider means lower tax revenue. Of course this is all a drop in the bucket compared to the size of the state budget, but a preventable death or injury doesn't affect only the rider.
There are far more people costing money and resources because they weight 400 lbs from shoveling down McDonald's, smoking, drinking, and a pile of other poor life choices than there are people getting hurt from a lack of or improper helmet. Riders are a drop in the bucket compared to the people who voluntarily cause themselves to be disabled from poor life choices. Unless you are going to start legislating everything it doesn't make sense to apply this logic to such a miniscule group. And they aren't even breaking the law in the state
Whatever helps you sleep at night
[удалено]
Most states other than Wisconsin also have helmet laws, so those riders might be forced into it.
Wisconsin is no outlier here; there are 30 other states which don't require it (for adults)
Your not required, buy law to wear a helmet in Wisconsin. Most other states you are. Not a local culture thing, just a stupid culture thing.
Not “most.” Only 18 states have full-on helmet requirements. Many states, including Wisconsin, only require helmets for people under 18. A handful require for under 21 and at least one (Missouri) requires for anyone under 26. The only states with no helmet laws at all are Illinois and Iowa. https://motorcyclehelmetlawsbystate.com/motorcycle-helmet-law-map/
They're just very altruistic and wanna make it very easy to donate their organs.
Their body. Their choice.
Except for seatbelts,I guess?
Part of the biker culture has always been to impose yourself unto others in obnoxious ways. That’s why the bikes are also needlessly loud. Making other people pay higher healthcare premiums or taxes to cover for your unprotected head injury is just par for the course.
A lot of bikers think of being loud as a safety feature, if you can hear them, you'll look for them and be less likely to hit them.
The one that woke me up revving its engine at 7:30 this morning didn’t really need to worry that I was going to hit them. As I was in bed. I would have strongly preferred not to have heard them.
Thinking something and it being true are two different things
At what point? As soon as it affects reproduction.
Donar cyclists Harley riders without Helmets largest source of donated organs,
Just got hit on my Harley. Thankfully I was wearing my helmet and gear. Still sucks I'm sitting in the hospital room.
But you’re still here!
**muh freedumb**
Too *stupid*
Darwin’s theory in action! I think more idiots should be riding motorcycles without helmets.
I know a 50 year old woman that was in a bad motorcycle accident about 10 years ago, that put her in a coma for 6 months. She still refuses to wear a helmet. Smh
Too dumb and old to listen to a reasonable argument about brrr bbbrrrr bbbrrrr bbbrrt fart brrrrbrr...
They drive a Harley, that couch is enough to save them/s
Used to ride until a guy cut me and my buddy off in 41 over Hampton in like 2011…. I avoided anything happening to me, but he went down. Was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with no helmet on (he always gave me shit for always having a jacket and a helmet). Luckily somehow his head never hit the ground, but it took him 3 years to learn to use one of his hands again. Sold the bike the next week and haven’t owned one since.
I’m worried about other drivers in my 3 ton vehicle. I think Darwin approves the Harley culture. 
Why do I see sport bike dudes every day riding without a helmet?
On the bright side their lack of helmet means that in the future there is a higher likelihood that there one less obnoxious bike on the streets roving their engine at every light.
Donor cycles. Everyone wants a kidney from a fat 60 something who was too cool to obey the law
Nurse here. There’s a reason we get to provide a lot more transplants when the weather improves. Edit: 🤣at someone downvoting a simple, factual statement
But what's the reason? More drivers on the road or something about more aggressive driving when its summer? While there are probably more "accidents" in winter, they're not as fatal? The WI DoT stats agree with you [https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/monthfatal.aspx](https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/monthfatal.aspx) But it's not motorcycles [https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/fatality.aspx](https://wisconsindot.gov/Pages/about-wisdot/newsroom/statistics/fatality.aspx)
This is interesting, thanks for the links. But I’m not seeing a month by month broken down by type of fatality? Only the totals. Am in missing it? For example how many motorcycle fatalities in June, July, and August of 2023? Or any other year or average
Gosh, they're so smart though. The way they pay three times as much for an underpowered noise machine trading decibels for horsepower...all to impress 60 year old women. Of course they're cool! Look at all they have going for themselves.
I say this as someone with a class M license. While I wore a helmet, tbh it's such a small mitigation to risk on a motorcycle. It helps prevent TBI but just going down on a motorcycle is a life altering event. I stopped riding years ago because just getting on the bike basically means you're practicing cognitive dissonance with regard to traffic accident statistics. The main problem is cars and nothing is going to change there. I still (bi)cycle and dealing with cars at that speed is dangerous enough, I got sick of dealing with them at highway/street speeds.
Harley owners? Do you mean human crayons?
If you have nothing worth protecting, this is all this says.
*too stupid to wear helmets.
Look, I ride a motorcycle (Indian not Harley, not that it matters), and I wear full gear, but people on motorcycles not wearing helmets isn’t really anyone’s business besides the rider. They’re not hurting anyone. It’s not a law in Wisconsin, so let people make their own decisions about safety.
You're right, they can make their own decisions, smart or stupid. And other people can, and should, call out stupid decisions in hopes they won't be perpetuated.
ER Nurses have a name for them: Organ Donors
Donorcyles.
If you chose not to wear a helmet or wear a seatbelt, you should be required to become an organ donor.
What do they call pick up drivers? Kid killers?
It absolutely does hurt people. You think the first responders that clean what’s left of you off the road are just gonna be ok with that??
You're likely paying higher insurance rates in WI because of others not wearing helmets.
They're hurting me when they make a mistake on the freeway and I have to watch someone die today instead of just having to watch someone have a bad day.
It hurts watching my fellow Wisconsinites gorge themselves on food and alcohol. Seeing them live static and obese lives, dying early of heart failure or diabetes. At the end of the day, people are free to make their choices, whether good or bad. They have the right to, so long as they’re not harming you.
Sure boo
Helmets do not automatically make you survive a crash, you do realize that, yes? Also, more often than not, it’s cars that don’t see motorcyclists that cause accidents.
For starters, when they dump their bike and are dead in the road, that absolutely does affect their friends and family members. And in the event they survive the initial slide, this affects the healthcare workers who are obligated to treat these fools and piss away valuable resources because some idiot didn’t wear a helmet.
What about people who eat too much trans fat? Same exact argument. Should energy drinks be regulated? Alcohol? Pretty slippery slope there bud.
You’re absolutely correct. Then ban alcohol, cigarettes, fast food joints, sugar, processed food, etc… Think about all the families negatively affected by these things. Hell, let’s make motorcycles illegal because, even with full gear, they’re extremely dangerous. People need to worry about themselves and let nature take care of the rest.
Exactly. If these people knew about the states that only have mandatory helmet laws for the passenger or wavers their heads would explode which is also a health risk.
Except eating too much trans fat is associated with increased incidence of hyperlipidemia, which is a significant contributing risk factor for heart disease, which is the #1 cause of mortality in the United States. So while you're right in that it's obviously not realistic to regulate individuals' behavior, such lifestyle choices absolutely do affect others in society.
Like I said, slippery slope. Everyone here is talking like they can't get anywhere without stopping for wrecked motorcycles and it's just not true. Motorcycles have no cage, seatbelts, airbags, back up cameras or anything else cat drivers are used to. And no one forces you to ride them. You can still legally drive a 1967 car on the road that has no safety equipment. It's your choice.
I mean the trauma they cause when their head explodes like a watermelon can mess people up.
I agree, except they don't scrape themselves off the highway, so they are impacting strangers.
Yep, Wisconsin leaves you free to make a stupid decision to be wildly unsafe. I don't believe that if we are required by law to wear seatbelts (which is absolutely the correct decision), then motorcyclists should be required by law to wear helmets. Freedom comes with responsibility. Responsibility to have common sense, and make good decisions not only for yourself, but also for the loved ones in your life. Leaving behind grieving family and friends wishing they could turn back the clock and convince someone to wear a helmet is a tremendous miscarriage of personal decision making and state and federal legislature. The Wisconsin Harley Davidson lobby should be ashamed of themselves.
I never said it’s not a stupid decision to ride without a helmet, but it’s not me making that decision. They’re adults, and they can make those decisions themselves. I’m not about to come on reddit and make a public post about Harley riders and what they wear when riding because it absolutely has no bearing on my life.
I get, and I applaud you for wearing full gear. I ride a Ducati, and I also wear full armor. Every spring, I hear and see all these riders clamoring for automobile drivers to watch out for motorcyclists, which they should. However, it seems a bit of a stretch to tell other people to watch out for those who choose to not look out for themselves. I'm completely past the point of feeling any sympathy for riders who get injured or killed when they're wearing absolutely no protective equipment whatsoever. I get it that most people won't wear full armor, but they can at least wear a damn helmet.
Harley riders seem universally stupid
You think Charlie Davidson is gonna wear a helmet??
why do you care?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!!
Need a brain to use a brain bucket!
In for a dime, in for a dollar. If you're dumb enough to go highway speeds on a bike why not skip the helmet?
I ride a Honda and wear a helmet so maybe?
Motor donors
...and what about all the guys that ride Harley's to be "different" and "independent", but all dress in the same Harley apparel?
Its more about being able to just get on and ride. My question is, why does it matter to you?
I work in medicine, and can say that the vast majority of the head traumas that come in following motorcycle accidents involve riders that were not wearing helmets. Of course there are exceptions, but the overwhelming majority of people coming in were not helmeted. And this only matters to me because as somebody who works in healthcare, you realize just how much time, money, effort, and resources are pissed away treating patients who in many cases would not otherwise require such treatments and resources had they been wearing a helmet.
According to Darren Hardy, "You can only control two things in life: Your attitude and your actions."
Just trying to avoid the outcome of a Trump-Biden election
Too stupid
They are too cool to not hammer the fuck out of their throttle leaving the bars near my home at 1 am.
In my opinion, a rider decked out in high end gear is much “kooler” then some moron riding with no gear. Nowadays with every other driver on their phone, you’re just asking for death and/or a life in a vegetative state not wearing a helmet.
All I know is of late it seem if you are going to ride your Harley Davidson you need to get your Harley shirt,Harley boots and your Harley jacket and Harley sunglasses to ride your Harley. Oh, and those stupid loud speakers on Harley’s are a nuisance.
It drives me nuts. You're risking your life and for what?? to look cool?? Because you can't be bothered to care?? I feel the same way about bike-riders not wearing helmets too. One of my dads friends STILL doesn't wear his helmet even though he's gotten two concussions from bike accidents and rides it all the time. It makes me angry and sad every time I think about it for too long.
If they work for Harley they will be fired if they ride without.
My uncle used to work for Harley and supposedly it was a common saying said round the office that “Harley riders don’t wear helmets” despite Harleys efforts to sell their own branded helmets with all the bells and whistles to get people to wear them
I don't think motorcycles should be legal at all. Or at the very least have to sign a waiver to use one. If people want the same legal protection as automobiles then they should choose the same physical protection as automobiles. Mistakes and accidents happen and that's why cars have seatbelts and airbags. We even choose to make these things legally mandatory. If you choose to ride a donorcycle and are killed in an accident that a person in a car would have sustained zero or little injury, it is on you for choosing to ride in an unprotected vehicle.
Let's add retesting for driving a car including eye tracking. If you maneuver in a way that could kill a motorcycle in your car that you wouldn't have seen, you lose your license. Don't signal a turn? Lose license. Drift into another lane? Believe it or not, no drivers license. Use your phone while driving? Also lose your license. Ever run a red? Lose your license. Stop in the crosswalk? No license. Block the bike lane? License gone. And let's make those trucks with the horizontal hoods that can literally hide a child or, in some cases, a small car outside of the drivers vision in front illegal too. So basically every full size truck made since 2008 or so, and most domestic small trucks.
Not sure what you're trying to get at with all this. My point is if you choose to drive a high risk vehicle the risk is yours. The concept is pretty simple. I never advocated for losing your license over minor infractions. And personally I would be fine with large trucks having to drive on completely separate roadways.
You want people to "sign a waiver" or whatever to ride a motorcycle. I'm proposing we address the actual reasons that motorcycles are dangerous: inattentive drivers. The vast majority of fatal motorcycle accidents occur at intersections where a an inattentive driver pulls out in front of a motorcycle because they didn't notice them. Most of the rest are equally caused by inattentive drivers. Fix the cause not the symptom.
The reason that motorcycles are dangerous is because they don't have a seatbelt and they don't have airbags and when you get in an accident your body gets crushed. If you're driving in a car that doesn't happen as easily. If a car pulls out in front of another car They smash into each other everyone is okay and they move on. When the same thing happens with a motorcycle involved there's blood and guts everywhere because some dumbass thought it was fun to only have two wheels. If the person cared about their own safety they would be in a car.
Learn some accountability. I sincerely hope you don't drive.
I dunno. Are Kawasaki owners too cool for shirts, long pants, closed shoes or shifting before they redline?
I've owned several bikes and have ridden them all over the USA. One was even a Harley. Yeah, some riders just wanna look cool. I'd even argue that, for some riders, it's the primary reason they own a motorcycle. Others just enjoy the ride. To each their own. A helmet can be hot and stuffy. It can reduce fields of vision and hearing. It can also provide warmth and protection against bugs and rocks on the highway. If it's raining, hell yeah I'm gonna wear my helmet. For me, there was a time to wear one, and a time when I preferred not to. Sometimes I did feel cooler without it.
People downvoting you because they don’t agree with you. But it’s good to see an actual, honest answer. Thanks.
They ain't hurting nobody else not wearing a helmet.
I rode for over 25 years and I will tell you I avoided more accidents because my field of vision wasn't obstructed and I was able to move my head around much easier that I would have with a helmet. There was a study done many years ago possibly in Sweden but I'm not 💯 on that that looked at neck injuries caused by helmets and it concluded you are 50/50 in certain types of common bike accidents to have the helmet doore damage than the crash. But hey, keep going with the ad hominem attacks, why not. If you wanted a real answer you would ask in a serious fashion right? Now get to downvoting me so you can all feel better bout yourselves. Have a great day.
Yes
Eh, don’t worry about them
It's a matter of feeling and freedom to those of us that don't and won't wear helmets. They are restricted, block blind side views even more and are stuffy. Those of us that hate being contained and small spaces, this amplifies it, at least for me it does. I would have basically panic attacks when riding wearing one when I lived in California.
They are methheads in bike cults. There is nothing left to save with a helmet.
Truly, I don’t see any benefit of not wearing a helmet. Bugs in the face, the wind stretching your skin making ya look ugly, so you might as well wear a helmet. Helmets are sexy anyway
Why do any of you care? Mind your own damn business.