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David P from Chicken Hawk Racing talks about helmets |
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Posted by Dave from ChickenHawk Racing
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Wednesday, 30 January 2008 |
Photos and text by David Podolsky
Get the Right Gear………
 I don’t always wear my seatbelt. I know I should but there are times where I feel that I’m just driving around town or it’s freezing out and I’m wearing a big jacket and don’t want to feel more restricted and encumbered. Since I have kids, however, I try to wear it almost all the time.
Somehow, I feel differently about my helmet. When riding a motorcycle, if you have an accident, you can be pretty sure you’re going to be on the ground and have some sort of impact. I’m actively racing and accept that I’m going to have some accidents and I’m not that afraid of having some bumps and bruises.
I don’t however want to end up brain damaged. Doctors today can replace your body organs with someone else’s. Plates, screws and cables can be added. Overall the repair process is pretty mechanical, except for the hard drive- your brain. Once the ECU is fried, there is no repair and simply swapping it out for a new one is not an option.
In the past I’ve worked for OEM motorcycle manufacturers and for accessory distributors, so I’ve seen the general public and the serious lack of understanding that motorcycles come with a package that includes this impact violence. These people haven’t seen it or been around it enough to know that with motorcycles people and hard objects hit each other from time to time.
For the past two seasons, I’ve Coached for Sportbike Track Time and been around more non-racers than usual. The choice of what helmets they bring to the track has been interesting. We’ve seen everything ranging from helmets form the 80's, cheapest helmet that matches the color of their bike, to the borrowed helmet swimming on the riders head.
It seems people really have very little idea of what the helmet does; meaning how it works. Just because some relatively hard shell is on your head doesn’t mean it will protect you very much.
Imagine getting hit in the head with a baseball bat. That is a really bad image, right? Now imagine getting hit while wearing a metal bucket on your head. That’s a little better, but still ugly. Are you getting where this is going?
Modern helmets have:
1)Soft foam to keep it place so it doesn’t move on your head and it is what makes the helmet comfortable.
2)A more dense material (EPS or polystyrene) to absorb the impact…gradually slowing your head upon impact.
3)A hard shell to make sure your cranium doesn’t get cracked or poked by some sharp object.
 In my October Race Report I describe how, on Labor Day weekend, I applied too much throttle and crashed. I avoided a highside, but as the bike bucked I was unable to save it and was slapped down and hit my head very hard; unconscious kind of hard. I wear a Shoei X-11 which is their top of the line helmet and it saved me.
Just a few hours later after a CAT scan I was driving a 31’ RV pulling a 24’ trailer along Route 80 with motorcyclists riding past me. I looked more like a car racer or middle-aged vacationer in my rig than a fellow motorcyclist.
Well, PA has no helmet law now and these folks all went by wearing only bandanas and sun glasses, just feeling good and not thinking much about the violence that is part of the motorcycle package. I just wished I could show them a video of my accident, how my helmet looks now, and that I’m fine and driving alongside of them a few hours later.
My point is - Wear a helmet. Make sure that it:
· Passes one of the helmet standards
· Costs at last as much as your tires
· Was manufactured in the last 7 years
· Has never been crashed in before
· Fits well, typically tighter than you think it should fit, especially at the cheek bones
· Has a chin strap (and you strap it) so it won’t come off even in an impact
In all walks of life, the world can be insane. Without getting into the complexity of politics where we see the AMA working to repeal Helmet Laws and helmet companies fighting over which standard is best (Snell vs ECE vs DOT vs BSI etc) let me just state that wearing a good helmet is good idea. Let me explain a bit on why it should address the Six Bullet points above.
Let’s look at how a helmet protects your brain. First, you have to understand just how fragile this grey matter is - the consistency of the human brain is like pudding. If removed from your head it is so squishy that it needs a kind of cheesecloth net to hold it together as it comes out of the skull.
The brain sort of floats inside a protective bladder (Dura) filled with a liquid bath of spinal fluid with a hard shell (your skull) holding it all in and providing protection from small bumps. Should you be moving along and stop suddenly the brain slaps up against the inside of your skull which, if the impact is serious enough, can cause unconsciousness and/or a wide range of various head and brain injuries.
The modern helmet has three major components:
1) Hard Outer Shell
2) Inner liner made of expanded polystyrene or an EPS Energy-absorbing inner liner (the cooler material).
3) Soft Foam for fitment and comfort
Outer shells come in two types:
1) Resin/fiber composite – This is like fiberglass, carbon fiber, or Kevlar
2) Molded thermoplastic such as ABS or polycarbonate. This is like the material the face shield is made of and may be a bit more likely to bounce.
The shell looks cool and has graphics but is there only ensure your head doesn’t get crushed or rubbed along the asphalt. Of course people see it and we all like to be fashionable, but the EPS does the work when it comes to avoiding brain injuries. This is because it absorbs most of the energy in a crash.
If your head hits a curb or guardrail, the outer shell stops instantly. Your head keeps moving and crushes the soft comfort foam until it hits the EPS liner. When the EPS crushes, it absorbs lots of energy at a predictable rate.
Maybe this seems like only millimeters of distance or milliseconds and that is true but I know what I’d be wearing if I was going to be hit in the head with a baseball bat.
The EPS crushes and absorbs this energy, not bouncing back and rebounding like a spring. EPS actually absorbs the kinetic energy of your moving head, creating a very small amount of heat as the foam collapses. This is also why after a crash, the helmet is either trash or a paper weight.
Why bother to explain all this? I love motorcycles. I’m glad when other people love motorcycles too. Should you be the unfortunate one to next find the violence in your motorcycle package you have a better chance to feel good a few hours later if:
1) You are wearing your helmet everyday
2) It is a quality helmet, recently purchased
3) Never crashed in
4) Fits you well – tighter than you might choose at first try
5) It is strapped on tight enough not to come off in an impact
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