Old skid-lids

[algover]

What do you do with them?

 

Are they recycleable in any way?

 

Give them to Goodwill? (I've done that a few times - have no idea what they do with it.)

 

Turn them upside down and plant flowers in them?

 

Set them out with the trash, and let them accumulate in the land-fill?

 

What say you?

[W. Mazelin]

Use number five - if you wouldn't put your head in it why should anyone else?

Besides, they roll around too much for flowers!

[Firefight911]

All old helmets get the strap cut off and they get thrown away or they get put on display if they are of emotional attachment.

[BillZ]

I have just retired the first helmet I ever "bought." Before that, I rode what ever was handy and didn't think about the consequences of that decision. Now, I have dropped my first helmet too many times to feel good about it's structual integrity, so I bought a new one. I stood in the store holding "my first' and feeling very mixed up about what had become an old friend and protector. I didn't want to just pitch it out, but in all honesty, I replaced it because I didn't think it was secure. So, I still have it on a shelf and my new helmet is working out fine. But my old protector still looms in my mind. And that seems strange...

[RonStewart]

I put on safety glasses and attacked mine with a ball-peen hammer to see what damage I could do to the shell. I was able to chip off the outer, cosmetic layer, but the structure remained intact. I wished that I had access to a pickaxe at the time....

[Woodie]

I use them to teach first aid classes.

 

Still looking for...

3/4 helmet (ONE)

Full face helmet, size L or bigger (ONE)

1/2 helmet (ONE)

Novelty helmet (ONE) (we're not a helmet-law state, so not many to be seen!)

[LANGeek]

I took an old full face and clean out all the foam on the inside. Then I mounted a AC to DC converter, wired in an old car radio (w/ cassette), and some blinking lights. I used some dark window tint on the face shield. And added two speakers, one each side.

 

I have a helmet boom box.

 

Ok, so I was bored and I am an engineer of sort.

But it is kind of neat. The helmet sits on the shelf. Tunes a playin' and the lights blink through the face shield to the beat.

[upflying]

Old police motor helmets are kept as souveniers

Old motorcycle helmets are kept in a box until the styrofoam falls off. Then I throw them away.

[algover]

I took an old full face and clean out all the foam on the inside. Then I mounted a AC to DC converter, wired in an old car radio (w/ cassette), and some blinking lights. I used some dark window tint on the face shield. And added two speakers, one each side.

 

I have a helmet boom box.

 

Ok, so I was bored and I am an engineer of sort.

But it is kind of neat. The helmet sits on the shelf. Tunes a playin' and the lights blink through the face shield to the beat.

 

Cool!!

[KMG_365]

The Snell Foundation takes a log-splitter to their test helmets to finish off the job and to dissuade the dumpster-divers.

 

Assuming I'm not replacing it because of crash damage rendering it unsafe (those get destroyed as well as I can and then they go in the trash). Otherwise, I hope I buy a new helmet before my current one is completely useless or unsafe, so I usually keep it as a spare (or a loaner for the occasional pillion rider) and then I retire my previous spare. If it's still fairly sound (and not too grungy), I usually give it to the Goodwill or other similar organization and my reasoning is as follows: California is a mandatory helmet use state and there are a LOT of broke and/or beginning riders who would be shopping at the Goodwill for a helmet to wear to satisfy the law. I'm sure my five-year old $400.00 Shoei full-face will still be FAR better than the little "novelty" beanie/yarmulke helmets sold at the HD shops with the "free 'realistic' DOT sticker with every purchase" stickers freshly applied.

 

I've been doing a bunch of reading about helmets lately: Snell vs. DOT vs. the various European standards and it's really hard to separate the facts from the spin from the marketing hype--and in the absence of current comprehensive research, everyone has their own agenda they're putting forward. From my experience, ANY "real" helmet is a good helmet and since there are so many really crappy pieces of plastic out there "posing" as real helmets, I see it not only as a service to those of modest means just starting out motorcycling, but also as a responsible form of recycling!

 

Anyway, I doubt some starving college student who just picked up an old 70's vintage Honda for a few hundred dollars, and who can't find my old helmet on the shelf for $35.00 is going to then go down to the local superbike store and plop down $450.00 for a "decent" one--he's much more likely to go to the HD shop and get a plastic skull cap. And anyway, I'd sleep better at night knowing his head would fare far better impacting the side of that careless SUV wearing my six-year-old Shoei than a $25.00 polyethylene tonsure pasty.

 

[/soapbox]

[algover]

That has been my rationale in giving them to Goodwill, also, Jamie.

I was curious whether there was any recycling capability for them. Jane's is totally shot (20+ years old - yeah, I've been after her "for some time" to get a new one), so I guess it goes in the trash!

 

Thanks all for the comments.

[W. Mazelin]

The Snell Foundation takes a log-splitter to their test helmets to finish off the job and to dissuade the dumpster-divers.

 

Assuming I'm not replacing it because of crash damage rendering it unsafe (those get destroyed as well as I can and then they go in the trash). Otherwise, I hope I buy a new helmet before my current one is completely useless or unsafe, so I usually keep it as a spare (or a loaner for the occasional pillion rider) and then I retire my previous spare. If it's still fairly sound (and not too grungy), I usually give it to the Goodwill or other similar organization and my reasoning is as follows: California is a mandatory helmet use state and there are a LOT of broke and/or beginning riders who would be shopping at the Goodwill for a helmet to wear to satisfy the law. I'm sure my five-year old $400.00 Shoei full-face will still be FAR better than the little "novelty" beanie/yarmulke helmets sold at the HD shops with the "free 'realistic' DOT sticker with every purchase" stickers freshly applied.

 

I've been doing a bunch of reading about helmets lately: Snell vs. DOT vs. the various European standards and it's really hard to separate the facts from the spin from the marketing hype--and in the absence of current comprehensive research, everyone has their own agenda they're putting forward. From my experience, ANY "real" helmet is a good helmet and since there are so many really crappy pieces of plastic out there "posing" as real helmets, I see it not only as a service to those of modest means just starting out motorcycling, but also as a responsible form of recycling!

 

Anyway, I doubt some starving college student who just picked up an old 70's vintage Honda for a few hundred dollars, and who can't find my old helmet on the shelf for $35.00 is going to then go down to the local superbike store and plop down $450.00 for a "decent" one--he's much more likely to go to the HD shop and get a plastic skull cap. And anyway, I'd sleep better at night knowing his head would fare far better impacting the side of that careless SUV wearing my six-year-old Shoei than a $25.00 polyethylene tonsure pasty.

 

[/soapbox]

 

So what your syaing here is you "feel better" if someone else puts your old helmet in the trash instead of you? There are plenty of real Snell/DOT approved helmets that don't come anywhere close to your your $450 price tag. HJC & KBC are 2 brands that come to mind. I wore a HJC dirt bike helmet for several years, when it was 6 years old, I replaced it. It was rendered unserviceable and put in the trash.

[notacop]

I had a bunch my wife and I were no longer using. Not worn out as such but just replaed by us for use. I set them out for the trash on top of the detritus on a board. I'd barely walked halfway back to the house when a van pulled up and a kid jumped out and grabbed them. The look of'Boy I found something" on his face was priceless.

I have 4 more in the garage now I need to do the same with. I'm waitng on the new Scorpion 1000 with the internal dark visor. Stll too much to pay for a plastic bubble.

Just wish Shoei still made the RF200 with no stinking vents for $200.

[KMG_365]

I wore a HJC dirt bike helmet for several years, when it was 6 years old, I replaced it. It was rendered unserviceable and put in the trash.

So what your syaing here is you "feel" that your helmet was more than adequate for your last ride with it, but in the next moment it was completely unsafe and had to be destroyed rather than risk it falling into the unsuspecting hands of some poor innocent kid? I guess I can't draw such a fine line.

 

I've probably rolled up on over 100 motorcycle accidents in my short career as a Firefighter/Paramedic and well over a dozen fatalities. Either your six year old HJC helmet or my five year old Shoei would likely have saved at least a few of those fatalities, and probably T.E. Lawrence as well.

 

But that's simply my perspective and I sleep just fine . . . but YMMV.

[W. Mazelin]

I wore a HJC dirt bike helmet for several years, when it was 6 years old, I replaced it. It was rendered unserviceable and put in the trash.

So what your syaing here is you "feel" that your helmet was more than adequate for your last ride with it, but in the next moment it was completely unsafe and had to be destroyed rather than risk it falling into the unsuspecting hands of some poor innocent kid? I guess I can't draw such a fine line.

 

I've probably rolled up on over 100 motorcycle accidents in my short career as a Firefighter/Paramedic and well over a dozen fatalities. Either your six year old HJC helmet or my five year old Shoei would likely have saved at least a few of those fatalities, and probably T.E. Lawrence as well.

 

But that's simply my perspective and I sleep just fine . . . but YMMV.

 

That's cool man, I just think that if I wasn't willing to put my head in it, neither should the next guy. I rolled up on a few too many fatal collisions in my days as a policeman. As for ol' T.E., he was wearing what, a woolen cap (or a leather flight helmet)? Not really a fair comparison wouldn't you agree?

[KMG_365]

Sorry, to sound as if I'm going on about this, but I've just been doing a lot of research on helmet research and helmet use in general lately (for my "First Responder Training for Motorcyclists" course I teach) and it's been in the forefront of my thinking of late.

That's cool man, I just think that if I wasn't willing to put my head in it, neither should the next guy. I rolled up on a few too many fatal collisions in my days as a policeman.

I see your point, but you and I with our years of experience and miles under our belts (and money in the bank) would come at that determination far differently than the average shopper at the Goodwill who would even be there and in need to be looking at a helmet in the first place. I imagine that person is likely wearing a plastic POS because it was cheap . . . and while he's there, looking at the bell-bottomed trousers in searsucker and plaid, he spots my old Shoei on the shelf that is still in decent shape--no scratches or dents (I know it's never been crash-compromised), liner's still intact, smells faintly of Woolite . . . for less than $50.00, maybe even less than $25.00 and thinks to himself: "Wow, I scored! This is way better than that other cheap POS I've been wearing."

 

That same rider leaves the Goodwill and has a car turn left in front of him sending him face-first through the car's windscreen. I feel if the option for a beginning rider is an accessible old full-face vs a new beanie, I might just have saved a life.

 

As for ol' T.E., he was wearing what, a woolen cap (or a leather flight helmet)? Not really a fair comparison wouldn't you agree?

I think it is a fair comparison as I believe he was wearing no helmet at all (perhaps the wool cap you mentioned), but even a leather flight helmet or the little plastic Tupperware bowls I see on (what's left of) some riders' heads--or more frequently down the road a piece from where their body actually came to rest--provide comparable protection. The lady Harley rider who went face-first into a guard rail here in Coronado a year or so ago would've fared much better in even an old full-face than the "novelty" helmet she wore loosely with the chin strap hanging jauntily. One of our LEO's stopped her small group of riders and scratched her riding through "his" town with a non-DOT compliant lid and WAAAAY too loud straight pipes, tragically and ironically that same LEO was first on scene not ten miles away or ten minutes later when she died of massive facial and head trauma--the rest of her "gear" was almost untouched and she showed no other obvious injuries.

 

And since you seem to be interested in ol' T.E., here's a morsel you'll enjoy (and for everyone else who has no idea what we're on about, go rent O'Toole's "Lawrence of Arabia" some evening, you'll love it! I just wish "W" had seen it years ago, might have learned a thing or two . . . or not. ):

 

 

. . . from "The Edge" vol 3 no. 1, the magazine of the Motorcycle Rider's Association of Western Australia (MRAWA)

 

It all started with T. E. Lawrence.....

 

Until the war ended in 1919, Lawrence was virtually unknown to a British public numbed by the horrors of European trench warfare. At that time, an American journalist, Lowell Thomas, toured Britain with a lavish lecture series outlining his accomplishments. His romantic accounts of Bible-land victories rapidly transformed T.E. Lawrence into a popular hero. "Lawrence of Arabia".

 

After a brief spell at the conclusion of hostilities, during which he unsuccessfully advocated and promoted Arab independence (1919-1922), he returned to Oxford and a fellowship at All Souls College. There Lawrence began work as an author, and he produced the hugely acclaimed Seven Pillars of Wisdom. In 1923, after assisting Churchill as an advisor and being instrumental in the creation of the Kingdom of Trans-Jordan (later Jordan), he drifted into a perilous state of mind. He joined the Royal Air Force under an assumed name and 12 years later retired to Clouds Hill in Dorset.

 

Lawrence loved speed. His motorcycle (one of many)-a Brough Superior, given to him by his friend, George Bernard Shaw-had power and acceleration that outstripped its handling and braking characteristics On May 13, 1935, he rode his motorcycle through the South Dorset countryside. He wore no helmet, which was not unusual except during a race. As he returned to his cottage, he swerved to avoid two boys on bicycles and pitched over the handlebars, landing in front of his machine and fracturing his cranium.

 

He was taken to Bovington Camp Military Hospital in a coma, where the best specialists in the country were rushed to save him. One of them was the young neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns born in Port Pirie, South Australia. Lawrence died 5 days later, without regaining consciousness, at the age of 47 years. This motorcycle accident was to have major ramifications for thousands of future motorcyclists. Hugh Cairns was profoundly moved by the tragedy of this famous First World War hero dying inexorably at such a young age from severe head trauma. Having been powerless to save Lawrence, Cairns characteristically set about identifying, studying, and solving the problem of head trauma prevention in motorcyclists.

 

During the Second World War, Cairns recognized the unnecessary loss of life among the dispatch riders of the British Army, even before the actual start of hostilities. In 1941, his first and most important article on the subject was published in the British Medical Journal. He observed that 2279 motorcyclists and pillion passengers had been killed in road accidents during the first 21 months of the war, and head injuries were by far the most common cause of death. Most significantly, however, Cairns had only observed seven cases of motorcyclists injured while wearing a crash helmet, all of which were nonfatal injuries. His 1946 article on crash helmets charted the monthly totals of motorcyclist fatalities in the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1945. The obvious decline in the number of fatalities took place after November 1941, when crash helmets became compulsory for all army motorcyclists on duty. His article concluded:

 

"From these experiences there can be little doubt that adoption of a crash helmet as standard wear by all civilian motorcyclists would result in considerable saving of life, working time, and the time of hospitals"

 

It was not until 1973, 32 years after his first scientific article on the subject, were crash helmets made compulsory for all motorcycle riders and pillion passengers in the United Kingdom.

[algover]

Interesting bit on "ol' T.E.". But I wonder what sort of "crash helmet" Cairns was referring to? I didn't think there was anything available in those days other than the leather flight cap.

[outpost22]

Well you could always store them for a looong time like I did with my 1969 Bell TX 500. Now its "desireable" in Vintage MX races.

They are kind of hard to fold up and keep in drawers though.

[2wheelterry]

I sold my last helmet on Craig's List for $40 or $50. It was in good shape but a bit sweat stained. A young kid bought it so he wouldn't have to borrow a helmet at the local drag strip. He was so pleased that it matched the color of his car AND fit.