Motorcycle Helmet Photo Collection

Motorcycle Helmet Photo Collection

Motorcycle helmets are not just for protection. They are also an expression of the personality of the individual that wears it. They are also an art form all of themselves. They can be personalized and decorated in various ways including stickers, stick on decorations, pinstriping and custom paint.

Here is a collection of photos that are helmet related that I have collected from across net. Some are just works of art and are not even DOT approved. Others are humorous and quite entertaining. Then there are professional racing models with custom paint jobs, some very famous. There are also some vintage helmets and replicas of famous helmets from a bygone era. All are beautiful works of art in their own way. 

Ride on,

Torch

A Ride Gone Bad Part 2

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A Ride Gone Bad Part 2 Continued from A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

There we were, my son Jake and I, heading home from Cresson through Burleson on Highway 377 in what was now just a light rain. We started picking up Saturday morning traffic now among all the stop and go of the traffic lights. We were both in the right hand lane and Jake was in front of me in the left track and I was riding in the right track. Everything was going fine until the white older Tahoe in front of Jake hit the brakes for no apparent reason.

I saw Jakes brake light come on and his rear tire start to slide to the right. Everything appeared to be happening in slow motion now. I lightly applied my brakes and it was like we were on ice. I saw Jakes bike going down as he went flying towards the stopped SUV in my line of track. At the same time I felt my rear tire starting to slide out to the right. This is where things become fuzzy.

I’m guessing my tires got grip and locked up sending my high side. I remember feeling in my head like I was doing a flip midair. I remember the back of my helmet slamming down hitting the street hard followed closely by my shoulders and upper back almost simultaneously knocking the wind out of me. I remember looking up into the sky seeing stars in my head and rain sprinkling down onto my face shield.

Interesting things go through your head when something like this goes down. I was more concerned about my son than myself knowing he has a lot more life to live than I do. I definitely did not want to run into him. The other thought was the fact that if the crash did not kill me my wife would.

I heard Jake off to my right yelling “Dad, dad!” I lifted up my right hand still too stunned to get up. I realized my left ankle was hurting and that my left knee was bent and my foot was underneath me. I managed to get my left leg straightened out as my ankle started to throb. A Good Samaritan was standing over me dialing 911 on his cell phone asking me if I was all right. I tried to set up on my own and could not. The Good Samaritans wife came over and held an umbrella over me as Jake came over to see how I was. I was relieved to hear he was banged up pretty bad but ok.

I was able to slowly get to my feet just as the Paramedics arrived. I must have slid quite a ways because I wound up in the grass along the side of the road head pointed away from the road. I could barely put any weight on my left foot and my right elbow was hurting. I hobbled over to the ambulance to get examined while Jake went to push our damaged bikes out of the street.

Jake joined me in the ambulance as they checked me out. They asked for all our pertinent information and a police officer also quizzed us while they checked Jake out. The only blood was from my right elbow which was scraped and starting to swell up like a goose egg. We turned down a ride to the emergency room and Jake exited while I limped off the ambulance. It was still sprinkling.

Jake had called his mom, my wife, earlier and told me to call as I limped over to the nearest strip center building, a Texas Car Tittle and Payday Loan Services building next to a Domino’s Pizza, to hopefully get out of the rain. I called and she was already on the way to get us so I gave her directions. Just as I was about to set down and the cement in front of the building a young lady named Melisa asked if we would like to come inside and sit down. After explaining we were soaking wet she still offered us some chairs at one of the tables inside so we thankfully obliged her. She also explained that she would enjoy the company because the business had been held up, robbed, just the day before.

We set down a second and Jake suggested I take off my left boot before it swelled up any more. So while I struggled with my boot Jake went to roll the bikes up to one of the parking spaces in front of the store. While he was doing that the Domino’s Pizza manager offered to lock the bikes in his storage area which we politely declined.

I was feeling light headed again and when Jake came in I asked him to get me a bottle of water from my saddle bag which he promptly brought me. He went back out as I drank and then I got dizzier and had to lie down on the floor for a few minutes. Jake came back in and then I was feeling level headed again and I crawled back into the chair again. My head felt like I had an inner ear infection and made me dizzy every time I moved my head fast....

To Be Continued.....

Ride on,
Torch

A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

Jake

A Ride Gone Bad Part 1

It all started on a gloomy rainy Saturday morning with plans for my son Jake and I to take a short ride down to Cresson Texas to the Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association bike races. I planned on leaving early enough to get there for the opening mini races. The weather forecast for that morning said scattered showers for the morning and a lessor chance for the evening. There were also flash flood warnings for the area we were riding to. On top of that there was also a cool front coming in the afternoon.

I loaded 4 water bottles in my left saddle bag and my mesh jacket in the other with the liner, just in case it got cold. I also grabbed the camera and stowed it in a zip lock freezer bag for water protection in the saddlebag. I put on my riding boots, my new Frogg Toggs, which my son had given me, and my half helmet with clear glasses. I also grabbed my old frogg toggs pants to give to Jake to ride in. I had lost the jacket that went with them one day on my ride to work when my saddlebag had flown open.

It was raining when I left the house on my V-Star 1100 Classic. I rode two blocks before turning around to go back home to switch to my full face helmet. That done I headed to Jakes house on the other side of Bedford. As I pulled up he was in the garage to greet me and he put on my old frogg toggs pants and his mesh jacket with water proof liner. Before we left I told him we had no time deadlines and take it easy on the speed going down to Cresson figuring he local authorities new which days the races were as well. He would lead and I would follow him.

Jake put on his Bell Full-face and fired up his Kawasaki Vulcan 750 and we left Bedford Texas and headed down westbound 183 Airport Freeway towards Fort Worth where we hopped on I35W heading south with the rain stinging my unprotected hands. A little ways down we pulled over for refueling. It was still raining and very gloomy out. I dug out the camera and snapped a picture while there. After we both filled up I packed up the camera again and we headed south again. It was still raining.

Then we picked up I20 headed east as the rain seemed to pick up a little. We rode I20 to Benbrook where we headed south on 377. The sky just kept getting darker and darker and the rain was increasing in intensity. I could feel the sting of the cold raindrops through the frogg toggs. The black carpeting of clouds covered us and occasionally I thought I heard thunder and saw lightning off in the distance.

Jake reported later that he thought he saw a wall cloud off to our left trying to shape into a tornado. The rain was coming down with so much ferocity now that you could not see the white lines on the road. I noticed it looked like he was following some of the other vehicles a little closer than he should be considering the weather and made a mental note to mention it to him later.

Then the rain let up a little and we were in Cresson. We found the road off to the left going to the racetrack and followed it up to the gate. It was still raining. The people at the gate said to come back after the rain stops so we left to search out a dry spot. My feet and boots were soaked by now and I was sure Jake was probably in worse shape. Cresson was not much of a city but we found a Subway restaurant open so we turned in there.

We walked into the Subway dripping wet taking off our helmets while the young guy at the counter just looked at us like we were crazy. We apologized for the water we dripped everywhere and ordered some breakfast things that actually turned out to not be that bad. We sat down at the table to talk while the food was prepared and Jake was worse off than me for sure. Water has gotten under his jacket from the bottom side and had wicked underneath his frogg toggs pants and his blue jean pants were soaked. He had on a pair of waterproof hiking boot type shoes but that did not keep water from splashing in over the top and they held the water in. He went into the restroom to drain the water out of his boots.

We ate our food and talked while watching the few vehicles going by on 377. While we contemplated our next move we saw an ambulance, lights a flashing, speeding by. Foreshadowing perhaps? We stayed there for a little over an hour watching the huge storm over the internet on our phones. The storm looked like it was not in any hurry to get by and was massive in size and severity so we decided to head home.

We donned all our soggy gear again and left the cover of the Subway restaurant venturing back out into the storms teeth to head for home. I felt goose bumps building on my forearms because it was considerably cooler out now making me wish I had my mesh jacket and liner on underneath my frogg toggs. It was still raining as we headed north on 377. It was then I remembered that I had forgotten to tell Jake to allow more distance between himself and the traffic in front of him, not that this would have made any difference in the outcome later.

As we got closer to Burleson the rain slowed down a little and the traffic increased. The further north we went the cooler it got as well. The frequency of traffic lights increased the closer we got into Burleson as well.

This is where things started to unravel ….

To Be Continued…..


Ride on,

Torch