2Wheeltips

Many states have mandatory helmet laws, requiring you to wear a helmet while riding.  Although there are those who protest the mandatory helmet laws, you need to be selfish and think only about yourself:  if you go down, even if it is a minor incident, and you hit your head, the helmet is the only thing between you, the ground, and serious injury.  Surely, you don’t need a mandatory helmet law to get you into the very good habit of always  wearing a helmet when you ride; it’s your life and your head...enough said!

If you find that a helmet is not comfortable, try another one.  Shop for a helmet at a store where you can try on various sizes made by different manufacturers and where there is a salesperson who is knowledgeable about fitting helmets.  You may find that the size and shape of your head is best suited to the helmets of one particular manufacturer.  If a helmet is too large or too small, it is the wrong helmet! Once you find the right helmet, you will know it; it will become so comfortable to wear that you will wonder how you could ever consider riding without one.  Half and 3/4 helmets do not offer near the protection that full-face helmets do.  Your helmet serves functions other than just protecting you from head injury; it protects you from bugs, road debris, etc.  At highway speed, even a bug hitting you in the face or eyes can cause serious injury!   You can also purchase additional visors for your helmet that provide UV filtration and shading if you are riding in bright sunlight and you don’t want to wear sunglasses.  These visors are simple to swap out and you may want to consider having several of them for different riding conditions. Remember that, if you start out on a trip during the day and are using a shaded visor, you will have to bring along a clear visor for any riding that you do after the sun goes down. In some states law enforcement will pull you over for riding with shaded visors after dark.