[Ducati] bee in the bonnet (is my helmet still okay after a small mishap?)

[the_lammster at comcast.net]

It is impossible to tell without an x-ray machine.  The general rule is that a 4 foot fall will damage the helmet enough to make it unsafe.  Others will tell you about the Arai and Shoei check programs, but if your helmet isn't one of those, try going to a public building (courthouse, jail, Federal Building of any kind) near you in the off hours and ask them to look at your helmet on their x-ray machine.

If you see any fracture pattern, buy a new helmet until you can have this one checked out professionally.

Ken Lamm
'01 750M dark
-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: kevink38 at comcast.net 

> At last, a mishap that was not a get-off involving physical injuries and 
> expensive repairs.... I was near the end of my ride home today, when I felt 
> something crawling around my ear. Wait,... Yup, there is definitely something 
> crawling around inside my helmet. I stopped and got the helmet off as quickly as 
> possible. It was a bumblebee, nicely nestled in the ear cavity. So, (here's were 
> I got a little stupid) I got off the bike, put the helmet on the seat and 
> pondered the situation. This was when the bike did one of those slow falls, the 
> kind where everything looks okay and then 15 seconds later, its falling over. So 
> now the bike is on its side and my helmet is laying on the sidewalk, where it 
> fell/rolled to when the bike dropped over (tip: when parking your motorcycle, 
> don't think that standing next to it will keep it from falling over if it is 
> badly perched). Okay, been there before. Stand the bike back up, pull the rear 
> brake pedal away from the engine casing, pick up the broken 
> bolt that was the repair from the last time I broke the break pedal, take a 
> quick look at the bike, and head home (thankful that I still have that parts 
> Alazzurra to draw from). 
> So, here's the question. Is the helmet okay? How do I know? How can I get it 
> checked. It has a few small scratches on the visor, and 3 very tiny dinks in the 
> top where 3 bits of gravel were inbedded when the bike fell over. Am I being 
> paranoid? Is there a reasonable way to get the helmet checked? Is there anything 
> else I can look for? I like my brain. 
> The good news of all this, is, since it was the Alazzurra, which is already 
> pretty grungy looking, you can hardly tell it's been dropped,...again. 
> 
> Kevin Kachadourian 
> '96 900 SP 
> '85 Alazzurra 650 (old dog still bites) 
> 
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