I really suffer from wind noise when wearing my DR helmet. It's so loud it hurts my ears.
Does anyone else have this problem or a solution?

Yes we all suffer from that. Try riding slowly during an event on a hot sunny day

email (option): ahum@quicknet.nl

Do people wear their DR helmets when riding on the road? As i wouldnt think you would get wind noise at an event. If so surely its a) illegal and b) def won't provide the protection of a modern helmet.
Chris

email (option): chris@mgowner.co.uk

Illegal to wear a DR metal helmet, if nothing else if you had a serious injury your insurance would not pay out beause of it.

However open face helmets giveme a similar problem, either pad the sides or wear ear plugs, any bike shop sells them.

besides, wearing a DR helmet to ride about in is just Naff, as is uniform, unless you are at an event; who are you attempting to impress?

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

In Normandy around D Day you can do plenty of miles on the open road and still be 'at an event'..and there are things like the Bayeux parade...Closer to home you have Arms and Embarkation..an 'on the road event'..and there are others....It's not quite that clear cut...
I've worn my DR helmet in both countries at those type of 'events' without problems so far...

I'm happy to take my chances, along with taking personal responsibility for my own safety and savour the freedom of doing what I want to.....In my opinion people are becoming too paranoid about risk and are showing signs of becoming afraid of their own shadows...

For every day riding I wear a Davida open face and for longer trips in the Winter I have a full face helmet.(which, with its restricted vision and lack of noise from outside has its own drawbacks from a safety point of view..)..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

We have had it confirmed by a police officer (WW2 military motorcycle rider and author) that a helmet built for purpose before the kite mark was introduced is still a legal helmet (same goes for old pudding basins). We have also had this confirmed by scrutineers at Goodwood.
I'm not one who regularly dresses up, but I do if the event calls for it. If I have to ride say 50-60 miles to the event, I'm buggered if I'm taking a complete change of clothes and spare helmet. I'm under no illusion that me being dressed in uniform will impress anyone. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Ken
So it's naff to want to ride in my DR helmet? and I am doing it to impress people? Who do you work for, the health and safety department or the fun police/Gestapo ?

By your logic it must be naff and a need to impress people that we ride WD bikes at all eh? Otherwise not stay on Euro compliant Hondas while wearing £600 Arai helmets, and CEI approved armoured clothing from neck to toe, with built in air bags?

Mate, I've rode over a hundred thousand miles on loads of different bikes on four continents, below sea level and 13,000 ft above it, from -10 to +40, so I don't really need you to tell me the difference between my arse and my elbow..

But thanks for trying to put me right anyway xxxx

Well said that man...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Peter you are far too touchy, a man of your experience should be able to work out why your helmet is noisy?

for one thing it wasn't meant to be ridden in the circumstances you are now using it for?

Please don't patronise me with your 100's of thousands of miles, this year I clock up 51 years riding bikes, and I also have ridden in other countries and other weather conditions, no thermal gear or heated clobber either.
Early years needed no helmet.

I still think riding about in full kit or part kit is naff.

But thats just me, I don't dictate to anyone, nor do I knowingly patronise anyone.


Ron
"We have had it confirmed by a police officer (WW2 military motorcycle rider and author) that a helmet built for purpose before the kite mark was introduced is still a legal helmet (same goes for old pudding basins). We have also had this confirmed by scrutineers at Goodwood."

that may well be so, but try arguing that point with the insurance company paying your medical bills/funeral expenses after the event.

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

Life is full of risk!..Oh my god!...So much so that they make kids wear goggles to play conkers these days and they have to stay 3 miles back from a sparkler on bonfire night...
I suggest everyone who is worried about it stay at home in their cotton wool lined bunker (with a filtered air supply) until the rescue services arrive....
Some things in life are risky..and sometimes we deliberately take a risk..SO WHAT?...Stop worrying about it and GET ON WITH IT!!!..or it will get DULL, DULL, DULL.(but very safe)..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Ken
No offence intended or taken, we all see things from a slightly different perspective and it's to good a forum and life is to short for all that falling out stuff

I have a pal who was wiped off his classic bike by a lorry. all fault was admitted by the lorry driver who was on the wrong side of the road.
It cost my pal one arm, half a leg and several teeth.

For three years the insurance company has been contesting his claim onthe grounds that althoug my pal was onthe right side of the road, he was on the wrong bit of the right side.

You can imagine what they'd make of a bloke with a 60 year old tin helmet on?

That said, I agree 100% with Ian, but he asked a question he got an answer, not my fault if he doesnt like it.
He could have ignored it, but I suspect I have touched a nerve.


I Did'nt mean to.

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-helmet-law

email (option): chris@mgowner.co.uk

No amount of money will put your pal back together again...and the basis of the Insurance companies argument that he was 'on the wrong side of the right side of the road' rather illustrates that even when you are being a sensible boy they will seek to rip you off and not give you what you deserve and have paid for.....
This really comes down to whether an individual is a 'risk taker' by nature or not and just how much 'perceived risk' bothers people...
You could spend all day talking about the 'what if's' of a potential risk situation...'What if I eat that cream cake and I have a heart attack?' etc...
Each individual actually makes a 'cost/benefit' calculation when assessing risk...and that varies from individual to individual...That's why not everybody thinks it is sensible to climb a mountain without ropes for example..
My belief is that as a society we are being brainwashed into over estimating the real risk in a given situation and thinking only of the potential result if it goes wrong...even if usually doesn't...Like the kids playing conkers without goggles...I don't personally ever remember anyone getting an eye injury from that activity...
I would say worry less and do more...aren't we supposed to have some adrenalin and excitement in our lives?...not the dull existence of a flock of sheep...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Settle down fellas, thankfully this forum is free of the bickering and calling all too frequently found on some of the others. It is possible to express widely different views without getting to a personal level.

As for the noise as said above - ear plugs as a first step and then pads that fill the gap at the front edge of the strap/ear flap. Test this for yourself by the simple way of holding the helmet flap against your head as you go along. Stopping the wind funnelling in makes a dramatic difference.

New helmets versus old? The most stringent tests show that even the most high-tech super duper full face helmet has little or no impact protection at speeds above 19mph. Look it up for yourself, the information is freely available on the web. The only protection offered by any helmet above this speed is against abrasion injury. I reckon the tin helmet is probably as good as any for this. But you pay your money and you make your choice, each to their own.

I am not a dresser up by nature but fair play to those that enjoy it. I don't know what's wrong with trying to impress people anyway, much better than making them sick with disgust.

Whatever you ride and whatever you wear while doing it just enjoy.

Remember.... Shiny side up!

I have a full face arai helmet brand new but riding at 80 mph you still need ear plugs .But i would not wear it on my wd bike because i think you look a right p---k . For riding for fun i bought a helmet for forty pounds looks a lot better on the old bike and your legal. But for shows ww2 weekends i always wear the old ww2 helmet you would look a right a--e -ole in a modern helmet .Whats the point of spending all the time and money on getting your bike 100% and then turn up at an event in modern gear.A word on ear plugs the only ones that are any good and i know this from wearing loads of them is the foam EAR ones.

All he had to do was buy some earplugs.


wind noise is also a problem with modern open face helmets ; I When I had an MZ they were a must, wind roar and the wing ding noise was too much.
My personal solution is to grow thicker side-burns.

I have used a DR helmet to see what they are like, thatwas when you could get them for about 2 quid each, anything over 20mph the ear pieces bellowed out and wind gets in your ears.
I like warm ears so I wear an open face helmet on all my bikes.

I do not see any reason to wear a back to front cap and plus fours on my 20's Sunbeam, so I by the same logic don't feel the need to wear battledress or a tin hat on my WDG3L.
Not even on an event, which BTW I gave up attending in the 70's after a Blackbushe event, all those types strutting around in GI uniforms with fat guts, beards and ponytails was too embarassing.

So its a personal view only, not meant to start a bicker. As for the insurance aspect[they are all barstewards] I don't care a bit about what risks others take, but I do care if others risk-taking increases my insurance or gives an excuse for the powers that be to introduce further restrictive legislations.

Bringing mileage and international travel into it is irrelevant and patronising, no need for it.

If he wants to ride in a tin hat, no sweat, ear plugs are the solution, 50p a set generally.

bickering it was not meant to be.

I had a great ride today round the Dorset Wilts borders, 100 miles, tolerable wind roar, now combing bugs out my side burns. just wish I had as much hair on the top of my head.
Tomorrows a great day, tooth extraction, thats always fun


Incidentally an opinion on validity of a law given by a police officer has no substance in a court of law.

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

I think i have found a solution on the road at a ww2 event no need for ear plugs and still be legal we can all wear turbuns. cant spell it mind.

On my WM20 I normally wear something sympathetic to its period ie open face helmet and tan leather jacket.

And I usually wear my Davida pudding basin on my Norton rigid single.

Today I just felt like I wanted to wear my DR helmet on the Wm20 because I felt an attachment to to that bike, that helmet and that style..

As for risk to life and limb ??????

Well a month ago I was told I have an illness that will shorten my life. So all I can say is buy the bike you want and, ride it as much as you can in the style that you want..
A quick death by a bump on the head would be a luxuary and nothing to worry about in the grand scheme of things so long as the helmet is not to noisy.

It's all a question of your perspective

Is there a white flag gif?

I did not mean to start a ruck. sorry.

If you want to dress like a soldier, at least look like one, out of respect if nothing else.

as for what you wear on your head or why I don't really care, but I reserve the right to pass a personal opinion.

As for the content of your last paragraph I'd say get out on the bike as much as possible.
Good luck.


PS edit for Peter

this last written before I saw your post above. Thanks, good luck good health.

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

Chris quotes a Government website, https://www.gov.uk/motorcycle-helmet-law which gives all sorts of numbers and advice on helmets and also says that if you ride with a visor or goggles, they must conform to certain standards. What is the official line on WW2 goggles or even modern glasses or sun glasses? Legal or not? Just a thought.

As far as I'm aware, it IS legal to wear an old crash helmet provided it was legal in its day. This point has come up before on this forum.

The government guidance on the law relating to crash helmets (mentioned on one of the earlier posts) refers to NEW crash helmets, not old crash helmets (I think few people in government understand that you might actually WANT to own or wear an old lid).

British law is rarely retrospective. In the same way, you have to wear front seat belts in cars - except those vehicles that, in their day, didn't require belts.

You might arguably be foolish for wearing an old lid. But they're not necessarily illegal. The position with DR helmets is perhaps different because these are military items and, possibly, warranted certain exemptions (being Crown equipment). They were probably never road legal for the general public. But it's unlikely you'd get much problems in real-world riding.

Regarding safety, helmets of any type have very little practical benefit in terms of life-or-death accidents. They're usually most effective in very low speed shunts where almost any kind of head protection would do the same job. And as Ian said, or implied, people are hysterical about safety these days. It's the fear culture we live in. Resist it wherever you can.

It's worth noting that many US states that repealed their helmet laws have seen a marked reduction in fatalities (improved peripheral vision, increased concentration in hot weather, greater sensitivity from motorists, risk compensation issues, etc).

As for insurance companies, there are ALWAYS examples of firms refusing to pay out for this reason, or for that reason. That's why we have courts; to decide issues that are arguable under the law.

It's the same with signs that read: WE ACCEPT NO LIABILITY ...

Well they can say what they like. Ultimately, liability is decided (where agreement can't be reached) in the courts. That's how the system works.

email (option): dannydefazio@sumpmagazine.com

As I recall, the stupid legislation on visors and goggles was based on an anti-scratch requirement and a minimum light transmission. The law is an ass as sunglasses are not considered motorcycle eye protection and don't have to comply.

Technically, all old goggles and visors became immediately illegal for road use. I'm not sure if anyone's ever been prosecuted though.

In terms of helmets, that website is economical with the truth as it ignores the fact that helmets with an earlier BS approval remain legal. However, as I understand it, when the helmet law was first enacted, it insisted on BS approval for road use and earlier helmets were not acceptable but it was then complicated by the fact that the EU insisted they had to accept European standards too, so they brought in the vague 'protective helmet manufactured to equivalent standards' thing that is unenforceable and means that if a DR helmet gives as much protection as any standard that has ever been set in any EU country, it should be legal....Just tell 'em yours complies with 1953 Bulgarian standards...

I've never worn ear plugs and can still hear OK after 43 years of motorcycling, and during that time I've never driven a car and only used motorcycles......Apart from the personal comfort aspect which is obviously a factor for some, that's probably another thing on the list we are over paranoid about..that we might go deaf after riding a motorcycle without ear protection.. ....
OK..So for my next ride I'll need leathers, body armour, heavy boots, a state of the art helmet, ear plugs, hi viz clothing, armoured gloves, sat nav, RAC recovery, ABS, Traction control with at least three modes, mobile phone, crash bars and..er...
Never mind...at least sat here at my computer I'm safe with my hard hat and body armour on...Though maybe I should have some eye protection against the stroboscopic effects of the screen?...
Not wanting to be non Politically Correct (another hazard)..but I can't help feeling we're turning into a nation of old women...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

well, when out on my bike I do wear leather trousers, modern jacket and helmet and decent gloves, boots are old firemans boots, too heavey to fall over in.

I only wore earplugs for the MZ because frankly it hurt otehrwise. I notice thought that modern bike riders use them a lot.

Its not for safety as much as too keep warm in this wretched climate.

I'd happily ride my [slower] vintage bikes in a T shirt, but the last time I was warm enough to do that was 1991 in France.

I always wear gloves, lightweight gauntlets, as gravel rash is not only painful but stops me working. Learnt that the hard way.

As for turning into a nation of old women, if we meet you'd better watch out for my knitting bag young man, a clout from that will learn you.

anyone seen my specs?




PS Rik, the legislation on visors and specs for bike riding owed more to the fact that the MP responsible for it owned the only factory in the UK capable of making the stuff. When the legislation came into effect, he couldn't keep up with the demand, so that most police forces had to ride in "illegal" visors.

That scam was very well covered in the bike press of the day, but the mainstream press ignored it.


Much the same with those pointless bits of long vehicle stripes on the backs of HGV's; legislation introduced by transport minister Barbara Castle, her husband had a hand in the manufacture of those.

Is it only the UK that has a transport minister that doesn't drive?

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

So what would happen if you were caught, by some overzealous copper or jumped up insurance clerk, wearing an old 1960's helmet, which is perfectly legal, but is fitted with it's original 1960's visor that doesn't conform to the specific safety standards stated on the British Government website?

Ken,I agree with most comments posted that relate to the legality too, and the wearing of a DR helmet. I am certainly one who knows of the implications of not wearing a full set of Kevlar body armour. We can also argue the wording of the Govt standards to suit our own needs.

I think what has riled most folk here is your use of the word Naff! to demonstrate your thoughts on those who do ride in period dress. I would not presume to say you are Naff if you did wear plus fours......Even if I thought it. Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

Apologies for the use of the word.



plus fours, norfolk jackets are de rigeur in this bit of wilts, especially around shooting times.
that is naff.

email (option): deadsheds@yahoo.com

when the crash helmet law came it one of the chaps from our crowd had a bone dome he was always getting stopped by the police he had stuck a long haired wig on it looked good when he was riding

email (option): roger.beck@node6.com

We repealed the helmet law in the state I live in here in the US. But I still wear a DR helmet because I like it. No noise by the way. I live in a small town and the police always wave to me! I fact I dont have mirrors,have a black out headlight cover, and dont have it licensed! Easier to ask forgiveness than permission!

You don't need earplugs on older motors as the engine noise drowns out the wind noise (what wind at 55mph). Modern riders need them because even they cannot hear their exhaust due to dangerous noise limits. Loud pipes save lives.