[Noobacycle]

Oh, I’m still kicking myself in the arse over this one.

About two weeks ago, I purchased a helmet at a motorcycle leathers store. Their selection was very lacking for helmets but there was one I liked where the face shield lifted up. It was a Zamp helmet. I asked the store owner if the helmet I was purchasing was DOT certified and he told me it was. Knowing very little about helmets, I tried it on and soon after that I purchased the thing for little over $150.

So today was the first day of my MSF course and things went very smoothly. However, as soon as I got to class, I saw a few other students brought their helmets and I noticed all of them had DOT/Snell stickers on the back. My instructor also pointed that out and mentioned that you can get ticketed and fined for not having a DOT helmet at least. I told my instructor about my helmet and how it lacked a DOT sticker in the back and after I showed it to him he was in disbelief. Another instructor looked it over and handed me a helmet to borrow for the riding part of the course which was alright for me.

On our lunch break, I quickly drove up to a motorcycle shop (not the leathers place where I purchased the helmet) and showed it to them. The searched all over the helmet and couldn’t find a DOT sticker. The only sticker the helmet had was an XL sticker on the back where the DOT sticker usually was. The had a catalogue and searched and found that particular model of Zamp helmet and the catalogue mentioned that it was DOT certified. But anyways, I decided to play it safe and wait so I can return the Zamp helmet to the place where I bought it. I also purchased a Scorpion brand helmet which is DOT/Snell certified and I’m happy with that. Not as much features as the Zamp, but most likely safer and won’t get me into trouble.

[megaspaz]

hrm… being dot certified but not having the dot sticker… sounds like bad policy to me, considering johnny law would probably be looking for that sticker to be displayed prominently… If you really like the helmet, I’d fire off an email to that company and tell them about this.

—
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[Bank]

I dont see the point in making non DOT helmets anyways…they should make that a law or something stating that ALL helmets must be DOT certified before they can be put up for sale. I dunno…i just dont see how a company could actually spend time, moeny and resources making a non approved helmet.

[Rab]

If the lining’s removable, take it out and look inside.

Sometimes the DOT notice is inside the helmet shell (although it should also have a sticker on the back I would think).

Re. companies spending time, money and resources making non-approved helmets, in some cases, that’s not what they set out to do. They design and manufacture a helmet (quite possibly for markets other than the U.S.A. primarily) but it fails the DOT testing when they import them into the U.S.A. They sell it anyway, to those not savvy enough to know to check (no offence intended).

Some helmets of course are joke helmets e.g. those little shiny black numbers favored by some cruiser riders, you know, the ones who have skull tattoos and wear “Bonanza” style leather vests. Those are not much better than wearing a do-rag, but they wear them as a kind of protest because the law says they have to. Those often *do* have DOT stickers, but it’s just a sticker, they’re often not actually DOT approved.

[Rab]

Elwood1960 says:

“Is that like the stupid guys I see in colorful full armor leathers doing wheelies on the expressway at 105 mph on lime green motorcycles just before they spill under the wheels of an SUV and then ten other cars that hit him before everyone figures out road kill has splattered across the road?”

Yep, sure sounds like the same

[Andrew]

To be fair here in IL a squid riding with no helmet, t-shirt, shorts and flip flops can be seen riding any type of bike. I’ve seen guys on HD’s, super sports, Triumph’s etc

[ilnam]

Yeah, I think I see about 5% of the riders near me (Chicago and suburbs) wearing helmets. It’s strange to me how it’s optional to wear one, but no one seems to make the wise choice.

[Andrew]

Even more amusing to me is that eye protection is required by IL law but not a helmet. Even still I see a whole lot of riders without even a pair of sunnies.

[Author]

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