Concern: Safety

I would be lying if I said that the danger of motorcycles isn't part of why I am attracted to them. I'm a thrill-seeker and I have no aversion to high risk activities. This little 400 doesn't have the power of the big sportbikes, so I'm a little less likely to kill myself by going too fast.

That being said, I'm still open to the air and to the elements and to the rest of the vehicles on the road, which are far more likely to cause an accident than my own stupidity alone.

In my first post, I showed the open-face, half-helmet that I bought on the Internet. It's going to be cool (style and temperature) and I'm all about that. BUT, I've done my research on the statistics for motorcycle crashes and I figured I would grab a "real" helmet as well.

Enter the HJC CL-MAX II.

It's a modular full face helmet. It has a visor (that I can change) and it will deal much better with inclement weather and the cold, both of which I am likely to encounter in Flagstaff and the surrounding areas.

I've seen nothing but positive reviews about it. While the older style modular helmets sometimes didn't have very good safety as compared to a solid helmet, much of my research recently indicates that these kinds of helmets are now somewhere between half-helmets and full-face in terms of safety, some have definitely been Snell certified. The model I have now has not been certified, but HJC does have a fair number of helmets that are Snell certified, so I know that the company at least understands what goes into making a good helmet.

Starting today, I'm out in my neighborhood learning to ride! Woohoo!