I have been using a helmet daily on my commute and it has definitely become a necessity and not an obstacle.. I was ( still using ) previously using an original ROYAL ENFIELD helmet which I bought with my Thunderbird itself; It was a Half-Face Helmet so I decided to upgrade lately to a Full Face Helmet from MT, yes, it costed three times more than a normal Vega or a STUDDS helmet, but today, I can Proudly say, INVESTING Rs. 5775/- in a helmet saved my eye and secured my future…
It was a usual day and a regular commute for me to PCMC from Sinhagad road via Mumbai-Pune Highway… I ride pretty fast on the road and even today I was riding at around 120km/hr, which is very fast considering all the #Chutiyapa (pardon me 😂) on the Indian roads..
I could see a truck at a distance carrying stones and other construction materials… As it approached a bump (common on Indian Highways), it didn’t cared to slow down (pecular with Indian Truck Drivers), and no surprises few stones were cut of from gravity and went into space, ready to fire back on the earth in the form of meteors…
As i mentioned, my speed was about 120km/hr or 75mi/hr, a stone crashed on my helmet (picture above) and scratched the Iridium plating on the visor on the area which was directly in front of my left eye..
Iridium is a chemical element with symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, iridium is generally credited with being the second densest element. Wikipedia
As you can read above, Iridium is a pretty hard element and is the second densest among all.. If the stone did that on the Iridium Visor, I don’t even want to imagine what it could have done to my eye, probably I could have gone blind for life in one eye or have got involved in a severe accident due to loss of vision for a second.. All in all, it was a very nasty experience as the aftershock of the impact made me lose balance for a moment…
With this I can only say that my Helmet indeed saved me today.. I appeal to everyone to use a helmet while riding any motorcycle.. Remember someone is waiting for you at home or office.. Just sacrifice a COFFEE at Starbucks for a few weeks to ensure a safe ride..
Featured Image is shot using an action camera mounted on to the helmet, don’t try the same with your mobile phone…
#RideSafe…
You can read about affordable Riding Gear in my previous blog here…
The Rides of my Life 