[Donunder]

It's strange how you become accustomed to things.......

A cousin of mine has ridden motorcycles all his life. He commuted across Brisbane, a daily round trip of some fifty klms, for much of his working life, always on some bike or other. He has toured most of Australia and a few overseas countries, on bitumen dirt sand snow and ice, always on two wheels. He has driven a family car too when required but his preference has always to take the bike rather than the car.

A few years ago he decided that as he was "getting on" he should try to drive more often rather than ride so he bought an MX5. He never got used to it and sold it after a short time. He told me that after all those years of riding with a full face helmet, he felt fearful and exposed when driving the open-top car without one. Driving his wife's WRX was bearable but being out in the open without head protection was too much for him.

We jump into our cars with our legal but barely effective lap-sash seatbelts and our often only-for-show roll hoops without a second thought, yet here's a bloke who has exposed himself to what we would perhaps call a high degree of risk for many many years, who is unable to feel safe and comfortable in, let alone be able to relax and enjoy, an open car.

I offered him a drive of my lovely old Healey 3000 a while ago. We pottered around my suburban streets for half an hour and he seemed OK but he was noticeably more at ease later on as he threw his leg over his Aprilia preparing to go home.

On a personal note, I ride a Suzuki VStrom 1000 and have a Shoei XR 1000 full face helmet which is coming up for five years old and is therefore due for replacement. I would never consider an open face model although I had a few when I was younger.