Colorado doesn’t require helmets but I’ll be damned if I go without. I have young children and they don’t need a father with tapioca where his brains used to be.
I may get a half helmet (aka: “Skid Lid”) one day but, frankly, ~75% of accidents aren’t protected by that type of helmet. A full face helmet does leave you with an intact jawbone to chew the hospital food with.
Image counts a lot with motorcycles, but I need more experience riding before I put image ahead of safety.
Motoboss. I think I may wind up getting a leather jacket, though. Less air flow, but the mesh is getting to be uncomfortable.
I got lucky with the blue bike; when I went to the dealership, all they had were black and red, too. The blue bike was tagged as Sold. I went back to the house to do some research, returned to the dealership, and the Sold tag had been taken off, so I snapped it up.
As for the MSF course, I totally empathize about suddenly forgetting what you’d just learned. I was taking evening courses, and although I’d been doing splendidly one night, towards the end of the class my mind just fell out, my hand locked down on the throttle, and I nearly crashed into a wall before I figured out the clutch. It was very much due to tiredness, and I made sure I was rested for the rest of the sessions.
Don’t I know it. I keep an eye on every motorcycle I see, and maybe 1 in 50 cruiser riders wear a helmet. More than half of the sportsbike riders wear one, but then they don’t wear any other padding, so it’s really funny to see this giant helmet on top of a skinny-ass kid in a T-shirt and shorts. I feel self-conscious sometimes when I see another cruiser rider without padding, but it’s fleeting, because I know I’m either less experienced or smarter than they are (or both).
Leather would help with that self-image, though. 
Ah yes, the “brain bucket.” 
It’s mostly the interior states that have lax helmet laws. Here’s a chart. The site is very anti-helmet, but they do quote statutes.
I had a lot of fun at the MSF class. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a class that was so smooth and effectively covered so much in relatively little time. Top notch, at least the Albemarle County, VA one was.
Sounds like all you gotta do is work on the rationalizing, then.
ETA: Just think of how many women will be attracted to the cycle. They’re like puppies! (the bike, not the women…)
Not exactly… Skid Lid is actually the specific type of helmet, while Brain Bucket is slang for any type of helmet.
Although, to be fair, sometimes the women* are* like puppies, especially once you get them on the back. 
Heh - had to put this on my Netflix list.
Not what I was expecting from a Romero film. (I went to the L.A. premier and saw Romero.) A bit dated now, but I still like it.
Did you notice King Billy rides a CBX?
You’d better go one better than that: Ride as if to assume they are trying to run you over.
Sometimes I check to see if I have a sign on me that says, “$1,000.00 if you can knock me off my bike!”
I have thousands of dollars of customization on a bike that I would never recover in the event that it was totalled, as the insurance company will only pay the bike off. If someone hits me, they’d better kill me.
I just hit 5100 miles on my Suzuki since May. I’ve saved $2100 or so in gas alone. I agree with the previous poster - I ride as though all the other drivers are actively trying to kill me. I haven’t had any super close calls just one person changing lanes that I saw early on and was able to avoid.
Full face is the way to go. I just picked up a Nolan N102 helmet and it is really comfortable.
I’ve begun getting very nervous if I’m riding side by side with a car in the next lane over, even if I’m in a car myself. Speed up, slow down, or change lanes to give yourself a proper space cushion, and you’ll likely never be blindsided by someone who didn’t check before cutting you off.