because the cap is leather not steel and the little pointy thing on top makes you look silly.

Yes, it does. That's the whole point! Why else would bikers wear *anything* they wear?

Besides, isn't that a helmet?

It'd better be strapped on hard, and I'd give him one single point of locational ballistics armour for use only with called shots to the head.

Yes, but it's a helmet you can wear in public and be somewhat accepted. As long as the rest of your attire is Biker Leather.

Well I wear a leather jacket because it keeps my skin safe. I saw a guy wipe out while he was wearing a pleather jacket years ago and the paramedics were plucking melted plastic out of his wounds.

I was thinking specifically of those tiny skullcap 'helmets' you see people wearing. You just know they're losing their face if they wipe.

Never cheap out on your Leathers. It just isn't worth it.

Yeah don't skimp. I've seen some crazy stuff. Once on a wet day, I was at a double stoplight (the ones where they have one set like 30 feet from the last set, usually see them in town), anyway, I'm waiting for my green turn light and I see this motorcyclist (crotchrocket, rather than a hog) lose it when he stopped for his red light, his bike going out from underhim. He slid across bout 30 feet from where he tried to stop, ending up under a car (slid into its back) one stoplight ahead of him.

Fortunately, he was wearing full gear, helmet and all, so he looked a little shakey, but he got up, and he didn't leave a trail of himself across the pavement either.

Funny story, I just worked as a waiter for a Harly Davidson convention, over six hundred bikers, don't think there were even a dozen of them that were wearing leathers (unless they left them on their bikes or something before they came in to eat).

It was at a road rally
We were all overheating in the leathers and then saw the guy wipe out and suddnely they weren't so bad.

At big rally's there are some really scary looking guys but everyone is cool, so long as you ride. One guy drove up,clearly delusional, in his off the wrack, no mods Cammero and looked surprised that people weren't telling him he had a cool car.

About a year or so ago I needed to buy a new jacket, the guy at the shop asked if I really rode or just wanted the look. When I said I really rode he took me to a much smaller section of his shop but the quality was very good. thicker leather and extra padding on the important places.

Alright. Someone needs to stat up a beer hat, except instead of beer, it's got combat drugs (and maybe some beer, you know, for the road.)

I don't see why not. B/I rating are abstract and try to represent 2 things the level of armor and how much that armor covers. A armored hat might be 1/1, this does not mean that the 1 Ballistic is because the armor wont stop a bullet but because it only covers 10% of your body while a duster cover 60+%. An armored hat could stop a bullet just as well as a duster if that is where it was hit. Remember the armored clothing in 2070 does not look like super thick armor a hats thickness is probably close to it. I see for hats not helmets impact harder to protect against since the rigid plates would be hard to work in. Also even if the bullet was stopped you would have your bell rung fairly hard, but hey that is what going to stun instead of physical damage represents.

For a person with a hat I might thematically describe a hit that increased the base DV to equal but not exceed the armor rating, it was an awesome shot and rang your bell but your hat deflected the bullet.

This thread made me think of Robin Walker.

PPP system helmet 0/+2
Comes in discrete versions to be worn under clothing.

Just imagine it as a metal skullcap with padded gel underneath. Wear your Ballistic fabric fedora (based on the shawl) over the top for +1/0 and you've got something low-profile and quite useful at +1/+2 extra armor.