Modern Vespa

Well, a wasp. As near as I can figure, the little cuss got into my helmet, then instead of DYING like it should when it hits the side of my helmet at 65MPH, it stings my temple and THEN it crawls in between two panels of the soft bits inside my helmet and bites all the way up the side of my head. I pulled over in the middle of the five lane highway and tore off my helmet, pulled apart the interior of my helmet and let the little bastard fly away. Then to add insult to injury, some a$$ comes by with me in the turn lane and honks and flips me off while I'm trying to figure out how to put my helmet together. GRRRRR!

I'm not making any judgements with this question: Open face or full face?

Dave

Good thing your were not allergic to bee stings. You might have died. Your story reminded me what happened to my brother when we were kids. When he was riding his bike, a yellow jacket wasp flew into his mouth and stung him 14 times in the roof of his mouth. The doctor said if he was allergic to bee stings he would have died instantly.

Were you wearing a face shield or full face helmet? I am thankful you were not hurt worse GeorgiaGirl,,

Wow, Just reading your story hurts.

I'm not sure if I would have let the little critter fly away.

Glad you were OK.

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Full face, but my shield was up. I have MC glasses that go over my eyes. I'm not life-threateningly allergic, but I usually swell up enough that my mom used to make me go get a Benadryl shot. I was wearing a Buff to keep my curls out of my eyes and the little *&(!$ was biting and stinging through the fabric. Not nearly as bad as if he was on the skin. Just had a sore head and a bad attitude the rest of the way home :lol:

What a nightmare!  Wasp stings are vicious enough--glad it didn't lead to even worse injuries.

I've had a hornet/something or nother fly into my helmet once. Here's the kicker...it was about a month after I got my 250 and I was pulling into a parking lot at school. Coasted in no problems. Locked it and was easing it back into the parking spot. Still had my visor down, with just about a 1/4" crack for wind. Guy came up and started asking all the standard questions when BLAM, thing flies and and starts biting my face! Well, I jumped off the bike(thank god the lock was already on) and started jumping around like and idiot and trying to tear my helmet off! The guy musta thought I was mad at the questions and took off running! Lol...that made me laugh so hard that I forgot about the lil bites, though I did enjoy squishing the insect in my gloved fingers. I wonder if that guy still tells his friends about 'super angry weird scooter guy'.

Youch! If a wasp, yellow jacket, bee got inside my helmet it would probably occupy 1/2 of the interior and one sting would probably take me out! I'm talking Florida in July....big fat juicy stingin' muthers! Must take heed and wear my fullface and leave the 3/4 home. Sorry to hear it happened, but glad to hear you're okay! Wow....you never know, what's coming atcha! Got a fly swatter Mod? Anyone? Bet UFO does!

My apologies, my first post was rather abrupt... I had something else on my mind. I'm glad to hear you are OK and didn't 'lose it' when you got stung. I saw one guy go right crazy at about 50 mph one day. He had his helmet off by the time he slowed to about 30 mph and was holding the side of his head and cursing by the time he stopped.

I've never had a bee or wasp hit my face when my visor was up but I did have one particularly big insect explode on my chin bar. Much of him (her?) went into my slightly open mouth. It's not pleasant trying to spit from behind a full face helmet - that says nothing of the retching and gagging

Dave

There is a thread in the general section that discusses a wasp sting on one of the boys. Don't know what kind of helmet he was wearing either. Thats gotta hurt. And he didn't crash.

Glad you didn't need an eppie.

Oweeee, the temple can't be a nice place to get stung!

I've had something similar, but with a mosquito. The little bugger had got in one of my top vents, taken a bite on one side of my forehead before moving to the other side and taking another bite. Felt a slight itch, but thought nothing of it at the time.

When I got my helmet off (after another 90 minutes of riding), the people I was riding with just stared. I looked like I was about to sprout horns on each side of my head, they were pretty big lumps. I don't take well to mosquito bites or stings!

As for wasp stings, the only one I've had on a bike was on my collarbone. The wasp must have been in my jacket when I put it on, or somehow got in while riding. Man that hurt, had swelling around it the size of a fried egg - I had to pad it out for the ride back as the wind blast on the Fuoco made it feel like it was on fire.

Nasty evil little critters, I hate them!

Awesome job keeping your head and not letting the pain cause even more problems. It must have been horrendous pain. On July 4 I got stung near the tip of my nose and my eyes watered for 1/2 hour. Terrible pain. Can't imagine all the stings you got...like somebody putting out multiple cigarettes on your skin.

Glad you are ok!

"On one of the boys"?! Eeeyyoooww!

I am gonna add a "cup" to my gear now

Agree with lostboy - what a nightmare. As if there weren't enough hazards out there with weather, critters and cagers.

Glad you're alright, damn but those things hurt like crazy.

This isn't painful, but sometimes the little bugs will work their way down through my full-face helmet and just buzz around or inside my ear. So now I'm going 75 MPH on the interstate, and I got this bug, buzzing away in my ear and crawling in and out of it. That's a bad feeling, having a bug walk along your inner ear.

time for a fabbri

https://modernvespa.com/forum/topic49031

That was a funny thread, sorry I missed it. Bill is one funny guy.

Sorry to hear that. I was having helmet trouble in Chattanooga so I tried a Nolan 102 at the dealer there. They didn't have the color I wanted but got it back and shipped it to me. It has a much wider field of vision than my Shoei but also the shield is the clearest I've ever seen. This should cut down on bug exposure and I'm loving it but I don't think it will fit under my seat or in the topcase. Now I have something else to buy.

Long story but I'll try and condense it down.

Riding in the country. Wife on the back. Fabri Midsize windscreen fitted. She lifted her visor to scratch her nose and a bee got sucked in because of the bizarre wind flow the fabbri creates (such bad timing).

Heard a scream and a frantic "thumbs down" motion in front of my helmet. Screamed to a halt, on a soft shoulder. Didn't drop the bike (thanks largely to 3 wheels I might add).

Bee was wedged between her glasses and her eye. It buried its sting in the corner of her eye (not eyeball but skin).

Pulled bee off and scraped sting out.

No ice, antihistamine, first aid at all in the group I was riding in.

Not allergic to bees luckily. If it was a wasp, we would have been calling an ambulance for sure.

Lessons Learned:

- be the responsible one, and always carry a well stocked first aid kit with icepacks when going on long rides. I was able to assist a downed cyclist with the kit on one ride once.

- practice your pillion hand signals regularly, or invest in a helmet to helmet communication system.

- practice emergency stops on a variety of surfaces. You'll never know what you might have to pull onto in an emergency.

- ensure your pillion knows that in a personal emergency to keep calm on the bike otherwise you might both be injured. My wife managed to, and it meant I could pull over quickly and attend to her.

wow you two are a good team! ok a tall fabbri then

I hate yellow jackets. Last fall one found its way into my fullface helmet and under the lens of my glasses. The bastard got me 4 times right in the left eyeball. Pain was intense. Made it back to work then went directly to the emergency room because my face and eye were swelling like you wouldn't believe.

Today I am developing a nasty cataract in that eye.

I don't want this to happen to me....but really, I wonder what kind of karma brings that little bugger to you....that's nuts...sorry G...tough, weird event....

cheers...jacq

maybe a tin cup

this was me last time I got a Bee in my bonnet

If I understand correctly the OP's incident happend with a full face helmet with the shield fully up. It is likely, but not guaranteed, a closed shield would have kept the bee out. Hot Georgia summer time and wanting some air flow in the helmet I assume.

The shield fully up negates a safety feature and in essence is an open face helmet whith some chin protection. I have said it before, but I have a star in my truck windshield from a rock hitting it. Looking at the star when I am in my truck reminds me why I bought a full face helmet. In hot weather I do lift the visor slightly to let some air in and find it is close to what comes in fully open. I still have it in front of my face to protect from flying debris and frequent big bugs. If your helmet will not hold the visor in a partially open position you may want to consider buying a different one. The engineer in me says put function ahead of style.

My hat. helmet, is off to you for keeping in control in such a painful situation. Could easily have led to a major accident. Glad you are OK.

I was about half a mile from home and hadn't got around to putting my visor down lesson learnt!