Are open face helmets more dangerous?

[wingnutt]

Better for what. ALL styles of helmet have advantages ... and depending on the type of use the buyer intends ... will decide what is the best choice ...



If the fighter jocks were depending on their cockpit screens to stop their face being ground into the tarmac ... maybe you might think that.
I've seen the chin of full-face helmets ground down to nothing ... so don't be too confident about your visors protection ability.

yep thats fair comment FJrider, however I was referring to Lexan being the best from an open face helmet point of view, not as a reference as to how it would stack up against a face bar on a full face helmet.

realistically, i wouldn't like to do a face plant with an open face, or a full face. although as i said, full face would probably be better suited to such activity.

[Dangsta]

Screw safety, what about the biggest issue facing the open face biker.....mozzies, flies and other insects? Open face may look "cool" but not so much after 30 minutes on the road with your face and designer sunnies caked in insect pâté.

[pritch]

Wait untill it rains - don't even think about hail.

[cheshirecat]

Used to work at the Transport and Road Research lab in the UK - researching MC crash helmets of all things. One of my Monday jobs was collecting the weekend's admissions and sorting them out. Never worn an open face since even when DRing in London 12 hours a day in 30 degree summers (yes it gets them). One of the things that happens is the visor turns in on itself forming a very effective slicer and not much of an impact is required to do it.

[SMOKEU]

FFS, don't buy an open face helmet. I've seen the results of crashes resulting in the persons face being ground away with open face helmets. Full face helmets aren't always expensive either.

[NordieBoy]

Screw safety, what about the biggest issue facing the open face biker.....mozzies, flies and other insects? Open face may look "cool" but not so much after 30 minutes on the road with your face and designer sunnies caked in insect pâté.

Wait untill it rains - don't even think about hail.

Visor......

[Dangsta]

Visor......

Then what's the point? Be as well go full face.

[PrincessBandit]

I've tried riding with my Evoline flipped up (so basically open face) and bug splat and stones aside, I often find it quite difficult to breathe depending on wind direction etc. I kinda figure if I'm having difficulty breathing that could interfere with my riding...

[NordieBoy]

Then what's the point? Be as well go full face.

No, not really.

You can flip a visor up quite easily. Even a Suzuki owner could do it with training.

[James Deuce]

Bunch of bloody busy bodies. If someone wants to wear an open face helmet it's solely subject to two factors. Choice and legality. In that order. Arguing about the negative impact on ACC claims renders your argument irrelevant, instantly.

It's pointless nit picking. Go ride something instead.

[scumdog]

I ride while wearing an open-faced 'shorty' helmet whenever the weather is warm, full face for the winter.

My neoprene 'skull-mask' takes care of bee & stone impact (still ping a bit though..) and stop me getting sunburnt, keep me warms when I do get caught out with wet weather.

If you were really concerned with your safety you wouldn't even get on a freakin' motorbike, would ya?

[Road kill]

I've worn open face helmets on an off for 40 years and haven't ground my face off yet.

Some people don't even manage to live 40 years,so I reckon I'm doing ok.

sometimes I wonder why some pussys even bother riding bikes,I mean the wind must be so cold an all.

Oh yeah, I forgot most of you lot have wind screens to get around that huh,,,bikers,yeah right

[davereid]

I ride while wearing an open-faced 'shorty' helmet whenever the weather is warm, full face for the winter. My neoprene 'skull-mask' takes care of bee & stone impact (still ping a bit though..) and stop me getting sunburnt, keep me warms when I do get caught out with wet weather. If you were really concerned with your safety you wouldn't even get on a freakin' motorbike, would ya?

Well said.

Getting on a motorcycle makes you around 20 times more likely to suffer a fatal vehicle accident than doing the same trip in an average car.

Helmets help, but even the most pro helmet studies can only show a 50% improvement in survival rates, so at best a helmet is a good idea that gets nowhere near making up for the dumb idea of getting on the motorcycle in the first place.

And its not a binary. ie its not like a helmet makes a difference between being completely dead or completely uninjured.

Its often a difference between being dead and an alive vegetable.

NZ didn't even get a spinal unit until we got helmets. Now the spinal wards are full of alive bikers. Maybe there is a link, maybe not.

Its your head, you choose. For my money, I don't ever want to test my helmet. I ride like I don't have one.

[Dangsta]

No, not really.

You can flip a visor up quite easily. Even a Suzuki owner could do it with training.

Ouch!!!!!!

[tigertim20]

I dont give a fuck either way what others wear, I wear gear thats right for me, but i was reading another forum with exactly this topic and someone posted a pic of his father in law who had a low speed off wearing a half face helmet