Open face or full face?

[Banditbandit]

Not saying there is nothing wrong with them, but you need skills when crashing in with an open face.

Fuck .. skills when crashing? By the time I'm crashing it's usually too late - I just hit the road and what happens happens ..


I've had two offs after which the front of my full face looked like someone had been at it with an angle grinder ... I was riding before helmets were compulsory .. and the row over the introduction of the rules .. and I swore I'd never wear a full-face .. but I got one to commute in Wellington's shitty weather (warmer and drier) .. and after personal experience of twice saving my face in a full face .. I will never wear an open face on the road again ..

[Oscar]

The choice of how much risk is taken and how much is mitigated and how is solely the responsibility of the individual. My only desire is that people make informed decisions.

Absolute bullshit.
Firstly, not a lot of people are responsible, and secondly, when idjuts fuck up, who pays?
I'll bet you complained long and loud about ACC levies. The fact is, if you have a system like ACC that pays for your injuries, you need to make sure that people don't abuse it. Or would you prefer the alternative - expensive self insurance and a legal system clogged with personal injury claims?

Your ideas of personal responsibility only work if the consequences are sheeted home to the individual.
Basically if you wish to ride without the proper protective gear, opt out of ACC.
That way the rest of us don't get to pay for your bad choices.

[Tazz]

Shark Evoline 3 (or some such). Best of both worlds

[HenryDorsetCase]

I am way too pretty to risk jail, or an open face helmet. There, I said it. Some of you more homely lot might have an improved visage with a bit of the old face first sliding down le road. Who am I to judge?

[scumdog]

Your ideas of personal responsibility only work if the consequences are sheeted home to the individual.
Basically if you wish to ride without the proper protective gear, opt out of ACC.
That way the rest of us don't get to pay for your bad choices.

And basically if you want to ride you have to pay more ACC levy than if you don't so the 'rest of us' don't pay for your bad choice - oh, wait, they're alrady doing that....

(Kinda on the same theme as your proposal above - just stretched a little)

[swbarnett]

Absolute bullshit.

Back at ya.

What gives you the right to determine MY level of risk? Go down that path and anything with any chance of bringing any joy to life will be banned.

[Oscar]

Back at ya.

What gives you the right to determine MY level of risk? Go down that path and anything with any chance of bringing any joy to life will be banned.

You mean the way the way Libertarian fuckwits talking about "bikers rights" and other such idiots are pricing bikes of the road with increased ACC and Insurance premiums?

You have very few "rights", and the ability to operate a motorcycle in this country is not one of them.

[Taxythingy]

Mine from not two weeks ago. +1 for full face.

You don't have to, but if you don't, I will think that your mother was a hampster and your father smelled of elderberry.

[GrayWolf]

so what is the attraction of an open face or similar helmet?

Rode for many years using an open face (in clement weather) Always wore a full face in late Autumn/Winter.

Open face? Better peripheral vision, (although some full face are almost there. Better 'noise' detection (engine behind you) in traffic. In a city environment, an open face may be a better bet for getting through the road block.

Full face is just superior in a crash situation...
These days I wear a good quality flip front, so get the best of both worlds.

[mouldy]

Full face all the way

Faceplanted once on the road , was only pootling , front wheel hit big pothole and turned . slammed down hard enough on my face to knock me out / visor and chinguard took most of impact , If that had been an openface ?

[400sm]

HARD-AS Harley riders wear open face.
I like to see them suffer.

Please don't tell them about full-face . . . -it might save one of their lives

[swbarnett]

You mean the way the way Libertarian fuckwits talking about "bikers rights" and other such idiots are pricing bikes of the road with increased ACC and Insurance premiums?

Not at all. I'm talking about the fact that what's considered to dangerous for an individual by society at large has changed dramatically and if it keeps changing in the way it's been going then motorcycles, among other worthwhile pursuits like mountaineering, will be outright banned as too dangerous. This will lead inexorably to a society that simply isn't worth living in.

You have very few "rights", and the ability to operate a motorcycle in this country is not one of them.

Boy, you're one cynical bastard.

I have the right to make an informed decision about the risk that I will undertake and the ways in which I mitigate any risk that I don't want to undertake. Irrespective of what some bunch of half-wits in Wellington (or the UN) say.

[Mike.Gayner]

I have the right to make an informed decision about the risk that I will undertake and the ways in which I mitigate any risk that I don't want to undertake. Irrespective of what some bunch of half-wits in Wellington (or the UN) say.

That's a pretty boody important point. I have the right to take whatever risks I want as an individual. The government introducing ACC doesn't change that. The government can't control my personal risk profile by introducing an insurance scheme I never asked for, just so they could leverage me through social pressure. Fuck that shit.

And why isn't anyone telling others to stay off the rugby field or off horseback?? They cause a massive amount of injury, and there is NO EXTRA ACC CONTRIBUTION paid by these people.

[TLJimmy]

I have a medical certificate exempting me from wearing a helmet on a pushbike and a motorcycle. I use it all the time with the pushy; I've never bothered to try it on with the TL . Aside from the unwanted attention it'd bring, at 17 I went down the road on what would've been my face, grinding 1/4 inch of the chin-piece on my full-face helmet...'nuf said.

As to having the 'skills' to crash safely....Yeah Right. You'd be better off drinking Red-Bull and flying to safety

[Urano]

Better 'noise' detection (engine behind you) in traffic.

actually it's not so easy...
the great part of noise you hear on a bike is not from the engine but aerodynamics, and other's engines noise is masked buy the air as well.
while making research to write my safety book i've found studies that make clear how from 40kmh the problem it's the air.
this leads us to another strange situation: from about 40-50 kmh you have better alert sound recognition with an helmet on, and from 50-60 kmh it'll be better to use earplugs.
i strongly suggest anybody should use earplugs when on the bike outside the relative-slow city environment. keep earplugs in your jacket and as soon as your journey stretches out of the city with speed higher than 60 kmh stop a sec and put them on.
it's better for your riding AND for your hearing (at 90 kmh the noise inside any helmet is higher than the limit for workplaces...)

Full face is just superior in a crash situation...
These days I wear a good quality flip front, so get the best of both worlds.

...which is simply the only situation you're wearing an helmet for...
but pay attention with the flip front: it's not at all the best of both world.
you should open it up ONLY when not on the bike. if you're riding with the chin guard opened you're doing something VERY VERY VERY DANGEROUS.
remember that an open flip front IS MCUH WORSE than a open face in the event of a crash...
DO-NOT-RIDE-WITH-A-FLIP-FRONT-OPEN!