Rocks in the head - or why fullface helmets are better

[caseye]

apart from protection, there's bugs

my visor after a ride on the weekend

Thats quite a collection you have there, better on the outside of the visor than in yer eyes and teeth.

[caseye]

indeed, I had a low speed off avoiding an suv thurs. visor has some nice scratchs on it now. if that had been an openface those would be on my face now.

Sorry to hear that, hope yopu and the bike are OK did you get a good look at teh SUV?
Perhaps a pos'e pf us Manurewa riders should go cage hunt'n??

[skinman]

in onehunga ??? (thats where I was at time)
that would be one hell of a scrap. the driver did stop & phone ambulance for me so not quite so bad just wish she had looked before crossing intersection.
I have broken thumb so no riding for 6 weeks anyway.

[R-Soul]

With so many high sided vehicles about..... such as my own personal nemesis, the suburban 4 wheel drive! you would be a muppet not to wear one. Think about it,..... you hit one side on, or from the back, whats going to be the body part that makes contact first? its probably your face.

Yeah in all the studies that were done on accidents, the part that made the most contact with objects was the chin.

So thats a great place to start with the reductions then right?

[R-Soul]

Went out last week and bought two new Bell full face helmets Apex is the model. D shackles, fibreglass and kevlar reinforcing, custom? paint jobs, awesome pieces of kit .
Will never again use a full face flip helmet.
Convenient? yes.
Handy? yes.
Protect your face in a crash ? NO! @#$%.
Named brand, not super expensive, nor overly cheap, currently available from most bike shops here in NZ, in a low speed ( approx 30-40 K's) straight forward dumping on one side straight into the road, face/helmet hit first, helmet rpomptly split through chin guard area, allowing that side of the helmet to cave in.
She was brought down by a car spare part left carelessly in the middle of her lane, at night, in the Hunua Gorge, one of many, which all attending emergency services also managed to hit, thats 3 fire engines and three police cars not to mention all of the cars arriving at the scene from both directions.
Results, Hospitalisation for 15 hours, no scans, no full medical assestement, a very sore back, a very bruised hip and thigh a mild concussion and a permanent scar from top of bottom lip to bottom of chin where the helmet split in two.
This helmet saved my wife from much more serious damage but it broke! and it's my personal opinion that it shouldn't have.
So from now on it's as good as we can afford(more so when it comes to her) or nothing and we don't ride till we can aford it.
For crying out loud people, the gear is out there it's not always super expensive, but please make sure you are wearing it.
But for that helmet and all the gear my baby would have been badly hurt, as it was , yesterday she rode her repaired(Yeah Right) try restored and so very well, bike for the first time since her off and she enjoyed a day out in the country on some nice quiet roads.
Her helmet and her gear stopped her ending her riding days laid up in a bed or worse and meant she has another shot at geting out there and enjoying her bike.
many thanks to Q Moto for her gloves.
To Lifestyle Imports for her new Bell.
And to Panmure Motorcycles for her fantastically repaired/restored motorcycle.
Cheers guys for all of the efforts, advice and genuine care and attention you gave her while she made her choices.
Shes back and we've already ridden together again, it was brilliant.

She is lucky the chinguard stayed down. Have a close look at those sharp ratings on the other thread. For flip face helmets - the little pictures that come up when you search for a flip face helmets "Guaranteed to stay down 90% of the time"...
Well gee, thats reassuring knowing that my helmet will work as it is expected to in 9 out of 10 accidents!!!

I dont know about you, but I expect it to work as expected- FINISHED. End of discussion.

[caseye]

Yep, been there and looked and thought pretty much the samea s you, uh huh,no Way! never again.Bells and fully enclosed from now on, what a difference, fit is great, wind noise down at least 89%, wider field of view, lighter, cooler, should have done it years ago.

[HQfiend]

Open face/half shell = face f*#ker!

Seen to many rearrangements to features for the sake of being cool (in both senses of the word).

Although I do subscribe to the Darwinism train of thought! If they want to wear inappropriate attire then they probably won't be breeding for one reason or another.

[Scorp]

Nice thread. Even though I've virtually ruled out anything other than a full-face... this has me one hundred percent convinced. An open helmet seems to make as much sense as an unzipped leather jacket.

[Big Dave]

Nice thread. Even though I've virtually ruled out anything other than a full-face... this has me one hundred percent convinced. An open helmet seems to make as much sense as an unzipped leather jacket.

I think that's a pretty good attitude for a new or returning rider. Nobody would argue they are safer and I recommend that a top of the range full face hat should be in every rider's wardrobe.

But there are also times for an experienced rider, pootling around town on a cruiser or a classic for example, that it's a much more pleasant experience being 'outside' for the ride. A bigger risk sometimes worth taking. I like my Davida Jet a lot - in certain circumstances. Same with my collection of Arai full-faces for open road and track work.

>> Although I do subscribe to the Darwinism train of thought! <<

I don't disagree with the point. But you ride a high powered sportsbike. You do realise 95% of the population says that about your choices?

[onearmedbandit]

apart from protection, there's bugs

my visor after a ride on the weekend

The bugs your way look bigger, but I've got more!

[R-Soul]

The bugs your way look bigger, but I've got more!

Geez, you musta hit a whole swarm of them...

Its a good thing YOU had a full face - you could have suffocated with that!!

[Big Dave]

Some of the big ones don't taste too bad.

[Ocean1]

Some of the big ones don't taste too bad.

My S4 has two wee triangular meshed intakes immediately in front of my mouth. I just love it when you feel that cool burst of moisture exploding over your teeth...

[LBD]

And its not only rocks and bugs....Kamakazi ducks can inflict a fair old injury as well. At 55MPH (Yes back then) I collected 2 ducks in the head, with a Full Face on. The force was enough to stove the visor in and give me a bloody nose and momentary loss of conciousness. Any thing less than a full face would have left we with a broken nose and if the loss of conciousness had been longer than for a moment, I would have broken a lot of other things as well.

The following car stopped picked up the two ducks and drove of with out a thankyou

As an aside I tried on the new CF bell the other day a couple of times, but could not get used to the padding covering 1/2 my ears...darned uncomfortable other wise a very sexy capable lid. It was interesting to hear other bike shops rubbishing CF lids saying they are to delicate.

[Big Dave]

Any thing less than a full face would have left we with a broken nose and if the loss of conciousness had been longer than for a moment,

I've done that, hit a large bird at 85kph whilst wearing an open face - flush on the cheek. Bastard broke my Ray Bans.
Was one of those big brown units. Didn't look like good eating though.