Open-face helmets?

[1200custom]

Hi! As I understand your post, you were just asking for opinions on what style helmet people wear. Seems like their are valid opinions on both sides.

I wear a full face because I think it is more comfortable than an open face style, and also because the protection is better. I haven't actually ridden with an open face helmet, so I'm relying on my imagination and other people's comments on what they are like at 100kph.

It may help in your decision making to make a list of pros/cons for each type, or according to different values. I'm thinking along the lines of Style preference, Safety, Open road vs town riding, etc

Good luck with your decision. Try on lots of helmets and get the very best one you can afford.

thanks for the post....i have a full face helmet at the mo that i will always wear in the country......im thinking of a open face for town riding in the summer while its bloody hot

[1200custom]

aint no way I would wear an open faced helmet over 80km/hr. A large bumblebee will knock yer fucken eye right outa its socket at 100k's, and it will come at you like a thief in the night. Many many large bugs every day richochet off my helmet like a bullet, leaving a massive guts trail cleanup job. You CANT see them coming, and if you do its all over in the blink of an eye, if you still have one.

You will wear a full face helmet on the open road over 80k's wont you ? at least a visor of some sort ? Good.

DB

i will never be stupis enough to wear a open face in the country....im just thinking for town riding in the summer

[JimO]

that town road surface is way softer than the country road surface, come off ya bike in town and your lower face will get a soft massage from the ashpalt

[heyjoe]

I go for my full face helmet now after a over the handlebars headbutting session with a Subaru Station wagon several years ago. Don't really want to do that again like that. Too dangerous for me. I was lucky to not get badly injured.

But like many are saying on this thread - it is up to you to decide as you have your own criteria. People will always have differing views/different reasons for their decisions.

[scumdog]

i will never be stupis enough to wear a open face in the country....im just thinking for town riding in the summer

I'm stupid enough to wear an open-faced helmet eveywhere - and a 'shorty' model at that.


It's a risk - and I know it.

[Big Dave]

I'm stupid enough to wear an open-faced helmet eveywhere - and a 'shorty' model at that.


It's a risk - and I know it.

yuh - no poofy windsceens and an open face helmet (no ghey neoprene either just quietly) .

hard to get a speeding fine. About 90-95 is as fast as you want to go.

If i'm going to do something risky or fast - shoei or arai san to the fore.

[steveb64]

Motu's right - you just cant enjoy a beer while riding with an open face helmet... I have 2 - for local riding...

What? Beers? IME - drinking beer while riding is a fruitless exercise - damn stuff goes flat at an incredible rate!

[steveb64]

And in response to the thread - I've had a number of crashes (for some strange reason, all on dirt bikes) where I'd be either dead or well crippled if I had been riding with an open face - including one where I left my two front teeth embedded in the inside of the mouthguard, and this one http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/at...9&d=1197982547 from just before Christmas, which was with a full face helmet AND goggles.

Oddly enough, the few crashes I've had on the road or race track have left my helmet(s) practically unmarked - other than one where I got stabbed in the face - THROUGH a 2mm visor - by the end of my bars... ...and even then, the helmet itself was unmarked.

You'll still not see me in an open face.

[NordieBoy]

If I'm on a slow section of trail on the mighty DR and want to see more of the world I just flip up the flip up on the KBC FFR. It latches very positivly and at the first sign of bees it comes down again.

Never do it without sunnies though.

[MisterD]

I wear a Davida Jet from Motomail. The leather interior is very comfortable and durable.

I got one of them too, but I got it in the UK before I moved out. Very comfortable, but I find it too hot for Auckland, so I have a full face with vents which is better.

On the chin-impact thing, I've been falling off treadlies for years and have yet to impact that area...but then I doubt I could lie on the ground and lift the chin-bar of my helmet far off the floor..you can prove anything you like with statistics

[Usarka]

I go for my full face helmet now after a over the handlebars headbutting session with a Subaru Station wagon several years ago. Don't really want to do that again like that. Too dangerous for me. I was lucky to not get badly injured.

So you go flying head first into a car, and you reckon the helmet is too dangerous????

did you also go buy a scooter (or a car)?

[jim.cox]

I like the wind on my face

But I dont like the idea of sand-papering my jaw on the road

So I use an MX style helmet - the best of both worlds

[Paul in NZ]

What? Beers? IME - drinking beer while riding is a fruitless exercise - damn stuff goes flat at an incredible rate!

I've given up drinking and riding as I spill too much running over the curbs but an open face does mean quicker pit stops when bar hopping...

FFS - I can invent a billion potential scenarios that would leave me disabled before I left the garage even if I was wearing every piece of kit in the bike shop - Riding a motorcycle is afterall a bloody risky business... Christ I damn near lost a thumb because the glove I was wearing was not up to the job of stopping 400lbs of BSA grinding it off but then few gloves would be...

BUT I'm happy to wear an open faced lid on a nice day when tootling about Kapiti - its a bloody wonderful feeling. I've even worn a tee shirt and no gloves and I once took my hands off the handlebars too - I'm thinking of taking up stunt riding with these fearless acts as the climax!

Argue all you want about the kit, its a personal choice to a point but think about this. How many times have you been out and seen a fully kitted rider doing stoppies, wheelies, scraping pegs, speeding or passing without due care? A full face helmet is not a sheild of invunerability you know - common sense helps.

[swbarnett]

I'm stupid enough to wear an open-faced helmet eveywhere - and a 'shorty' model at that.


It's a risk - and I know it.

So your choice of risk is in the gear you wear. Good for you. It's your choice and you're entitled to it.

How does this differ from someone in full gear putting on a little bit of extra speed ?

[Paul in NZ]

So your choice of risk is in the gear you wear. Good for you. It's your choice and you're entitled to it.

How does this differ from someone in full gear putting on a little bit of extra speed ?

One is legal..