Open faced skid lids...

[Nathan French]

Just how safe are they?

I'm thinking of buying one but Im kinda worried that if i come off i'll loose my face.

Nathan

[themoudie]

Maybe, but at least the chin bar can't catch and snap your neck!

We've all have our preferences and reasons for going one way or 'tother. I had an open face Everoak with goggles for years, but got fed up with a frozen, hail hammered, fly splattered mush. Then a Griffin which was really good, until the lining went slack, the mice nested in it and the smell was over powering. Bought a Caber flip lid, nice and light, good protection, could talk to people, but misted 'orribly, the lining went slack and the NOISE! Now have an Arai full face, why didn't I buy one years ago? Kat said I was daft not too, comfy, quiet, well vented with no drafts, good double D ring strap. Tried an open face Arai with full clear visor on in the shop and really liked it, but didn't ride with it.

See what I mean? Rambling twit with horses for courses syndrom and two pints of Cadbury's Belgian chocolate 'Options' inside.

ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, Bill

[pigafetta]

I once slid down a road on my face while I was wearing a full faced helmet. The slow motion passage of gravel and broken glass was quite remarkable but made a right mess of the chinguard and my visor. I can't help thinking that would've been my nose in an open faced job. I much prefer open faced helmets for comfort but I'd hate to ruin my youthful good looks.

Dave B

[guest27]

Stopped to help at an accident outside Oxford once - guy on a C90 had a front wheel blow out and left half his face along the road, could tell he was breathing because of the bubbles through the blood and teeth that used to be the left hand side of his face.

R

[boze]

thats harsh rog, id never wear an open face helmet, not a chance, i saw a picture of a guy who had crashed wearing one and he had left his entire jaw on the road.

i have a caberg with a flip up chin thingy, i wear glasses and it makes putting on my helmet a lot easier although it is quite noisy and fogs up like a mofo when its cold out.

Damo

[Nathan French]

mmmmmmm thats put me right off.

Fullface all the way i think.

[guest207]

when I binned my CCM just before Xmas i would have lost half my face if I had been wearing an open face helmet.

[hondamichael]

in most cases the full face is the better protection
the risk of breaking ypur neck with a full face helmet are significant low and actually not worth to mention
a open face lid basically helps only if something is falling onto you from above
in other words with a open face lid most of the time your chin is taking the force of the impact
and cause it to break
there is a middle way now from schubert helmets
they fitted a steelbar under the chin so in normal use it still looks like a open face helmet, because you cant see the bar
 but with the addition
 of chin/face protection
http://www.schuberth.com/

[pigafetta]

They're good, aren't they! I'd like one of them. They're about £270 though. I'd have to sell me bike to get one.

[Bill Rutter]

I've got an open-faced Cromwell which I use with goggles designed to wear over my specs and I've also got a Caburg Justissimo flip-up jobby. But I always seem to go back to my trusty FM full-face helmet (complete with cheek pads that keep coming adrift!) because it's so comfy. As far as open-face helmets are concerned I feel they are okay for short trips into town but I certainly would have reservations about fast riding in one.

[boze]

I've got an open-faced Cromwell which I use with goggles designed to wear over my specs and I've also got a Caburg Justissimo flip-up jobby. But I always seem to go back to my trusty FM full-face helmet (complete with cheek pads that keep coming adrift!) because it's so comfy. As far as open-face helmets are concerned I feel they are okay for short trips into town but I certainly would have reservations about fast riding in one.

no danger for me! i ride an sr500 lol!!

Damo

[hondamichael]

fast riding only ? i`m not sure if my chin is constructed to withstand a impact of even only 20mph
ok we all like to look cool and on a old single it looks abit stupid to wear full leathers and a race replica helmet
and even textile jackets and trousers look a bit silly in summer 
i tend to wear shorts and t`shirt when i`m in hollidays in southern europe , not sure if the suntan protects
but my caberg flipup certainly does more then a open face lid, but its damn hot under the helmet in summer
so i`m always tempted to buy a open face lid  one of those with these holes in it to let the wind through
i mean they are good nowadays with transplanting skin and they even can fix bones
but it still doesnt work without scars , you can cover then all up apart of scars in your face
ok they have even tryed to transplant the faces of dead people , but even if it does work you will never look the same

[MrFluffy]

I did the face first down the road early on in my biking career (on a cg125 actually), and indeed its interesting to watch in slowmo as pigfetta mentioned, even more interesting as my glasses fell off and suddenly were covered with vertical lines and jabbed me in the ears a few times too for good measure, thank deity of your choice for laser eye surgery...
I did a faceplant wearing a craft rx5 (the stormtrooper style one) and afterwards the whole of the chinpiece was covered with stress cracks. Would have been a nice dental bill/facial reconstruction in a open faced lid that one...
Besides a open face is bloody cold even with a face scarf on when the bad weather hits...

[mav617]

Yup, I have to say that I've never been tempted by an open face. I lived in Bermuda for a few years and always wore my FM Force One World - mostly cos it had Union Jacks down the side and it came good when I crashed a 100cc moped (embarrassing, but the sandy roads can do that to you!) and smashed the visor off it - glad I had it on that day (didn't help with the 2" tear in my liver though....)

[guest27]

Jump back some years and ask - what looked the coolest or most naff, me stood by the pegboards and CNC with a full face lid frozen to my bears or Skid with his piss pot and scarf frozen to his.. thank god for global warming?  On the same but different tack - took part in a rescue of a climber on Little Tor on the Gower - he had gone off route and taken a moderate fall and face planted the rock from about 20 feet - when I got to him there was a nice mix of face, teeth and glasses - boy they were naff and he needed new ones anyway - sticking his face to the rock.  His climbing helmet did nothing as he face planted not got hit on the head, but at the time I wondered if an old full face helmet was the thing for climbing as it was for canoeing...

Oh such a cheerful chap

R