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Are open face helmets stupid?

davidji said:
There is at least one modular helmet that meets full face helmet standards. Most don't and some offer very little protection at the chin bar.

Most of them are heavy, and at least the one I tried felt heavier when opened, so I wouldn't want to ride that way. I realize tourers like them, but I don't think they make much sense for most of us. If you're sitting bolt upright maybe the weight won't bother you. But if I'm not getting the protection of a FF helmet, I'd probably rather have the openness of a 3/4 helmet. The riding experience is different, and sometimes I miss it.
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Which full face standards are you talking about? Snell doesn't even rate modular helmets, it's not a question of whether or not they fail-- they just plain don't bother with them for whatever reason. Even with ECE the modular helmets are usually submitted in their open face configuration.

My Scorpion is heavy as helmets go, but it's comfy and the weight really doesn't bother me. The balance of the weight is more important-- which is why it's more unwieldy when open.

You're not supposed to ride with a flip-face in the opened position anyway. Although you could with the Shark, the chinbar rotates all the way around to the back and snaps in place so it almost disappears.

Mr Pepsi said:
Agreed, but studies show, modulars are not much better than open face.
(Sorry, to lame to have references.)
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That's a pretty broad assumption.

My Scorpion meets ECE standard in both open face AND full face configuration. I think the Shark does too, as well as the Nolan and I think some others. I've heard some people think ECE is a more stringent standard than Snell but I dunno.

There's an instinctive paranoia about the helmet having moving parts, I get that-- but good engineering is good engineering, and a flip-face that's well designed is probably better than a crummy solid full-face helmet, so... I'm not losing sleep over it, at any rate.
 
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It's damn hard to find anywhere that differentiates at all, most just say 'ECE' and that's it, no specifics. It's a pain. Scorpion itself is not as explicit on the subject as they could be, unfortunately, but:

http://www.scorpionusa.com/news/product/20090601.html
http://ridermagazine.com/output.cfm?id=2402893
http://www.x-ck.com/products/scorpion-exo-900-air-matt-anthracite

Yeah, a totally solid piece of metal or whatever is going to be stronger than one with a latch in it, but you can't exactly make a helmet out of solid concrete. They're built to crumple, to slow down the deceleration of your squishy brains. If I take a hit hard enough to completely break the metal latch component of my EXO 900, I have a feeling I'll already have bigger problems than damage to my chin or face. The finesse and even distribution of crumplyness in the chin bar is what's important, not its absolute structural strength.

Also, flip-face helmets are often almost impossible to remove without first opening them, as they fit more snugly around the neck. Arguably this could mean they're less likely to pop off of your head in a crash, although it also means if some misguided motorist tries to pry it off you they're more likely to do some damage in the attempt.
 
High-Side said:
My father rode for our local PD back in the fifties before they used helmets. He had a lot of chases and never went down. I think riders were more fearless back then.

53Panhead-1.jpg
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Great pic!
 
davidji said:
There is at least one modular helmet that meets full face helmet standards. Most don't and some offer very little protection at the chin bar.

Most of them are heavy, and at least the one I tried felt heavier when opened, so I wouldn't want to ride that way. I realize tourers like them, but I don't think they make much sense for most of us. If you're sitting bolt upright maybe the weight won't bother you. But if I'm not getting the protection of a FF helmet, I'd probably rather have the openness of a 3/4 helmet. The riding experience is different, and sometimes I miss it.
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I can't remember what brand it was because I wasn't interested in getting a helmet at the time, but I was at a cycle shop in the city with a friend, it was the one that has scooters and motos and lots of gear for either and was shown what I was told was the ONLY modular helmet with full safety ratings I. I'm not sure now if he was talking about the Euro standard since DOT approves brainbuckets, maybe it was snell...

The rub? The thing was HUGE!!! probably to encorporate all the extra bracing, heavy duty locking and linking mechanisms and what have you. Putting it next to a Shark that was XL, it was the same size, and the flip up was a medium! I want to say it was a Scorpion but I can't remember, but when my friend tried it on, she looked like a lolipop head, because she's on the skinny side.
 
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Gnarly Cranium said:
Also, flip-face helmets are often almost impossible to remove without first opening them, as they fit more snugly around the neck. Arguably this could mean they're less likely to pop off of your head in a crash, although it also means if some misguided motorist tries to pry it off you they're more likely to do some damage in the attempt.
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I used to wear a Nolan Flip-Face, and it had arrows pointing to the latches and a label saying Push here to open.

It was a very heavy helmet, and would tire your neck muscles after a while. I had the version where you needed to pop two latches to get it off, which was difficult to do with gloves on, so I got rid of it.
 
Cool! According to this graphic, it's pretty safe to cut out the top dome of the helmet for more ventilation and let my hair flow! :teeth

attachment.php
 
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Sane_Man said:
I used to wear a Nolan Flip-Face, and it had arrows pointing to the latches and a label saying Push here to open.
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Even if the arrows are six inches wide and blinking and playing a loud voice that says PULL TAB TO OPEN or some crap, I don't trust random motorists to notice. People are stupid. If they don't know any better and are even bothering to try to remove the helmet in the first place, they're not going to do it correctly no matter what kind of instructions they have. Ugh, I hate thinking about that part, what a nightmare.
 
Gnarly Cranium said:
Even if the arrows are six inches wide and blinking and playing a loud voice that says PULL TAB TO OPEN or some crap, I don't trust random motorists to notice. People are stupid. If they don't know any better and are even bothering to try to remove the helmet in the first place, they're not going to do it correctly no matter what kind of instructions they have. Ugh, I hate thinking about that part, what a nightmare.
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Also, you can't see the chinstrap very well with the flip-face pulled down. So you'll be tugging and twisting trying to pull off a helmet that won't come off. :wow
 
Honestly, yes they are. After my last two incidents with the pavement, I wondered how anyone could use anything less. I looked at my helmet after I got up and realized half my face would have been gone if it wasn't a full face.
 
I bet pre WWII bikes on the mostly dirt roads of that time was safer riding than today and the only thing we have that could have made them any safer is better helmets.
 
cant turn your head is your concern huh?

let me ask you this...

how long would you like to keep your chin/nose?
 
Starshooter10 said:
cant turn your head is your concern huh?

let me ask you this...

how long would you like to keep your chin/nose?
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Not being able to easily turn your head, as is an issue with my winter gear, might just result in a situation that requires a full face helmet. So yeah, head turning is a concern. :p
 
Stormdragon said:
Not being able to easily turn your head, as is an issue with my winter gear, might just result in a situation that requires a full face helmet. So yeah, head turning is a concern. :p
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sounds like you have some pretty shitty winter gear, that or you jacket the michilen mans jacket...

I ride with a pretty heavy jacket and a one peice rain suit (at least since moving to the land or rain and snow) and while i can feel that my helm touches my jacket it in no way HINDERS me.

i will never ride without a chin bar, be it a motor X helm super moto style or a full face....

im all aboout my chin. I've grown rather attached to it :p


everytime look at a half or 3/4 helm i walwasy thing they provide about as much protechtion as a cut up ping pong ball on stwert little...
Stuart-Little-Stunt-Doubles-992.jpg
 
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