Helmet choices

[ApexJimi]

Do any of you guys wear full face helmets on the road or trail?

I'd like one but reckon I'd look like a bit of a plonker wearing one on the road, so I'm thinking about one of these instead -

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...


What say ye?

Edit: Can a mod fix the title for me?

Edited by ApexJimi on Wednesday 20th August 19:09

[Alex12]

Personally id feel more of a plonker wearing the one linked than a proper full face helmet, people could still recognise you in the one linked but seriously i see loads of people wearing full face helmets and have considered it myself, might find it a bit hot out on the trails in summer mind, but yes you may look like a plonker on the road

[v8 jago]

The one in the link with the removable jaw part are a good idea and if i was looking for a full face lid then i would go for one like this..Put the removable lower part in your bag till you come to a tecnical part then use the whole part of the lid.. Good choice imo.

Edited by v8 jago on Wednesday 20th August 23:25

[neil_bolton]

v8 jago said:

The one in the link with the removable jaw part are a good idea and if i was looking for a full face lid then i would go for one like this..Put the removable lower part in your bag till you come to a tecnical part then use the whole part of the lid.. Good choice imo.

Edited by v8 jago on Wednesday 20th August 23:25

Please please, do NOT use these helmets:

They are useless as Full Face helmets, and crap as normal helmets.

Reasons why: Any helmet that is not designed to be a one piece full face helmet from the ground up will immediately be compromised, as in a crash the chin guards will do absilutely nothing bar get bits of plastic stuck in your chin. I used to refuse to sell them when we stocked them having seen someone come in after a trip to A+E to retrieve bits of the guard out of his chin.

Please, if you want a helmet, buy the best normal helmet you can afford (Giro Xen or Fox Flux are some of the deepest and best fitting helmets for off road), OR if you want a full face, buy a proper one that is designed correctly.

As an aside, anyone riding a full face on XC or road will look an absolute dicksplat, full faces are for the BMX track, jumping or DH'ing; when you see the XC kerrrrrazy riders with their knee/shin pads and the helmets you're suggesting rock up to Cymcarn and then just ride the XC, they just get laughed at.

I know people want to protect themselves, and knee/shin armour is undisputibly useful, however these helmets do more harm than good: There is a reason why they have not caught on.

ETA: I use my Fox Flux for anything road, XC etc (available for around £70 now)



And my 2007 661 Bravo Pro (now available for around £60) for everything else DH'y wise.



Both helmets are more than cool enough, and cheap enough to have one of each - I might even get a spare one of each as they are so well fitting for my mekon sized head.

[pedantlewis]

neil_bolton said:

wise words

A wholehearted +1 from me.

[Gooby]

I have the "Met" lid (without the chin guard) and though it is comfortable, it makes me look like a mushroom. It is HUGE. You would have a hard time getting your chin to touch the ground while wearing a MET. You honestly look like something from supermario wearing a Met.

Considering something with a smaller profile.

[Moose.]

Whilst I fully concur with everything Neil's said (especially about those Met helmets), I have to slightly disagree on this point:

neil_bolton said:

As an aside, anyone riding a full face on XC or road will look an absolute dicksplat, full faces are for the BMX track, jumping or DH'ing; when you see the XC kerrrrrazy riders with their knee/shin pads and the helmets you're suggesting rock up to Cymcarn and then just ride the XC, they just get laughed at.

There are plenty of sections on many of the so called XC trails at trail centres that are suited to a full face helmet (e.g. the freeride park at the top of Cwm Carn). As you can't exactly carry one in your backpack and swap over when you get to a technical section, it's best just to wear it all the way round (abet rather hot on the climbs!). Thus you might be spotted on a fire road climb wearing said helmet leading others to form incorrect assumptions.

At the end of the day, who cares what other people think? It's your head!

[neil_bolton]

Moose. said:

Whilst I fully concur with everything Neil's said (especially about those Met helmets), I have to slightly disagree on this point:

neil_bolton said:

As an aside, anyone riding a full face on XC or road will look an absolute dicksplat, full faces are for the BMX track, jumping or DH'ing; when you see the XC kerrrrrazy riders with their knee/shin pads and the helmets you're suggesting rock up to Cymcarn and then just ride the XC, they just get laughed at.

There are plenty of sections on many of the so called XC trails at trail centres that are suited to a full face helmet (e.g. the freeride park at the top of Cwm Carn). As you can't exactly carry one in your backpack and swap over when you get to a technical section, it's best just to wear it all the way round (abet rather hot on the climbs!). Thus you might be spotted on a fire road climb wearing said helmet leading others to form incorrect assumptions.

At the end of the day, who cares what other people think? It's your head!

You could also say that the whole of the XC track is worthy of a full face, or indeed ANY xc track is.

To be honest though, a full face doesn't do anything over what a normal helmet does, and I'm quite happy riding DH on a normal helmet, however I know that when I step up the speed that is when I need a full face.

The freeride section at the top of Cymcarn is hardly the craziest of bits of trail and whilst, yes, you could say that you need protection there, its no more than razzing down the last downhill bits of the XC trail at Cymcarn!

ETA: Those who are really going up to the Freeride bit will actually wear proper full faces - IIRC I've only ever seen misguided XCers wear those Met/Giro style helmets.

Edited by neil_bolton on Thursday 21st August 10:00

[ApexJimi]

Guys, cheers for the usefull responses.

I think I should clarify a little, in that I'm not a DH'er, I just want a helmet with a bit more protection around the face for road / trail use - hence the MET idea.

[Nick_F]

Loving the Arai-style spoilers on the 661...

Human beans are quite good at instinctively protecting their faces - if I rode more off-road I'd invest in a Xen, or something like it - like Neil's Fox, perhaps - that offers more protection for the back/base of the skull than my Pneumo does.

[neil_bolton]

Nick_F said:

Loving the Arai-style spoilers on the 661...

Human beans are quite good at instinctively protecting their faces - if I rode more off-road I'd invest in a Xen, or something like it - like Neil's Fox, perhaps - that offers more protection for the back/base of the skull than my Pneumo does.

In all my time of stoving my head into trees/the ground/other things, I've rarely caught my face and cut/grazed it etc

What you do need to consider is gloves, and whether or not you like sticking to the bedclothes if/when you fall off on a gravelly/tarmac corner - your face is the least of your worries when your hips don't have any skin on them any more.

Everything else limbwise can put up and cope with cuts etc - chicks dig scars

[neil_bolton]

p.s. stabilising fins of any sort on helmets obviously make you look 50% cooler and help you not to crash (so much).

[v8 jago]

MMMmmm. Point taken and good advice. I do have a giro xen and ive had it a couple of years and im happy with it, The great thing about the better quality helmets is that the likes of giro etc renew your helmet for around half price when you have had a crash with it. I think that is great that they think that way and they obviously think about our nuts. I was looking at one of those clip on full face lids before i bought the xen and have no reason to change it yet, But after reading that i will be keeping a similar lid. Thanks for stopping me ever needing my lid removing from my head. It sounds painfull.

[pdV6]

I love my Xen. Fits well and has protected my bonce well for the last couple of years.

In fact, I made use of the crash replacement policy at Giro via Madison; £30 to replace a smashed £90 lid made me very happy that day!

[neil_bolton]

pdV6 said:

I love my Xen. Fits well and has protected my bonce well for the last couple of years.

In fact, I made use of the crash replacement policy at Giro via Madison; £30 to replace a smashed £90 lid made me very happy that day!

I like Petes very much, and having had Giros before I wanted a Xen, additionally knowing they had a crash replacement scheme.

However there were two issues for me:

1. The helmet shape was slightly odd for me, and the Fox was better - personal thing really.

2. Most importantly, the Fox had fancy go faster fins

[Nick_F]

Ssshhh...don't mention the fins, or someone will say '...increased risk of rotational injury...'

How hot do you get wearing one of those compared to a road lid?

[neil_bolton]

Nick_F said:

Ssshhh...don't mention the fins, or someone will say '...increased risk of rotational injury...'

How hot do you get wearing one of those compared to a road lid?

I've not strictly used a road helmet so I couldn't say.

However, what I will say is that I've never been uncomfortable in all the time I've used it, so that must count for something

[a11y_m]

I’m here to defend the MET Para-chute

I’m on my second one of these (and had a similar Giro XC full-face helmet before that) and they do work, to an extent. Obviously they’re NOT in the same league as a proper full-face helmet but they’re not designed to be…

What they do offer is SOME protection if you come off face-first, while remaining light and vented enough to wear for all-dayers and XC racing even during summer – I know because I’ve used mine in lots of endurance races. I’ve faceplanted with one and the chinguard saved my face. Yes it’s not going to be as strong as a “permanent” full-facer, but it was plenty strong for it’s purpose when I face-planted. What it’s very useful for is deflecting branches, etc from your face when whipping down singletrack, and offering a lot more protection around the side of the head than a regular helmet in side impacts.

Still better protection than a normal XC helmet, even ones like the Giro Zen, for little weight penalty.

All I can say – with my experience of crashing of which I have a lot LOL – is that it’s a good helmet for XC. I wouldn’t however recommend it for freeriding or DH – I’m looking for a proper full-facer myself for messing around on drops/jumps.

Oh, and don’t wear one on the road because that’s just silly (I’ve got a regular lid for that).

Ally

[P-Jay]

neil_bolton said:

v8 jago said:

The one in the link with the removable jaw part are a good idea and if i was looking for a full face lid then i would go for one like this..Put the removable lower part in your bag till you come to a tecnical part then use the whole part of the lid.. Good choice imo.

Edited by v8 jago on Wednesday 20th August 23:25

Please please, do NOT use these helmets:

They are useless as Full Face helmets, and crap as normal helmets.

Reasons why: Any helmet that is not designed to be a one piece full face helmet from the ground up will immediately be compromised, as in a crash the chin guards will do absilutely nothing bar get bits of plastic stuck in your chin. I used to refuse to sell them when we stocked them having seen someone come in after a trip to A+E to retrieve bits of the guard out of his chin.

Please, if you want a helmet, buy the best normal helmet you can afford (Giro Xen or Fox Flux are some of the deepest and best fitting helmets for off road), OR if you want a full face, buy a proper one that is designed correctly.

As an aside, anyone riding a full face on XC or road will look an absolute dicksplat, full faces are for the BMX track, jumping or DH'ing; when you see the XC kerrrrrazy riders with their knee/shin pads and the helmets you're suggesting rock up to Cymcarn and then just ride the XC, they just get laughed at.

I know people want to protect themselves, and knee/shin armour is undisputibly useful, however these helmets do more harm than good: There is a reason why they have not caught on.

I'd also like to defend the Met parachute. I've used mine for about 2 years now. The only funny looks I get is when I come across walkers (we've nick named the lids as the "baby-eaters" because non-riders look at you like you're out to eat babies). It is not a substitute for a full on full-face lid, but it's saved my nose / chin at least twice after losing the front end at speed on The Wall and at Brecfa Forest.

There was a lot of talk about it when they first came out, rumours that the chin bar would crack and stab into you, or as it doesn't grip in the same places as a full face the bar would simply come back into your face if you went down. These aren't true. If fitted properly it offers reasonable levels of protection, not a good as my Troy Lee D2, but a lot more XC friendly.

I'm told that when the chin bar on the Parachute reaches the point of failure it goes at the bolts on the side, so yes at that point the chin bar will hit you, but it's hardly any worse than hitting the ground and it would has dissipated a lot of energy before it went.

As for the Freeride at Cwmcarn? Well my mate's fractured skull is a pretty good indication of what can happen if you make a mistake there.

I've rode the XC at Cwm loads of times, it's only a 30 min drive for me. I wear knee/shin pads, my Parachute AND elbow pads and they're all got marks/scrapes on them where I've hit stuff, for me it's all part of pushing yourself to go faster and harder when you can. I've never been laughed at there, or any of the other places I ride. We occasionally get the odd "Scene type" who like to give people labels (trail yuppie etc) one even came across the whole length of the car-park at Afan to tell my mate his Fox 32’s were crap, ha ha. Most people are live and let live types who'll happily chat away (usually about each other’s bikes).

[omega man]

neil_bolton said:

As an aside, anyone riding a full face on XC or road will look an absolute dicksplat, full faces are for the BMX track, jumping or DH'ing; when you see the XC kerrrrrazy riders with their knee/shin pads and the helmets you're suggesting rock up to Cymcarn and then just ride the XC, they just get laughed at.

I dont wear a full face helmet when XCing but i do wear knee/shin pads, TBH I dont give a st if anyone laughs at me for it after i saw a guy have his knee cap ripped off at Afan last year, it really was an advert for them!

Edited by omega man on Friday 22 August 13:41