A member of my family was killed when he face planted at moderate speed with an open face....pillion didn't even get a graze.

Carry on with your open face....just natural selection in action.

I am very sorry to hear your relative died in a road accident it is sad, although wearing open or full face may not have made any difference in the impact.

I did about 15 years as a cop and had attended several Fatal RTA's (road traffic accidents) some involving motorcycles. I have seen dead casualties wearing full face helmets some with head trauma or broken necks but often with internal injuries or limbs lost. So fatal stuff happens - Fatal's are usually as a result of very rapid deceleration ie you hit something solid and you stop but your inside or some bits of your outside bits don't - so the full face helmet is just a small part of the safety system, it is however far from the cure to severe injury or death in an accident.

I accept an open face offers less face protection than full face when sliding down the road it's risk the wearer has to take on board for themselves, but hey ho !

The lighter any helmet the better for your neck and head. Less mass means less changes in speed for your neck to have to deal with in an accident.

I don't give a monkey if people wear a full face helmet so what's it matter to anyone what other people choose to wear whether it be open face helmet, leather, goretex whatever - it is all a personal choice.

One thing that has been evidenced is that the safer people feel (ie racer leathers, full face lids - abs brakes - traction control and the like) then they tend to ride faster, maybe take bigger risks - so maybe the opposite occurs when your less well protected ie self preservation kicks in a bit more when your less well protected. I don't know the answer but it's worth a thought.

I chose an open face over full face helmet, and have done for the last 43 years. its just a choice thing it really should not matter to anyone else. Currently use a caberg freeride carbon, weight 750 grm, very comfy, very light, very quite.


As for Natural selection - well it's really not worth an answer - Jake.

I'm in the "Full face or nothing" crowd too. Your face is pretty valuable and they won't be able to fix it after its been scraped down the road at 70 mph.

But that's just me. You should always do what makes you feel comfortable and happy on the bike.

If I had anything to say about Open face helmets it would be that you should get the most rugged, expensive and best rated one on the market.

Cheap ones are so rubbish they should be illegal. You can pop the chin pieces just by dropping them on a carpet. I've seen it LOADS of times. Too many horror stories about cheap 'Flip' helmets. A lot of people with no front teeth and plastic noses can tell you those stories.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Shark Raw.
For longer distance you can use the visor/faceprotection plate, else it's a very comfortable open face helmet. Will even fit my ginormous head (size 65)

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