When do you don your full face helmet?

[Jim c]

If there's a chance that my wheels will leave the ground or riding on my own then its full face time if I'm dawdling down the canal or blue trails then half shell will do me

 

[Zimmerframe]

Sorry Steve not directed at you but still interested in following the logic. Especially by those saying when the trail gets more challenging. If accidents can happen at any time the logic says you should wear FF on every ride which very few do. Family trail at FOD is green, if it gets a grade at all. I suppose I'm playing devils advocate with regard to the arguments being presented.

As @Gary says .. What is Logic?? in this situation ..

If "Helmets" were all full face .. you'd just wear it ?

They're not, so you have a choice. "Logically", if you're only bumbling around , you could always wear your full face as you shouldn't have issues with heat. Yet you still might do something dumb and land on your head/face. Any decision not to is down to fashion ? or worrying about how you look ? It's not a heat or comfort thing.

An example :

"I don't want to look like a dick wearing a FF helmet in front of people I don't even know" or "I don't want to look like a dick eating out of a straw for the next 3 months to everyone I do know"

Most FF helmets now you can see someone's whole face, so there isn't that weird disconnected thing you used to get with FF helmets.

 

[Gary]

how on earth am I being confruntational when I'm simply explaining there's a massive spectrum of views in regards to the question you're asking and encouraging you to think for yourself?
I'm bored too.

 

[Zimmerframe]

confruntational

Is this a scottish word which involves confrontation and the joining of the front of heads ?

massive spectrum

Is that like the version with the ram pack ?

 

[Gary]

48k

 

[JoeBlow]

Not sure why you're so wrapped up in "the logic"
any logic applied is entirely personal. ie. Stop worrying abouit other folk's views.

This despite my stating otherwise but your right I'm being overly sensitive so lets forget it.

 

[Doug Stampfer]

The last off- Rode a couple of Grade 5 tracks ( I think black diamond over there?) with my FF on. Took the chin bar off for the climb to a grade 3. Boosted over a 2 ft table top, went a bit pissed & came down on bank. Time slows down as it usually does in these instances & I remember thinking as the ground got closer to my face "why did I take off my FF"

 

[steve_sordy]

.................
This is probably close to an extreme view for this site. Steve and the other full face all the time guys are the opposite end.
............

I don't wear a full face all the time, only when I think I need it. I wear my Bell Super 3 most of the time (I didn't buy a chin bar).

 

[JoeBlow]

I don't wear a full face all the time, only when I think I need it. I wear my Bell Super 3 most of the time (I didn't buy a chin bar).

Yes it's those "only when I think I need it" explanations I was trying to draw out. I detailed mine in the original post hoping that would give a hint.

 

[Hobo Mikey]

I wear mine when I want to go out on my bike and keep my hands on the handle bars and have a beer at the same time thanks to Fox Proframe for making it possible.

 

[steve_sordy]

@JoeBlow It is the thought that you might consider yourself not "competent enough" to wear a full face that gets me. I used to think the same about knee and elbow guards. Would I be thought of as "all the gear and no idea"? In fact it is when we are beginners that we need of the most protection. How crazy am I that I allowed myself to think that? And why did I even care? And now that I am "competent" and seldom fall off (although I had a new-bike fall only a few days ago), I wear a load of protection. The fact is that because I am "competent" (the word is a relative concept I know), I travel faster and on rougher trails. So when I do come a cropper it tends to hurt more. If I am going somewhere that calls for even faster and rougher, then I don more protective gear. It wouldn't bother me if everyone else only had trail helmets and knee guards.

 

[KenX]

I see you live in Briancon, you lucky man. I looked at a couple of houses in Vallorcine but could not persuade my wife to move. Trad climbing, sport climbing, waterfall climbing, alpine climbing and skiing. All the things I love and have participated in over the years What's the MTBing like?

Yes, pretty lucky with all that on our doorstep! MTB is awesome, full-on bike park and limitless trails to shred

 

[Kent]

Used to ride the open type helmet till my face met a rock on a tricky trail. Switched a FF helmet and never look back.

 

[Timochka69]

I mount the chinbar to my helmet whenever I go to the local trail center (faster speeds) or if I decide going for a faster paced ride or if I feel rusty or insecure after a fall or a break from riding for another reason.

Also I tend to run the full face only when I have a hydration pack, because using a bottle is too much of a faff with my helmet. E.g. in sub freezing temperatures or very hot temps or long rides, or on unfamiliar trails.

On my usual, local, short (one bottle) rides I usually ride at a safe, relaxed pace. No real need for a full face helmet, I think.

 

[Binhill1]

Never worn one never will , got to die sometime .

 

[steve_sordy]

Never worn one never will , got to die sometime .

It is not dying that bothers me overmuch, it is the thought of having my wife having to wipe my arse and bottle feed me for the next 20 years!
Despite that apocalyptic thought, I still don't wear a FF every single time I go out. Only when I feel I need to do so. And yet even when I don't feel the need to wear a FF, I have still broken every single open face helmet I have ever owned except the one I own now. Go figure!

 

[JoeBlow]

It's undoubtedly a dangerous activity although I suspect deaths are rare. Having said that on Tuesday there were two serious accidents at the Forest of Dean within a few hundred yards of each other and in the same couple of hours time frame which required a helicopter evac. It does make one think

Al

 

[steve_sordy]

I have had an emergency ride in an ambulance, but not a helicopter (long may that continue).

 

[JoeBlow]

I have had an emergency ride in an ambulance, but not a helicopter (long may that continue).

I had a serious climbing accident in 1969 that resulted in my being hauled off in one of those huge yellow rescue helicopters and taken to Bangor hospital.

 

[Binhill1]

It is not dying that bothers me overmuch, it is the thought of having my wife having to wipe my arse and bottle feed me for the next 20 years!
Despite that apocalyptic thought, I still don't wear a FF every single time I go out. Only when I feel I need to do so. And yet even when I don't feel the need to wear a FF, I have still broken every single open face helmet I have ever owned except the one I own now. Go figure!

Steve at your age you need to start slowing down. Im just sitting outside the departure lounge at 65 be inside in a few years haha

 

[steve_sordy]

Steve at your age you need to start slowing down. Im just sitting outside the departure lounge at 65 be inside in a few years haha

Slowing down deliberately would feel like getting old even more than being slowed down by physically growing older. (If you see what I mean). "Old" is a state of mind!

 

[JoeBlow]

Whats that saying? You don't stop because you get old, you get old because you stop. Or words to that effect.

 

[Labrador29]

I own a Bell Super DH convertible helmet but only recently felt that I was riding fast/competently enough to warrant wearing it in full face mode. I've developed the habit of riding Blue, Red and single dot routes in half face and putting the chin guard on when I go onto the two dot downhills. Is this a logical approach? What do you do?

Al

Al, you don't know when you are going to fall off so protect yourself at all times. Keep the chin-guard in place at all times too. You never know when you are going to fall or get knocked off your bike.
If buying a full face helmet, purchase one with a built- in chin guard.
I value my brain and ugly moosh so I wear a full-face wherever I ride. I don't give a tupppenny toss if some riders think it is uncool

 

[kbass24emtp]

I have a TLD Stage FF and wear it on every ride.

 

[Labrador29]

I'm simply curious, not "wrapped up" as you put it. I thought this type of discussion is what the forum is all about. I'm bored at the moment and find it interesting. If you are not interested you could simply ignore it rather than pour cold water on the debate and, to be blunt be slightly confrontational.

You are being a bit tough on Gary. Confrontational? You are asking for opinions. Accept them is the spirit in which they are given.

 

[Binhill1]

Slowing down deliberately would feel like getting old even more than being slowed down by physically growing older. (If you see what I mean). "Old" is a state of mind!

Last year I said never hurt myself on bike after a lot of years. January came off on a technical bit I do every week. Few ribs damaged it could have been a lot worse just stalled and fell full force on ribs. So yes head shot I would have needed a full face definitely. Must say two years of ebiking I have fell off more times than in my whole cycling career I started 86 . Definitely being more wary now plus mostly solo riding.

 

[Bobj183]

I've never owned a full face helmet. Over the last 25 years I've ridden in the Sierra Nevada (many times), Coed y Brenin (many times), Whistler, Forest of Dean Cannock Chase, Dalby, Grizedale etc etc. I see guys on eMTBs with the full Fox Moto-X gear and full face helmets riding down Southend Seafront and to be frank they just look ridiculous.

 

[JoeBlow]

Al, you don't know when you are going to fall off so protect yourself at all times. Keep the chin-guard in place at all times too. You never know when you are going to fall or get knocked off your bike.
If buying a full face helmet, purchase one with a built- in chin guard.
I value my brain and ugly moosh so I wear a full-face wherever I ride. I don't give a tupppenny toss if some riders think it is uncool

That's a strange reply to the question I asked. I wasn't looking for personal advice, I already have a FF and I only care a little bit about what people think but thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[Binhill1]

I've never owned a full face helmet. Over the last 25 years I've ridden in the Sierra Nevada (many times), Coed y Brenin (many times), Whistler, Forest of Dean Cannock Chase, Dalby, Grizedale etc etc. I see guys on eMTBs with the full Fox Moto-X gear and full face helmets riding down Southend Seafront and to be frank they just look ridiculous.

Same here but most of my riding is hill tracks etc 20 to 30 miles remote areas solo . Would look a neep with that on and melt. Saying that one big chap on the heed and you could waken up deed. Enjoy

 

[Hamina]

So other way around: What is the advantage to not to wear full face helmet?