Embarrassed about full Face helmet?

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Embarrassed about full Face helmet?
Author Message
flag onyxss
Posted: Aug 21, 2018 at 5:46 Quote
You are 32, not 16, so why would you care about how it looks to "others" you wearing FF helmet? If you feel safer that way, just do whatever you need to do to be more confident.

Remember, confidence come with experience, when you will be more experienced/confident then you can start removing protective gear, if you do it because of what others think - thats more teenager attitude where the most important is what other think about you :-) And when you will do full face plant, all the "others" will be there so long to take a picture for their facebook like "saw this retard doing face plant today", later in ER and in recovery time there will be no one of "others", just you and smashed face :-)

To summarise, never let "others" decide what protective gear you need/want! You see riders with almost no protection on Rampage, but that doesn't mean you need to do it also...


Bongofisj wrote:
Hi all,

My first post here so be gentle with me haha.

I've really got into MTB in the last 3 months and 2 weeks ago got the calibre bossnut Evo full suspension MTB.

I ride aroundy local woods and country trails but want to start going to proper mountain bike trails around me. I'm 32 and work full time with a mortgage and children so not injuring myself is also a main priority.

I would like to wear a full Face helmet while trying out trials and I'll m not a very confident rider at the moment.

But would I look daft with a full Face riding slowly round trials or is it ok to do so?
flag ColinFerguson
O+
Posted: Aug 21, 2018 at 9:36 Quote
toby9843 wrote:
Bongofisj wrote:
Hi all,

My first post here so be gentle with me haha.

I've really got into MTB in the last 3 months and 2 weeks ago got the calibre bossnut Evo full suspension MTB.

I ride aroundy local woods and country trails but want to start going to proper mountain bike trails around me. I'm 32 and work full time with a mortgage and children so not injuring myself is also a main priority.

I would like to wear a full Face helmet while trying out trials and I'll m not a very confident rider at the moment.

But would I look daft with a full Face riding slowly round trials or is it ok to do so?

Hey there,

No one in the mountain bike community is going to laugh at you for wearing a full face lid mate. Everyone knows the value of protecting the goods right! You shouldn't feel embarrassed at all and as a bonus, once you get more confident and start shredding you'll not need to upgrade!
Jonny is right, check out Bell and Giro who both make really good full face helmets where the jaw part can be removed, excent bit of kit. Bell have released a DH rated version which looks very impressive. Also have a look at MET's parachute helmet, Fox's proframe and Troy Lee Designs are releasing a full face later this year that's designed to be all day wearable.
Some might seem pricey but you can't value your head and face enough mate and buy good once and you'll be set.
Go for it and happy riding!

I tried on the new Super DH from Bell in the shop the other day. It is indeed very nice and will almost certainly be my next helmet purchase.
flag ulyssesshred
Posted: Aug 21, 2018 at 18:10 Quote
I would recommend checking out the Giro Switchblade helmet. It's a DH rated full face with a removable chin bar. This allows you to have proper ventilation and protection for more XC oriented rides while still having the option for a full face when the trail gets rowdy.
flag newbermuda
O+
Posted: Aug 21, 2018 at 18:21 Quote
i will also recommend the Switchblade. Feels very solid as a full face and isn't too uncomfortable as a half shell, i think it's actually DH rated even without the chin bar, although im not a fan of the D-strap. I know a few people that wear Fox ProFrames all the time, if youre riding the kind of stuff to actually justify a full face then i dont see why you should be embarrassed
flag lewiscraik
O+ FL
Posted: Aug 21, 2018 at 23:38 Quote
Isn’t the Giro a bit hot even without the chin bar, it looks like it covered the ears.
flag newbermuda
O+
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 at 10:35 Quote
it covers the ears but if im climbing with it (and the chin bar is off), i usually just leave the tightener all the way open and dont put the D-strap on, its definitely hotter than a half shell but i mean, its a full face, so you are going to have to sacrifice some of the half shell qualities for that DH level protection. Id much rather be a little hotter on the climbs then risk a broken jaw.
flag Bongofisj
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 at 13:29 Quote
sosburn wrote:
i will also recommend the Switchblade. Feels very solid as a full face and isn't too uncomfortable as a half shell, i think it's actually DH rated even without the chin bar, although im not a fan of the D-strap. I know a few people that wear Fox ProFrames all the time, if youre riding the kind of stuff to actually justify a full face then i dont see why you should be embarrassed

This is what I mean though. I'm only new to the game but wanting to keep pushing myself. But what classes as enough to justify it. People could fall off the street curb and land on face and break jaw. I'm currently doing small drop offs and small jumps. About 10 foot jumps. Me personally of o saw someone pedaling through the woods having a little fun with a full Face on I wouldn't think anything of it. But seems like some people would think that ridiculous even though all the person is doing is protecting themselves. But if you saw a Motocross riding through the woods at same speeds people would say 'look he's daft he isn't even wearing a helmet'. It's pretty darn crazy
flag newbermuda
O+
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 at 15:19 Quote
yeah idk about all that.
My justification is that im generally riding a lot faster than the XC/trail guys who are wearing half shells, and ive never had anyone comment about my helmet.
One time, a teenaged kid saw that i was climbing with my knee pads around my ankles and he snickered and said "nice ankle guards bro", which i bet was funny until i passed him going down later on and he was struggling. If protection allows you to feel confident in riding harder, then who cares what other people think
flag stuntman1971
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 at 16:55 Quote
I ride with a full face helmet all the time. Of course I do what I call REAL RIDING. I don't do anything other than Enduro and downhill. I find riding regular trails bloody boring and I hate pedaling uphill. With that being said I was riding a 2 black diamond course testing a new helmet cam. I thought like a lot of the morons that riding a regular trail did not require a chest protector and it was 96 degrees with humidity so I took the chest protector off before going down since I was only going to do ONE run. Well luck would have it on a flat part of the course going into a turn there were tree roots. I hit them and my rear tire went out from under me me. I landed on my left shoulder breaking my clavicle in two places along with the AC joint. I'm now off the bike and had to cancel the rest of my race season plus out of work for two months. All because IT WAS TOO HOT... Stupid way of thinking gets you hurt. I had had so many bad wrecks practicing at different places but NEVER broken anything while I was wearing ALL my armor. Don't let anybody make you feel stupid for being safe. Let those people get hurt because they wanted comfort. You watch after you're own safety. It does not matter what others think. They won't be paying you're 36,000 dollar surgery bill. Wear you're armor. Drink a lot of water if it's TOO HOT. That's why they make camel backs.!!!!!!
flag stuntman1971
Posted: Aug 22, 2018 at 16:59 Quote
Sosbum is right people! Let the fools wearing half shell get reconstructive surgery. I've seen that too because a full face was TOO HOT...idiots out there.
flag Samrwood
Posted: Aug 23, 2018 at 7:50 Quote
Not in the slightest. I've seen riders with their lips split open after going over the bars - not particularly fast either. You'd be surprised how easy your face can scar!

Take a calculated risk... the point that you might get hot in a full face helmet is valid (I use a Bell 2r with a detachable chin guard for more mellow rides) but if you feel safe chances are you're going to enjoy the ride a lot more.
flag SteveAmtb
Posted: Aug 23, 2018 at 13:45 Quote
I’ve worn my Fox Proframe all summer, including the fairly long (compared to most trail centres anyway!) climbs up places like the Long Mynd, the airflow is excellent and even the hottest days don’t make me think of not wearing it. For me it’s about inconvenience, it’s a minor inconvenience for me to wear a full face, it would be a massive inconvenience to have a serious head / face injury and I don’t want to take that risk, however small. Other people will find it more of an inconvenience to wear the full face and that obviously makes sense for them. Choose what’s important to you / your family and don’t worry what other people think! Have fun learning and improving, mountain biking is a great sport Smile
flag Jprestidge
FL
Posted: Aug 23, 2018 at 14:25 Quote
I wore an open face for years, mainly because there was no other option originally. These days I almost always wear a full face, regardless of whether I'm pedalling or uplifting.

A couple weeks ago I wore my open face, as it was really hot and I was riding some natural trails that I knew very well - fairly technical but mainly what you'd grade as red with maybe the odd bit of black here and there. Ended the day with a big crash on a piece of track that I'd ridden hundreds of times. Went down quite hard with my face hitting the ground. Any harder and I might have lost a tooth.

The point I'm making, I suppose, is that a full face wouldn't have stopped the crash, but it would have saved my face. For that alone, I'm going back to full face for almost all of my riding.

In terms of temperature, they are hotter, but if you get a decent one they're not massively worse than an open face.

JP
flag Bongofisj
Posted: Aug 25, 2018 at 22:57 Quote
So went out yesterday and had a pretty big spill! Glad I had my head protection! Only thing is I've broke a rib Frown . Can hardly move right now. But when I'm up and back at the trails I'll defiantly be buying body protection as well. This has really taught me a lesson in not to car what other people think. I wanted to wear body protection too but though it would look too much. Yet now I'll have to have already a week off work as my job is very manual and can hardly move.
flag teedubya
Posted: Aug 26, 2018 at 0:32 Quote
The problem is where do you stop? There are myriad ways of hurting yourself in this sport and you'll never protect yourself against all eventualities. As you become more experienced you'll work out what level of protection you need to feel comfortable, but if you want to continue with the sport you just have to resign yourself to the fact that you're going to smash yourself up from time to time. My riding buddies and I have all been riding for a lot of years, we all have different attitudes to the level of protection we require, and we've all hurt ourselves fairly/very badly at some point or other.

 


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