With full face mountain bike helmets becoming lighter and better ventilated, and convertible helmet offerings increasing, more and more riders seem to be upgrading the safety of their skid lid.
Half Shell or Full Face Helmet for Mountain Biking?
With full face mountain bike helmets becoming lighter and better ventilated, and convertible helmet offerings increasing, more and more riders seem to be upgrading the safety of their skid lid.
After a brief fling with full face helmets in Motocross, I returned to open faced for both MX and MTB. I feel the full face protuberance provides too much leverage and generates excessive rotational forces on head and neck. I would be interested in seeing some solid research to confirm or disprove my suspicions.
I gave up full face helmets a long time ago. Those helmets and associated body armor assume one is going to take some big risks. Which is fun and very exciting if you are in your teens and twenties. I am a bit too old to risk potential severe injury. Not to mention the healing time and costs. With my half shell and minimal body armor, I am constantly reminded not to try anything to spectacular.
It entirely depends on where I am riding. Blankets Creek on a random Wednesday is a half-shell helmet. Anything near Brevard is a full-face and some pads.
It depends on the trails paired with how hard I want to push myself that day, and if there is a shuttle involved the full face always makes sense.
After smashing my face in and breaking all my front teeth, I wear a full face every ride now. Teeth are expensive AF!
I don’t believe I ride anything gnarly enough to warrant a full face. I think I would feel like a tool wearing one where I normally ride. If I rode stuff that required a full face I think I would also need to add additional body armor.
Bike Park, Lifts, Crazy Jumps/Tech/Downhill=Full Face
Trails, Normal Tech, etc.=Half Shell
PS-I’m also old, but injuries heal and are worth the memories and experiences from pushing the envelope. Love the ride.