FF versus 3/4 Helmets

[MacDoc]

Having a discussion on another forum regardling helmets.

Thought this might be useful

..I like to chat with people, drink on the fly, easy on off especially with earphones and a wider field of vision ..

My Australia convertible I ended up wearing with the front up all the time except in heavy rain where the extra protection is nice.

The FX-55 was a bit of a compromise and the field of vision is so wide I don't notice the difference with the chin piece on or off tho it's easier to drink and eat with it off.

Biggest issue for me was shooting photographs from the bike. I use a proper viewfinder and getting my eye on it with a FF ain't happening.

I'm annoyed that this graphic keeps showing up implying that 3/4 don't protect your cheeks

I put the red line down to indicate where the cheek plates come out to but in reality I think they come out further after a face plant test.

For my own curiousity and since the visor could use a cleaning...I did some tests and a photo with the FX-55 configured as a 3/4

My forehead sits about 1.5" away from the shell as do the cheeks.

No question I would lose some skin on my nose ( I haz a big nose ) and maybe on my chin tho I had to work to get my chin in contact when I placed my face straight down. Any angle tho the cheek extensions come into play and at most you lose some nose skin.....and that's without the visor on or the removable chin guard both of which offer some protection in a slide.
As a result I think a good 3/4 or the type of convertible I have with the AFX-55 is very good protection without the inconvenience and closed in feeling of a full face.

I'm quite satisfied I would get good protection as I did on this come off ( my shoulder damaged still not 100% ).
The helmet - I was wearing the convertible open., jacket and knees hit fairly hard as the footpeg dug in on a front wheel wash out and torqued me down = only the shoulder suffered and I think that was because my jacket was not done up and the armor moved.

A tight fitting half helmet would not do squat to protect your face ...3/4 does.....and I have found them quieter.....as other magazines have.

This was my previous Bell Mag8

You can see the how far your head/face is from the shell of the helmet

Had quite enough of a Bell Star for too many years.

 

[Baggsy]

I imagine that you would have to crash test it to be sure, and then you'll know if you're eating with a straw or not.

I'm thinking that there could be some violent movement and the helmet might not crash in the exact position that you want it to, so most likely a straw.

I like the Full face or at least a modular with the bar down.

 

[MacDoc]

There is no "exact" position - any movement off directly face down brings one of the cheek plates into play.
As I say, I was surprised. The nose gets nailed but it's the tip - the bone does not contact. No question it would be painful if you happened to land face down ...the tendency would be to turn your head.

....if your head is moving in the helmet you got a bad fit or not on properly with the chin strap snugged up.

You'll see how tucked in the chin is.

A modern 3/4 is very different from the older ones

 

[nfq]

You can try justifying it all you like, your head your choice.

But I'll stick to a FF thanks.

 

[nakkers]

Nothing wrong with a good 3/4 helmet. They have good protection and little wind noise.

But it's still open face and subject to the most vulnerable area of the head.

In an accident/collision, you don't often have the reaction time or even thought process to avoid your face or chin from impact.

It's better protection than a skull cap. And I'm guilty as charged. Ride with a brain bucket around town all the time.

But touring, it's the FF Shoei. Summer heat and all. It comes off easy enough for a drink of water or snapping a pic or what ever.

I enjoy wind in my face but the bug that went up my nostril Monday is still irritating. Might convert me to FF full time.

Enjoy the 3/4 or what ever you like.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Riceburner]

To each their own. I'm sticking to my FF or maybe a modular with flip up chin(if I ever buy one).

 

[Hardwrkr13]

I added a cruiser to my garage this season. I'll stick with my FF no matter what the ride as will my gf on the back. justify the 3/4 all you want.

 

[MacDoc]

Whatever you are comfortable with. One forum 2/3rds of those polled were wearing convertibles, 10% 3/4 .
Helmet tech has moved forward.

 

[JP0160]

I was riding along the lake today and went through 2 CLOUDS of bugs, if I were not wearing my fullface I would have eaten enough bugs to fill my stomach all night. I'm talking enough bugs to almost completely blind me, twice in a couple seconds. The other day a rock hit the top of my helmet so hard it cracked the intake for my vent. A couple inches lower and that could have hit my eye, or my lip and knocked a tooth out if I were not wearing a fullface. Those 2 scenarios alone have concreted my decision on helmets!

 

[timtune]

Years back I had a get off that saw me sliding into the concrete side of a bridge and smacking it face first. Damaged the chin piece of my fullface but not a scratch on my own ugly mug. That is why I wear a ff and always will.

 

[mudmojo]

I had a get off when some consecutive jumps jostled me around and I mostly flew off the bike . When I came back down, I somehow smashed my face onto the handlebars from a good height. My teeth were bleeding quite a bit and that contact was through an MX helmet with chinbar and through the foam padded crashpad on the bars. Had I been using a 3/4... bye bye chompers.

This is also a pretty important part of one's body. It's not as if you are chancing riding without hard knuckles on your gloves. It's your face!

It also doesn't have to be something flat that makes contact. It could be a curb or a tree stump or a branch. I had an off on my mountain bike once and slid for about 10 feet on my belly. When I came to a full stop, there was a sharpened branch which resembled a thin punji stake pointed directly at my eye and was less than 5 cm away. Tis all fun and games til it ain't.

 

[MacDoc]

Off road at speed...different story....those foam guards on the cross brace of the handle bars are there for a reason.

That said....at the very modest trail plodding speed I go on the dual tracks here...the visor protection on the 3/4 keeps wandering vines and branches at bay and I can still photograph easily.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Macdoc why are you trying to defend 3/4 helmets so much?

"Helmet technology has moved forward", doesn't mean squat if there's still nothing between the front of your face and what it hits. If people are smart enough to wear FF helmets you should be happy.

 

[00ninja]

I was riding along the lake today and went through 2 CLOUDS of bugs, if I were not wearing my fullface I would have eaten enough bugs to fill my stomach all night. I'm talking enough bugs to almost completely blind me, twice in a couple seconds. The other day a rock hit the top of my helmet so hard it cracked the intake for my vent. A couple inches lower and that could have hit my eye, or my lip and knocked a tooth out if I were not wearing a fullface. Those 2 scenarios alone have concreted my decision on helmets!

My wife is a dental hygienist and has seen her share of patients with terrible facial injuries including broken and missing teeth due to rocks and debris hitting the face while wearing open face helmets.

It's all about how much risk you're willing to accept and personal choice.

 

[Matt Rain]

I'm FFATT.

 

[TorontoBoy]

...A modern 3/4 is very different from the older ones

Of course we have no proof that the newer 3/4 helmets are better or worse in a crash. This would need to be empirically tested by crashes. I do agree that a 3/4 would be much more convenient for socializing, taking photos, drinking, and talking, the reason why cops still often use the 3/4.

The integrated chin bar of the FF provides a surface that would dissipate force through both sides to the rest of the helmet. While you might be dead at least your pretty face will still be intact.

Without the chinbar I am wondering if those chin nubs of the new 3/4 are sufficiently forward and sufficiently strong enough to withstand a proper smacking into pavement? Under extreme duress would they hold your head in the proper place? In a violent crash could they flex outward, thereby allowing the helmet to become incrementally larger, and therefore allowing your head to excessively move? Could those side cheek nubbies be ground down quickly enough for you to lose skin and teeth? With a space between the side cheek nubbies this provides a place for objects to hook into the helmet and torque your neck and head. The further out the side cheek nubbies extend increases the lever arm and therefore requires less force for them to bend and move.

All these questions are a relative non-issue for a FF, where the chinbar would transfer these forces through the cheek section and then through to the back and rest of the helmet. The curve of the chinbar also adds significant strength to the design. The curved chinbar would also deflect any objects you hit to the sides, which might reduce direct force to the area but increase rotational force to the neck. The FF can also be defeated if you hit a curb/tree branch horizontally in the sweet spot.

Of course all this pontification has no real life data to back it, and even with rigorous testing might not be true in real life crashes. As with mesh gear, you have tradeoffs for your safety vs convenience. I'll stick with my FF as I think it still is a safer design. I am open to convincing otherwise.

 

[Blackfin]

My wife is a dental hygienist and has seen her share of patients with terrible facial injuries including broken and missing teeth due to rocks and debris hitting the face while wearing open face helmets.

On the way back to work at lunch today (driving the car; it's raining...) a stone, perhaps the size of a "Tums" slammed into my windshield, right in front of my face. The first thing I thought to myself was "and that's why I wear a FF helmet." Even if the eyes are protected with glasses I would not want to take a rock like that anywhere on the face.

If you live in a place where they don't drop rock salt and sand on the road half the year, where dump trucks and the like aren't dropping mud and rocks and debris from their undercarriages at every little bump etc, maybe OF helmets make sense but... Every time I see a guy wearing one of those I SMH wondering what june-bugs or bees at 100kph feels like, let alone rocks and stones.

 

[nobbie48]

I run a modular and play with the visor angle to see what angle best works with the windscreen to minimize noise and buffeting. If it's up I wear safety glasses. I want to protect my full face not just 3/4 of it.

 

[Baggsy]

I'm thinking also, that once the helmet hits the ground and the foam compresses, all bets are off.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Every time I see a guy wearing one of those I SMH wondering what june-bugs or bees at 100kph feels like

They hurt. The don't kill you.