open-face helmets
 

What's the deal with open-face helmets? I saw a guy on the trails the other day and he had one, and I realized how very very cool they look. I've been browsing around for a MTB helmet because right now all I have is my road helmet ... I was wondering, are open-face helmets are specific to any type or riding or any specific type of riding? And then beyond that, does anybody know of any good, cheap(-er) open-face helmets? Thanks in advance! :rolleyes:

Your road helmet will be fine for the riding you'll likely be doing on your Marlin. And your road helmet is an 'open-face' helmet.

Are you talking about a skate-style lid or a full face helmet? Either of those choices will be much warmer than the usual road/MTB helmet for typical trail riding but do offer more protection.

"Open Face" helmets are general used to cut back on weight. You will never see anyone racing in an 'open face helmet.

A closed face helmet would work best.:)

I'm talking about helmets like this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...2openface3.jpg

I just think they're cool, but I don't know what they're about .. so here I am.

Hmmmmmm, I saw plenty of guys racing with an open face this past weekend. So I guess that's false.

Oh, well those a relatively new. TLD is the only company I know of who are making them, and TLD is mighty expensive. The protection of a full face minus the face guard.

I was looking at those last week.
That's the D-2 Open face.
Probably too warm for most trail riding with anything resembling an up hill.
Possibly get laughed at if wearing it on your local green belt too.
If you are into gravity rides though, it's a nice helmet.

Hmm. If I had that much helmet on my head, I'd just go with the fullface I think.

I've seen them getting raced in the national 4X series by a couple riders. And they are not a new thing, look at BMX helmets from the 70's>80's, there were ltos like that. Even now look at Trials MX helmets they are like that.

Hi All-

This is an example of a true closed-face helmet, in this case an awesome Arai RX7-RR4 model:


~ Blue Jays ~

I don't think ANYONE would want to ride wearing a TRUE closed-face helmet. And if they did, they wouldn't get very far.

Hi never-

We're in 100% absolute agreement.

About the only place a true closed-face motorcycle helmet like the one pictured could potentially work is a downhill race...even then one would want something lighter because one doesn't encounter triple-digit speeds on a bicycle. My goal was to find a good full-face / closed-face picture to post for comparison purposes. :)

~ Blue Jays ~

Nah, we're not in agreement because I've only ever referred to the helmet you pictured as a full face helmet. When I hear the term closed face, I think of a helmet without an opening for the face (i.e., not just a visor). Hence my comment about not making it very far with one on.

Highrevs SuperD thread has great examples of all types of bike helmets....

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=279747

and great pictures

Troy Lee reinvents 40+-year-old technology. What's next - - bringing back the Jofa mouthguard?:rolleyes:

I had the Jofa mouthguard in about 1977-78, somewhere in there. lol
Looking back on it, they were basically worthless, but at that age, 11 or so, I thought I had to have it.

In 80-81 or so, I was rocking the Scott half-mask. xr80 braaaap!

They weren't racing. They just wanted to ride with the cool kids.

Now that I think about it, about 10 years ago Troy Lee had a helmet out that looked similar to these but with a snap on face guard.
I think the snap on face guards are basically worthless as they snap off apon impact, but the rest of the helmet was pretty similer.
Leigh Donovan used to wear one with out the face guard on it.
Just some worthless bits of trivia.

Haha. I guess I was ahead of my time. By 1970 I was already full-face when open-face was the norm:

http://www.aimcomm.com/users/dminor/...startup_70.jpg

Actually, I HAVE seen a guy riding in one of those. It was -20C at the time, perhaps a factor.

http://www.mtbbritain.co.uk/met_para...et_review.html

convertible helmet

Just like the old Giro Switchblade.