Bit of an impulse post, but here we go.
Anyone watching 24 hours in A&E tonight?
A bloke came in with a seriously mashed face AND bleeding into his brian. Car pulled out in front of him and he t-boned it. Slow residential road as far as I understand.
Why all the injuries? Open face helmet…
I saw it too… Also remember driving out of Brighton one day remember seeing A scooterist lady who had crashed her MP3…open face lid, face looked very bloody and a lot of screaming… I would go without gear in town sometimes but don’t think I could go with an open face lid
> Make device to protect head from injury
> Remove protection for fleshiest, juciest part of head
But turn it on its head, they are alive so the helmet have done what they were designed to do and protect the brain.
When I had my crash I was wearing an open face helmet as was the norm back in the day on a Police bike I lost chunks of my face, hence the reason why I now wear a beard.
But I got wedged under the prop shaft of the vehicle that took me out and the driver sat there reving the engne so it was grinding away at my helmet.
Bottom line is I got a bloody face, I can no longer shave (result 
) and I lost 50% of my brain cells, (but I still have one remaining 
)The open face did the job it was designed to do.
We changed to full face shortly after, but the open face still did its job, and whilst it did not afford the same level of protection as a conventional full face, the other side of the coin is that had I been wearing a flip front, chances are I wuld not be sat here now typing this out as 2 colleagues died in flip fronts and it was the helmets that contributed to the broken necks that killed them.
Yeah, and had he not left the house at all he’d have even less chance of any injury. It’s not as if there’s some line beyond which there’s risk that’s universally acceptable and up to which it’s all stupid. Everyone’s got different priorities and to some people open face helmets are just fine.
Interesting comment TC.
But it begs the question, is it worse for someone without the ability to grow a beard? 
Interesting comment TC. But it begs the question, is it worse for someone without the ability to grow a beard? 😁 silveR6Well ike anything, it is all subjective.
Everyone knows someone who has suffered because of whatever. Be it an open faced helmet, poor kit, someones carlessness and so thoughts and decisions become clouded based on experiences and comment.
The reality is that the majority of us will never have that bad experience, and of course if a ady or someone who is unable to grow a beard has a crash in an open faced helmet, then there is always that risk.
But turn it round and look at the number of people who wear a flip front helmet and run the risk of a 75% increased chance of suffering a fatal break of the neck in a crash.
You may lose part of your face in an open face but you very rarely hear of a broken neck (although it of course does happen) but you often hear calls for open faced to be banned, and yet despite the number of people who suffer a fatal broken neck, you don’t hear people crying out fr flip fronts to be banned.
As I say, it is about perspectives and is subjective.
I had no idea flip-fronts were so bad for neck injuries, is it just the extra weight?
I had no idea flip-fronts were so bad for neck injuries, is it just the extra weight? cjrpWeight and design
the neck injury resulting as a crash while riding with a flip front in an opened or closed position? I can imagine how the open front can catch with something and snap your neck very quick, but I can't see where the increase ratio comes from while riding on a closed position.I had no idea flip-fronts were so bad for neck injuries, is it just the extra weight? cjrpWeight and design T.C
I would love to see the actuarial tables of brands and models; all this Sharp stuff etc is all well and good but you can’t deny observed statistics post-incident.
Except there’s no control - perhaps people in Shoei’s are more likely to ride fast bikes or people in cheap Halfords helmets are more likely to drop them down the stairs and then keep using them.
I confess I once rode under a height restriction with a Nolan N104 flipped up at about 15 mph. The chin bar caught. and I didn’t even feel it. The hinge mechanism on one side failed and I had to replace plastic hinge parts.
Having worn a lot of differnet flip front helmets, I have yet to see one with hinges that would not break well before a significant force was passed to the neck. Talking to paramedics I have worked and trained with, they tell me they have never seen a flip front related injury. When closed they are very rigid, and although probably weaker than a full face helmet, any helmet is a bit rubbish an a face on full speed impact.
