Shorty helmets, a few questions

[jrdudas]

I am a long-time rider who is just now getting back to riding after a 15 year absense. Early in my riding no one used helmets except racers and I rode lots of miles without a helmet. More recently I was using an open-face 3/4 helmet. Now I am most attracted to the shorty type helmets, but I wonder if they really offer far less protection than the 3/4 helmets.

Everyone seems to advise us to wear full-face helmets but I just don't like the feel of them. Experts seem to imply that anyone who does not wear a full-face helmet is foolish. Is the protection offerred by the shorty and 3/4 helmets really not worth the effort. If so, why aren't bicycle riders encouraged to wear a more protective helmet. They are just as likely to encounter a head injury as someone on a motorcycle. The only real difference in my mind is the speed.

What do you think?

JR

[cmartiny]

In my personal opinion. A full face helmet is a necessity.

During our training (my wife & I took the MSF calss togather) we had thought about getting half helmets, but we seriously oubted we'd ever use them again.

As far as the protection factor goes, a full face will offer you the BEST protection available IMHO.

The choice to wear a full-face or a skull cap, or full gear with armor of just a tank-top and shorts, is totally up to the rider, and how much risk they are willing to accept.

[Veda]

I think bicycle riders are nuts. If I were to get into the sport I would be tempted to wear full motorcycle gear

[Skier]

According to the Hurt Report, about one out of every three motorcycle crashes involve the chin area hitting pavement. That's more than enough incentive for me to protect that area with a fullface lid.

[mydlyfkryzis]

I took a spill in 1984, wearing a 3/4 (open face) helmet. I had a flip up shield. The only thing between my lower chin and the pavement for about 60 feet was a thin polycarbonate shield. I survived the fall with minor road rash on my palms and some scrapes on my face where the shield had slipped down and kept the pavement off my face. I had watched the pavement, an inch from my eyes, slip past the gap at the brow of the helmet and the shield. After seeing that, I went out the next day and bought a full face helmet and have worn it since then.

I just removed my windshield from my NH750 today and went for a ride. I quickly remembered why I like the shield, when a 2 inch long dragonfly struck my next at 55 MPH. OWWW! Had it hit my face, well, I had a full face on so no problem. A bug like that would hurt if you hit it with a shorty helmet.

[Flipper]

I think bicycle riders are nuts. If I were to get into the sport I would be tempted to wear full motorcycle gear

Yeah Veda I agree.
And it's strange that since I've been riding, I feel the same way about people in convertables.
I really love my full face helmet.

[jstark47]

Everyone seems to advise us to wear full-face helmets but I just don't like the feel of them. Experts seem to imply that anyone who does not wear a full-face helmet is foolish. Is the protection offerred by the shorty and 3/4 helmets really not worth the effort.

JR, go to the bottom of this web page, you'll find the graphic from Dietmar Otte's study. It shows the percentage of impact occurring in various areas of the head during motorcycle accidents. 39% of impacts involve the chin area (the stat Skier quotes above.) Use the percentages to decide what part of your head you want to protect and what part you don't care about.

I'm no expert, and I won't use value judgements like "foolish", but for me personally, it didn't take long to decide.

[mydlyfkryzis]

.. Use the percentages to decide what part of your head you want to protect and what part you don't care about. ...

I am having a hard time figuring out which part of my head I don't care about....

Same goes for the rest of your body as far as gear goes, Figure out what part you don't care about and don't get gear that protects it.

[Lion_Lady]

Here's a photo/diagram created from REAL crash information (in europe). It shows the percentage of impact for each helmet section.

Pretty telling information, I'd say.

>Anecdotally, I've got a pencil lead size chip in the face shield of my full face helmet right at about the level of my right eye/cheekbone. I was hit by a pea size rock while travelling at about 70 mph. There were NO large trucks nearby, so the hit was completely unexpected.

If I'd been wearing a "shorty," I would have been sporting a good bruise at the least, stitches or an eye patch at the worst. Maybe even permanent eye damage.

I can't argue that a shorty or 3/4 helmet is certainly far more comfortable to wear. But once you factor in the dangers of flying debris and fatigue from wind noise, and wind "abuse" (buffeting) on the road, it is worth getting used to the confinement of a full face helmet.

P

[jrdudas]

I certainly can't argue with the logic presented by the postings in this thread; I however wonder about other factors that always go unmentioned. For instance; when I started wearing a 3/4 helmet I immediately noticed that my ability to hear noises near me was drastically reduced. On several occassions I was suddenly passed by a vehicle that I never heard. I have also found that wearing a full-face helmet severely limits my field of view. Those two issues represent to me that certain factors affecting safety are compromised by helmets that block your ears and interfere with your eyesight.

Now please don't misunderstand; I'm not trying to convince myself or anyone else that they should not wear a helmet. It just seems to me that the current choices available in helmets are at best a compromise; ie, in order to improve the protection offerred by these designs you must accept that there is a reduction of the input of two of our most important senses. I don't think anyone can make a convincing case for not wearing protective headgear; I'd just like to see some more innovative designs come to the marketplace.

As a sidebar; why do all the motorcycle mounted police forces wear shorty helmets?

JR