Full face helmet changes all sensory input
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Denham Springs, Louisiana
I just got my first full face. A KBC modular and wore it for the first time on a 200 mile trip to see my dad. The love bugs were terrible. I had to stop and clean the visor twice. Sure was glad to have it. Love bugs have a disgusting after taste.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 6,235
Likes: 65
From: Joliet, Illinois
I usually wear a half shell. Getting chilly out there in the early AM and I switched to my full face Bell.
What a change! Engine pitch and loudness, all sounds different. Engine mechanical noise sounds different. Damn thing is heavy and hard to see out of, mostly peripheral vision. Just got to get used to it but what a change!
MikeM
What a change! Engine pitch and loudness, all sounds different. Engine mechanical noise sounds different. Damn thing is heavy and hard to see out of, mostly peripheral vision. Just got to get used to it but what a change!
MikeM
http://www.oddee.com/_media/imgs/art...99_feldman.jpg
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 6,235
Likes: 65
From: Joliet, Illinois
Another bad thing about wearing a FF, is how it limits your ability to hear the bone from your chin and nose being scraped off as you slide down the road.
Just realized it might help if I explain this graphic - it's from a study done of helmets worn by riders involved in crashes. It indicates which parts of the helmet were damaged, by percentage. As you can see, most of the damage is most often in the areas only covered by a FF helmet.
Just realized it might help if I explain this graphic - it's from a study done of helmets worn by riders involved in crashes. It indicates which parts of the helmet were damaged, by percentage. As you can see, most of the damage is most often in the areas only covered by a FF helmet.
Last edited by MidnitEvil; Sep 17, 2008 at 12:54 AM.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 6,235
Likes: 65
From: Joliet, Illinois
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 1,004
Likes: 0
From: new jersey
Call me crazy but back when I had a crotch rocket(younger and stupid) I wore a full face. Now that I finally own a harley I couldn't see wearing a full face again. I love the feeling of the wind in my face. Granted I dont do 120 any more.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 8,831
Likes: 15
From: Nomad
LMFAO!!! (until I felt a little intestinal discomfort picturing my face being.....yuck)
...
Um...yeah....a good helmet does not limit your vision. What are you wearing, a deep-sea diving helmet?
A full-face will muffle sounds, so, yeah, your ears aren't ringing after a couple of hours on the slab.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 1,374
Likes: 1
From:
Don't wear a helmet but in the past I've tried a full face helmet...no way.
Can't stand those things. Claustrophobic, hot, hear myself breathing all the time, loss of peripheral vision, no wind in the hair, inconvenient, and I lost a lot of the visceral experience of what I love about riding a motorcycle.
Can't stand those things. Claustrophobic, hot, hear myself breathing all the time, loss of peripheral vision, no wind in the hair, inconvenient, and I lost a lot of the visceral experience of what I love about riding a motorcycle.
Banned
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 13,820
Likes: 6,615
From: Northern California
Having ridden with a mandated helmet in California for years after not having them required, I always wore a full-face because I have a bunch of FF helmets from racing. Arais, because they're the most comfortable on my pointed head.
I'm in Oklahoma for awhile, so I took off for a ride without the helmet. Yeah, it was nice, but after awhile I got tired of the wind whipping my face and hair and bouncing my glasses. I DID kinda appreciate the extra vision, but I didn't see anything I wouldn't have seen with my helmet on.
I can definitely understand the appeal of NOT wearing a helmet.
But after about a hundred miles, I stopped. And when I went to get back on the bike, I just put my helmet on. Habit, I guess. I was just more comfortable with it on, partly because I'm used to it. I have adapted. I just move my head if I need to see.
( I've seen where the brain will accomodate and adjust to vision changes. In experiments, people are given glasses that make everything look upside down. After a while, the brain adapts, and they see things right-side up again. I think that's why people who ride with FF helmets don't feel like their vision is obstructed. )
And then it started to rain. No way was I taking my helmet off. It's more comfortable in the dry. In the wet, it's a no-brainer. There's a joke in there somewhere.
I'm in Oklahoma for awhile, so I took off for a ride without the helmet. Yeah, it was nice, but after awhile I got tired of the wind whipping my face and hair and bouncing my glasses. I DID kinda appreciate the extra vision, but I didn't see anything I wouldn't have seen with my helmet on.
I can definitely understand the appeal of NOT wearing a helmet.
But after about a hundred miles, I stopped. And when I went to get back on the bike, I just put my helmet on. Habit, I guess. I was just more comfortable with it on, partly because I'm used to it. I have adapted. I just move my head if I need to see.
( I've seen where the brain will accomodate and adjust to vision changes. In experiments, people are given glasses that make everything look upside down. After a while, the brain adapts, and they see things right-side up again. I think that's why people who ride with FF helmets don't feel like their vision is obstructed. )
And then it started to rain. No way was I taking my helmet off. It's more comfortable in the dry. In the wet, it's a no-brainer. There's a joke in there somewhere.
HD Forum Stories
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Verdad Gallardo
8 Best Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Worst Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever
Pouria Savadkouei
Killer Custom's Jail Break Is The Breakout That Refused to Blend In
Verdad Gallardo
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Verdad Gallardo
Harley-Davidson Reveals Super Cool Cafe Racer Concept
Verdad Gallardo
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Verdad Gallardo
10 Motorcycles You Should Never Buy
Joe Kucinski
10 Things Harley-Davidson Needs to Fix in 2026
Verdad Gallardo
Intermediate
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 41
Likes: 3
From: PA
I wear half for putting around and full on long/fast rides. The main diff I noticed, besides the sound of my chin scraping off (thanks for that btw).... is that my pipes can't be heard at speed when wearing the half, can only hear gear shift clunks above the wind noise. With the full, its like I have loud pipes. Guess I need to get some loud pipes. 
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 6,235
Likes: 65
From: Joliet, Illinois
I agree. I know I would very much enjoy riding around without a helmet - especially around town where I don't get above 50 MPH or so. I am, however, more than willing to give that up, knowing how I would not enjoy the feeling of not wearing a helmet during a crash.
... but, it's all about what each of us, individually, chooses as our acceptable level of risk. Mine is that I won't ride a bike, ever, for any distance, without a FF helmet. I respect that for others, their acceptable level of risk is no helmet at all. I don't understand it - but I accept it.
... but, it's all about what each of us, individually, chooses as our acceptable level of risk. Mine is that I won't ride a bike, ever, for any distance, without a FF helmet. I respect that for others, their acceptable level of risk is no helmet at all. I don't understand it - but I accept it.