if memeory serves me, the Harley helmets i saw were made by AGV.

 

In Yuma, AZ, it's too hot to wear a full face helmet in the summer. It's almost too hot to ride. Some say that wearing the helmet keeps your face from getting burned by the heat off the desert floor and the pavement. If heat is an issue, look into a white one, it helps. I'm a half helmet type for the most part, my wife won't ride without a full face.

Make sure that you have plenty of vents on the helmet, they help tremendously.

The inside of helmets are hard to clean as well, get a doo rag and try the helmet on with that on. You can wash the doo rag, but when you throw the helmet into the washer and dryer, it makes an aweful racket!

Mac

 

Right now I am wearing a 3/4 helmet (kinda sucks while on the computer -- LOL).

When I get up to my brothers shop this summer I'll probably pick up a full face (The "at cost" factor is a strong one)

I don't think I'd ever opt to a half or Novelty helmet, Seen way to many accidents and those IMO just count to say you had a helmet on. In all that accidents I've have the opportunity to respond to, the full face helmets always fair'd better, although there is no absolute, its all a matter of the circumstances.

Tim

 

I have several helmets that I wear. I have a 1/2 helmet that I wear most of the time because it is comfortable and not to mushroomy. I also have a HD full face helmet. It is good when it is very windy or cold, and has the flip up lower. On the down side, the visor steams up too quickly at stop lights. I am looking at getting a Nexl beenie helmet beacuse it is very high speed, low drag and is about the same size as the novelty helmet I had heen wearing up until 6 months ago, but is DOT approved. Here is the HD link for the full face helmets:

http://www.harley-davidson.com/brows...bmLocale=en_US

 

Harley's full face flip up helmet is made by HCI.

Personally, I think the best bang for the buck in a full face flip up is Nolan. Their N100E is great and can be had for as little as $160. They have a new one out with a built-in sun visor that flips up and down (it acts like built in sun glasses) called the X-1002 that can be had for $250. I'm buying that one from Ebay soon.

To me, the Nolan feels like a better made piece of equipment and their removable chin wind guard is great for cold days. It's lighter, and the action of the flip face and windscreen movements feels more high quality.

 

I have a 3/4 H-D helmet w/swapable shields that works great.

I also have a chrome 1/2 helmet for hot weather.

I just don't like the restrictive feeling of the full-faced helmets. No doubt about it though, for safety nothing beats a full-faced helmet.

 

Couple of notes here from my experiences.

I have both a full face (Shoei) and a HD half-helm, both DOT.

I wear the Shoei full time on the Hayabusa no matter the temp. So far it hasn't caused heat stroke or even overheating and I've worn it full time summer and winter on both bikes. Until I got the right goggles, I couldn't wear the half-helm very often. Once I got them, I pretty much wear the half unless it's raining when I leave for work. If it's raining when I leave work, I throw on a bandanna to protect my face from the stinging raindrops

I wear the half-helm only on the Harley and only when warm enough. I've worn it on several multi-thousand mile trips. I wear the Shoei on the Harley in the winter.

The Harley does not have a windshield mounted although I do have one.

Complaints:

Both helmets leave a half-dollar sized red mark on my forehead at about the hairline after riding for a couple of hours. The HD one is larger and has a nice white line down the middle.

The Shoei is apparently for a rounder flatter face where the Arai is for a thinner face so it's not as comfortable as it could be. That was the same problem I had with the Nolans. My wife as a Nolan as well as a HD half-helm and I liked the idea of a flip up but I couldn't find one that fit reasonably comfortably.

The Shoei is obviously build for sportbiking seating position. When I'm on the 'busa, the view is perfect. I can see the instrument panel and the peripheral vision is spot on. When on the Harley, I can't see the instrument panel because the chin guard comes up to under my nose and the peripheral vision isn't as good. The lower edge of the helmet interferes with vision so you might miss a car if you don't look completely.

The visor on the half-helm causes a lot of head shake. I was having trouble with it and didn't twig on it immediately. Then I realized what the problem was and pulled it off. The ride's much better now.


Notes:

My facial structure prevents me from riding with sunglasses or the sunglass goggles with the foam liner. I have a long pointed nose which pushes the glass out away from my eyes and leaves about an inch of opening on the bottoms. I tried the $20 goggles the dealers sell and they're useless and dangerous. Absolutly no peripheral vision. Scared the crap out of me one time. I found some great goggles at an event and bought them. They've worked great on my long distance rides. www.glassicgoggles.com is their website I believe.

During the winter I use Fog City shield liners. They resist fogging (not prevent) very well and when they do fog up, it clears up pretty quickly. At temps at around 10 degrees the fog freezes immediately which was less than amusing when it happened a few weeks ago. I'm really considering getting one of these real soon. There have been several good reviews from local riders (Colorado).


I'd say wear whatever you're comfortable wearing but remember, sweat is a lot easier to clean up than blood.

Carl

 

It really boils down to looks vs personal saftey and that's a personal choice....

 

I have 3 types of helments. full coverage, 3/4 and 1/2. Just according to weather and the mood Im in. My favorite is the 3/4. I guess thats what you call it, it s the one that covers your ears. I generaly wear a face shield on it. I have hit the road before face first and thank God I had the face sheild on because with out it I proabaly wouldnt have a face now. All I could do was slide down the road watching the aspaht sliding on my shield. I like to keep my ears covered to keep out all that wind noise too.

 

MidWest XL - The flip up from Harley is called the Full Face System Helmet.
http://www.harley-davidson.com/mcm/m...bmLocale=en_US
I also was interested in the Nolan N100E, but it didn't fit me worth cr@p. As a matter of fact, I ended getting a larger size on the Harley because of my melon (big jowls I guess). This is important though, as I could not believe the difference in fit for the same size from different manufacturers and in this case I didn't mind paying the MSRP for the helmet... I'll skimp in other areas...


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