Using helmets while riding is important. It is the bare minimum protection that you could provide to your body. An ideal situation would be to wear all the gear, but that is not always possible, especially when travelling shorter distances. Hence it is imperative to have a helmet on at all times when riding the bike as it provides the maximum protection to the most important parts of your body. Your head is critical as it needs protection for the brain, the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Sometimes even the neck is protected due to the helmet. Now people have found a work around for is, which is using an open-face helmet when riding. Though it does have certain advantages to it, riding with an open face helmet has more perils associated to it, which is why one should always opt for a full face helmet.
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An open face helmet will only provide a blow to your head and that too up to a certain extent. If the force is greater than the threshold, the helmet will crack and so will your head. The best solution here is to opt for a full face helmet. They have extra support pillars to handle the stress in excess of the threshold for the open face helmets, and hence they provide extra protection to the head and the face of the rider.
Arriving to the face aspect, the open face helmet only has a visor to protect your face which can crack at the very first sign of stress on it. Not only is this dangerous, but it is also susceptible to harm you as a user upon impact by injuring your eye or nose, or any other sensory organs. Full face helmets on the other hand have a solid jaw-line bar to help protect your face at all cost. It ensures all your entire head above the neck is protected properly. Though it is recommended that one opts for a full-face helmet of a good quality, else the dangers are again prone and susceptible to the half face helmet.
Protection of your jaw-line is also important which a full face helmet does, but a half face helmet does not. The only thing that has the helmet securely on the head is the jaw strap to hold the helmet still, and yet that is unable to provide proper stability to the helmet on the road. So getting a full face helmet is beneficial in more than one ways in case of protection is concerned over a half face helmet.
Here is study of the impact on helmets
Fitting is another aspect why people should prefer a full face helmet. For a half face helmet, one can make points such as the field of vision is not restricted and the ability to wear and remove the helmet quickly is available. But one does happen to forget that with the same ability, the helmet lacks the snug fit which a full face helmet provides. The same helmet which comes off so easily when tried to remove, also comes off easily in case of an impact and hence rendering your head susceptible to injury and damage; the job that a proper full face helmet could have had performed effectively.
Also, the full face helmets have better padding on the interior to provide a comfortable experience for you as a user. The open face helmets have minimal padding available on the inside which after a certain amount of time and wear and tear dries down. This renders the interiors of the helmet uncomfortable and hence negates the shock absorbing capability of the helmet.
And the final point why open face helmets are not a practical choice is the protection from dust, dirt, rain, and pollution. An open face helmet and its visor can protect you only so much in case of any of the above situation mentioned. I remember when I used an open face helmet in the rain, I had completely drenched in the rain, including my head, and the helmet also caught on loads of moisture which resulted in the inner lining of the helmet to catch a fungus and hence I had to throw it away. Since I have made the move to a full face helmet, and no matter how hard it rains and how much I am drenched, my head is always protected and dry to the level of 98%. This has also allowed me to remain healthy longer in the most treacherous weathers. The helmet also provides protection from the winters and the heat.
Helmet Size Buying Guide
Hence in conclusion, it is pretty clear that an open face helmet might be the easier option to use, but a full face helmet is something which is the most practical option to choose. Always opt for an full face helmet, no matter what and you can be sure that you will be protected from almost all dangers that you might encounter when riding. Have fun, be safe, and happy riding!
