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You’ve been down to your local bike shop, but you’ve got no idea what sort of helmet to choose. You have flip front, you’ve got dual sport, open faces, adventure, sport modular, but which one should you get?
Pros And Cons of Modular Helmets
I think people like the convenience of flip front modular three-quarter helmets, the ability to open the front part of the helmet to expose the face makes it much easier to communicate. It’s always a lot easier when you can see face to face.
A full-face helmet can often seem quite intimidating; in a situation where you need to talk to someone, you can flip it up, and they can see your face.
It’s easier to communicate and far easier to get a good response from the passenger.
For example, when you are in a gas station or a store, you are required to take your helmet off before getting gas. Quite often, they will be happy if you just split the front and they can see your face.
It’s also handy when you’re touring. Not only in a hot climate where you can suddenly get a gust of fresh air but if you are asking for directions with a local in a foreign language.
If you are touring with a passenger and they are nervous, it’s nice to be able to speak to them face to face. It’s having the convenience of being able to get full eye contact and a far less intimidating look.
Claustrophobic
Some people also feel claustrophobic inside a full-face helmet. When you are riding, it’s not as important because you are concentrating on the road, and your mind is distracted.
But when you stop, it’s nice to have the opportunity to be able to flip up the helmet and feel like you’re out of the helmet without having to take it off.
Benefits Of A Full Face Helmets
We have covered the features and benefits of a flip front helmet, but are there any benefits of wearing a full-face helmet you wouldn’t get with a flip front modular helmet?
Weight
The most significant benefit of a full-face helmet is the weight. There is a lot more engineering that goes into the mechanism of a flip-open modular helmet. The full-face helmet doesn’t have that so that the weight can be reduced.
More Choice
There is also far more choice in color and style with a full-face helmet, so you can find something that suits your bike, your protective clothing, everything.
Cost
There is far more choice in full face, and then ultimately, there is the cost.
There is much less work that goes into a full-face helmet because you don’t have all the mechanisms, so it’s going to be cheaper to produce and less expensive to buy a face helmet.
Safety
I have been riding a motorcycle for many years and have seen many crashes, more than I would care to remember.
Statistics show that you are much safer wearing a full fave helmet vs. a modular helmet, it’s not just a matter of any scars you might get when you have an accident, and it’s not a matter of if, but when.
Because at some point in your riding career, you will fall off your bike, whether another road user caused it or not.
You only have to look at the stats on the helmet below made by Icon. You can see that the vast majority of the impact is at the front of the helmet than the back.
Over 27% involves the right facial area, and up to 26% involved the left with over half of the impact on the facial area compared to the rear.
Admittedly, having some form of protection like a modular helmet open face helmet is better than nothing, and that is one reason why you should never ride around with the front portion open.
However, a full-face helmet will provide you with much more protection overall that an open face helmet.
The fact is that when you are moving forward at speed, and you fall off your bike, your head is one of the first parts of your body to hit the road, and as that is the case, a full-face helmet would always be the best helmet for safety, scars or not.
Regardless of whether you choose a flipper to evoke this, there’s one piece of advice that I would always recommend people.
Whatever helmet you buy, make sure it fits properly. If it’s tight, if it’s uncomfortable, even if it looks great, it won’t be the right helper for you.
Get the fit right, get the comfort, choose the style because the last thing any of you need is an uncomfortable helmet. If it isn’t comfortable, it’s not the right helmet.
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The purpose of this article is not to tell you which one to use. Instead, I’m simply going to lay out the positives and negatives of each kind and let you make your own decision.