My first bike I laid down, wearing a full face helmet. I was new to riding, gunned it a little too hard coming onto a 4 lane highway, and hit a patch of gravel. I laid the bike down hard, hit the back of my head, rolled, bounced my chin off the asphalt, and got up and walked away with a little bit of road rash on my legs and hands, since I was wearing jeans, boots, and my hard leather jacket also. When I got a chance to look at my helmet, it was cracked in the center of the chin guard, and a large crack all the way up the back of the helmet. That was enough to convince me to ride with a full face all the time. Plus, it really sucks when you get hit in the face with a bumblebee going 45-50 mph down the road, cause you don't have your face shield on....but hey, it's your head, your cash, just my 2 cents...