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The half-shell provides comfort for the wearer who believes that helmet laws are unjust - they are 'minimalist' in terms of protection and can be viewed as a 'protest statement' without inviting a ticket. The full-face helmet, on the other hand, provides maximum protection but are heavier and less comfortable than half-shells.

The half-shell helmet provides adequate protection for the top of the head, only, and is ideal if you should land on the top of your head when you hit the ground - something that is rather rare in the real world. A full-face helmet provides protection for the entire head and part of your neck

A half-shell helmet, when provided to your passenger - say your wife, for example - says that their pretty face should be shared by the world, until an accident occurs. Thereafter, because more than a third of the time when he/she hits the ground with their head, it will be a face plant. The crushed eye socket, broken or torn off nose, crushed cheek bones, lacerated eyebrows and eye lids, split (wide) upper lip, fractured upper mandible, broken teeth, lost tip of tongue from having bitten it off, teeth protruding through lower lip, all lower teeth broken off below the gum line, broken jaw, and lacerations about the upper neck will take many, many painful surgeries to repair (badly and with scars that will last a lifetime) and many months of recovery time before being able to present that now permanently broken face to the world. And, did I mention that migraine headaches will potentially happen EVERY DAY for years, if not life? And that says nothing about the brain damage that prevents him or her from being able to remember the names of the children or how many children there are? Full-face helmets, on the other hand, cost a little more than half-shell helmets.

ATGATT (All the gear all the time)

I wish I could buy the Air helmet over here, the N43 over here isn't the same, it's close though, that might be my next helmet still though.

Yup,.. my face is my second least favorite place to get hit with a solid object... ...

mpescatori wrote on 03/27/12 at 15:40:41:

You should always wear a raincoat with a blond trophy  
especially when hot and sticky.

I've only worn full-face and only will everytime I ride. I do not even ride 5ft without my helmet. I've been riding for 15 years now and I have crashed well over 6 times.

If I did not have a helmet I would be dead or severly deformed for sure.

First crash with head impact - slid 30ft on the left side of my Arai where my ear is.
Second crash with head impact - 50mph highside where I slid about 100ft down the road with all parts of my HJC helmet getting eaten up

Other non-head crashes
10mph crash into rear of car who suddenly stopped to do a U-turn
90mph lowside from losing the front end on a track
15mph lowside at night in sand
25mph highside from leaves
40mph lowside from oil on the track
and more I forgot about....

If you are cheap, just go to motorcyclesuperstore.com and get the cheapest SNELL certified full-face helmet. I bought some on sale last month for $55 each.

If you do not wear a full-face helmet I have no sympathy for any injuries which a proper helmet would have prevented.

I used to ride in FL, CT, and NH. Which all do not have helmet laws.

rl153 wrote on 03/27/12 at 17:45:08:


When I first met "that girl" (who would have become my wife 4 years later, the very first time I went to university to pick her up and ride her home in my Guzzi, there were no helmet laws.

I took off my helmet and insisted she wear it.

"I don't need it"
"A School of Medicine student, saying she don't need a helmet?"
"IT'LL RUIN MY HAIR"
"The tarmac will ruin your face much worse if we fall and you scrape oj the asphalt"

She saw the point and donned the helment.

The following week she chirped "Daddy says he will not buy me a helmet, my mother's not happy I ride a motorcycle".

We RODE A BUS and went to buy her a helmet. Full Face, with a detachable chin piece.

She's been wearing a helmet ever since, and would never sit on a bike without one.



PS Mother approved "If you buy a helmet for my daughter, then you care for her. She can ride with you"
I took that as a very high compliment.

I grew up in the era of helmet laws. so rode my hole life  with one.  now i can't ride with out one. nor do i want to.  I ride my atv with one. I just bought a new full face yesterday. The way I see it is  there is nothing out there softer than my head.

I only use FF when it's cold.