I've been seeing more trail riders with FF helmets these days. I had a question Google couldn't answer...is wearing a FF without a neck brace a concern due to the extra leverage of that chin bar and the fact it can hook on stuff and torque your neck around vs. a half-shell?
If you have fall where the chin bar actually comes into play (i.e. impact on the chin) - I would think that any downside from torquing your neck around would be more than offset by the benefit of not smashing your chin directly on the ground.
Years ago when I broke my nose, jaw and orbital bone all in the same crash, I would’ve been happy with just a full face.
Downhill ski racers got rid of their flimsy chin bars for that reason I hear. But they go faster than most riders and slide a lot too. Never seemed to be an issue for motocross riders even before neck braces. It’s a good point though. I think helmets should rounded as opposed to angular so they will slide better and less likely to catch something. I’ve had small branches snag a vent before even at slow speeds it can be painful.
Been rocking a FF for my riding for over 5yrs. Every crash I,m grateful it,s there. As for down hill ski racers , can,t compare falling on a sheet of ice . And falling down some janky goat trail on the side of a mountain. They probably have that type of jaw piece so they don,t plow into the snow and ice when sliding.
Posted by: DemonMike
Been rocking a FF for my riding for over 5yrs. Every crash I,m grateful it,s there. As for down hill ski racers , can,t compare falling on a sheet of ice . And falling down some janky goat trail on the side of a mountain. They probably have that type of jaw piece so they don,t plow into the snow and ice when sliding.
Actual downhill racers do not use chin bars. Slalom skiers do to protect their face and teeth from hitting gates.
I think they moved away from full faces on the speed events in alpine skiing because they fall on (relatively) smooth surfaces at very high speeds in a slide, and the chin bars would sometimes hook-up/drag causing worse trauma. Facial injuries seem pretty rare in ski racing so they must have determined it wasn't worth having them (outside of aforementioned chin bar for slalom gate bashing).
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