I've kept my opinion on helmets with a removable chin piece off the public forums for a while but this thread makes me think it's time to talk about it from a race organiser's perspective.
I hate the fucking things, they shouldn't be allowed to be manufactured let alone sold as something that protects your grill. I won't let people race a downhill event using one, no way. I've seen a few dudes go tits up and those things are piles of shit in a good impact (as we're seeing here with Andy). Personally, I'd never go near one mainly because they look ridiculous and the idea of staying cool on a climb by removing a piece? Lame!
On the flipside though, if we were all serious about helmets and protecting ourselves and maybe in my case especially; wearing something that looks good then there'd be no open face helmets at all and a solid fullface would be the only option. Roadies would wear them, XC guys would wear them, E bikers would wear them.
You only need a helmet when you need a helmet. Don't sell yourself short by getting some flimsy piece of shit junk. Buy a decent fullface and live to tell the tale.
Thanks mate, a good perspective from someone concerned for safety of others as an event organiser.
You've said basically what I've been trying to all along but couldn't word it how I wanted to.
This is the first big injury I've had on a bike. I grew up riding and racing bmx. I used to ride from home to castle Hill bmx track (over an hour ride), fly out the starting gate, clear every single jump with ease, manual for days and ride home after. I used to just wear a motocross helmet back then and funnily enough never had a decent crash.
I'm older now (39), but still feel comfortable on a bike. Being married and having responsibilities has made me a lot more cautious of my riding. Having this crash hit home that it can happen at any time, no matter how confident you are. I literally came off riding down a trail not actually doing anything technical or hard, just clipped a rock I didn't see because I didn't scout the trail before hand which I always like to do.
I guess the point I'm trying to raise is, I hadn't ridden this section of trail before, I heard it had a couple of nice jumps in the run and with the chin bar on that day I felt like I was up for anything. I was just too confident and didn't do a once over of the trail to see anything to note. Once i went OTB the chin bar just broke and ripped open my face. I honestly believe if i was wearing my tld d3 I would have been fine, probably still sore but I think i mentioned outside the face I had literally no other injuries or scratches.
I will stand by the same comment you made, I don't think these helmets should be on the market, it's just a compromise in safety and I know if anyone had it happen to them they would be saying the same thing. It also helps that you have seen first hand how poor these are in a situation where a proper full face helmet should have been worn.
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