Don't laugh - I'm currently wearing an AGV Blade helmet on my Yamaha XT's. I much prefer open faced helmets. Full faced helmets are uncomfortable and closed in (confined). I also like an open face helmet because it allows wider vision.

Here's a AVG Blade: Agv Blade Helmet | eBay

I know I'm taking a small risk and that these things don't protect the face as well as a full face helmet does.

I'm a retired (worn out) bike cop (50 years old). In the early 1980's I used to wear a Bell open face helmet and enjoyed wearing it on patrol. I always felt it allowed me to interact with joe public better, gave me wider vision and was comfy to wear all day. The only downside was the wind noise.

I'm prepared to put up with increased wind noise. I'm not a speed freak in any case (hence my sedate choice of bikes now).

Fast forward to 1986 and I was wearing a Bell full faced helmet which I hated wearing. By the 1990's I had moved onto other things in the job but my old mates in traffic were starting to wear odd hybrids - flip top helmets.

I have always trusted Italian AVG helmets. My first helmet in 1979 was a AVG X3000 Valenza which I wore on my Yamaha AP50 and MZ Simson S50/B1 (bet none of you know about that little gem).

I bought the AVG Blade a couple of years ago from getgeared (and excellent online supplier of most things bike). The AVG Blade is apparently designed for scooters but it looks okay on a big trail bike too (in my opinion).

I'm in need of another OPEN FACE helmet as my partner has finally agreed to go pillion. Like me she hates wearing full faced helmets.

I do possess a full-faced helmet (Shoei X-Spirit) which cost me £400 but this is only used when I'm riding the Honda XBR500. My mates said I looked ridiculous wearing the AVG Blade on it. My Mrs refuses to wear it on any bike.

The AVG Blade is still available but it's gone up in price quite considerably - £109 now. I only paid £60 for mine which at the time seemed a great bargain. Wonder why it's gone up so much in such a short time?

Nearly all the AVG Blade alternatives are the old basic "pudding basin Jet" style helmet, a version of which is sold by most helmet makers. I don't think they look good on a big trail bike being ridden on the roads.

I am happy spending up to £150 but it must be a bargain buy.

I suppose if I can't find another more modern looking "funky" alternative, I will have to simply bite the bullet and procure another AVG Blade for my Mrs.

Any thoughts would be welcomed.
Thanking you in anticipation.....

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Triumph Bonneville 800 (2004), Yamaha XT600E (1999), Honda XBR500 (1986).

Have a look at the Nolan 43 Trilogy, best of both worlds, just get rid of the chin piece !!!
Cheers
paul

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For what it's worth; my wife and I tried ALL the different types of helmets and we both swear by open face helmets. Although we are 20 years younger than you, and the safety issue is not an issue for us for various reasons, there's nothing in the world that would ever make us wear anything else anymore than an open face helmet.

We both have LS2 helmets (cheap, around 120€) and I just survived a crash with mine here in Mongolia, no problems whatsoever - the helmet has a strange shape now though...

I don't think they will survive this trip, but for the next trip, I'll buy just the same one again...

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To this I would simply that that once you have seen the bloody aftermath of a bike crash where the biker had lost his entire lower jaw, crushed beyond recognition ... you'll never consider an open face helmet ever again.
Yes, the poor fellow was wearing an open face helmet...

You can't get enough protection when it comes to bike impacts. I bear the scars and damage of a stupid decision I took when I was young.

Quality equipment does save damage and lives.

It's up to each of us to choose our own gear and accept the consequences.

Fully agree.
I will never ride with open face helmet. Recently my Tour-X saved my head and other gear the rest of me in Indonesia when I had collision with a truck (well crushed my wrist which I am healing now in Germany).
Open face could be more comfortable when it is hot, but for me "It´s better sweat than bleed".

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If I read the OP rightly guys, he asked for open faced helmet suggestions, as opposed to open face vs full face opinions. He stated clearly in the OP that he already has a full face and specifically asked for ideas for a new open face. Even the title of his post is called "Open Face Helmet Options" That being the case, lets assume he is not asking for others opinions on whether he should get a full face or an open face.

As a former bike cop, long time rider and long time open face wearer (also from his well considered background OP), I would suggest he has earned the right to make his own informed choice. It just seems to me ridiculously patronising to be lecturing a 50 year old former motorcycle cop for choosing an open faced helmet ... especially when he has spent several paragraphs saying he knows they are riskier but is comfortable with that.

Guys nobody rides a motorcycle and doesn't get that an open face helmet is not riskier than a full face. We all get that. Similarly, no-one rides a motorcycle and thinks its as safe as driving a car. We all get that too. Yet we are comfortable taking that risk of riding a motorcycle. And many of us are comfortable with the risk of an open faced helmet. So let it go.

So in answer to the OP's actual question ...

I would look at:

Arai CTF


HJC IS Multi 7 in 1


I have been riding for years with the Nolan N41, which was light, simple, inexpensive and kept the wind and rain off my face when I needed it, but I believe they have stopped making them now


There have been a few other interesting ones I have seen pop up on this forum in recent years, but cant find them at the moment via the search function. If I find them, I will add them to the thread.

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Morning Neil,

I use a Nolan N43 as my eeryday helmet.

This is my second one, the first saved me when I was involed in a hit n run accident, which wrote off my bike and I was more than happy to repeat buy.

I love the improved visibility when compaired with my Shoei Raid 2 and my BMW Enduro helmets.

The N43 has a retractable sun visor and flip up clear visor.

The only thing I don't like is the misting up of the visor in the cold, and this is the reason I use my Shoei (with pin lock) in Winter.

Regards

Reggie

+1 for Nolan N43 me and the hubby have them can be a bit noisy but a decent pair of ear plugs sorts that out. Is really like the flexibility of being able to have it as a full face or open faced helmet.

Sent from my MB525 using Tapatalk

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If anyone is after a Nolan N43 I have a silver medium sized one here going spare.I realise it's a second hand helmet but I wore it three times before deciding I didn't like open faced lids after all,it is like brand new.£40 plus postage of collection from near Nottingham.

Sorry,I have just realised that mine is an N41 not an N43,apologies.

I have only once owned a full face and that was for racing (30 years ago) and legally required.
Nolan 41, LS2, and now I live inside a Spada RP388 Helmet. And after all these years I still have a face.
I get wound up by the "full face is safest" brigade. Scare tactics are for children.
Parachute jumpers don't use them. Learn to slide and roll.

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Second star on the right.
Then straight on till morning.

Scare tactics?
Depends on your personal experience. I witnessed (post event) a Gold Wing rider (open face helmet) hit in the face by a big piece of Tire debris on freeway at 75 mph. Knocked him clean off his bike, he was run over by following traffic. Dead. Sad. Eye witness confirmed. Would a full face saved him? Dunno? Maybe.

i've been hit by road crap several times over many decades (300K miles) of riding. Usually in the leg, chest but sometimes in the head. Like the huge (6 ft. wing span) Owl that hit me at night on the Interstate at 75 mph. Full face helmet saved me that time.

I like my Shoei flip up helmet. The Flip Up design is good in town and slow riding and hot weather and riding off road. Good for communication when stopped, nice not having to remove helmet. (like open face)

Once underway, just lower/lock the chin bar and you've got a full face with a quality shield protecting you. I like it! I've had rocks and other serious debris hit my shield at high speeds. Glad I had the shield there! How about you?

Lots of bad things can happen in a crash, this learned during 8 years racing AMA Enduro series. Siding and rolling don't always get it (but that IS good advice!)

I wish I had a picture of the woman I met who hit the road face first wearing Harley style "Beanie" Nazi type helmet. After 6 plastic surgeries over 8 years she still had NO CHIN and one side of her face ... was sort of ... gone. Hard to look at her. A full face helmet would have totally saved her.

All that said, it's always a personal choice. Risk management is up to individual.
Motorcycle riding is dangerous no matter what gear we wear.
Stay safe out there.

PS: If I wanted to scare you I'd tell you details about the dead riders I've come across at accidents and what that was like!

I could well believe the Wing rider episode. You do have unbelievable amounts of tyre debris strewn all over the interstates in the US - complete treads in one piece, hundreds of smaller bits scattered over a mile or so, wire bird nests in the lanes etc.

I came to the conclusion that the truck speed limit wasn't the posted one but whatever the tyres could take without exploding. We got hit by tyre debris several times - fortunately not large lumps but enough for us to become very wary when we heard a flap flap flap noise on a nearby truck.

I tried to find a large piece in a location where I could stop for a photograph but this is the best I could do on the St Louis ring road:

A member of my family was killed when he face planted at moderate speed with an open face....pillion didn't even get a graze.

Carry on with your open face....just natural selection in action.

I am very sorry to hear your relative died in a road accident it is sad, although wearing open or full face may not have made any difference in the impact.

I did about 15 years as a cop and had attended several Fatal RTA's (road traffic accidents) some involving motorcycles. I have seen dead casualties wearing full face helmets some with head trauma or broken necks but often with internal injuries or limbs lost. So fatal stuff happens - Fatal's are usually as a result of very rapid deceleration ie you hit something solid and you stop but your inside or some bits of your outside bits don't - so the full face helmet is just a small part of the safety system, it is however far from the cure to severe injury or death in an accident.

I accept an open face offers less face protection than full face when sliding down the road it's risk the wearer has to take on board for themselves, but hey ho !

The lighter any helmet the better for your neck and head. Less mass means less changes in speed for your neck to have to deal with in an accident.

I don't give a monkey if people wear a full face helmet so what's it matter to anyone what other people choose to wear whether it be open face helmet, leather, goretex whatever - it is all a personal choice.

One thing that has been evidenced is that the safer people feel (ie racer leathers, full face lids - abs brakes - traction control and the like) then they tend to ride faster, maybe take bigger risks - so maybe the opposite occurs when your less well protected ie self preservation kicks in a bit more when your less well protected. I don't know the answer but it's worth a thought.

I chose an open face over full face helmet, and have done for the last 43 years. its just a choice thing it really should not matter to anyone else. Currently use a caberg freeride carbon, weight 750 grm, very comfy, very light, very quite.


As for Natural selection - well it's really not worth an answer - Jake.

What about the Shark Evoline 3?

Gives good protection when needed but also gives open face in stuffy situations. Also a good price/quality compromise.