I have one of each, but very much prefer using the Airoh Rock open face helmet. At 700 grams its about half the weight of a full face or flip.

But the main advantage which no-one has mentioned yet is your ability to interact with locals. You pull up in a full face helmet to some 3rd world hillbilly and you look like an evil beast from outer space. Pull up in a open face helmet when everyone can see your face, and its a completely different reaction.

If you are walking down the street with your mother and a bike pulls up next you both with the rider in a full face helmet and iridium visor starts to ask a favour, its a different ballgame from the same guy riding up with an open face helmet and a smile.

Having done a lot of touring with both, I find it infinately easier to enlist the help and get the trust of locals with an open face helmet on. Make no mistake, you still get help with a full face, but it doesnt even begin to compare with how the intereaction goes with an open face.

It might not be safer, but the compromise is safety vs interaction with the locals,. You can always go round the world in a 4WD airconditioned landcruiser with a roll cage if you want to err on the side of safety in that debate.

Next time you watch Mondo Enduro or Terra Circa, imagine how impersonal it would have all been if they all had full face helmets instead of open helmets. It would just be a bunch of 7 faceless bikers rather than Austin, Gerald, Charlie, etc etc.

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