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Full Face Helmet?

61K views 70 replies 29 participants last post by  john doe 
#1 ·
I've done enough searching to know this is quite the heated topic... All I'd like is a few opinions on whether wearing a full face helmet for regular boarding is acceptable or just plain dumb.

My intent is to have a single good quality bucket that I can wear on both the freeride trails and the slopes. The helmet in question is certified for both mountain biking and snow sports (CPSC and CE). Visibility would be the same as any other helmet/goggle combination except for the chin guard. I am not one to worry much about appearance, let's just say that my boarding attire is "unconventional."

This question just seems a little out there, and I want to know if there are any major reasons to avoid it. It surprised me that only one company was making full face helmets specifically for the snow, and only racers used them. I'm not the guy running mach down double blacks all day dressed like a stormtrooper, but I would like to avoid any major brain damage past what I get from being an engineering student. :p

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
completely dumb an unnecessary. when you wear a helmet like that you are doing a very linear activity, and snowboarding is not a linear activity, you are all over the place, and need as much vision as possible. Also, snowboarding is an activity requiring small, quick, precise movements. ANd having that big weight on your head can throw that off. Nobody uses them because it is unncessary. A regular helmet would suffice if that what you want to be safe. I ride some pretty tight, wooded grown in shit, and have never even thought about needing a full face helmet (or regular helmet for that matter:cheeky4:)
 
#7 ·
I wear a full face helmet in the winter when i ride a motorcycle, but I have never considered one for snowboarding.

The important part is that it will protect your chin/jaw area from impact, but the extra protection comes at the expense of noticeably more weight and not having quite as much freedom to move his head around.

I assume you're going to get a dirt-bike style helmet that is made to accommodate goggles
 
#9 · (Edited)
That's kinda what I figured. Thanks for the ideas.

I looked at the Ruroc.. It's a very cool design. The main turn off is that it won't work for biking and is too expensive for me to justify purely for snow right now. Making a helmet warmer isn't too hard, but keeping cool in triple-digit temperatures is. Unfortunately my snow exposure amounts to a week or two per year if I'm lucky.

[edit] Didn't notice the other couple of replies.

The specific helmet I was looking at is a T.H.E. T2 Carbon. It is rated for both mountain biking and snowboarding/skiing, and yes it is designed with goggles in mind. That's a good point about hits to the face being rare. Still, there's a fair bit of confidence in having the extra protection.

It wouldn't be a question at all if I were racing (go for the safety). It's interesting to see the different ideas, especially coming from an aggressive mountain biking background.
 
#13 ·
A spine protector does make falls to your back a non-issue, but if I am just taking it easy then I leave it in the room
 
#15 ·
This train of thought is where my question came from. The hill doesn't care if you eat it at 30mph on a bike or 30mph on a snowboard. I'm not clear on why FR bikers won't wear anything but a full face, but only a few snowboarders consider it. :dunno:

I guess it could kill the mood, like wearing too much gear to longboard. Something about the freedom...

That being said, I picked a Bern Brentwood for the time being, and am quite happy with the choice. I'm more likely to ride a snowboard hard than the FR trails. Next summer I'll look into the full face if I'm interested in hitting bigger stuff on the bike.
 
#16 ·
I don't know, I've been snowboarding for a long time, have been crashing for a long time, and the amount of crashes where my face (not head) was an impact zone was like 1%.

Goggles actually work to protect your face by creating a small buffer zone, so the only area you really have to worry about is your chin. I have a brim on my Bern Watts too which helps too.

All in all snowboarding is a dangerous sport and you just have to accept that no matter what measures you take you still run the risk of hurting yourself. I wear a helmet but anything else I find to be excessive.
 
#18 ·
The only thing a full face helmet does is protect your chin area from scratches and possibly breaks. I have been riding for eight years. I have never myself, or anyone I know or saw, got injured or even had impact around the jaw. A mouth guard is a better protection investment that a full face helmet. I use it once in a while when doing sketchy jibs. Especially after my friend pulled the bar up into my teeth one time.
 
#19 ·
Your main face issue's are going to be from your knee connecting with you chin - Which a full face helmet won't help with. Or from low tree branches, which, apart from racing, is the only understandable reason you may wear one.

Think about those hot days when you've got a full face on, that ventilation isn't going to do shit. After you've had the helmet a while, then by the end of the day riding you're going to be taking in whiffs of rotten cheese.
 
#27 ·
whatever Rambo...

I wear a spine protector and a neck brace nowdays...that make me a pussy as well?

after boarding for well over 25 years (I had to make my first board as back then nobody sold them) I've landed hard and fast too often and now have a weak spot in my upper spine.
So its a ski helmet and a neck brace or no more boarding...I'm not prepared to give away my sport but sure ain't ready for a wheelchair

And what I wear is after considerable discussion and analysis with a top neurosurgen who deals with sports trauma and I bet he knows a lot more about sustaining head and spine injuries than most of the armchair experts posting shit like the stuff I read here.

Wear whatever you want and if people don't like it they better learn to live with it...
 
#30 ·
I have Giro Remedy and Crowbars and I can tell you my peripheral vision is limited by the goggle itself and not by the helmet (I only see a tiny bit of the helmet nose trough the goggles). Also, the goggles don't fog up at all with it.

I just wanted to clear some myths some of the guys are spreading about full face helmets.
 
#31 ·
Part of the thrill of snowboarding is the danger! Yes, you may feel more comfortable going faster, but at the cost of reduced peripheral vision, reduced noise, and also you won't have that great feeling of the wind hitting your face! I've never even seen a full face helmet on a snowboarder (apart from someone trying to set a world speed record!).

Now, I'm not saying don't wear a helmet, I wear one for 90% of my riding nowadays and I feel that I can push myself harder, but for god's sake don't overkill it! A full face helmet is only going to protect your jaw, and if you break your jaw get some good photos of it and show it off on facebook, that story would rock and you'd look like a bad ass!
 
#32 ·
The whole reduced vision argument is complete bullshit.. same thing motorcyclists try to say. If I can ride at 130+ mph at Road America with a grid full of other bikes and have enough vision to do so safely, you can certainly do it at 40mph on a snowboard. Now with saying that, I don't wear a fullface but ride with a chick who does. If it makes you feel safer and you're having fun go for it.
 
#38 ·
Don't do it. The reason why you wear full face on a MTN bike is that it is MUCH more likely to land on your head/face. I mean anything that sends you over the handlebars is likely going to be dangerous to your face. As for snowboarding, ESPECIALLY if you are not racing going high speeds down the fall line, you are way more likely to hurt a wrist. Broken wrist and tailbone are the most likely injuries in snowboarding. In skiing it is broken thumb and knee injuries. Head is lower on the list.

The nature of racing is that you don't need to be able to see your board or immediately in front of you as well as you would if you were going slower through the trees or just cruising. When you are going 60 mph, you are looking farther ahead than when you are doing 20.

Don't do it. If you usually ride Mach 10, then at least you won't look totally stupid wearing it. If you are just cruising... you will have to be replaying "Sticks and stones will hurt my bones but words will never hurt me" over and over in your head.
 
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