What Kind Of Helmet Do You Prefer? – Question of the Day
And how has your preference changed over time?
In our last Question of the Day, we asked people if they wore All The Gear All The Time, and got a wide range of responses, with most of them mentioning helmets.
A helmet is probably the most intimate piece of riding equipment you can wear, and it was interesting seeing a couple of readers describing an evolution in their helmet preferences. A couple of replies mentioned starting with open-faced helmets before adopting a full-faced one as they grew older and more experienced, and as helmet technology evolved.
I’ve only ever worn full-faced helmets for riding, but I had a similar, but non-motorcycle related helmet experience recently. I decided to pick up hockey again – ball hockey specifically, as I can’t skate worth a lick – after not having played in well over a decade. Naturally this meant getting fresh gear.
When I was a kid, playing with my friends on the street, I never wore a helmet. We were more worried about looking out for cars. Playing on actual rinks in a more competitive league in college, I wore a helmet with a visor, just like the pros do. Now, as a 45-year-old with a toddler cheering me on from rinkside, I opted for a full face cage. She already looks at me funny when I get a haircut, so let’s try to spare her the distress of seeing her dad with a broken nose or missing teeth. It took some time getting used to seeing out of a cage, just like it did when first using a visor that kept fogging up, but I eventually adapted.
Looking at the replies to the last QotD, it sounds like a lot of you had a similar process with motorcycle helmets. So, for the Question of the Day, I ask: what kind of helmet do you prefer, and how has your preference changed over time?
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Dennis has been a part of the Motorcycle.com team since 2008, and through his tenure, has developed a firm grasp of industry trends, and a solid sense of what's to come. A bloodhound when it comes to tracking information on new motorcycles, if there's a new model on the horizon, you'll probably hear about it from him first.
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A few years ago, I switched from a full-face (Shoei, HJC) to a flip-over modular (Shark, LS2). They are way more practical but perform as a full-face when needed. Even HJC has now come out with a model (the i100) but it isn't as cleanly styled as the Europeans.
I've been into modular for almost 10 years now and I dig my Schuberth E1 that was a crash replacement of same last spring. Looking for a 2nd one but Schuberth has stopped dealing them direct as they now have the E2.