Unpopular take: my kid's $120 helmet beats my 15 year old one all day
I swapped to a full face after eating dirt on a rocky trail near Moab in April and the difference in protection around my jaw is not even close, so why do so many riders still rock open face buckets on techy stuff?
That Moab crash changed how you ride, and honestly the open face thing is probably habit more than logic. Guys have been riding those buckets forever so it just feels normal, plus full face helmets get hot and people think they can't hear anything. But you can't grow your jaw back, so I'd take sweaty over wired shut any day.
Man, that line about not growing your jaw back hits hard. I ate it on a dirt bike years ago and my chin bar was ground down to nothing, still have the helmet hanging in the garage as a reminder. The heat thing is real but you dump water on your head at the next stop and you're fine, it's not like you're wearing it in a sauna all day. Same with hearing, yeah it's muffled but you can still hear your bike and other riders fine, it's not like you're deaf. And the guys I know who went down hard on their face, that's a forever thing, plates and screws and soft food for months. Sweaty is a way better trade than that, no question.