Whether you are new to mountain biking or have been riding for years, you probably have wondered at some point whether you are wearing the right helmet for the riding you do. Full face helmets offer excellent protection and peace of mind to riders looking to push their limits, but are also heavier and less breathable than open face helmets. Read on to find out whether or not you should be wearing a full face helmet while riding.
Related: Best Mountain Bike Helmets of the Year
Wearing a full face helmet
Pros
- Excellent protection
- Confidence-inspiring
- Added peace of mind
- Ability to push the limits
Cons
- Heavier
- Overheat easier
Protection
Protection – its the most important element of any mountain bike helmet you will wear. And its top of mind for helmet manufacturers in the design of helmets – especially full face helmets.
Chin bar
The biggest difference between full face helmets and open face or half shell helmets is the chin bar, the part of the full face helmet that wraps around in front of your lower face and jaw area. This piece of the full face helmet protects your face in case that’s the point of impact in a crash.
Other protective features
Other protective features on a full face helmet vary by model, but they generally come well spec’d with features like MIPS (multi-directional impact protection system), which reduces rotational forces caused by angled impacts to your head and helps to reduce concussions.
Full face helmets are often built to be downhill certified, meeting the ASTM F1952 standard. This means they are certified to withstand harder impacts, and built with more robust foam and protection than helmets not meeting this standard.
Comfort
Modern full face helmets are built with comfort in mind, much more than the simpler full face helmet designs of the past.
Full face helmets of today are well-ventilated, and built with keeping you cool in mind. With that being said, they are still built more robustly than their open-faced counterparts, and this makes full face helmets heavier and less breathable by comparison.
If you’re going to be doing riding that involves a lot of pedaling, like cross country and trail riding, the extra weight and reduced ventilation when compared to a half shell helmet will be more noticeable.
You will probably get hotter while doing this type of riding, and the weight of a full face helmet is more likely to prematurely tire you out.
Use cases
Downhill riding
The best use case for full face helmets is downhill mountain biking. Downhill riding involves letting gravity mostly do the work for you, with little pedaling involved. Since you won’t be exerting yourself as much doing downhill riding, the extra weight from a full face helmet won’t tire you out as much.
The extra speed when riding downhill also makes the reduced ventilation in full face helmets (compared to a half shell helmet) much less of an issue, since your speed will provide airflow to keep you feeling cool.
Bike park and features
If you do most of your mountain biking at a bike park, where you are transported to the top of the trails on either a lift or a shuttle service, that means you won’t be pedaling up these trails and tiring yourself out as much, and you will have the advantage of speed and the wind it creates to keep you feeling cool.
Many bike parks have large features including jumps and drops that you need to hit with high speed to land properly. These features send riders soaring, and a fall off one of these features can result in uncontrolled landings and big impacts.
For features like these, riders will usually want to err on the side of wearing more protection, including a full face helmet, and many bike parks will actually require it for liability purposes.
On top of actually being better protected, just knowing that you are better protected can have a positive impact on your riding and allow you to let it rip and ride a little harder. It allows you to push your limits beyond what you would if you were to only wear an open face helmet.
Trail riding
Full face helmets can also be used for trail riding, and you do see more and more of them at local trail systems. We feel there are two reasons for this:
1) Full face helmets have gotten much lighter and better-ventilated over the years and 2) the types of trail riding mountain bikers are doing now entails more than just basic cross country riding, with more and more technical trails popping up, including steep, gnarly descents, rough terrain like rocks and roots, and features including jump lines.
With the growth in popularity in the sport of mountain biking, many local trail systems are being upgraded and some even receive funding for machine built trails and features (like jumps) from local governments and municipalities, making trail riding more intense and well-suited to full face helmets than it used to be.
Wearing an open face helmet
Pros
- Good head protection
- Lightweight
- Breathable
- Keeps you cool compared to full face helmets
Cons
- Not as protective as full face helmet, particularly in the face area
Protection
While full face helmets are clearly more protective, open face helmets still do a good job at protecting against head injuries.
A quality open face helmet will still do a great job at protecting in the case of impacts to your head and at preventing head injuries. The biggest difference compared to a full face helmet is the amount of coverage (i.e. your face is not covered by an open face helmet), not the level of protection covered areas have.
Many open face helmets include protective features like MIPS, and you can be sure these helmets are still thoroughly tested to ensure they meet safety standards.
Open face helmets can even have downhill certification (ASTM F1952 standard), but keep in mind this certification doesn’t mean your face will be protected if that is the point of impact.
Comfort
A major benefit of an open face helmet over full face helmets is the level of comfort they provide. Having your face unobstructed to allow for free airflow is a major benefit if you ride a lot of cross country, or incorporate long climbs on your regular rides.
Open face helmets are also superior in allowing you to go for longer rides on hot days while still staying relatively comfortable and cool. Those same rides may get a little too hot for riders in full face helmets.
No chin bar and otherwise lighter construction on half shell helmets also means you are lugging around less weight on your head when you wear one compared to a full face helmet.
Use cases
Trail riding
Open face helmets are great for all-around trail riding. This can include climbs, descents and cross country.
If you ride relatively smooth trail systems, or even bumpier trails that you are familiar with and confident on, your risk of falling face first is lower. Trail riding is usually done at lower speeds than downhill mountain biking, and the lower speeds will usually allow you more of an opportunity to catch yourself in case of a fall and prevent face first impacts.
Moderate downhill
When we say moderate downhill, we mean fast, but not too fast. You can get away with an open face helmet and be relatively safe riding downhill, but its important that you ride within your own limits if doing so. Speed alone, on trails that you are otherwise comfortable on, is not necessarily a reason to put on a full face helmet.
Speed combined with pushing past the limits of your comfort zone, however, is when you know its probably time to consider a full face helmet.
Moderate features
Similar to downhill riding, you can do some features with only a half shell helmet. Small or moderate sized jumps and drops should be okay to do. Many people get into jumping their mountain bike with only an open face helmet on.
With that being said, once you get into hitting larger jumps, ones that launch you high into the air, where a mistake can mean a hard, uncontrolled crash, a full face helmet may be advisable.
If you are pushing your limits on jumps, and trying to hit new, riskier features, wearing a full face helmet will allow you to have confidence to know you will be okay if you don’t land perfectly. Trying to push your limits while wearing an open face helmet may have you second guessing whether you should really be trying this, and whether or not you will be well protected in case you make a mistake.
Helmets with removable chin bar
If you really can’t decide whether a full face or open face helmet is right for you, there is a third option: helmets with a removable chin bar.
There are several of these “hybrid” helmet models on the market, that aim to give the riders the best of both worlds. Attach the chin bar if you are going to be pushing the limits on speed and airtime, and remove it for more laid back rides, or rides involving more climbs.
You can even add and remove the chin bar mid ride if you want the extra peace of mind to hit a specific feature or gnarly section of trail.
Things to look for when buying a full face helmet
Protection
If you’re looking to buy a full face helmet, keep in mind you want something with solid protection first and foremost. As we have already covered, an open face helmet will be lighter and more breathable, but a full face helmet is something you can wear to push your limits on your mountain bike. Ideally, any full face helmet you buy will be downhill certified and meet the ASTM F1952 standard.
Fit and comfort
You will also want to make sure that any full face helmet you are considering buying is a good fit for your head. Ideally, you will be able to try the helmet on, but if you’re not able to do so, a good work around is to research the fit of your current helmet and compare it to any prospective full face helmets you are considering buying.
Beyond the fit, you will also want to ensure the helmet is comfortable. Check for how well ventilated a helmet is, in addition to how much it weighs relative to your current helmet and other prospective options.
Style
And lastly, make sure the style of the full face helmet you buy matches your taste. As many avid riders will tell you, looking cool is half the battle!
Frequently asked questions
No, a full face helmet is not necessary for mountain biking. Many riders wear only an open face helmet when they ride.
If you want to do lots of downhill mountain biking, if you want to ride at bike parks, hit large jumps and drops and push yourself to the limit, a full face helmet is something you should consider buying.
Yes, you can use a regular bike helmet for mountain biking. However, it’s important to understand that while a regular bike helmet offers adequate protection on roads and urban trails, they may not provide the same level of safety when riding in more technical terrain.
A mountain biking helmet is specially designed for more challenging conditions like rough terrain and quick descents. Mountain biking helmets provide better head coverage than traditional road bike helmets, particularly in the back and on the sides of the head. Your face will also be protected if you opt for a full face helmet.
The short answer is it depends.
It depends on your style of riding, the types of trails, terrain and features you currently ride, and also that you aspire to ride.
If you plan on hitting high speeds and getting big air on your MTB, a full face helmet likely fits those purposes better. Alternatively, you will be better off with an open face helmet if most of your riding is mellower trails and cross country riding.
Conclusion
If you’re in the market for a new MTB helmet, keep in mind what type of riding you do most often and look for a helmet that is best suited for those conditions.
A full face helmet is better for the high speeds of downhill riding, gnarly terrain and big jumps and drops, whereas a half shell will be preferable for cross country riding and mellower terrain and features, while also doing a better job at keeping you cool.
At the end of the day, whether you go with a full face helmet or not will depend on your own comfort level and preference, but hopefully you now have a better understanding of whether or not you need one.