Flip up helmet or open face with flip up visor?

[DavidS]

I do half a dozen horse trial scorecard collecting days a year and used to take a trials helmet in a bag for riding the cross country course instead of my Tour X4, which has quite a close chinguard. I did try wearing it to get to local 10 minute ride events but really didn’t feel happy and was getting a face full of dust and grit.

Sadly, after my last event last year my bag fell off the rack, melted on the exhaust ruining a great but irreplaceable cycling jacket.
Unfortunately I didn’t realise the bag had gone until I got home so shot out in the car to try and find it. It was only a couple of miles from home and was thrown into the opposite verge but, amazingly, someone had actually run it over! Said helmet was crushed but why would you drive anything but a tractor over a 14” cube bag?

I now need a replacement helmet for the new season and am looking at a (sorry) cheap flip up helmet so I don’t need to take an open face with me so any thoughts on them in principle and what they are like to ride, round a big field, with it flipped up?
I might stretch to about £130 but it’s difficult to justify spending more.

Max road journey is about 40 minutes of back roads each way and about 15 miles at the event.

The alternative is an open face helmet with a decent size flip up visor. Alternative thoughts on that?
Not sure about the ‘streetfighter’ ones with removal chinguard as they only have a drop down sun visor rather than proper clear one.

[minkyhead]

i really dont like full face helmets but am well aware of the benifits of a chinbar

ive had a couple of nolan hlmets of late and i really like the panaromic view they give ..you cant see the chinbar atall ...good feature is they convert to a jet helmet ot open face with a removable chin bar thats still e marked for the road

may be a answer to your problem ilike mine a lot ... be a bit more that your 130 mark but if you shop around thgere pretty reasonble

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorc ... rod/325522

i have one of these as well a bit posher but if you not bothered about colour they sell pretty cheap ....
i like there versitility and somthing like these sound like thew will do a job for you ride with full face helemet ..clip chin bar off in 5 seconds and then you have a really very deep visored open lid .....

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorc ... rod/483135

[Scott_rider]

I used a Caberg Duke flip up for a couple of years, cheap price at about £100 but did the job and still gets a good safety rating. I changed it for a Schuberth E1, due to the wind noise when I was out for longer days on the bike.

[garyboy]

These days I only ever wear a flip front helmet. Some are rated as legal to ride when Up. But I notice that most flip fronts now seem to click firm when fully Up, so riding is fine and secure.
Try MandP Swansra or Catdiff .. you'll be surprised at their low prices.
LS2 look great, well made work well, flip up front.. £40 or less in a Jan sale last year. It can be noisy depending on your height.
I got a peaked helmet flip front for £75 from ebay... Viper, good but heavy.
I found the Caberg fell apart after a few rides.

[DavidS]

Thank you both.

I have to say I’m leaning away from the flip up due to the bulk when open.

The removable chin bar option is starting to appeal more than a basic open face with visor.
My Nolan road helmet is really good and comfy apart from being pretty noisy but I could live with that just for horse trial duty.
That one has a proper clear visor as well, not just a flip down sun visor.

J&S aren’t far from me so I’ll wander over for a look.

[chipy]

I have one of these.
https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorc ... rod/592084
Brought it last summer and and i am well impressed so much so that i have not worn mys hark evoline since.

The plain colours are quite a bit cheaper.

[DavidS]

These days I only ever wear a flip front helmet. Some are rated as legal to ride when Up. But I notice that most flip fronts now seem to click firm when fully Up, so riding is fine and secure.
Try MandP Swansra or Catdiff .. you'll be surprised at their low prices.
LS2 look great, well made work well, flip up front.. £40 or less in a Jan sale last year. It can be noisy depending on your height.
I got a peaked helmet flip front for £75 from ebay... Viper, good but heavy.
I found the Caberg fell apart after a few rides.

Thanks.
It is only for use on the 690 (with no screen) and would only be flipped up at the horse trials so at probably max 30mph. I did try a couple on last year but they did feel a bit top heavy, which is the element that concerns me.

I’ll look at the M&P website - already viewed JS, Sportsbike Shop and Helmet City but really need to try before I buy. Popping over to JS tomorrow after a tip run for some preliminary trying on and sizing. I am an S in Arai, Shoei and Nolan.

Interesting about the Caberg, I thought they would be better than that.

[Richard Simpson Mark II]

The more fiddly features there are on a helmet, the heavier and more fragile it is.

Definitely a case for try before you buy. I did buy my Arai on-line, but only because there was no stockist near me and I'd had the exact model before so knew what to expect and which size to get.

[garyboy]

These days I only ever wear a flip front helmet. Some are rated as legal to ride when Up. But I notice that most flip fronts now seem to click firm when fully Up, so riding is fine and secure.
Try MandP Swansra or Catdiff .. you'll be surprised at their low prices.
LS2 look great, well made work well, flip up front.. £40 or less in a Jan sale last year. It can be noisy depending on your height.
I got a peaked helmet flip front for £75 from ebay... Viper, good but heavy.
I found the Caberg fell apart after a few rides.

Thanks.
It is only for use on the 690 (with no screen) and would only be flipped up at the horse trials so at probably max 30mph. I did try a couple on last year but they did feel a bit top heavy, which is the element that concerns me.

I’ll look at the M&P website - already viewed JS, Sportsbike Shop and Helmet City but really need to try before I buy. Popping over to JS tomorrow after a tip run for some preliminary trying on and sizing. I am an S in Arai, Shoei and Nolan.

Interesting about the Caberg, I thought they would be better than that.

Yes, I got the Caberg Duke from Helmet City in Bristol. I think I only used it abut 6 times and things started happening straight away. The visor, then the flip mechanism.. wouldn't shut. I phoned Matt at helmet City, and he said to send it back, but I never did ... there's a lot of things I don't do these days.
It cast £110 , I think, and my previous Caberg was good. I told Matt I thought it was a cheap copy. The mechanism for securing the chin bit actual fell apart when I was in llandovery.

[garyboy]

20230121_195440 (2) by gary boy, on Flickr

I put my crap helmets at the back ... the Caberge was first in that line.
Front is my LS2 and Viper .... cheap but cheerful ... and actually work.