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Points worth remembering:
When someone describes how their chinbar hit the deck and saved their face, remember that the chinbar protrudes significantly further than your chin (unless you're Desperate Dan).
I've just put on my open face helmet and tried to bang my chin on the desk. If I open my mouth wide, I can just touch my chin on the desk with the edges of the helmet hard down against the surface. Older designs probably create greater exposure.
A full face helmet is significantly heavier than an open face, so it may hit the road in a situation when your natural instinct to hold your head up would have succeeded with the open face.
The extra weight of the full face helmet could, in some circumstances, be the last straw that breaks the riders neck.
On a statistical sample of one serious crash, in which I was knocked uncoscious and hit the bonnet of a car, a grass bank and the road (in that order), I had several marks on my open helmet but none on my face.
I also favour the awareness of my immediate environment (especially my bike) which the open face helmet offers.
I must admit to being biased from an early experience with a full face helmet in the 70's. I sneezed violently while riding, causing an alarming loss of visibility! Sneezing in an open face helmet allows me to get back at the drivers who wash their windscreens when I'm behind them.
Pete.
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Pete.
Do as you will, but harm none.
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