Keeps bugs out of your mouth and nose. When I was in the Air Force I had a Sargent that used to wear his wife's G-string over his mouth/nose when riding.
Why do you care so much? Some people spend an awful lot of time criticizing other people's fashion choices...it's a bit like a women's gossip magazine in here at times.
When I couldn't afford a full face the bandana and shades was my goto on the hwy. I still keep a bandanna and a pair of old Oakley's with my 3/4 just in case.
They don't want to be accused of being a "real" biker because "real" bikes have bugs between their teeth when they smile. I once got a bee in my mouth while riding with an open faced helmet. Then again, I hit a June Bug at about 80mph wearing a full face helmet and almost got knocked off the seat.
I guess they think it makes them look cool and affords some level of weather and bug protection.
Even a full face helmet isn't enough protection from a stink bug at 50 MPH.
Open the visor to get some air and GAHHHH!!!, close the visor and GAHHHHH!
It's probably more of a fashion choice. Just as much as deciding what type of helmet to wear. But, it does offer some comfort during the commute to work on cooler days. It also helps to keep bugs from hitting you in the face, and filters out some of the nasty exhaust odors from busses and semis.
Fashion or otherwise, If I'm wearing an open face lid, I'll wear one in late spring- evenings especially when the black flies are prevalent, as they can be, like myself, quite dense at times, just ask SWMBO. Summertime I usually have one that's around my neck, kept wet when possible. Not much I can do at this point in life to "look cool", my sons will vouch for that...
I only see this in cooler weather around here. The bucket-helmet faithful wouldn't be caught dead in a FF helmet so this is how they take the edge off when the temperature drops. And I think some think it looks sinister or bad ass. I snicker at them behind my full face shield.
I wear a helmet approximately 1/3 to 1/2 the time I spend on a bike, dont like wearing one but I will if its cold or heavy bug season. The bandanna although it may keep the bugs out of your mouth does nothing for the pain if one does hit you.
I've taken the june bug or yellow jacket to the chest at 75mph and it does hurt but I've never felt like it was going to take me off the bike, dont know what it will feel like if one of hits me in the head, probably knock me off the bike!
When I was a kid, I would have probably thought this meant you played castanets riding down the freeway in celebration of the winter solstice.
I used to wear sweat pants tied around my neck with the leggings flapping around behind me. Now that's style!
i dont care what people wear, ive always worn open face helmets
and anyone ridin in australian summer knows how the sun can burn the crap out of you
i use lots of sunscreen, but im sure these face mask bandanner things must give some protection to your face and lips
from sunburn windburn i dont wear them but lots of australians do
Same situation down here in the So.Cal desert. I have two full face helmets but sometimes
summers get too hot for a full face. I have a 3/4 with a very dark flat face shield for those kind of days. Looks a little old school, but when it is over 100°f. a man has to survive. ...J.D.
My riding bud just bought a Scorpion FF that converts to a 3/4. I think that's much better option than a 3/4 + doo rag...but whatever works.
Around here, I think it's a statement as much as anything else. I'm pretty sure the local HD shop has a big selection of fancy doo rags and face masks.
The HD guys here in California wear those fake, almost a helmet things. They are not legal (DOT or better is required here), but those guys just cannot stand to be told what to wear. I guess only they know how much they have to protect up there ;-! ...J.D.
I like to wear them just before I hold up a liquor store or a bank. You don't have to show an i.d. or anything! And bonus... it muffles your voice somewhat. The downside? Paisley is soyesterday!
Paisley is out!?!?! Well, that explains a few things...
I do not wear doo-rags or bandanas. I do have a shemagh I wear around my neck in cooler times but I screw the knot up so I don't wear it as often as I would like.
I wear my full face almost exclusively nowadays, but it is very muggy here in Alabama in the summer. I have a 3/4 I would like to wear more often but the bugs here are deadly. Maybe a scarf of some sort would be the answer for me? But I believe it would make breathing just as difficult as having the full face on.
I was living in Germany as an Army contractor when I learned to ride (in the mid-90's). Scarves on motorcyclists were actually very common there. When you entered the pub you could tell who was a motorcyclists by the weather worn scarf. Even the baddest bikers wore them. But I never did figure out how to keep them on...
I don't know, I don't get it but to each his own. I know my full face has been hit so many times by rocks and huge bugs I though it was going to crack the visor. I can't imagine wearing an open face and taking a rock to the face at 80mph. OUCH.
I have been wearing a bandana over my mouth and nose with a full face helmet for over 35 years so I don't think it's a "fad".
Keeps from breathing the dirty air and helps on noise and with cold air in the winter too. Side benefit is for a sneeze or runny nose.
I actually use a scarf folded into a triangle.
If it makes me look cool or tough - that's great - I can use all the help I can get...
Jeez. I am really old. Bandana as a fashion statement?
Starting in the early 60s, riding a lowly 125 50 mph to the lake and back, I always thought my chapped lips, dry throat, bugs in my mouth were just the wounds of being cool.
A few of the older WW11 guys riding to and froe wore big bandanas, like cowboys on a cattle drive, when they passed us at 70.
Meeting a couple at the lake and wanting to be as cool as they were I ask where I could get the over sized hanky and why they wore them. I could not possibly be more shocked when the answer was "any commissary or dry goods and it kept bugs from hurting, dust from entering and kept your lips from looking like a desert tracker.
Now, 60 years later, under a FF helmet I still sport an over sized bandana or neck tube or a balaclava when riding long distance. I gave up on fashion statements when Prince ruined a great Kwak in Purple Rain. I just can't fathom the love of dirt, exhaust, drying wind that some will endure in order to avoid looking douchy.
Jeez. I am really old. Bandana as a fashion statement?
Starting in the early 60s, riding a lowly 125 50 mph to the lake and back, I always thought my chapped lips, dry throat, bugs in my mouth were just the wounds of being cool.
A few of the older WW11 guys riding to and froe wore big bandanas, like cowboys on a cattle drive, when they passed us at 70.
Meeting a couple at the lake and wanting to be as cool as they were I ask where I could get the over sized hanky and why they wore them. I could not possibly be more shocked when the answer was "any commissary or dry goods and it kept bugs from hurting, dust from entering and kept your lips from looking like a desert tracker.
Now, 60 years later, under a FF helmet I still sport an over sized bandana or neck tube or a balaclava when riding long distance. I gave up on fashion statements when Prince ruined a great Kwak in Purple Rain. I just can't fathom the love of dirt, exhaust, drying wind that some will endure in order to avoid looking douchy.
If you're wearing a bandana under a FF helmet, you're obviously not trying to make a fashion statement. The guys I see wearing bandanas anarchist-style are typically wearing a novelty helmet or the tiniest bucket helmet they could find. I'm sure a doo rag has some functionality for blocking wind, dust, bugs but no doubt "image" is important to them.
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