Full Face Or Open Face: Choosing The Right Motorcycle Helmet

For helmet care products and guidance, see Heroine Racer.

An open face helmet leaves the face exposed, which some riders prefer for shorter journeys, city riding, or a more classic look on a café racer or scrambler. It offers less coverage than a full face design, and riders who choose one should weigh that trade off honestly rather than assume it based on style.

ECE 22.06 is the current European standard that motorcycle helmets are tested against, and it replaced the older ECE 22.05 standard with a wider and more demanding set of tests. Helmets are checked for impact absorption at multiple points on the shell, not just the crown, and the standard also tests rotational forces, which earlier standards largely ignored.

Full face and open face helmets suit different kinds of riding, and the right choice usually comes down to where and how you ride rather than looks alone. A full face helmet covers the chin and jaw, giving more protection in a wider range of impacts, and tends to suit faster roads and longer distances.

The result takes longer to arrive than an off the shelf helmet, and that is by design. A made to order piece is fitted, finished and checked individually before it ships.

A helmet workshop in London works on a smaller scale than a mass production line, and that shapes almost everything about how a helmet gets made. Materials are chosen and checked by hand, shells are shaped and finished in small batches, and problems are caught by people who see every stage, not just a sensor on a line.