I wear a FF and did so before it became the law to wear a helmet.
I am a member of ABATE and give alittle extra to help make it a choice again.
I used to get teased for my choice, none of us have that option in CA anymore.

 

Not much on telling anyone what they should or should not do and not even sure what good a helmet is in speeds much above 35 but most accidents do enable you to get slowed down and this is were you do need the jaw and lower face protection. I saw some pictures of a lady who was on the back of a bike when they wrecked and the most sever part of her injury was her lower jaw and chin area. A good full properly fitted would have saved her many sessions of extensive surgeries over a two year period. One of the things I have found is at the lower speeds I will ride with the shield all the way up since I wear glasses and this helps with the heat issue. Still a pain in a lot of way since I need to remove and hang onto the glasses ever time I put it on and pull it off. Goods ones can be rather high dollar but I did mine on the cheep by getting it on ebay for $190 and picking up two complete new interiors for $30. I guess I look like a ninja turtle with flag on my head and I have a choice between my beanie and a 3/4 but I always grab the flag. Guess one of these days when a Norman gets me at least the police office is going to say to him, "You did not see a white bike with a person wearing a safety reflector vest and a visible helmet"

One last commit --You do need a tach mounted up high in front. My Deuce has a Harley billet mount which fits the style of my bike. I use it for my speedometer. Harleys tank mounted speedometer/tach is worthless with a full face--in fact in my opinion makes wearing a full face more dangerous then not

 

Most of time in the past i rode my bike with a open face helmet and even more without it. After my friend did an accident and got his mouth and eye injuried i changed my mind about the helmets. Two year ago i quit riding my bike because my bro got hit by a truck and he almost died. His bike got totaled. He got brain injuries and couple of bones broken. Anyway we must say thanks to God and fullface helmet if he survived, even if injured, to the impact.

 

Every time I check the statistics on motorcycle fatalities, and specifically the helmet/no helmet numbers it's give and take around 50/50...not all fatalities are head injuries...

And yes, every circumstance is different, yada yada...ad infinitum...ad nauseum...

Riding is risky...period...

If people want to comment on why THEY wear a helmet, that's cool...just lay off back handing those who legally choose NOT to...

I can't remember in my time here or any other bike forums, ANY threads where those who DON'T wear a lid were preaching that anyone who DOES should take theirs off...

A little common courtesy and respect, please...

 

I'm all for personal freedom... I'll ride with my 3/4 helmet on hot days or when I want to hear my radio, but on long trips or any length of interstate riding I love my FF RF-1000..... I get more buffeting with the full face lid, and the radio sounds terrible with the visor down, but when the rain gets bad, or when it's cold it more than makes up for the lack of wind in the face the rest of the ride....... I used to ride with just a bandanna ( back in my sportbike days) until a guy I rode with went down at around 80 mph on the highway and walked away with nothing but a torn up jacket and a 2" gouge on the back of his helmet.......

 

Jeez, you ran right into a swarm of bees. What are the chances?

I've been hit by all kinds of stuff but not an entire swarm of those things. Lucky you only got stung once. Of course, that's better than not being stung at all. See my sig below.
ha ha

 

I swear I had the same thing happen to me a few weeks ago. I was just wearing sunglasses. Doing about 55, saw the bees a few seconds before impact. Nothing happened really, they just bounced off me.

It did give my wife and daughter a good laugh cause they were following me in the truck.

 

I prefer to view your thread as an experience versus a helmet issue. I've seen swarms of bees before, and it was amazing to see a low flying, fast moving, passing black cloud. I can't imagine riding right through it. I've rode through feilds of butterflies and come out "yellow".

 

I once asked a Police officer why they don't wear full face helmets. He said it was because it would scare the motorists. Don't know if he was pullin my leg or not. I feel safer with a full face helmet on, but in the summer it's usually too hot. I don't know how the guys on the crotch rockets can take it. If I ever figure out the secret, I'll probably go a full face. I kind of like those riding suits I see the guys wearing on those sport tourers like BMWS. I think they have Kevlar in them. They don't really fit the Harley look, but they are safer. I'm thinking about switching to one of them too. Don't know that I give a rats **** about what I look like if it will save me from road rash.

 

Interesting story about the bee's won't debate the helmet issue but if happened to me riding the backroads of FL would have a facefull of stingers including my bald head..