Over 30 years ago when I had 6 different enduro bikes I wore a regular open face helmet and goggles. 6 years ago I started doing some track events with my Vette and bought a full face with a visor, a year ago I got a couple of 4 wheelers for the wife & I.

Now I just got my '09 KLX250S and I'm still using the same full face with a visor, but I see a lot of guys now use a full face motoX helmet with goggles. What's the advantage of goggles over a visor? Am I missing something?

I am now looking at getting a Shoei flip-up full face with a visor....any reason why I should reconsider?

 

Goggles dont fog on the INSIDE like your visor can and will, at least not from your breathing, goggles you can put peelable strips on so that if you get a huge mud splatter while riding, you can just peal a layer and keep going, goggles fit to your face and let you wear something over your eyes sealed and still get good ventilation all the time around your head. Goggles you dont feel so bad scratching up whipping through branches in the woods... at least I dont.

Visors are DOT legal, (my dot wants nothing to do with goggles, since I'm already riding what looks to most uninformed cops like an illegal dirt-bike, adding the goggle is not a friend of the situation) a visor you can flip up for ventilation on a hot day and just have a pair of safety glasses (or sunglasses) to wear underneath giving you a 2 in one effect I carry clear safety glasses and sunglasses with my closed face in my jacket this way I can even vent at night) but unlike the goggles you can also flip the face down and wrap something under your helmet for warmth on a 23 degree day too, you'll get some freezey cold cheeks riding that with an open face! Shield I personally feel worse scratching it up in the woods. Mind you, I've had the same shield for 3 years, it's about due for replacement sometime this summer for the sake of reducing scratch glare. That's all I can think of.

 

Hey jacksonriding7, thanks for pointing out some of the pro's & con's. Most of them I should've realized but after a while the obvious becomes invisible. I know my visor does sometime fog up but opening it a crack solves that quickly, certainly the protection from the elements is a plus for a visor.

I do not want to go back to goggles, I am not racing and most of the pro's for goggles do not affect my wants or needs. A buddy has the flip-up helmet and I really like the convenience of that feature for talking to people without having to remove the helmet.

I hear you about driving with goggles on the street as well, no reason to give the authorities another reason to pull you over. Plus at least on the quad I can get a heated visor for winter weather, although that would likely fry the KLX's stator.

I also wear sunglasses under the visor on bright days and removing them is easy if needed.

 

Helmet recommendations are almost like oil threads...tons of variables, preferences, and opinions. After decades of using full coverage dirt helmets with quality goggles, I've started using an alternative for many of my rides.

I have a Bell Moto 7 with Oakley goggles...they work very well. It's still the setup I use if I'm nose-to-tail with other dirt bikes on dusty trail. Almost nothing beats goggles in this environment.

For the last couple of years, I've been using one of those Arai-style clone models with the dirt visor but also a flip up shield. Even riding in some dusty conditions with a fair amount of traffic like some Moab and Colorado trails, this helmet has been excellent. The shield is infinitely adjustable, so you can just crack it open a bit for flow or flip it wide open for slower, tighter dirt work...with some sunglasses or other eye protection of course. I like the fact that I can use a clear shield and just alternate between sunglasses or clear eye protection. Changing and carrying a spare shield is a hassle to me. I was actually surprised how well this helmet worked off road even with a bit of dust present. I still recommend full goggles in the choking dust of group rides, but otherwise I've found this style of helmet to be much more comfortable overall. When you hit the pavement, the helmet is far superior to goggles, and when off road, you just adjust the tilt of the shield to suit your preference. Goggles will still fit in the eye port of most of these helmets if you so desire. I'm using the AFX FX37-DS. There are quite a few helmets in this category now other than just the extremely expensive Arai model.

It's just another option and a darned good one for many riders IMO. Options are good.

 

Or exhaust threads...LOL

 

What if they built a full face helmet with a fuel tank on top that played MP3s?!!

 

that would only be cool if it added 1.5hp to the bike, and came in black or green.

 

In the world of motorcycles, image is everything. You will deffinatly get made fun of if you wear a full street helmet with visor while riding on the trails.
Everything depends on the type of riding you are doing. I prefer the dirt helmet with gogles because they are the most versitile. At least here in WA goggles are DOT approved. the only requirement is shatter resistant, wich most are.

 

There's a lot more air flow with MX helmet vs street. And good goggles have filtered dust vents to keep the dust out of your eyes, but still flow air. A visor alone doesn't really help that much with dust getting in your eyes.

 

imho, its personal preference. ive seen one of the best dirt riders i know ride with a street bike helmet cus he was doing 80+ to get there. personaly, i like motocross helmets. i live in so cal and in the summer it gets freaking hot. ive never heard about cops giving people poop over googles nopt being dot. did even know they could till i just read it here. my next helmet though, i want one of those moto helmets with the visor, best of both worlds. just keep a clean rag with you on that, i have a buddy who has one and uses googles once we get off road (uses one of those velcro systems so the googles are on the back when on the street), when he gets back on, the visor is covered in (my) dust.