Off to BPW in June for a day – would you wear a full face or is a trail helmet ok?

We’re all experienced riders who will be heading down the trails pretty quick (ish!)

Full face. Wore a trail helmet first few times no problems but had a mate who is a fair bit quicker than me go face first into a tree stump on vicious valley. He was wearing a carbon full face and goggles and his face was still swollen and black and blue. No reason not to wear a full face on a new uplift day really. I also wear a back protector now too

Wore my FF on the 1st run both times I’ve been then went with the trail helmet for the rest of the day.
I just prefer the feel of riding without the FF. Gonna have to get used to it though as we’re off to Revs next week and they are compulsory..

FF here.

Either. You wont be doing much peddling if you’re in the uplift van. The trails themselves don’t technically warrant it, but you’ll not get overheated like you would if you wore one on a normal ride.

If you planning on REDs and above, yes.
If you’ve not been before think of trail grading being up a level.

There are so many crashes and the ground is so hard, I’d definitely recommend a full face. Plus you tend to be flying along at a good old rate of knots

No reason not to (wear full face) in my opinion

Full face for me. The speed your carrying through some sections, even on the Blues; is surprising.

FF if uplifting trail lid if not

Thanks all – full face it is. Not worn one before so will purchase and practice at greno with it.

We are uplifting for the day. Spending 3 days trail riding at and around Afan first so should have the eye by the time we get to BPW

I’ve seen a seven Idp m1 which looks reasonable – any one had that one?

It’s worth it as you’ll get faster and faster and it encourages you to hang it out a bit. Plus there are some jumps and drops that you’ll want to not be hesitant over because you’ve got a regular helmet on (if that makes sense)

Nickc, the other option is….

It’ll make you go faster than your skills should because you’ll feel invincible!

😉

Personal choice, innit?

Smashed my face and chest into the ground really hard last time I was there. So glad I was wearing a FF, otherwise I’d be looking at a nasty dentist bill! The nature of the trails lets you progress, but inevitably that increases the likelihood of a crash. Wouldn’t be without a FF on an uplift day.

BPW recommend FF and armour and I think it’s sound advice.

Speeds are high, the ground is either rocky or full of ground level tree stumps, and there are more technical features involving air than you find on most ‘normal trails’.

All of these things make the consequences of an off potentially more severe, let alone the ‘gung-ho’ factor involved in riding a place like that.

I go there to deliberately push at my limits, because it’s a good place to practice. I expect to crash more often as a result.

I’ve been uplifting for the last few days, a couple of higher speed offs made me happy for the FF, one was bad decision on what was a nice lip to jump and the other was tiredness impacting my decision making. Not sure how many runs you get in at bpw but 25-30km down a hill is not like riding the same distance.

I prefer FF, Reds and Blacks are technical and rocky, Blues are blisteringly fast, I’ve seen the worst crashes on the blues – a torn off eye lid and a nasty looking concussion- same day, same trail, same run couple of hundred metres apart.

I’ve always just worn my open face, just because the full face is an extra thing to fit in the car. Perfectly happy with that but equally if I had my full face with me I’d be happy to wear that too. I’m definitely more likely to smash my face in on some sketchy tweed valley nonsense than at bpw though.

(I don’t do the big jumps, mind)

Full face because falling off at those speeds with all the rocks they have lying around is bad news

But even with uplift if it’s hot you’ll get hot as the descents are quite pedally and physical

You can always change at lunchtime

FF for me. Spent 40 quid on a 661 Comp that only gets used there a couple of days a year but it’s a bit more reassuring when everywhere you look is trees, stumps or rocks. Using the uplift you’re never pedalling uphill for long and just taking my goggles off gets enough airflow for me.

My mate just regards it like normal trail riding and wears his regular open lid. He subscribes to the theory that he’d feel safer and thus take sillier risks if he wore one.

I’ve only ever worn my trail lid there, but friends I rode with always wear their FFs. It depends what you’re more comfortable with.

I’ve ridden most of the trails there, from blue to black, and it’s actually the ‘easier’ trails that lull you into a false sense of security, and you’re more likely to crash on due to speed. Start off carefully on the blues, and then work your way up. Then by the end of the day wind down a bit, as you’ll be tired and making mistakes. And remember – never say ‘it’s the last run of the day’ 😉

The one and only time I’ve ever tried a FF I hated it due to constrained vision and hearing.

I do always wear armour for uplifts though – elbow/forearm pads, and knees pads. As falling off does hurt.

I always wear full face at BPW. The only time I don’t want it is the pedally bit back to the uplift having done a hot run down Hotstepper by which point I’m honking.

If you’re in the market for a new lid anyway, the Bell Super is one of those funky trail helmets with detachable chinbar, so ideal for occasional use and seemed to have a lot better airflow than the 661 Comp that I also bought at the same time for testing.

The trails themselves don’t technically warrant it

nonsense. You’ll be going way faster at BPW than a “normal” trail centre IMO, especially the blues. More speed = more protection, in case things go wrong. Unless you’re a mincer, in which case carry on. 🙂

Rational risk assessment. Incidence times severity. sounds like this place has a big pile of both so as much protection as you have seems sensible – so long as it doesn’t make you write cheques you can’t cash

Neck brace to go with your full face? I do think the two should go together really

Bet you never thought I would say that did you ?
🙂

rossburton – Member
If you’re in the market for a new lid anyway, the Bell Super is one of those funky trail helmets with detachable chinbar, so ideal for occasional use and seemed to have a lot better airflow than the 661 Comp that I also bought at the same time for testing.

On airflow the standard Bell Super is pants, the MIPS version is a lot better. I ended up with the Met Parachute which is very good as the others didn’t fit my head, removing the cheek pads for climbing makes it decent. The new fox looks awesome though and having picked one up it’s near the top of my list if I need to replace one. The point being the ones with a fixed chin bar can be better than the half and half.

I think the nature of uplift days where you’re constantly pushing yourself downhill makes full face a big consideration.

Last time I was at BPW I bought a full face helmet there and used it all day. Only thing is I swear I was probably going faster than I would have been in my normal lid as I felt safer!

Didn’t help I was with 3 mates all using Strava to see who was quickest over the day using each persons quickest run per trail!

We only did the reds and blues as none of us would have been confident clearing the double at the start of one of the blacks. Therefore considered the blacks beyond our current level of skills. The blues and most reds can be very fast at BPW and there are plenty of drops on a couple of the reds.

Off to FOD for an uplift day in a couple of weeks time – from what I’ve read it isn’t that hard but I think I’ll full face and knee / shin pad that day too.

stevied – Member

Wore my FF on the 1st run both times I’ve been then went with the trail helmet for the rest of the day.
I just prefer the feel of riding without the FF.
Same

FF. cost enough so nice to get some use out of it!

joebristol – Member

We only did the reds and blues as none of us would have been confident clearing the double at the start of one of the blacks.

That qualifier on Dai Hard’s completely stupid tbh, there’s nothing else on the trail like it so it’s just putting people off for no reason.

If you don’t have one yet, I’d consider one of the new enduro-friendly FF helmets.

I have a Met Parachute and it’s much preferable to a DH helmet for pedaling.

Northwind – Member 
That qualifier on Dai Hard’s completely stupid tbh, there’s nothing else on the trail like it so it’s just putting people off for no reason.

+1 this. Before all the qualifiers were added Dai Hard was one of the blacks I could actually cope with. A bit sketchy in parts but I could ride it and learn. Now I can’t (without bypassing the qualifier).

Similar with Vicious Valley on the red. Never had issues with that. An easy red (if you don’t branch off to A470 but that has its own qualifier). Yet a drop entrance on it that I’ve always had trouble with due to my major hang ups with drops I can’t see over until the last second. Sure I know most here would say it’s tiny, but I just have trouble with that one for some reason.

deadkenny – Member

Similar with Vicious Valley on the red. Never had issues with that. An easy red (if you don’t branch off to A470 but that has its own qualifier). Yet a drop entrance on it that I’ve always had trouble with due to my major hang ups with drops I can’t see over until the last second. Sure I know most here would say it’s tiny, but I just have trouble with that one for some reason.

You just need to go for it. You cannot crash unless you go stupid slow. Which I once did, while looking the other way, OTB and broken collarbone…

I used to think that qualifier was daft but it is kind of justified now they’ve added a series of sizeable drop offs to the red at the bottom (Insufficient Funds?).

Agree Dai Hard qualifier is OTT for that particular trail but some of the other blacks are a bit full-on.

I might get chased out of here with a pitchfork, but I rode BPW last weekend with my Kask Rex Helmet (open face trail helmet) only. Rode mainly the reds and the blacks and I came away fine, however I think my lack of wearing helmets and pads stems from my years of BMX and also my self assumed level of bike control and skill.

I do agree with the above comment, as someone that has never worn a full face regularly I find the restriction of vision, hearing and weight of helmet off putting.

I do agree with the above comment, as someone that has never worn a full face regularly I find the restriction of vision, hearing and weight of helmet off putting.

This is where the next generation of crossover or light weight lids come in, the ews fox is very light. The flip side of marginal reduced vision is focusing on where you need to be looking

chrispo – Member

You just need to go for it. You cannot crash unless you go stupid slow. Which I once did, while looking the other way, OTB and broken collarbone…

If you’re trying to inspire confidence with that, I’m not sure you’re succeeeding 🙂

Vicious valley has much worse drop offs further down it than the qualifier. I’m sure there’s a bit where you cross a fire track and there’s a big boulder type thing you have to drop off. Found that much worse. I think with the initial qualifier it’s the fact it’s a wooden platform that makes it seem more intimidating.

First couple of times I rode it in a trail helmet. Reds/blues/blacks from fireroad not from the top. Only had an old and heavy FF. Then bought a 661 part carbon one off SportPursuit for £60 as we were riding Antur. Used that twice at BPW this year (first time in absolutely shocking conditions) and while I agree it’s a bit restrictive vision wise and hot if you’re peddling back up from HotStepper I was glad to have it.

Not crashed with it yet (thankfully) and do feel a bit of a fraud as I’m not riding the big stuff on the blacks but always think if I crashed and smashed my face up with the FF in the car, how much of a chump am I going to feel then!

Borrowed a Bell Super a couple of times and found the weight/vision really good. Again didn’t test the crash-a-bility!

The flip side of marginal reduced vision is focusing on where you need to be looking

I’m blessed (cursed?) with extremely good peripheral vision, and I find a FF blocking it annoying and distracting. Weirdly, I don’t find the same issue with sunnies….might be they’re just a strip rather than the whole side of you head?

I’m sure I could get used to it if I tried, but I tend to ride pretty fast downhill, and in 25+ years of biking never felt the need for one.