Said the wife this morning, I thought I’d let you lot decide as I’m off to BPW next weekend and this will be my third uplift this year. I don’t ride anything steeper than the red’s there but do the odd black at Antur Stiniog.

My 661 Evo is about 6 years old but hasn’t seen much action cos I never got bitten by the DH rad dood gnarr rampage bug. Too much of a scaredy cat.

Anyway it has had 2 pretty substantial hits, one when I messed up a landing and went down hard, breaking the peak and bouncing my head off the floor.

It had another when I caught a stump going pretty quickly and smacked the chin guard off the back of bars, hit it so hard that it hurt my jaw without my jaw hitting anything and gave me mild whiplash.

Also it’s hotter than a nuclear reactor.

Over to you lot.

Yes.

You have one brain best look after it.

The price of a dh lid vs regretting not buying one if you were unlucky enough to come a cropper.

Thus I justified a shiny new helmet last year and I dont regret it one jot

Anyway it has had 2 pretty substantial hits

Just read that bit back to yourself.

For the sake of buying a what is probably a sale 661 lid for £50, is it worth taking the risk?

What Hob Nob said. Get yourself onto CRC and grab a new one, and a few other odds and ends to get yoursellf up to £75 where you can use the Clearance voucher code

Yes. Also try a black or two at BPW, nothing harder than Anturs blacks imo.

Regardless of the hits it is 6 years old

There’s a question – how often to replace a lid?

I have an Urge AM lid, which I bought in October 2013. Been my only trial lid since, aso plenty of use, and while I’d had plenty of crashes since, I haven’t had any crashes that involved hitting my head. Replace it?

honourablegeorge – Member

There’s a question – how often to replace a lid?

I have an Urge AM lid, which I bought in October 2013. Been my only trial lid since, aso plenty of use, and while I’d had plenty of crashes since, I haven’t had any crashes that involved hitting my head. Replace it?

They say every 3-5 to years, we can get away with the higher end in the UK apparently as Sun / Heat is what kills them – impacts aside.

Had a bit of a moment when I realised my old DH lid was 9 and a bit years old when I changed it, my trail lid was 7 years old…

Oh course. And new pads and shoes too…

I hardly ever wear mine now tbh, didn’t bother on the last trip to bpw. But really it’s a decision you can only answer yourself. Since you brought up heat, I’d definitely keep it in mind; a comfy helmet is one you’ll wear basically, if you’re thinking “it’s hot and heavy” then you’re more likely to not be wearing it when you next mash your head, and spending a little more for something you use makes more sense than spending 70% of the price for something that doesn’t do the job you want…

Also, maybe go and have a crack at the black run with the wooden gap jump at the start. Don’t worry about the qualifier, it bears no resemblance to the actual trail.

it has had 2 pretty substantial hits,

….

… the black run with the wooden gap jump at the start. Don’t worry about the qualifier, it bears no resemblance to the actual trail

I’m too rubbish at jumping to hit the ‘qualifier’ but I really enjoy Dai Hard, it’s a great trail that I flow down comfortably (and not slowly).

Tell her that your life insurance won’t cover the mortgage and see whether she decides that you do need a new lid…

Yes, Is the answer. BPW recommend armour and full face, so why wouldn’t you?

If your wife is anything like mine, she thinks she knows what kind of MTBing you do, but doesn’t really. Mine dear lady would be horrified if she knew the gusto with which I threw myself at rock fields and dodgy looking ground.

We only wear full facers at BPW. In two visits my mate’s saved his face, and mine saved the back of my head when I found my limits on ‘Enter the Dragon’.

Mate if you have ANY concerns about a helmet, replace it. Even if the old one is safe you will feel as though you have a gun at your head.

If a helmet has had even 1 big knock them I’d replace it. You only get one brain and it ought to be worth at least £70 or whatever cost for a full face helmet.

I did BPW a few weeks ago and was debating a full face helmet as only had a normal xc type lid (and a cheap one from Decathlon at that). Wondered if I’d feel stupid in it – but one look round in the car park showed loads of people planning to wear one. I bought one in the bike shop there for £70. It’s very green, but it feels pretty light on and nowhere near as hot as I thought it would be. We only did reds and blues there but the speeds you go and the rock gardens about made me glad I’d got it – just in case.

Get it replaced. You’ll be doing lots of descending on rocky ground over the full day and you’ll be getting tired towards the end, and you’ll probably be getting more confident at hitting things faster.

I’ll be there next weekend sporting my fluro yellow troy lee full face!

For the first time in a looooong time I crashed last weekend. I crashed doing something other than XC.

I was wearing a full face and am so very glad I was as I landed hard and smashed the mouth guard bit of the helmet. Still came away with a cut face but crucially all my teeth – broke my hand, pretty bad bruising etc.

I have never really thought about a full face before and for almost all of my riding its over kill but if I were to head to BPW or such like one would be right at the top of the list.

A friend of mine crashed on the dual at chicksands, and landed on his face wearing a bmx lid. Having seen the mess, I always wear full face for that type of riding now.

Mate of mine crashed on vicious valley and collected a tree stump with his face at speed. He was wearing goggles and destroyed a carbon THE full face.His face was a mess, I dread to think what it would have looked like had he been wearing an open face.

I just replaced a ten year old Xen last week after I head-butted a tree. It’s been smacked a good few times over the years, probably slightly overdue!