Full Face Helmets
Used full face mountain bike helmets from UK sellers, with chin bar protection for DH, bike park, enduro racing and aggressive trail riding. Fox, Troy Lee Designs, Bell, Giro, POC, IXS, Leatt, Smith and 100% all turn up second hand.
Why ride a full face?
A full face helmet adds a chin bar that protects your jaw, teeth and lower face from impacts. For downhill racing, bike park laps and aggressive riding it's essential — facial injuries from crashes without chin bar protection are common and expensive to fix.
Lightweight or DH-certified?
Lightweight full face helmets — Fox Proframe, Troy Lee Designs Stage, Bell Super DH — weigh 700-900g and are designed for enduro racing where you pedal uphill in the helmet, with more ventilation and less material than DH-certified lids. DH-certified helmets such as the Fox Rampage, Troy Lee D4 and Bell Full-9 are heavier at 1000-1200g, more robust, and meet the stricter ASTM DH certification standard. Racing DH or riding bike parks with big jumps calls for DH-certified; for enduro where you're pedalling 80% of the ride, a lightweight full face is the better compromise.
Is a convertible chin bar worth it?
The Bell Super DH and Giro Switchblade have a removable chin bar — open face for the climb, full face for the descent. They're heavier than a dedicated open face and less protective than a dedicated DH helmet, but one helmet covering everything has made them very popular with trail and enduro riders who want chin bar protection on descents without overheating on climbs.
Will my goggles fit?
Full face helmets are designed to work with goggles: the strap sits in a channel at the back of the helmet, and the lens should seal against the helmet's brow without gaps. Some helmet-goggle combos work better than others — Fox helmets pair well with Fox goggles, Troy Lee with Oakley — so try the combo before committing, because a gap between goggle and helmet lets in dust, rain and cold air.