UK Gravity Enduro helmet rule

rockmonkeysc

From next year full face helmets are compulsory in UKGE. Removable chin guards are allowed though.http://wideopenmag.co.uk/news/24790/uk- ... hin-pieces
This will probably mean insurers of smaller events will want the same rule applied. I would be interested in how many injuries this year would have been prevented by a chin guard.
It's going to make racing less accessible and put a lot of people entering the occasional race for fun because they have to spend £150ish on a new helmet. I certainly wouldn't want to ride 30 miles in my DH helmet.
on the plus side, there is no mention in the rule about the construction and strength of the chin piece so maybe I could make a cardboard one and stick it on with velcro.

andybrad

Will this effect the ard rock enduro?

rockmonkeysc

Not sure but I doubt there will be any rule changes for an event that's already open for entries. This is only for the UKGE series but other series are likely to follow.

benpinnick

Cool. My 2r arrives tomorrow!

Goggs-san

I did an enduro last year with my fox rampage pro. Wore it for the timed stages and switched it on the transitions with a half lid. I have a evoc which can carry a helmet.

Bit of a pain switching helmets before and after stages though. Pedal'y stages are a bit of a struggle with a full face on.

rockmonkeysc

I don't really like the idea of racing with a helmet in my pack. It could possibly cause or make worse injury if you land on your back, forcing your spine to bend around it.

Goggs-san

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I don't really like the idea of racing with a helmet in my pack. It could possibly cause or make worse injury if you land on your back, forcing your spine to bend around it.

I totally agree with you aboUt the damage it could cause on your back. Lucky for me my evoc pack has a certified spine protector because in the practice I had a nasty fall which cracked the helmet. Didn't feel a thing on my back (about the only pain free area).

The PMBA have announced that they are allowing open face/ xc lids for 2015.

Daz555

RockmonkeySC wrote:

It's going to make racing less accessible and put a lot of people entering the occasional race for fun because they have to spend £150ish on a new helmet.

+1

Myself and a few mates have been chatting about entering next year. I doubt many will be interested in forking out for a new lid just for a one-off.

whitey161

Do you only have to wear the full face on the timed stages? Most packs can carry a normal lid in between.
Also you can get a ffull face for £50 (the 661 ones) which are decent enough so no need to spend £150.

poah

the bell 2R is 150 as is the met parachute which breath more than a standard FF.

get one of these in addition to a FF although would be a bit shit in the wet lol

http://www.paperpulphelmet.com/

wearing a FF saved me from facial damage riding the EWS courses.

Daz555

whitey161 wrote:

Do you only have to wear the full face on the timed stages? Most packs can carry a normal lid in between.
Also you can get a ffull face for £50 (the 661 ones) which are decent enough so no need to spend £150.

A helmet with either a fixed or removable chin piece will be mandatory on all stages, Saturday and Sunday, at UKGE.”

Further to that, the usual rule about it remaining on your head and done up on all stages otherwise it’s a DQ.

ilovedirt

Daz555 wrote:

whitey161 wrote:

Do you only have to wear the full face on the timed stages? Most packs can carry a normal lid in between.
Also you can get a ffull face for £50 (the 661 ones) which are decent enough so no need to spend £150.

A helmet with either a fixed or removable chin piece will be mandatory on all stages, Saturday and Sunday, at UKGE.”

Further to that, the usual rule about it remaining on your head and done up on all stages otherwise it’s a DQ.

That doesn't answer the question, does it? He asked whether it was necessary in between stages. To which, the answer will probably be no. I'd imagine half shells will be allowed for the transfers in between stages. Don't quote me on that though.

To be fair, if someone is not the sort of rider to own a full face already, I'd question whether they should be entering UKGE in the first place.

rockmonkeysc

I know plenty of riders who are VERY fast down a hill and don't own a full face helmet. I also know riders who are hopelessly crap who wear a full face all the time.
A lot of riders won't want to carry a second helmet around a 50km course and wouldn't want to wear a proper DH full face helmet for the whole 50km of a UKGE route.
My full face helmet is a very good one (Fox Rampage carbon) and its light and well ventilated for downhill but definitely too hot and restrictive for big climbs. I would rather just wear an xc helmet for the transitions and timed stages. Like a lot of people I don't feel the need for a full face for enduro.

Ferrals

F@rk! I bought a Bell Super so I looked like a rock hard enduro dude and now all I'm going to look like is a Vespa owning mod

ilovedirt

RockmonkeySC wrote:

I know plenty of riders who are VERY fast down a hill and don't own a full face helmet. I also know riders who are hopelessly crap who wear a full face all the time.
A lot of riders won't want to carry a second helmet around a 50km course and wouldn't want to wear a proper DH full face helmet for the whole 50km of a UKGE route.
My full face helmet is a very good one (Fox Rampage carbon) and its light and well ventilated for downhill but definitely too hot and restrictive for big climbs. I would rather just wear an xc helmet for the transitions and timed stages. Like a lot of people I don't feel the need for a full face for enduro.

There are always exceptions, but I get the feeling that UKGE rounds are a bit tougher than a lot of the smaller gravity enduro races.
As you say though, I've never worn a full face lid to an enduro race, and I'd get a bit fed up with having to carry a spare lid around with me. I'd happily wear a full face if the course warranted it though.

rockmonkeysc

I raced enduro1 this year at Greatwood which is my local round, the race had two stages on the Triscombe DH trails which are far from tame but I ride them a lot on my DH bike. For me, wearing an open face helmet reminded me that I wasn't on my DH bike and I needed to hold something back from my usual pace on those trails, still fast enough for third and fourth fastest in category on those stages though.
I like that different feeling to remind me that im not riding DH. Once I put on full face and goggles it's all or nothing and usually a big crash!
I would like to know how many injuries would have been prevented in UKGE by full face this year, certainly none that I saw.

Angus Young

POAH wrote:

get one of these in addition to a FF although would be a bit shoot in the wet lol

http://www.paperpulphelmet.com/

The helmet for people who think a normal helmet doesn't look stupid enough.

Daz555

ilovedirt wrote:

To be fair, if someone is not the sort of rider to own a full face already, I'd question whether they should be entering UKGE in the first place.

Why on earth would you say that? The need for safety equipment is surely based on the risk? Riding a GE on an XC bike for example and not going crazy - not any different from any other day on the trails.

poah

wouldn't wear anything but a FF at the enduro trails in the tweed valley

rockmonkeysc

POAH wrote:

wouldn't wear anything but a FF at the enduro trails in the tweed valley

It's personal choice. I would rather an xc helmet even in tweed valley, most of my mates would be the same.
My local trails are a bit of a training spot for enduro racing regulars and despite the being some big jumps, drops and gaps I would say the majority of riders wear xc helmets. I think it's because enduro is basically what most of us were riding years before it was called enduro. There might not have been any real races but to us every ride was about who could get down the hill fastest and who would jump biggest.

poah

tweed valley isn't full of jumps and gaps

rockmonkeysc

Nope, just moderately gnarley trails. I didn't say it was full of jumps and drops.

Ferrals

RockmonkeySC wrote:

POAH wrote:

wouldn't wear anything but a FF at the enduro trails in the tweed valley

It's personal choice. I would rather an xc helmet even in tweed valley, most of my mates would be the same.
My local trails are a bit of a training spot for enduro racing regulars and despite the being some big jumps, drops and gaps I would say the majority of riders wear xc helmets. I think it's because enduro is basically what most of us were riding years before it was called enduro. There might not have been any real races but to us every ride was about who could get down the hill fastest and who would jump biggest.

But when you are actually racing in a real race you will be going faster than when not even if not consciously, anyone who doesn't must have been neutered as it's just basic chemical biology.

I've read various pros saying they aren't going much slower than on full on dh runs so it makes sense to maintain as high a safety standard as possible. I'll never race an enduro, and I can see why you and others would be annoyed, but it does seem sensible to me.

rockmonkeysc

It's not much slower than DH. I get down the FoD downhill tracks between 5 and 8 seconds slower on my xc bike.
I don't like wearing a full face for enduro because I like it to feel different to downhill. Im pushing as hard but I like to have that reminder that I can't plough straight through rock gardens flat out like I can on my DH bike because I'm going to break wheels or crash.
None of the enduro races I have ridden have been on anything as tough as a proper DH track so I don't find the same protection necessary.
I also don't want to wear my full face helmet for climbing.

poah

RockmonkeySC wrote:

None of the enduro races I have ridden have been on anything as tough as a proper DH track so I don't find the same protection necessary.
I also don't want to wear my full face helmet for climbing.

come and do the EWS next year then

rockmonkeysc

Like I said, I'm not wearing a full face helmet for 50km so no, im not doing any enduro races.

Goggs-san

Riding 1000-1500 metres of vertical climbing in a day with a full face on would be an experience, that's for sure. I'll live riding with 2 helmets though. No big deal.

Both the qualifying stages for The scottish enduro series and the uk gravity rounds at ae forest used the downhill track. I've rode it before with a half lid and the whole time all I was thinking was. This is prity crazy without a full face on.

ilovedirt

POAH wrote:

tweed valley isn't full of jumps and gaps

Except the inners DH tracks, some of which were used for the enduro?
I rode one of the EWS trails at glentress, it was steep, didn't really warrant a full face though IMO. The ones that do are the flat out fast ones with big gaps/jumps, where things happen so fast that you can't react.

peter413

ilovedirt wrote:

POAH wrote:

tweed valley isn't full of jumps and gaps

Except the inners DH tracks, some of which were used for the enduro?
I rode one of the EWS trails at glentress, it was steep, didn't really warrant a full face though IMO. The ones that do are the flat out fast ones with big gaps/jumps, where things happen so fast that you can't react.

The DH trails barely even register with all the other trails in the Valley though so I'd agree it's not full of them. I never wear a full face unless I'm doing push up or uplifts, neither of which I do often. Ironically when Innerleithen MTB Racing started doing Enduro's people were always worried about riding the DH tracks yet they were always by far the easiest trails of the day to ride.

Which trail was it you rode at Glentress? None of the EWS trails would be considered steep compared to a lot of others in the Valley. Sure they have steep sections but the trail isn't relentlessly steep like others, there's places to compose yourself if you have a problem. Ace trails to ride though (although I may be a bit biased).

poah

ilovedirt wrote:

POAH wrote:

tweed valley isn't full of jumps and gaps

Except the inners DH tracks, some of which were used for the enduro?
I rode one of the EWS trails at glentress, it was steep, didn't really warrant a full face though IMO. The ones that do are the flat out fast ones with big gaps/jumps, where things happen so fast that you can't react.

must have been riding differ DH runs at my uplift days. there are a few drops and jumps but its not full of them.

rockmonkeysc

And now you have to organise your own liability insurance before you can enter UKGE and provide your policy number.
http://www.ukgravityenduro.com/entries- ... surance-2/

I was going to do a couple rounds next year but now that I have to arrange insurance and buy a new helmet as well as the usual entry costs and other expenses I don't think I will bother.