by Tiger650 » 20 Sep 2018, 8:41 pm
I crashed a few times on road and racing when I was young and marginally more silly than at present.
One early carbon fibre Shoei full face showed bulk road friction damage across where my chin would have been with a bike on top of me.
I grow a beard these days but sure would not if not if I had a big bare patch from where my face had been ground away.
Modern high quality helmets are worth the $$$, very quiet as regards air noise to avoid cumulative hearing damage but you can hear behind and to the sides to avoid homicidal ****** who will change lanes and accelerate to get into mirror blind spot as you merge onto a freeway.
Be really careful and keep your head on a swivel, riding a bike on the road is an intense experience, or you get hurt by a walking [driving] vegetable who has no business on the roads but will not be meaningfully penalised for f***ing you up.
The contrast is stark, you are [hopefully] totally involved in riding and there is the disinterested pre-menstrual shrew in her black Jeep who will injure or kill you with neither compunction nor remorse.
Not trying to discourage, just be paranoid, you can ease off on that a little as you gain experience and learn how to spot threats at a safe [ish] distance.