[dhgeyer]

I have various itches under my helmet sometimes. Sneezing fits are the worst. I have seasonal allergies, and can sneeze for 20 minutes straight sometimes. Once in a while it feels like a bug is crawling around somewhere in the vicinity of my ear, but if I stop to check it out, there's nothing there. When it's hot and I'm riding the Concours (big fairing and windshield) I wear a 3/4 helmet, and then it's not a problem. The windshield keeps the bugs off in all but very rare cases, and there's no issue with wind. But the lack of a full face helmet increases risk, and then there is the occasional large bug that gets through, OUCH!

In the MSF course they teach everyone to lay their helmets on the ground, and not place or hang them on the bikes. I did that religiously for years until one time I did that and a few minutes later I definitely felt something crawling around in there, and it was a deer tick. Now I hang or place the helmet on the bike. Sorry MSF.

We don't have a helmet law in NH (for adults anyway), and a lot of people ride without them. More of them get killed or turned into vegetables, but their heads don't itch or feel creepy, and they don't have that weight on their necks.

If there isn't a big windshield a full face helmet is much more comfortable for anything but a very short ride, even taking into account the slight discomforts it causes. The wind blast gets old after a while, and impairs both vision and hearing.

I can avoid all these issues, and a raft of other ones, and just take the Damn car. No thanks!

Trade offs.