Cold Forehead

Brady · Post by **Brady** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 12:54 pm

Rode to work yesterday at a balmy 29 degrees for my 55 mile commute. Properly bundled up, to include long johns, sweater, face mask, heavy gloves, etc. It was not that bad. The only real chill I had was on my browline as the wind ran through my helmut. Is this normal or do I have too much air flowing through? Any way to keep your forehead warm? I felt like I had just downed a giant slurpee and had a brain freeze!

Brady

Post by **yjleesvrr** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 1:46 pm

Hmmm. Do you have all your vents shut? What brand and model of helmet do you have. This sounds unusual.

To keep my face from getting cold in general, I use a scarf. I wrap the scarf around my neck twice and loop the ends underneath to prevent it from unraveling and sailing off. I then fold the ends of the scarf together and wedge them between my chin and helmet with a little bit of opening to allow for ventilation. Plugging the lower helmet opening also reduces wind noise to an appreciable degree and keeps my chin and upper neck from getting cold. It requires periodic fiddling however as the scarf eventually is pulled down by gravity and vibration.

Post by **Boxer** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 2:07 pm

Balaclava....And I don't mean the Greek pastrie.

BoiseBeemer · Post by **BoiseBeemer** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 6:33 pm

Boxer wrote:Balaclava....And I don't mean the Greek pastrie.

That, of course, would be a baklava, and I second the balaclava recommendation. A silk balaclava folds up small enough to fit unobtrusively in a shirt pocket, and I always have one tucked into the cold-weather jacket. I carry a second one for passengers. For really cold weather, I have a slightly thicker one made out of polarfleece. As any backpacker can tell you, keeping the head-and-neck area covered stops heat loss and helps warm everything else. Do be careful walking into banks with it on, however.

Post by **wncbmw** » Tue Mar 06, 2007 7:31 pm

Along the lines of what others have said, the best piece of cold weather riding gear I have is a BMW balaclava that has a poly pro/silky upper part (to be thin under your helmet) and a long wind block fleece lower portion that can be tucked into your jacket. The wind block makes a world of difference, not letting the breeze in at all! Other companies making riding gear make something similar.

BTW, check your vents!

NachtRitter · Post by **NachtRitter** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 2:04 am

Vote # 4 for the baklava ... err ... balaclava. I had the same "brain freeze" problem even with all the vents shut on my Aiwa Quantum f, and a light fleece balaclava made a huge difference. The only trouble I had is that it got out of whack when I put the helmet over it, partially blocking my vision, which was frustrating until I got a pair of clear glasses which I could put on after my helmet was on to hold the fleece out of the way.

Post by **rdsmith3** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:55 am

+1

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Brady · Post by **Brady** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 12:11 pm

I have a balaclava, I apologies for not using the correct terminology. When I was a kid we called them face masks! I think mine may have been scrunched up and was leaving my brow/forehead exposed. My vents were all closed. My helmut BTY is a HJC AC-12. I like the idea of plugging up the gap between your neck and the helmut. This doesn't cause your shield to fog up?

Brady