Cage w/ best visibility (for Nike helmet)

[rjw059 0]

The visor injury thread got me thinking. Tomorrow morning I finally get my implants and crowns for my front teeth that I lost due to a high-stick last April. I've been wearing a shock doctor mouthguard ever since the injury, but part of me wants to go back to wearing a cage since this past year has been very expensive in terms of dental insurance premiums, etc.

What cages do you guys prefer for visibility, and which would fit my nike helmet best? I have a NBH FM5500, but don't care for it too much.

[Ahriman 1]

All comments on cages you'll find are: 9500 and CCM 480 being the best of the best.

[carterb 0]

I picked up a new oval 4500 mask off of greatskate. The field of vision is definitely improved over my regular 4500...

Check it out here:http://greatskate.com/product/id/8243/s/78/m/127/NikeBauer-4500-Oval-Face-Mask.aspx

I'm going to pick up a CCM 480 soon, lots of people seem to like it.

[rjw059 0]

I take back my original post. I had a game tonight and tried my 4500 cage and absolutely hated it. Switching back to the visor and just going to keep my fingers crossed that the shock doctor mouthguard does its job.

[k13 0]

give the full-face shield a try? I hate cages too, but i've been fine with the Itech Concept II so far.

[ROBZIM31 0]

My favorite is a regular visor which I have been wearing for about five years now and last week i got hit in the chin with a stick and wound up with stiches...I also wear a mouth guard but I dont want to wind up in the emergency room at midnight again...I put an 9500 cage on my helmet but hated it...after using a visor for such a long time now I find the bars very annoying so I went with the Itech combo, atleast I get the clear shield and some air flow from the wire cage.

[rjw059 0]

give the full-face shield a try? I hate cages too, but i've been fine with the Itech Concept II so far.

Not only did I hate the visibility w/ the full cage, it just felt like the weight of it was pulling my helmet down.

[Rustpot 1]

give the full-face shield a try? I hate cages too, but i've been fine with the Itech Concept II so far.

Not only did I hate the visibility w/ the full cage, it just felt like the weight of it was pulling my helmet down.

Get a stronger neck. Cages weigh less than a pound.

Even an Itech Ti cage would be less expensive than getting a few new teeth, right?

[carguy19 0]

The Itech recon combo is insane. Its comfortable and crystal clear.

[Darshu 0]

Another option if you want maximum visibility with a "cage"

[armada 0]

I have been sporting the Oakley cage/shield combo all year and have no complaints. For me the visibility is more noticeable over a cage and I'm not experiencing more fogging up problems then a guy with just a visor.

[W.Heinle 0]

Got the Oakley combo as well. Got a Shock Doctor chin cup for it and attached the straps to the side of the cage. Now I can just unscrew the cage part if I want just the visor.

[Too Old 1]

Ditto the Oakley visor/cage combo; mine's on a size L Easton S17. I had to kind of tweak a few things to get it fitted to my liking but it works well. No fogging on the ice and since I'm an old guy (lol) there's no lack of sweating! On the bench it may fog a tad but it's easy to pop the straps and pivot it up to air out for a few minutes. As to just 'unscrewing' the cage to only use the visor there's a bit more to it than that. You need to make sure to have proper spacers and longer screws if you want to just use the visor part itself. And with the curvature of the visor (at least as fitted on my S17) the spacers would have to be angled to fit correctly. If I have a chance over the weekend I'll post some photos showing the installation to better explain what I mean.

[vek 0]

I tried the combos, and they are nice, but I found I missed the feeling of the air hitting my face.

On recommendation from other posts, I bought the 9500 cage, and think its about the best vision-wise I've tried.

[W.Heinle 0]

Ditto the Oakley visor/cage combo; mine's on a size L Easton S17. I had to kind of tweak a few things to get it fitted to my liking but it works well. No fogging on the ice and since I'm an old guy (lol) there's no lack of sweating! On the bench it may fog a tad but it's easy to pop the straps and pivot it up to air out for a few minutes. As to just 'unscrewing' the cage to only use the visor there's a bit more to it than that. You need to make sure to have proper spacers and longer screws if you want to just use the visor part itself. And with the curvature of the visor (at least as fitted on my S17) the spacers would have to be angled to fit correctly. If I have a chance over the weekend I'll post some photos showing the installation to better explain what I mean.

Yes, some pictures will be required ;)

With our without the cage attached, the visor attaches the same way to the helmet

[vinceyuen 0]

i've got the same helmet as you. I use the 8500 cage. it's pretty good but I had to adjust the helmet size longer because the cage puts more pressure on the side of my head when i close the cage. it's a bit heavy but really tough. i got shot in the face a few times.

I want to switch to a half visor/cage combo though.

[Too Old 1]

Ditto the Oakley visor/cage combo; mine's on a size L Easton S17. I had to kind of tweak a few things to get it fitted to my liking but it works well. No fogging on the ice and since I'm an old guy (lol) there's no lack of sweating! On the bench it may fog a tad but it's easy to pop the straps and pivot it up to air out for a few minutes. As to just 'unscrewing' the cage to only use the visor there's a bit more to it than that. You need to make sure to have proper spacers and longer screws if you want to just use the visor part itself. And with the curvature of the visor (at least as fitted on my S17) the spacers would have to be angled to fit correctly. If I have a chance over the weekend I'll post some photos showing the installation to better explain what I mean.

Yes, some pictures will be required ;)

With our without the cage attached, the visor attaches the same way to the helmet

Actually it doesn't. With the cage the visor portion screws to the cage. The upper part of the front of the visor is attached via a couple of hooks which it pivots on. The chinstrap then goes back and attaches via a snap on each side which replaces the normal helmet screws in those positions towards the back of the helmet on each side. But... to mount up just the visor itself... yes, you use the same two hooks along the top front of the helmet to help stabilize the visor. But they're no longer used as pivots. And where the two screws on each side used to mount the visor to the frame of the cage you'll need to source two longer screws per side and also two spacers per side to attach the visor to the helmet. So... before you bash me check out how things really work, lol. Once I get home later this evening I'll try to take some pictures and get them on here.

[Too Old 1]

Here are some pictures. You can see it's not just a "take it off the cage" deal. The curvature of the visor means the spacers will need to be contoured to fit between the helmet and visor. I fabbed the hooks that catch the back edges of the visor; nobody had them in a size that fit properly. The upper J-hooks were fine though:

[W.Heinle 0]

The Oakley combo is a VR910 visor with the cage part attached to it. The VR910 attaches with the two screws on the top and straps through the elongated holes at the side.

I replaced the chin cup on my combo and attached the straps to the cage (not to the chin cup). So now if I unscrew the cage all I need to do is re-attach the straps like on the VR910 et voila.

[Too Old 1]

Hmm... every Oakley 910 I've seen at least was just as the visor shown in my photos. Same exact mount method; no straps for it but just screw attachment points on each side, and you could use hooks on front. The Oakley 920 is the combination of a 910 visor and a cage. Or, are you using the lower screw (slotted) mount hole to put a strap in? Why would you use straps on the visor or did you need that much room for pulling it on/off that is needs to pivot upward? Otherwise you could just use two screws per side with spacers.

[skater32 0]

i've got the same helmet as you. I use the 8500 cage. it's pretty good but I had to adjust the helmet size longer because the cage puts more pressure on the side of my head when i close the cage. it's a bit heavy but really tough. i got shot in the face a few times.

That happened with my 8500 cage too. I have a Cascade helmet though.

[W.Heinle 0]

Hmm... every Oakley 910 I've seen at least was just as the visor shown in my photos. Same exact mount method; no straps for it but just screw attachment points on each side, and you could use hooks on front. The Oakley 920 is the combination of a 910 visor and a cage. Or, are you using the lower screw (slotted) mount hole to put a strap in? Why would you use straps on the visor or did you need that much room for pulling it on/off that is needs to pivot upward? Otherwise you could just use two screws per side with spacers.

I've seen them with straps. I guess you could do either.