Rock the Gear

That is perfect!

 

I have said it before in another thread, But will say it again!

In 1989, I jumped on my bike to get a sunday paper 2 blocks away, I was wearing shorts, t-shirt, & sneakers. I woke up in the hospital as a nurse was cleaning out what was left of my face!
They put me under for atleast a day, & I woke up wondering where the Hell I was, & then why the Hell I was in a hospital.
I Shouldn't be alive!
Infact for almost 6 months there was an outline of my bike & of me with the Letters D O S with the Tyme & Date!
I am missing a part of my left ear, ( Looks like Mike took a Bite ) I have scars on my left shoulder & back, The Doctor's that put my face back together did a bang up job! I have some very minor scaring here & there.

BUT the thing is, I laid my bike down a couple weeks or so earlier, & walked away with some scrapes, & I wasn't wearing any gear that day either!
Evidently, I Hadn't learned anything that day!

Last nite, I started to put shorts on to go to Bike Nite, Instead I put jeans on, & dug out a pair of New Boots I tossed in the back of my closet because they hurt my feet, I don't "Yet" have a riding jacket so a T-Shirt had to suffice, & I donned my Full-face helmet! BTW I am Very Clostrophobic, & still wear it!

Almost Dying, & having had the ability to have atleast minimized the Injures to myself HAS Changed My View on Riding gear!

To any & all!
Don't be a Bone head & think It can't / won't happen to you, Ride Smart & Ride Safe!

 

All I can say is...WOW! What a remarkable woman, for her to go through all of that and then turn around and get back on a bike, all the while trying to promote safety and rider education!!

I sent this link to my sister. At 48 She has decided that she wants to learn how to ride a motorcycle, she signed up for riding classes, which is a good start.

 

This is a good topic; but never forget this: NEVER ride a motorcycle without your gear. Helmet, gloves, boots, jacket, and decent pants are an absolute must. ALL the gear, ALL the time. Darwin will claim another one, and it will be you, if you don't.

 

Yeah man, Jeans and a t-shirt will do you about as much good as a negligeé when you eat pavement. In two years and 3,000 miles of riding so far I have never ONCE operated a motorcycle without a full face helmet, armored leather riding jacket, abrasion resistant pants, heavy leather boots, and riding gloves, no matter how hot it was outside. Sweat is cheaper than blood. WHEN (not if) I go down I'd prefer to keep my skin on and my joints in the same number of pieces they started out with.

I wish you well gearing up, dude. Easier than ever with the number of options out there. Just don't be tempted to make safety compromises for the sake of fashion/comfort/price. Your body is worth more than that, respect it!

 

"I Will BE" Purchasing an Armored Riding jacket, & Riding Gloves Prior to riding my bike again!
Had to go take the Ole-Girl out for the first tyme, & is out of my system now. In fact could have gone riding tonite, with a group of riders, I said NO, & ended up going in my truck at the back of the pack.
I WILL continue to wear the Boots till I buy better, Hell if I wear them a while they may end up working out? (I hate boots)
Riding Pants will be something I look into when I feel comfortable enough to do any real distance riding.
Don't forget I am riding a 1st. Gen, & as such, I will not be leaning down anywhere near enough to drag a knee. :tongue: ( I Know its not about Knee draggin! )

 

Lad, nothing stopping a good rider from draggin' knee on a Gen 1 Interceptor. Properly setup they can be pretty frisky.

As far as the gear goes, I got my leather pants from an online friend for less than fifty bucks - fifteen years ago. My armoured leather jacket was under a hundred online, it has good vents and a liner, and is as good as most anything. Shop around and you should be able to find good boots for about a hundred and good gloves for less than half that.

Keep in mind I've never actually tested these garments; but a pretty close examination shows they're of stout materials and construction - good enough to get me on the track for a few track days. Don't be swayed by elitist crap. Ask around. Shop the web. Watch for clearance sales. Get the gear.

 

Good to hear you're sticking to your guns on this, man. If you absolutely MUST wear jeans, Duluth Trading Fire Hose jeans offer decent abrasion resistance, and they make a "logger" style with a double front patch on the leg. No armor, but you can always put some strap on stuff underneath. WebBikeWorld did a review a while back: Fire Hose Logger Pants - webBikeWorld

Carhartt makes a similar product as well I believe. Duluth has a much better warranty though.

Also, if you don't mind the look, Red Wing Logging boots are about as comfortable as boots get, and tough as nails. I wear them for work and riding, otherwise I wear Double H harness boots.

 

Nice tits, but really what the fuck do you expect from a 120mph get-off?

I've got 100k miles on the VFR and 20K on the XR, and those are just the bikes in the garage right now. I commute 60 mi RT every day, so the gear I use is all about managing risk. Even in this shitty state (WA), its just no FUN riding with so much gear on. I wear textile jacket/pants/gloves and boots every day on the slab, but when I pop out on the weekend typically wear jeans and a t-shirt. And for the ATGATT disciples, this isn't any different from the pedal bikers using the same roads wearing only spandex :yuck:

 

You expect a pile of meat. In multiple pieces. Knowing several friends/family who work fire rescue has taught me that this is a far more common result at these speeds. Brittany was VERY lucky she left with only the injuries she did.

So because you haven't been burned yet you should keep sticking your hand in the fire? Some people binge drink or chain smoke till they're 80 sucessfully. Doesn't make it a good idea.

This statement is so incredibly moronic I can't tell if you're actually trolling or not. I sincerely hope you are.

So....you ride under 25 mph on the shoulder any time you ride without gear? Not that that would eliminate risk, mind you, because cyclists regularly get broken bones and severe road rash from 25 mph accidents, just like motorcyclists do.


Bottom line is it's your body, and you choose to protect it as much or as little as you like. Just please don't try to make paper thin excuses to justify yourself, belittling others who actually choose to protect themselves in the process.

 

Yeah, I'm a troll you :censored: - look at long I've been on this board.

I don't have any FUN riding when it's 80+ degrees and sweating like a pig. YOU can wear whatever you want, don't preach to the rest of the adults who make our own choices about ATGATT - That's holier than thou attitude of :asshat: like you.

Ever bother to look at what MC cops where in the summer? Short sleeves. Ever seen bicyclists going down hill? 50mph is pretty easy. Both of these can get fucked up if they crash; that's not a "paper thin excuse" but managing risk to what works for me. With over 200K miles riding for 35-yrs, I'm being realistic that when I ride for fun, I'll take certain chances that others might not.

 

:flamer:

:tsk: Anyone who really understands the statement "managing risk" also understands that the risk is the same every time you ride (per trip - statistically). So... just taking off on a quick weekend trip to, say the corner convenience store exposes you to the chance you will end up shiny side down, and while you may not be going 120, sliding on the asphalt at 45-50 with the weight of the bike on your leg and side will still be pretty good at flaying off mostly unprotected skin. :rip: As far as the FUN factor, I would still rather sweat than bleed - how much FUN is an extended hospital stay with debriedment of damaged tissue? :scared: You can't reasonbaly suggest that riding a bicycle (manifestly human powered) with cycling gear is equivalent to riding a motorcycle - with respect to the severity of damage from contact with the pavement. You can examine a bicycling helmet & compare it to a motorcycle helmet and draw that conclusion - less energy is usually involved. Yes, road rash is a possibility on a bicycle, but the speed is usually under 30, and the energy which would be dissipated on the pavement is significantly less than typical motorcycle speeds.

Do what you want :drama: (why not just wear the minimum clothing necessary for public "decency" -no shirt, speedo & flip-flops w/helmet, if it's required in WA, or dispense with it - if it isn't :vanity: ), but it does not help the motorcycling community at all for you to encourage other riders to increase their risk of road rash in an incident. ATGATT protects a rider from road-rash primarily, and secondarily from minor impacts. Like it or not, others follow the behavior they see. We can choose to either be good examples of what to do, or we can choose to model the behavior of the squids. :der:

 

:crazy::chaingun::crazy:otstir::hss:
we todd did. I am sofa king we todd did.
...lol, now say that three time fast before you "go for a ride" without gear.

 

Too damn funny! ound:

 

Never took a statistics class eh?

You really think that most people couldn't get a bicycle to get up to 45-50 mph down a hill? Out here they are on I-90 and Hwy 2 all the time. Regardless, the most typical type of accident motorcyclist and bicyclists are involved in (that aren't single vehicle -ie rider error), occur from opposing traffic making left turns crossing the lane of travel, and where the speed involved is typically much less, since these are typically secondary roads or arterials (25-35mph), not limited access highways (55-80mph). In this regard the speeds, and hence the damage, can be similar.

ATGATT is unrealistic for the vast majority of riders and figuring out which gear is appropriate for the type of ride is more important than just parroting ATGATT. If you can't see the difference between this or flips, a wife beater and a speedo, you're just not that bright.

 

Nobody asked your Mom what she thinks.....:flame:

 

ATGATT is a concept that is all about basics and making good choices. We're talking helmet, gloves, jacket, acceptable pants and shoes. Are jeans the safest choice? Absolutely not. Are they better than shorts? Most certainly. Is a t-shirt as good as nothing at all? Pretty much.

At a time when a mesh jacket with armor can be had for as little as $50 online and gloves are less than $30, there is no excuse for not wearing decent gear in any weather conditions. When I was young and broke, I still had a leather jacket. If it was crazy hot, I made the choice to ride in a shirt and jeans. Back then, the mesh jackets didn't exist. I wish they had.

Either you choose to consider for safety, or you choose not to. You are not a new rider. You have two bikes. You CAN afford to purchase multiple pieces of gear for the conditions you ride in. If you have a textile jacket and choose to wear t-shirt and pants, you are just choosing to trade off your safety for your concept of "fun". You would like to call it risk management, but in truth it is just a poor safety choice. If you publicly announce that you like to make poor safety choices for the sake of "fun", then be ready for criticism. Especially when you choose to post about your poor choices in a thread that is about the very unpleasant result of making poor safety choices.

Jose

 

My bad, I should have said probability. The probability of an incident is the same every time you leave your house.


Motorcycles don't need a hill to see 45-50. Your average bicycle rider won't hit 50 once a year, and usually ride under 25. Your average motorcyclist who rides on a regular basis will exceed 50 often. Bicycle racers going down hill may hit 50 regularly, even though they rarely exceed 30 on the flat. Motorcycle racers usually exceed 100 on most tracks - almost every lap. Racers vs racers comparison is different from the casual rider vs the casual bicyclist. So what's your point.

As far as ATGATT being unrealistic, I guess it depends on your view of realism. Spending several thousand dollars on a motorcycle, and then not spending a few hundred on decent, appropriate riding gear just sounds "not that bright"

 

This is all true - how about starting with the OP. 120mph with a chick on the back-no amount of safety gear makes that smart. It's all true that limiting this only to "safety" it's a poor choice, but in the real world there are other aspects as well. I've broadly defined that as "fun". I like riding on a sunny day with a tee-shirt.

Maybe another example - my XR sees not a insignificant amount of time on the dunes. Know what I wear there? Boot (typical dirt bike boots) shorts/tank top and helmet. Know why? Cuz if I crash its in....wait for it......sand. That's my point. Know where you're riding, what the risk is, what your comfort level is, and dress for that. ATGATT to run to Charbucks is only for posers.......