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Interesting post on the reasons for wearing riding gear

13K views 56 replies 37 participants last post by  EYVoom 
#1 ·
The Why’s of Motorcycles: Gear
 
#3 ·
Yeah whats the old saying, Dress for the slide not the ride or something along those lines? because lets face it no matter how safe we try to be, or how safely we drive the majority of us at some point or another have either been in a crash or are going to be involved in one, whether by our fault or not is irrelevant it happens
 
#4 ·
I wear no protective gear other than a helmet and gloves in the winter and sometimes I'd go without a helmet. Iv been doing it for 25 years but I'm a smart which translates to making good decisions when I'm on the bike. That does not mean I'm immune to the actions of others but it helps me access the risk.
I read here where new riders are scraping the pegs on their new cbr250s on public roads and doing 90mph on the highway.Those types of riders are at a much greater risk of being in or causing an accident.

The fact is smart people have a huge advantage. The majority of accidents are caused by dumb people. Figure out what group you belong to and dress accordingly.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Don't mean to gang up here but being a smart rider is not the be all, end all. I doubt you will find a single professional race car/bike rider that is willing to ride without gear or a seatbelt. They realize they are great drivers but there are so many factors out of their control they wouldn't dream of risking their skin on something that stupid.
I guess it's like trying to explain that helmets are a good idea to Gary Bussey or that the HANS device is a good idea to Dale Earnhardt! By the time the point is made it's too late.
Try rationalizing that it wasn't your fault when you have to operate your wheelchair with a blow tube!
 
#9 ·
There was another thread on this subject about a month ago. Here's the link and my story is #43.

http://www.cbr250.net/forum/honda-cbr250-general-discussion/7182-wear-gear-5.html#post101484

It doesn't matter how safe and careful you are riding. Crap happens. Smart riding can prevent some accidents. In my case, the only thing can could have prevented it was not riding that day. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did everything right and if it wasn't for my gear I would not be here today to write this.

It has been over 5 weeks and I am still healing. My bike was totaled and today I will be depositing the insurance check.
 
#10 ·
Cases in point:

Just this year around here we had a guy lose control for some reason and run into pole. He hit his head on the pole. He had no helmet and even though he was talking to the paramedics at the scene he died on the way to the hospital.

Another guy had someone pull out in front of him and had head injuries because when he slid into the side of the SUV he slammed his head on it. No helmet.

Goyble, those are what we call squids. Smart riding will not prevent road rash, head injuries or other peoples dumb driving.

If you think your smarts or skills will save you, then you are in the dumb category....
 
#13 ·
I've got a friend, a 33 year old man, who is smart and responsible. Two weeks ago a car blocked his way and he fall down to the side walk. He was wearing an armored jacket but nothing else. The result? safe & sound up the hip and a nasty injury on his right knee. Being smart and responsible didn't protect his knee and that 's the hard way to learn it.
 
#14 ·
Yet somehow, Goyble has survived riding for over 25 years.

I won't leave without a helmet, myself, but, that doesn't mean that I will criticize someone who choses not to wear a helmet. All consequences come home; if he is sufficiently careful, his only consequence is a slightly longer ride time. :cool:
 
#15 ·
I can see both sides of this argument. I know some people who wear all the gear all the time and they're always falling off. I know some folk who don't, and they're usually more careful. Me? I wear all the gear most of the time. I'm always fully suited and booted when riding in heavy traffic, or on Motorways (which is most of the time), but in the summer, when it's hot, and I'm riding on quiet, slow roads, I'll just wear my crash helmet (which is law in my country), and whatever else I'm wearing at the time. I'm aware of the risks, I have been knocked off my bike once, in over 30 years of riding, and I was wearing all the gear when it happened. I was riding in busy traffic. My gear did protect me from what could have been worse injuries than I sustained. I think it's up to individuals to make their minds up what they wear when they ride. I do get the impression that some riders think that it's OK to ride like a racer on the road if they're wearing full leathers, but in reality, all that will protect you from is road rash. Bones will break whether you're wearing leathers or not. ;)
 
#16 ·
It comes down to whether or not people think about what could happen. You could be the best motorcyclist in the world and still dump the bike going around a corner because of oil, sand, or a car pulls out in front of you, or animal runs out in front of you. The point is not everyone will have an accident on their bike but a lot of people will and if you one of the ones that does than you will be better off if your wearing gear. People become complacent because they ride for a number of years without incident, but it can happen at any time. Yes, its a pain to put on the gear, especially when it takes me longer to put the gear on than the ride will take, but I always do because I think about what could happen.
 
#21 · (Edited)
One more

CAÍDA AUTOPISTA MED-BOG - YouTube


The guy on the video wrote this. I translate literally:

"Hey Folks, I'm all road rashed, my ass, my foot toes, elbow, my right hand is decomposed and my left foot is burnt because the exhaust fall over it.
Guys, you don't know the hell I'm in right now. every time they clean the wounds I chill, throw up, I feel dizzy and then it comes the fever!

Every body movement is painful, I regret I learnt to use riding gear the hard way. Nobody learns from other's mistakes but if you are willing to...then....dress always like robocop. Thanks for your support"

P.S. The reason for the fall was oil on pavement.
 
#22 ·
Most of the gear most of the time. I have survived road rash and broken bones because of riding. There were times I wished I had more gear and others that my gear literally saved my life. Am I smart? Dumb? or just a guy who has enjoyed riding longer than most of you have been alive? We ride because it is fun. If it were totally safe it would lose some of the fun factor, at least for me.

And remember, half of the people are below average intelligence. Are you one? Do the math. ;)
 
#24 ·
I wear my gear, all of it, everytime. It makes me feel better knowing if, God forbid, something should happen, I am prepared to come out of it in the best shape I can. Ride to crash, I think pigtrail said that, I think about those words everytime I get on and many a time when I'm in my car. I put my helmet, goves and jacket on when I rode the cycle around my duplex to the alley behind to put it in the garage.

Besides white Shoei Qwest, black and white leather gloves, Teknic chicane leather jacket in white/red/black/silver, black leather chicane pants and black Fly racing boots, I look cool, like crazy cool man.
 
#25 ·
I've been following this thread for a while, there was another thread, http://www.cbr250.net/forum/cbr250-...58-when-did-you-start-riding-motorcycles.html
with a poll on it, as far as I can tell I've got the most time of anyone sitting on a bike. I started at 9, and through the years I've ridden in all kinds of weather, in a lot of environments, in the US and in Korea.
I'll never deny that the equipment will protect you when you go down, my objective is to avoid needing them in the first place. I've been successful at that, so far for better than half a century, 55 years, actually. About 30% of people in that poll have fewer than half the months riding than I have years. Back in those days leather was the protective gear available, and it usually was heavy horsehide. The boots were engineer boots and I still have the pair I bought when I was in high school. Helmets were more akin to football helmets, very heavy and not very comfortable, for even just a few minutes. Gloves were primarily what ever you could get at the Western Auto store, or the local hardware store.
I rarely wear a helmet, now, because I hurt my back in Korea while taking care of a guy that had been in a bike wreck outside of Yong-san, he'd been wearing a helmet, and the regular padding offered by the bike jacket, and leather chaps, but the truck that ran into him hit him flat sideways in a t-bone type of accident. his femur had been sheared in half by the front of the truck. His mistake was that he had been under the influence, and thought he could make it through the intersection, his judgement time, and reaction time were altered by his liquor consumption. He got one of those golden breaks that sent him home to the states.
I said that just to say good judgement is absolutely the best protective equipment. 55 years, and 2 times down on the street, once when I bought my first Vespa scooter, I was living on a long gravel road, I'd had the bike about a week and really hadn't realized that little tires don't make for good traction, I went down at about 5-8 mph, and pulled gravel out of my arm for several days, my second time was in winter in Aurora, CO, approaching an intersection, just before I-225, a loop around Denver, under the bridge where there was a long strip of black ice, a car exiting the loop started sliding through the red light, I punched it a little too much and the bike, a two-stroke Kawasaki 400, started sliding, then went down, my reaction time was better then, I climbed up on the side of the bike, and rode it maybe 60-70 feet, picked the bike up, and finished the last couple of miles to the hospital I worked at.
Experience is far more useful to a cyclist than fancy clothing, or head gear.
There is room for both thought lines, geared and not geared. I hear many of the younger riders using terms like grinding their pegs, 90 mph, riding the edge of their tires, etc. I've been to wrecks where the peg grabbed, spun the bike and sent the rider of in a flat spin. At 90 miles an hour a low flying bird can take you down to your death, I've seen reference to racing for bikes and stock cars wearing protective gear, and well they should but those drivers are maneuvering their vehicles to within inches of each other, they know that they're driving in a calculated, constant state of controlled chaos, they also know that the driver in the other car, is also well versed in the art of chaos.
How many of you climb into your Toyota Camry, or Dodge Ram, secure your 4 point seat-belt, attached to the roll cage, throw your helmet on over your flame retardant jump suit, with Kevlar gloves, none, I'll wager.
We accept a certain amount of risk when we place ourselves into a situation where we will be in a state of interaction with other motorists.
We got a call when I was in Germany to get on a helicopter, there was an armored personnel carrier that had flipped over on the autobahn. All on board were killed, they were just getting back from a training exercise, they all had protective headgear on but it was to no avail. Being aware of the environment will carry you a whole lot further, safely, than an armored coat, Kevlar gloves, or even that high dollar, reflective taped, aggressive looking helmet.


Doc
 
#27 ·
Helmets were more akin to football helmets, very heavy and not very comfortable, for even just a few minutes. Gloves were primarily what ever you could get at the Western Auto store, or the local hardware store...I said that just to say good judgement is absolutely the best protective equipment...Experience is far more useful to a cyclist than fancy clothing, or head gear...I hear many of the younger riders using terms like grinding their pegs, 90 mph, riding the edge of their tires, etc. I've been to wrecks where the peg grabbed, spun the bike and sent the rider of in a flat spin...How many of you climb into your Toyota Camry, or Dodge Ram, secure your 4 point seat-belt, attached to the roll cage, throw your helmet on over your flame retardant jump suit, with Kevlar gloves, none, I'll wager...Being aware of the environment will carry you a whole lot further, safely, than an armored coat, Kevlar gloves, or even that high dollar, reflective taped, aggressive looking helmet.
Doc

Equipment has come along way. Moderen cars don't require all the safety equipment you mention because of the advances they've made since '63. Pegs flex now for just such a situation. And experience and being aware won't keep your brains in your skull, or your skin on your muscles when you go down because some other driver hit you when you didn't expect it, or some other unforseen situation. Thanks anyway, but I'll keep my "fancy" clothes.
 
#26 ·
I tend to like my skin where it should be so I gear up, I have raced dirt bikes, top fuel dragsters, & many types of race cars in the last 30 yrs & I wouldn't get in or on one of these toys without gear on. As for cruzin in the family shopping trolley I don't think it's used the same way to require harnesses, helmets etc. but hey if you don't want to wear it it's your skin or life, live it how you want.
 
#30 ·
I still think its better to dress for the crash & not need it rather than say in hind side " if only I had my gear on today". 20 odd yrs ago I was racing a hq Holden at Oran park, exiting the last turn before the strait I lost the rear after being tapped by another car, it turned me into the wall @ 175kph, as you can guess it hurt like hell, now sitting in a mangled ball of steel with a broken neck in 2 places & 3 broken vertebrae in my lower back it catches fire. Without the gear I had on at the time & quick response from the fire crew I wouldn't be here. I'd raced a full season without even a panel dent but when I needed the gear to save my life it did its job.
Don't get me wrong I also like the wind in my thinning hair lol but there are just to many clowns on the road that don't even look for a bike. I've had some nasty scrapes dropping the dirt bikes & can just think how bad it would of been on the road, it's like a cheese grater for your skin.
 
#31 ·
ATGATT is the safest way to ride. Having better skills does not change that fact. It is also a fact that many people in many parts of the world do not have access to real gear, but must use a motorcycle in their daily lives. Those people have no choice but to take a increased risk when they ride. However, their particular cultural and economic situations do not change the fact that ATGATT is the safest way to ride. Few, if any, here have ever said that ATGATT should be a law, so ride wearing what you want. Just don't kid yourself into thinking that it's the same or better than being geared up.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Justin Beiber setting the standard for all squids.
EXCELLENT. Have you got the legend that goes with the numbers? I'm not sure I got them all.

But let's give it a try:
1 - No abrasive protection, no impact protection, will puff like the Michelin man
2 - Not very sturdy, laces that can get caught and send the stupid dude flying
3 - No gloves - dumbass
4 - I'm not sure; was he dumb enough to remove the blinkers?
5 - Looks like a helmet to me, that's good
6 - Passing on the shoulder
7 - Bad feet position
8 - dunno; are the tires too worn?
 
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