if you zoom in , you can see his tax disk stuck to the sole of his left shoe. Nowhere else for it to go....
Just seen a guy on a Pikes Peak - open face helmet, shades, t-shirt, tennis shorts and flip flops........................no wonder they (medics) still know us as organ donors............. If he had fallen off I would have gone and helped - to tell him what a twat he was.
We can argue this until we are all fed up with it, but however you look at it, to get on a bike without some decent protective gear is just plain stupid and just makes it more likely that one day soon we will all be forced by law to wear full CE approved protective gear from head to toe.
@ antoyne - Answer for you - No, I don't ride a push-bike. And yes, I always wear a helmet. And just to clarify - I don't believe I said I find riding in jeans "unacceptable". I do, however, think it's stupid. Just my personal opinion. I am definitely NOT a "safety nazi". I'm all for personal choice and freedom. But I also believe in thinking about the effect that your actions may have on other people, and not doing anything that may adveresly affect them. And as for "we all know that speed kills" - that's just brain-washing BS from the government ! If that was true motorways wouldn't be the safest roads in Britain. INAPPROPRIATE speed kills - just as INAPPROPRIATE kit messes up the rest of your life.
What gets my goat is when the pro-protection brigade feel justified to call others... or or When in most cases they've never met or spoken to that person. That makes me so mad. Perhaps they're jealous. I think that the person who goes out in what they find comfortable are probably more confident riders who are less likely to crash than the Leather Boys. Sadly we don't have the figures to compare percentages. I think those who proclaim to wear full kit every time they ride are either lying, or so scared of their motorcycle they're highly likely to crash in the near future. And hey, if you're fat and over 50 (and you almost certainly are if you're here reading this), hop into your white/red/black Daineses and go and stand in front of a mirror, look yourself up and down for a while, and realise that you are the last person who should be judging other peoples' appearance...
As i said you are free to make your own choice. I didn't call you or anyone else stupid. I said i feel its' stupid to ride a bike without some decent protective gear. Not the same thing. You make your choice and i will make mine. What i can tell you is falling off hurts and has serious conseqeunces even if you are wearing the proper gear, its up to you entirely if you want to make that worse or not if you should fall off. I can guarantee that a doctor, nurse or paramedic will call you stupid should you need their services after falling off wearing shorts and a t shirt though.
when I was in my twenties, in the height of summer I'd have my leather jeans on, and a t-shirt with a full set of dainese upper torso body armour over the top and a sweatshirt or long sleeved t-shirt on top or that for when I was just commuting or going out for just a gentle ride - as to say not intent on going mental, and yes it felt liberating and glorious. For hooning there was always the one piece. Truth be told, I'd happily ride wearing that again but for one thing, and that is that I don't rate my own riding abilities to react quickly enough and to feel safe in my own capabilities. Now I truss myself up like a joint of beef for no other reason that I know I don't have the talent or reaction times of twenty years ago.
i've crashed twice, once on the road, once on the track. both times wearing the right kit has saved me from serious injury
I've crashed several times on the road in jacket and jeans and not suffered serious injury. This is the problem; some people seem to think that wearing anything other than full leathers mean you're automatically going to crash - it ain't so. And that by wearing full leathers they are fully protected - and that certainly ain't so.
but by wearing the correct protective gear you are less likely to injure yourself than if you don't wear it. its kinda the point of it... im not saying if you don't wear the right kit you are going to crash, or if you wear leathers you are somehow shielded from harm but i for one would rather be wearing it and not need it than need it and not be wearing it.
And the bike Cops wear short sleeved shirts, 'normal' trousers, no gloves and open-faced helmets (as they also do in France, Spain, USA etc.)
Life is full of little surprises. Could be gravel on the road, a tractor broken down on a blind bend, a diesel spill, a numpty driver. Or it could be my own lack of concentration or poor judgement. All I know is that when it occurs (and law of averages suggests it will, one day, in the normal course of events), I'd sooner be wearing the leathers and armour than a t-shirt and flip flops. I'd sooner be wearing a crash helmet than not, and in a car, a seat belt. I fell off once on a very hot summer's day, wearing a one-piece. Totally misjudged a corner which tightened up whilst I was going far too fast for it. Ended up in a field with an ill 916, but I was pretty unscathed. I wouldn't have been if I'd been in a t-shirt and jeans. Maybe I wouldn't have been going so fast (quite likely). Whatever. As they say, do what you want, but some things just seem like asking for trouble. It's just insurance, innit? I was on the Embankment once when I saw a motorcycle bite the dust on some diesel (by the Lambeth Bridge little roundabout, if I remember correctly). Rider and passenger in t-shirt. Christ that looked painful. It was a hot day and I don't think they were going fast. It was just one of those things. I dunno. I just tend to remember things like that.
Ja, aber die Deutsche bike cops wear leathers. Who is normally more organised, the Germans or the Spanish? Always thought the shirtsleeved bike cops are setting a futile example - what do they do in a high-speed chase? There was a programme on French TV about a year ago with plain clothes bike cops booking bikers for speeding on the Paris Périphérique. The cop pillion was wearing jeans, trainers, no gloves. They pursued one bike (at least) at over 100 mph, dodging in and out of heavy traffic. Bonkers! And then they gave the bloke a ticking off for speeding. Eh bien, ça c'est les Frogs, n'est-ce pas?
