Saw a fellow biker yesterday in Brighton, he was riding along looking like a mobile advertising hoarding for Dainese. Two-piece Dainese suit, Dainese lid, Dainese kneesliders, Dainese gloves, and an obviously brand new pair of Sidi Black Rain boots. I have to admit I was jealous, all the kit was black, not gaudy at all, and I reckon he spent more on his kit than I did on my motorcycle. Thing is, though, he was riding a 50cc Gilera scooter...badly. Now I fully understand that protection is important even at low speed, but surely this guy would have been better off spending all that dough on riding lessons rather than protecting himself from his own shoddy riding? And what brings someone to spending double on their kit than they did on the machinery? I'm an old-fashioned bloke, I don't see the need to dress like a power ranger every time I jump on a bike. I don't think about crashing, I think about enjoying the ride, and in the summer that means jeans for me. When I was younger my only bike 'kit' was my helmet, my riding gear was little more than a donkey jacket and whatever gloves I could find when the temperature dropped. Nowadays I too have Dainese kit, but I rarely wear it, I prefer my Triumph-branded Frank Thomas jacket, a comfy pair of jeans and short boots and gloves. I have been berated many times by other riders and the plod for my laissez faire attitude to bike clobber, but I honestly don't get the importance of it all. If you think about crashing every time you ride it's a fair bet you will crash. Then you can spout on about how you were right all along. So how far do you go? Are you trussed up like a leather turkey for every ride? Do you never leave home without your chest protector and airbag jacket? How much do you spend on kit? Or are you a biking pikey like me and go out in whatever it is you're wearing at the time?
Maybe his gear was for riding a proper bike and was just testing or taking the scooter for an MOT or something for someone else. As for riding the scooter badly, I took a 50cc Peugeot speed fighter for an MOT and my god it was scary, I instantly became invisible to cars and it just didn't behave as you'd expect it would. No wonder the kids bobble around all over the place on these things.
That all depends on how much you value your life have you seen what happens to a pair of jeans if you slide down the road in them ? Well when you come to a stop there not there anymore ...
I value my life a great deal thanks, and yes I know only too well what happens when you go down the road in all sorts of attire but am I going to put on my two piece to go to tesco half a mile away? No.
I watched two young moped riders yesterday tear through traffic wearing vest tops, shorts and trainers. Personally I would rather have seen the above Dianese air-bag suit bloke? I would like to think I dont take undue risks / stupid overtakes / wazz around at 100+ everywhere, the flip side of this is that I will probably get taken out by some 97 year-old wizened crusty old bat who cant see further than her bonnet, never mind hearing/seeing the 140dB bright red Ducati? Had a few close calls with the country roads around here with mud/diesel/gravel/floodwater/branches/animals/cyclists & other crap randomly jaunting around in the middle of the road? On that basis - that I probably wont fall off due to riding like an ass but will get taken out sometime by an act-of-God etc, I always go out now in leather jacket & trou's, gloves & back protector. Two weeks back we managed to get twenty miles out to Avebury, where I stopped with my mate for a drink - to find I forgot my back protector. Cue mild panic. I have removed the useless bit of foam from my jackets so I HAVE to wear a back protector? Started a bimble back home (with occaisonal moments of madness ) The truth: You will only need your kit should you chuck it all down the road? You have no idea when this will be? Could be a small bump in town, or a 120mph tankslapper into a truck? If you did know then you would be like "Fuck that!", stay off the bike and head down the pub for said time period. :wink: You - like me - are probably more worried about leaving Van Gogh-esque streaks of red & gold paint all down the road than you are of tweaking your arm? The bike wont heal itself... You - like me - will probably feel a LOT better in the 0.785 seconds between hitting that Corsa and hitting the road knowing you have good kit on and aren't going to tear huge chunks out of yourself for no real reason. :smile:
My opinion is that if it's there use it. Protection is top of my list to give me the best outcome of a situation I may find myself in. In my two incidents apart from back protector I have had full kit on. Injuries shoulders and knee Skin intact no other cuts or bruises. A slide across a main road twice in jeans I dread to think what I would have looked like. Each to their own usual
+1 The human body is not designed to travel faster than running speed, if you chuck it into tarmac at 80mph then jeans wont do fk all. Managed to hurt myself more in 11 years of mountainbiking than I ever have motorcycling? Touch-wood NO broken bones to date (re-arranged a few tho...), mainly due to wearing the correct kit when I did go down? Meet my esteemed friend and colleague Talan: Talan Skeels-Piggins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Got hit off his bike downtown at 30mph. The van then ran him over, breaking his neck and spine in several places, he is now in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, but as you can see still manages to ride a motorcycle from time to time? PURLEEEeeeeease dont give me that crap about "I'm just going downtown, I'll be fine"
I think you should use good protective clothing, however, I too am guilty of enjoying a cool beeze on the bike without being trussed up in leather like the sunday roast....So I cant lecture anyone...I have been riding the Strumpet to the gf's and back in a tee shirt and jeans.......
Not a chance of that, I'm afraid. You had to see him to appreciate it. The reason I'm asking this is because I'm off on me hols soon, and the natural approach would be to get out my bestest Daineses and clean them up ready for the trip. But I hate the whole dressing up malarkey just to go for a ride, it spoils a good ride for me.
I could not imagine going out on my bike with out putting all the gear on whatever the weather. IMO I think it should be a legal requirement for riding.
Many moons ago I was late leaving work so I put the bottom half of the two piece in my bag and strapped it on the back of the bike. 5 miles from home I slid off on a roundabout over the motorway. As the bike slid away there was strong smell of deisel. The jeans were ripped from the knee to the ankle and my skin went with it. It looked like a burn full of gravel and Diesel. Every day for 2 weeks I had to visit a nurse to have the wound cleaned and redressed and it was 2 months before I went without bandages. for most of that time I could't bend the leg. Do I ride in jeans or shorts not anymore
I can see where your coming from but what would spoil your holiday more? Chances are you will be fine do you take the chance I was 30 miles from home the journey in an ambulance was painful I never ever expected to be doing it but was soooo thankful I had the right gear.
I think it's a case of you pay your money and you take your chance. I've crashed in jeans and trainers and pretty much got away with it, just a bit of gravel rash on the hip. I've crashed in full leathers and broken my arm and dislocated my shoulder. I've lost two mates (one a police rider on duty) who were wearing full kit but they still died. The copper slid off on a roundabout and slid on his back head first into a lamppost, doctors reckoned an inch either way and he would have just had a bad headache, no real speed involved. Most of the time I wear full kit, but still will ride in jeans but modify my riding (ride slower and more cautiously). If it all goes tits up that's my problem, sometimes I think people feel invulnerable 'cos they're wearing full leathers and take more risks with speed etc. the only way to guarantee avoiding serious injury on a motorcycle is not to ride one, and let's face it, that ain't happening.
....or in a 2 ton tin box that some idiot decided to put a big label on saying 'NCAP Safety Award' ..... so they assume they cannot be hurt, or hurt anyone else! On topic: After a near miss 30 years ago wearing jeans/lightweight leather jacket (just the clothing damaged), followed by a mate doing similar but suffering major gravel rash (straight through his jeans, skin, and muscle!), I always wear proper leathers, but no additional stuff (back protect etc). Hot in the summer but I'd rather be sweaty than skinless. Riding a bike is a risk in itself, and serious injury may not always be related to clothing ... but gravel rash definitely is!
My experience of armour on and off track, is that it is too restrictive when wearing leathers........I also think that most body armour wouldn't really save you from injury in a serious prang.....certainly the armour that I have probably wouldn't (No, not Henry VIII's, but Protek). However, 99.9% of the time I wear leathers either full or two piece. I wouldn't entertain the idea of wearing fabric outer protection simply because it is too easy to penetrate with sharp objects. When a bike goes down in a serious prang, there are so many parts that become lethal (I found that out in a smack when a broken footrest went right through the sole of my boot and into the bottom of my foot.......12 stitches, thank you). Back to armour......leathers provide protection in places where armour can't be used, like armpits, crutch, backs of knees and it is just these unprotected areas I reckon the sharp objects are likely to find. Having slid down the track once or twice in full leathers (big one at Pembrey / Shellgrip surfacing...120mph approx) I was grateful the leathers stood up it no problem (hardly marked) and I walked away with just a bruised elbow....at the time I did have armour fitted...to forearms, shoulders, shins, chest........but of course it was my elbow that got the thump.... On the road, I found that fabric snagged on the road surface, which instantly bunched it up my arm, hence a huge graze. So yes, I do think some people overdo the protection....... AL.
There is only too little kit, not too much. A 100kg scooter smooshing your ankle to the tarmac at 30 mph in trainers will ruin it just as badly as any other bike. I do have different kit for commuting, and it is on cosmetic grounds to an extent, but its still leather armoured jeans and an armoured close fitting textile jacket. I still wear my Shark helmet and Sidi black rain boots and RST gloves simply because if I came off the Yamasaki at 60 mph its EXACTLY the same as coming off the Ducati at the same speed. you deserve the same protection, as you dress for the crash, not the bike. I will NEVER ride anything anywhere at any speed in jeans and trainers. I dont think my commuting kit looks too silly on the bike either, its pretty low key, and offers good protection. As with everything though, fit is critical, and about 80% of people I see in one piece suits are wearing them at least one size too big. but no, I wont wear my RTS 1 piece suit on it..........
For me, nothing wrong with jeans, gloves, some form of boot even if its Cat type ones and a proper jacket. Thats how you'll be seeing me riding the new bike 848 will be fully togged up for tho
The issue with me is versatility. If anyone says they get fully togged up for every ride, quite frankly, I don't believe them. It was not unknown for me to zip up the shops without even bothering to put a helmet on not that many years ago. There's no point in spending 20 minutes getting geared up for a 10-mile ride; by the time you put your lid on I'd be back... I guess the question is one of security. I'm confident enough in my own riding ability to not see the need for all that kit. Don't think I'm being bolshy by saying that, I'm never gonna say I'm a great rider, cos I'm not, but neither do I see every ride as my last. I see a lot of newer riders refusing to take any kind of chance at all, like the guy on the scooter, and want to find out what's brought on this mindset. It certainly wasn't the case when I started out. In most European cities the riders will still forego their leathers when the sun comes out, but I have to face a barrage of abuse when I do it in good old Blighty. I had a copper spend ages lecturing me on the perils of riding in jeans before I got a word in edgeways and explained to him about the kevlar underneath. I can't imagine a german cop dishing out the same grief. Their attitude would be, it's your skin, get on with it.
