Protective Gear Poll

unclebill98

JohnnyCrash wrote: »

Life's not always black and white.

Sometimes I nip down to the local shops with nothing on but a helmet ... sometimes with my son on the back ...

madness??
Maybe, maybe not..

Consider:

1 Thats all fine and dandy if you were the only one on the roads.;)

3. I find full face helmets more dangerous .. my peripheral vision is very restricted with one ...

...not black .. not white .... GREY

I would have been the same about gear and short trips. The problem is yes you feel like you'll be ok, but it's thenfact that others can crash into you.

I live in the countryside so it may be different. Was out in Dublin city centre last weekend, felt safer cause of the low speed but when the traffic got thicker I was more aware and felt much safer with the whole hog on.

As for the helmet, I love open face. But they offer little protection in the wrong kind of fall. I recently bought the new Shark lid, apart from not seeing the tank my side vision has not suffered at all.

goldie fish

seanybiker wrote: »

Have the holy water meself. Mother is some woman for it even though I'm not religious.

It won't hurt, and it's no load.
One never knows....

seanybiker

Helmet,jacket,gloves and boots

goldie fish wrote: »

It won't hurt, and it's no load.
One never knows....

That's it yeah. Keeps the mother happy anyways

honeybadger

Helmet,jacket and boots

last bike i had had holy medles cable tied to the subframe under the passenger seat,quiet liked that to be honest,,and going back a few years ago i had a mate whos nan would throw a bottle of holy water over any new bike i came up on as like in baptising it lol has me thinking should i keep one of those new rosary wristband thingymabobs on one of the mirrors on me new bike

eurofoxy

have a question about armour inserts in jackets and this seemed the best place to put it,
I have a gore-tex jacket and pants they are the same make etc,.
I found out that the hip protector is not CE approved and in the opinion of the sales man very few have ce approved protectors on the hips, and also the back, i do also have a seperate back protector

I was thinking about upgrading the armour to knox or something else, is it common to upgrade the tempafoam to proper armour??

Tigger

Yes you should and I always do

inchiuvatu

i cant preach that im an ATGATT kinda person all the time, considering i wore jacket gloves and helmet to drive my bike 200m from the bike mechanics to my house today but 95% of the time i am.
Your no more likely to have an accident that ISN'T your fault with or without gear.. but i wonder if extra protection entices people to take more risks even sub-consciously making them more prone to single vehicle accidents, i know i drive alot safer with less gear on even though im less protected from other people stupidity... i need all the gear to protect me from my own i guess.

Del2005

inchiuvatu wrote: »

i cant preach that im an ATGATT kinda person all the time, considering i wore jacket gloves and helmet to drive my bike 200m from the bike mechanics to my house today but 95% of the time i am.
Your no more likely to have an accident that ISN'T your fault with or without gear.. but i wonder if extra protection entices people to take more risks even sub-consciously making them more prone to single vehicle accidents, i know i drive alot safer with less gear on even though im less protected from other people stupidity... i need all the gear to protect me from my own i guess.

That's the reason why car deaths aren't dropping as much even thought they are getting much safer.

Back to the question. When I rarely go out without full gear I'm more aware of how more vulnerable I am and so do take it handier as opposed to pushing harder when wearing all the gear. I know my limits, it's the other road users I'm worried about.

Alkers

Helmet,jacket,pants,gloves and boots

Del2005 wrote: »

That's the reason why car deaths aren't dropping as much even thought they are getting much safer.

I don't think that is true. That would mean that people are driving more dangerously as car safety has increased - this would surely lead to a higher % of accidents (albeit not fatal) per capita.

rat_race

I've haven't been riding long...I had been ATGATT, until today (oh, plus earplugs, wind roar can deffo damage your hearing).


As a lot of people mentioned, putting on all the gear is far from ideal. Going places with the gear on (i.e., meeting someone at the cinema, restaurant, etc.) is also far from ideal. My gear is in no way casual. It's bulky and due to my short-ish (5 foot 7") size, my pants are extra wide (only available at the time, but snug over a pair of jeans) and awkward. I love getting out of them.

I have turned invitations down because I had nowhere to dump my gear. If I'm planning something I always have to think "hmm, but what about my gear..."...

Today I had to goto a physio at lunch. I didn't wear my trousers or proper boots. So I was in jeans and my casual boots (which themselves aren't tooooo bad).

It was so much nicer and quicker just hopping on with jacket + helmet + gloves. No ear plugs, boots, trousers, buff. No need to carry a load of gear to the toilets to get changed (in work). No need to get dressed/undressed (twice basically) for the physio...

I'm in a debate with myself now if I'll allow myself do this for short, low-speed, city spins, more often. Because the bottom line is, if I'm ATGATT, the bike will be a small bit less useful to me; I'll avoid some trips, subconsciously because of the hassle involved (please, no comments about the hassle of skin grafts - I know;))...

Perhaps when I get a bigger bike, with proper storage, the gear issue might be less of a problem for me.

One thing I'm surprised about is that there's almost a stigma attached to non-ATGATT folk (universally), and everyone says all you need is a crash at 30k/m. But what about cyclists? I'm a keen cyclist and can often exceed 30km/h, up to 60km/h sometimes...no protective gear, bar a helmet, for us...

Alkers

Helmet,jacket,pants,gloves and boots

rat_race wrote: »

I've haven't been riding long...I had been ATGATT, until today (oh, plus earplugs, wind roar can deffo damage your hearing).


As a lot of people mentioned, putting on all the gear is far from ideal. Going places with the gear on (i.e., meeting someone at the cinema, restaurant, etc.) is also far from ideal. My gear is in no way casual. It's bulky and due to my short-ish (5 foot 7") size, my pants are extra wide (only available at the time, but snug over a pair of jeans) and awkward. I love getting out of them.

I have turned invitations down because I had nowhere to dump my gear. If I'm planning something I always have to think "hmm, but what about my gear..."...

Today I had to goto a physio at lunch. I didn't wear my trousers or proper boots. So I was in jeans and my casual boots (which themselves aren't tooooo bad).

It was so much nicer and quicker just hopping on with jacket + helmet + gloves. No ear plugs, boots, trousers, buff. No need to carry a load of gear to the toilets to get changed (in work). No need to get dressed/undressed (twice basically) for the physio...

I'm in a debate with myself now if I'll allow myself do this for short, low-speed, city spins, more often. Because the bottom line is, if I'm ATGATT, the bike will be a small bit less useful to me; I'll avoid some trips, subconsciously because of the hassle involved (please, no comments about the hassle of skin grafts - I know;))...

Perhaps when I get a bigger bike, with proper storage, the gear issue might be less of a problem for me.

One thing I'm surprised about is that there's almost a stigma attached to non-ATGATT folk (universally), and everyone says all you need is a crash at 30k/m. But what about cyclists? I'm a keen cyclist and can often exceed 30km/h, up to 60km/h sometimes...no protective gear, bar a helmet, for us...

Pick up a pair of Kevlar jeans, you can get them with padding to put in them and wear them for all your "casual encounters"
I wear a pair daily to college as I've no where to change, if it's raining just a simple pair of waterproof bottoms over the top of them that I can stash under the seat. It's never too awkward to stash the jacket on the back of a chair or whatever and leave the lid on a chair beside you or at your feet.

Kev.OC

I've only been riding a month or so, and more often than not it's all the gear. But today, nice and sunny, had to run to the shop for milk, so chose jeans rather than the proper pants. Definitely more careful to take the corners a bit easier when you've no pads on the knees.

Kevlar jeans (for me anyway) definitely seem like the way to go for the warmer summer weather.

arybvtcw0eolkf

In work I'm all the gear minus the gloves (even in winter), I'm really busy and can't be arsed pulling them on and off all day.

On my own bike its a mixture, but 80% of the time its helmet, jacket, gloves (this time!), boots and denim's.

When the weather gets a bit cold I throw an ol' pair of combat pants over my jeans.

amacca

everything in poll + back protector

all super stylish tho:D

AgileMyth

Helmet,jacket and boots

Since this thread was started I've upgraded from a 125 to a 650 and for some reason have started wearing more protective gear. I'm 'all the gear all the time' now, if nothing else it allows me to head off anywhere at any time when I take the notion to.

Last week I got on the bike to come home from work and ended up 200km in the wrong direction!

goldie fish

AgileMyth wrote: »

Last week I got on the bike to come home from work and ended up 200km in the wrong direction!

It happens