Do you wear protective clothing?

[Nick Mystic]

I consider myself a cautious and safe motorcycle rider and I actively seek out information that I can use to ride more safely. I returned to riding a motorcycle this past August when I bought an '07 Suzuki M50 Limited Edition. Back when I first rode motorcycles nearly 40 years ago there was no such thing as protective clothing beyond a helmet,leather jacket and a pair of jeans. At least as a high school and college kid I had never heard of any such thing.

I recently read a story about a young woman who as a passenger flew off the back of a sport bike that was traveling at a very high rate of speed. She had no protective clothing beyond a poor fitting, too large helmet. I won't go into the details of her injuries, but as you can imagine she will never be the same again. She slid over 500 feet on the pavement before coming to a stop!

I ordered two different protective jackets and a pair of protective pants today from an online shop. One jacket was for winter use and one for summer use. I have two questions for forum members:

1) Do you wear protective clothing when you ride: all the time, sometimes, or never?

2) Do you make sure your passenger is wearing protective clothing before you take someone for a ride? If so, do you provide them with the clothing?

[Time4me2ride]

I'm sure you'll see the acronym around here a lot if you read many posts. ATGATT - All The Gear All The Time.

Goes for my passengers as much as for myself, maybe more.

[Jammer]

Originally Posted by Nick Mystic

1) Do you wear protective clothing when you ride: all the time, sometimes, or never?

2) Do you make sure your passenger is wearing protective clothing before you take someone for a ride? If so, do you provide them with the clothing?

For me ..and I am no role model...In the winter I am fully protected. But in the summer hot months I'd look like a Squid with no helmet, jeans..and a cut off t-shirt when I ride. On the highway I like a helmet due to the bugs. Passengers..I'm more of a..sleeze-ball. I more ride with ladies in the tight pants..or halter tops or bikini tops with the thong showing. It's schovanistic
but a guy..well maybe my son..and never my daughter...if you're gonna get on the back of my Gixxer..you're just plain gonna have to look good enough And dress the part. On my dirtbike..noone rides on the back. On the cruiser...I like them dressed alittle more down to earth..so alittle darker outfit like a bit of leather and thongs and shades.

[tricker]

Full helmet, leather jacket, leather gloves, jeans, and boots.. no matter the temp, no matter the weather. I haven't ridden 2 up yet but when the time comes they'll need the same as what i've got on.

[j_paul]

all gear, all the time...loss of work,broken bones, mental trauma, skin grafts etc, very painful and expensive...why not wear the gear

[oyrider]

The older I get, the better I dress. Older, wiser, more disposable income to buy the good stuff.

[ORBrit]

If it's not too hot, I'm in full gear - textile pants with armor, textile jacket with armor, boots, gloves helmet.

In the summer when it's above 75 degrees, I ditch the pants and my jacket converts into a mesh with armor. I switch to summer gloves.

My passenger (wife) rides with the same level of gear I'm riding with.

Good call on the two jackets - although my jacket converts from a full winter jacket to a mesh, it is not a good fit in the summer without the liners.

[amvince]

Full faced helmet, jacket with armour (most of the time), gloves, boots and jeans. My passenger will have the same.

[bodie27]

On a ride on the weekend came across an accident. Guy down off his gixxer. I had a first aid kit. He had two fingers torn off (Fingerless gloves) and a big crunch mark on the top of his helmet, as well as deep graze marks all over the front of the full face. Leg bent wrong. But he was all geared up so he was very lucky. Face ok, leather jacket and kevlar pants did their jobs, boots torn up but feet happy.
Except for his hand hopefully he'll be ok. One things for sure..even though its the tropics here, i'll be all geared up even more

[KD57]

I'm guilty of not gearing up all the time, depends on the mood and where I am going. Sometimes nothing but a pair of shorts, other times I look like a poster boy for OSHA.

[baltimorebayside]

I have a 3 season leather jacket with armor that I use. Last summer riding around the country I was in a t-shirt and shorts and tennis shoes....Something flew up my shorts and bit my a#$, actually bit the side of my thigh.......man did it hurt!!! I had a welt for a week!!!

I will use protective gear from now on.....Gloves, leather jacket, boots, probally jeans, I know jeans offer zero protection......and full face helmet....

My wife on the other hand is too concerned on looking good to be concerned with proper protection...........

dan

[Scribbles]

Completely dressed. I don't feel comfortable riding if I am not wearing all of my gear.

[Sandman]

In winter I am fully geared up all the time. In Summer, usually just a mesh jacket with armor, full face helmet and protective gloves. I will be adding a pair of mesh pants this year. I don't ever wear shorts when riding, so jeans & hiking boots at a minimum.

As for my passengers (wife & kids only) if they can fit in my spare jacket, they are free to use it, otherwise jeans t-shirts and tennis shoes are ok. They really don't ride often enough to warrant buying additional gear.

[DrBob]

The older I get, the worst example I am. I used to gear up in a full face, leather jacket, and protective pants all the time when I first started riding. 25 years later its usually a sleeveless denim shirt and cheap sunglasses. Where the law says I have to have one I wear a non-dot beannie.
LOL! Like I said, I'm a bad example!

[87gsxrnut]

Minimum:

Full face, Sidi Vertebra II Boots, Gloves, Leather Jacket, jeans.

Maximum:

Full face, Sidi Vertebra II boots, Gloves, Z racing leathers w/GP armor

I do wear the leathers on the street a lot.

- Nut

[themeatmanlandry]

Fullface helmet, armored jacket, jeans, steel-toed boots. Usually gloves.

[Uncle Bob]

More important question is have you taken a refresher course? Avoiding going down is much more important than what you're wearing.

So the question is what do I wear ? Fullface helmet, armoured jacket ( I have three depending on weather, from heavy duty, medium and mesh ), gloves, boots and draggin jeans which I intend to upgrade to something with a little armour.

Passengers must wear helmet, jacket, gloves, at least some jeans and closed shoes ( I have quite a selection of gear available around the house so size usually isn't a problem).

One thing to take into consideration is our ages, as we get older our ability to survive trauma diminishes. Have the exact same crash with the exact same same injuries at 25, 45 and 65 and the outcome might be very different. At 25 you may just walk out of the hospital after a short stay, at 45 that stay may be longer or you may die from your injuries and at 65 you may not even make it to the hospital.

So older riders shoul wear more gear, protect everything you can, from your head to your toes and everything in between with the best gear you can afford. Same for any passenger you care about.

[87gsxrnut]

One thing to take into consideration is our ages, as we get older our ability to survive trauma diminishes. Have the exact same crash with the exact same same injuries at 25, 45 and 65 and the outcome might be very different. At 25 you may just walk out of the hospital after a short stay, at 45 that stay may be longer or you may die from your injuries and at 65 you may not even make it to the hospital.

So older riders shoul wear more gear, protect everything you can, from your head to your toes and everything in between with the best gear you can afford. Same for any passenger you care about.

Good point UB.

- Nut

[intimid8er]

Summer=Pants + No Shirt

Winter= Shirt + No Pants

Works out well enough...

[Alex13]

In the winter I wear my jacket with full armor, full face helmet, gloves, and jeans.

Now the summer is different. I don't know how many of you have experienced a Georgia summer but they are freaking hot and I am way under dressed. I always go half helmet, and I actually rode in shorts and short sleeves on a couple of days. Not smart I know. I try to at least wear jeans if I can bear it.