Wouldn't be me or anyone I knew and cared about riding in anything less than Kevlar jeans, boots, gloves, jacket and helmet. However, law states only a helmet is necessary, so you can only call them an idiot for not having heeded warnings for suggested bike riding attire. And if they did come off, well, there isn't much room for sympathy really. Personally I would like to keep my skin where it is.
Agreed, its just common sense, doesn't need to be made law, but it needs to be stressed more maybe? anyway off to bed now, going for long ride tomorrow in all this heat, and i will still be wearing all my track gear, hey you can;t be too carefull
I think anyone that wears T-Shirt etc will only do so until they have an accident, I used to wear Jeans trainers etc but when i was 21 i came off and my foot got trapped under the bike and was dragged along (not for long or at any high speed) and my skin was taken off in seconds, it was the worst pain i've felt and i still have the scars on my ankle highly visable almost 20 years later, for that reason i always wear full protective gear, Textiles to commute and leathers to play, if its hot i wear my Tea Bag Textiles and it gives the feeling of T-shirt and shorts but with the added protection, I am one of those that cringes and comments when i see someone in sports gear when riding a powerful bike but only due to my expierience, if someone wants to ride like that then that is up to them, but i can assure you it only takes one small accident for them to never do it again!
It really is simple, its down to the individual to wear, freedom of choice, if you choose to smoke the chances are you might die of some form of horrific cancer, or maybe not, maybe just of old age, but everyone knows the risks and takes the choice. I personally choose to never wear less than full protective gear, but I have come off in less than that, never ever again for me! What I can say if you ride a bike in a t-shirt and someone makes you come off for whatever reason, your fault or not, its gunna friggin hurt, why? Because your skin lasts for 3 inches of road before its down to flesh and muscle, after that it gets more painful by the inch, so yeah, its not the law, but it still makes you a knob as a 50 yard slide takes a lot of your body away! When you have an open wound for the length of your leg and its got small bits of gravel all in it, trust me, they don't knock you out and sit there and pick it out with cotton wool and tweezers, they take a scrubbing brush to your leg like you would to the car or the floor, and its really friggin painful for weeks, and that's without breaking anything. Add that to your elbow and hand and its really bloody uncomfortable, so yes, I too was a knob for doing it, lesson learnt! I guess we all need our own lessons to learn properly, sometimes very painful ones, but its still our own choice. P.S. if a motorcycle cop stops you in t-shirt and shorts, the chances are he will give you the option of going home and putting something decent on, or going over your bike with a fine tooth comb looking for anything that he can nick you for, both me and a friend of mine have been given this choice in the past as they are fed up with scraping peoples skin up off the floor. And yes, the subject will always open a can of worms between safety and freedom, as many subjects will.
I had my visor up once and got hit in the face at 40mph by a bee i would wear a helmet just so that doesn't happen again never mind thinking of crashing i still have nightmares now the little Fu**er gave me a black eye
LOL, sorry, but that made me laugh, I had exactly the same happen when I was a lad (many moons ago) at about 50mph on a 125 when my lid was supposed to have a visor and it broke so I rode without one for a few months, bugger that hurt, a nice little shiner, but what really done it was a wasp going in my lid the very next day and stinging me in the ear
Haha i was foolish enough to lift my visor going through a tunnel on the A55 to hear the bike better, only to receive a full sized summer bee punch me in the face with its hole body
It's freedom of choice, or at least it sort of is for now. Their choice to wear what they want. My choice to think they are idiots to go out in jeans/shorts and t-shirts. World is health and safety crazy as it is and doesn't need more rules. Let Darwinism take it's course
Why the problem with the T-Shirt and flip flop brigade ? if it was your child or mine then I would be giving them a good talking to or kicking. But someone you don't know then they are not braking any laws. Just a helmet. I'm all for personal safety but as for others I could not give a toss. It's their skin and not mine. Sod em.
I'm all for freedom... but I just wish if someone gave themselves a stupidly-preventable injury, then they should have to pay for the treatment. Come off at 40 wearing good gear....... cost to NHS = a box of pain killers and some icepacks for the bruising Come off at 40 wearing shorts....... cost to NHS = hospital bed for a night or 3, lots and lots of dressings, lots and lots of pain killers, anti-septic creams, possible skin grafts, etc, etc... In the Gappysmeg Utopian Society (GUS, for short) nothing would be illegal for consenting adults, but if you abused this freedom and needed fixing (e.g. too much cocaine destroys your nose, abusing root vegetables without suitable lubrication, etc...) then the GUS Health Service (GHS, for short) would have no requirement to fix you up. But unfortunately, we don't live in GUS... although we could, if I could secure your vote.
I think we need to simplify this....... If you look like this, then t shirt & shorts ( the shorter the better) are fine dandooglydandy BUT....If this is you.....then it's a hanging offence....plain & simples
I had a spill last night a car driver decided to turn right from the left hand lane of a roundabout right in front of me speed was probably about 20 mph, I travelled over the car bonnet for a good few feet. Broken ribs, toes and massive whiplash bikes a write off including all my leathers and helmet but thank fook I was wearing them.
Well....driving home from work this morning along the main A road through the area, I could hear a bike catching me up. Loud exhaust, sounded like a twin cylinder, so I looked in the mirror to see what it was... And it was a Royal Enfield in Army green...14 reg...ridden by a bloke... Wearing a kilt...yes a kilt, which, obviously, was blowing up and about like a kilt will at 60 mph. He complimented it with a pisspot helmet and a leather jacket similar to the Top Gun photo above.. At first I was like WTF, and although I did think, "what a doyle" for taking a risk like that.... I actually LOL'd...certainly brightened up my morning drive home at 8.15 after a long hot 12 hr night shift. Just wish I had gotten a photo Incidentally...I got the suspicious feeling that he was being very traditional in the wearing of the kilt....if you know what I mean..
