It’s a free world we live in. But from a past experience in my teens offing a hired 125 in Greece because of a car on the wrong side of the road on a blind bend, in only a pair of shorts and flip flops and no helmet, the awful gravel rash has faded but the memory remains of spending the rest of the holiday in pain and not being able to swim in the sea. I also still remember the old boy on his cart that stopped and helped to wash out some of the gravel with juice squeezed from his fruit. I mostly full leather up, but have been known to just wear jacket, boot and gloves when just nipping somewhere which is why I am still considering a one piece suit rather than the two piece then I will have no choice and therefore be as fully protected as you can be. Just my two penny worth.
I'm stuck on both sides of the fence on this one. Half of me logically says wear full gear just in case, the other half says take the risk and enjoy the freedom. I lived on a tiny Greek island for 10 years and rode a Honda VT250, no helmet, no nothing, shopping bags hanging off each handle-bar.Everyone drank and rode home, saw police pick 2 drunk greeks up and put them back on a moped and send them on their way. Different times! Been riding here now for years and always kit up, but last week bought a pair of Draggin jeans and with the warm weather I'm sort of back in the European mode. How many bikes/scooters are their in Athens/Rome/Madrid and ridden without leathers? Different mentality. What about our lycra clad nemesis's who without an engine can easily pull 30 or 40 mph with only shorts/t-shirt and a 'skull-cap' for protection? No-one says they must wear leathers! It's all about freedom and risk. As long as if you hurt yourself you only have one person to blame.(Thats why I make my wife wear full gear on the back!)
Well I can't say I've never went to the petrol station prior to going out a run in just jeans and my leather jacket n boots as it's only 500 yards away. But I can honestly say I've never been out a run without either my textiles or leather suit on. I'm confident in my own abilities on the road and when it comes to other drivers and judgement of conditions and surroundings, this is something that I take pride in. After what happened to myself and my girlfriend on Sunday highlighted that no matter how careful you are there are still things you honestly can't control and I'm glad we had our gear on. Please don't take this as someone telling what everyone should do as that is not me, but personally I'm glad we had our gear on.
I was riding home from work today , sweating my bollocks off in dragging jeans and alpine stars leather jacket , boots and gloves and i passed a guy on a ZX10 in shorts and T shirt , trainers and no gloves at all .. Think this was bad ?? His mate was on the back in shorts , no top at all and bloody flip flops !! I wouldn't like to be the paramedic scraping those plunkers up of the floor
I was watching the Jersey Festival of Speed last night. Bloody good it was too. F1 cars blasting up and down the seafront in St Helier, loads of pukka, rare and very expensive cars and bikes on show. The thing was, it was about 25 degrees C at 9:00pm and people were saying "what the hell!" at lightening up big time, all for the sake of the party atmosphere. But every time I saw a geezer in shorts and tee shirt riding a super bike, I got that horrible shrinky winky feeling, like standing too near the edge of a cliff. So no, mate. I don't get it either. I'm not judging anybody who chooses to ride like it because it's their call, but it activates an actual physical reaction in me to see it. And when I clocked a geezer riding an S1000rr in flip flops, my mouth dropped open. I'm pretty certain it would actually hurt to change gear in bare feet even if I didn't fall off.
Its a free world let them carry on as long as it dont harm me its fine, i have traveled alot of europe and none wear leathers etc at best trainers on there feet if not flip flops. I once was stupid at 16 and on my fizzie went to the shops with a tshirt and shorts on for less than half amile i fell off and the pain for weeks after of the gravel rash made me never wear less than full textiles/leathers.
Saw a guy yesterday riding a Gixxer in just shorts and trainers... even at 25mph, naked skin on tarmac, its going to potentially require skin grafts to sort out! Years ago on holiday in Greece (Naxos), we were watching an absolute stunner riding her moped round the town centre wearing just a bikini... then, the inevitable happened. I reckon she hit the deck at no more than 15mph... her right side (mainly buttock, hip and thigh) looked like raw steak! Still, she had no end of people volunteering to help.......
