Heres mine, nearly lost my right hand racing a tuned rd80lc on my fs1e with ( yb100) tuned lump in.Racing thru the streets at 75-80mph a car pulled out and stopped.The rd80 lad Jonjon swerved into me avoiding the car and we both hit the road.When we came to a stop there was claret all over the road.The tank held my hand into the road for a good 50 metres or so and wore through the glove and most of the skin.Terminator it looked like with bits of skin here and there hanging off.After the gangerine problem I had too (bloody stinks) I am lucky I didn't lose it.I won't go through that again.It doesn't feel right riding without leathers and boots.Road rash of any sort bloody hurts especially when you have to clean out the dirt.
3 or 4 years ago i had my bandit 1200 for sale on ebay. was in work and the phone rang from a guy watching the advert ,asking about it and we,d struck a deal subject to him viewing first. he was in london and i,m in cornwall and he said he,d leave now and come down. turned up at my place around 7 ish cold, dark and torrential rain. done the deal and i drove the bike round to the front of our house expecting him to be in a van. his wife was sitting in there car he was in jeans and trainers he put on a cloth type fleece coat, helmet and off he went. i offered him my old waterproofs for nothing but he said nah i,ll be ok !! couldnt believe it at the time. stupid comes too mind!!
my gear for a run to the shops is the knox ageis back protector rst jacked, sidi boots and a pair of standard jeans.for runs its full leathers but have on the really hot days worn a t-shirt for the cruise down for an ice-cream. I found nappy rash cream best on road rash lol
I read an article in MCN about riding attitude and what we wear... jeans and a T and the guy was more careful. Full leathers and he was more confident at making progress... me - whatever I wear I ride the same - I always want to get home to my wife... have a cheeky little celebration drink for making it home in one piece then start looking forward to the next ride out -simple but true
I seen that article too,would have been a few summers ago. the reason I remember it was me an the bro an law wanted to test the theory so I duct-taped the sliders to some jeans and we hit the back roads.only reason I could see that would slow you down is how cold it gets.was funny seeing the double takes boys took when you passed them draggin knee lol
I would like to say that I put my back protector, Alpine Stars one piece, gloves and boots on every time I cock my leg over the bike, but if I am only just going up the road it would take me longer to get fully suited and booted then I will be on the bike so I tend to just sling on my spare leather jacket and gloves. But, every time I do it, I feel extremely vulnerable and nervous and cant concentrate, visions of low siding my RD250 on a fast bend when I was 17 flooding back into my mind and how painful it was lying in the road waiting for the ambulance whilst looking at the bone of my ankle and knee cap where the skin had worn away. I lost skin from my foot when my trainer was ripped off, leg and the side of my arse during the slide under the bike. I lost no skin from my upper body. The jacket (Lewis leathers, anyone old enough to remember them) was ruined but did its job and other then a broken collar bone all was good. I spent the next few weeks hobbling round the house naked from the waist down as I couldn’t bear the pressure of anything touching my arse, leg or foot. Every time the dressings where changed my girlfriend used to pick and wash more gravel out of the wounds that A&E had missed. The physical scars might have gone but the mental ones are still as fresh now as they were then. We live in the land of the free, or so we are ‘lied to’ believe, so everyone has a choice what they want to wear when riding a motorcycle and who am I to say what is right or wrong. I just wish I could be bothered to fully suit and boot every time as it would be a much more relaxed and enjoyable experience if I did.
Don't all flame me but I do believe that a main purpose of any true democratic society is impart and, where necessary, enforce rules that are designed with the best will to protect it's members. in a country of some 60 million plus people these rules have, again by necessity, to be generalised. Seat belts, crash helmets all save more people than they don't. And don't give me the ' I knew a bloke, come off his bike and his crash helmet made his brain slosh around and it killed him' stories because everybody knows one and they are as valid and ironic as somebody being killed by an exploding fire extinguisher. The rules are made to serve the greater good, no matter how cynical the lawmakers are. If armour became law, so be it and the figure would begin to show the validity. They wont save you from the ravages of a routemaster but neither would a Smartcar. If flourescent tabbards became law then further down the line there would be proof that occurrences of SMIDSYs would decline. How can this be a bad thing? There gets to be a point where we begin to make up reasons to not do a thing simply because we just don't want to be told to do it. It's good to be rebellious in spirit. That's why most of us ride bikes. but I just don't see any valid argument other than blatant obstinacy to not partake of the most protection you can when hurtling along with nothing but gyroscopic effect between your arse and A&E. And Freedom, you're not as old as you're making out. Lewis Leathers - Original and Best since 1892
Well I must be one of the lucky ones then. My leathers, helmet, boots and glove all fit me nicely and are comfortable to wear while riding my bike and passable comfortable for the short amount of time I need to be in them when I'm not riding it. It's all comfortable, warm and confidence inspiring in the protection it serves me. In the summer it warms up a bit if I'm in traffic, but hey, I'm a tough biker, I'm expectant of a few compromises in order to do my hobby. I'm more comfortable walking around in bare feet but the smattering of common sense left in me stops me from bitching about having to put shoes on if I have to walk to work.
I wear protective gear at all times too, but I vary it based on conditions. 08 Blade + summer heat + long ride + leathers = extreme discomfort = lack of concentration = danger
If it was law to put on all the leathers and protective devices you can buy everytime you sit on a bike would I use the bike for the run to the shop or the 3 mile run to the the local harbour for an icecream, hell no I would use the car. my choice is about comfort and handiness of not going through the procedure of dressing like a power ranger for a five minute ride.
and I would never look down my nose at you for doing so as thats your choice but the same cant be said for the view some bikers have on non geared up riders.
Gravel rash heals eventually, the bloody peroxide and nail brush they used to use to clean your wounds is another story.
