Safety Clothing

[YellowDog]

Good post dpex.

I have been through this thought process myself however have come to completely different conclusions.

Last week we saw that poor 71 year old bugger die whilst sitting in his car minding his own business when a 2.5 tonne 4x4 hits him on the head. His number was up and that can happen.

The fact is that if you screw up on a corner or come into contact with something that shouldn't be there, then there is a good chance that you will be going down. If you are on a corner then the Russian Roulette scenario comes into play. As already stated, this is a recognised percentage of accidents that lead to death, but not the entire scenario that you should make your decision upon.

Like you I feel confident that I could ride around without protective gear all day and sometimes find it a real drag having to get changed and all dressed up like a dog's dinner.

My solution was to get two suits. One for long journeys and one for short ones. My Gortex Nylon Spool thingy cools me at around 30kph, so as well as keeping me cool it also protects me from the harmful sun (better than a T-shirt can). It takes 2 minutes to slip on. I am not a big fan of this kind of suit as IMO it is not tight enough to hold the armour in the right places should you come off however it is pretty good and during the Oil/Diesel off I had last year when I hit the ground a around 30kph, I skidded for about 5 metres and just got up without a scratch (a couple of nice bruises though). In that real life scenario I would have been Faaaarked without protective gear.

For longer journeys I wear zipped up race leathers. They also have critical cooling areas, so I don’t have such problems.
I have solved my issue and maybe you should solve yours without putting yourself in unnecessary danger:
Maybe you should swap your bike for an open top car.

[allycatz]

As a scooter rider its easy to fall into the 'cant be bothered putting all me gear on mode' but still have on mimimum helmet, jacket and decent footwear. Yep, Ive wondered myself at the difference between bike riders in t-shirts or a cycle when it comes to an off particularly those in tri-athlons etc coming off at speed. Personally, either on my scooter or riding as a pillion, I would rather put up with a bit of heat, drink plenty of fluids to compensate and minimise the risk factors

[ckai]

I think the real question is why do we buy protective gear? Is it to save skin and bones or save our lives, because only a helmet (to a certain degree) can do the latter.

If I wasn't wearing my full leathers when I binned, going under the speed I could have, I would have gotten a shattered pelvis, shattered shoulder and collar bone and if I wasn't wearing the gloves, a shattered hand and maybe forearm. This on top of still having my skin but my fall was an impact fall and not a slide. I would still be in hospital (with maybe a year of rehab) if I was wearing kit for the weather. This was crashing at maybe 50-70 km/hr and only hitting the road.

That was a hot day, not as hot as now mind you. I wasn't pushing it, quite the contrary. It was one of those things and it only forced the point that even though I may not wear leather all the time, I'm damn well gonna wear armour.

I suppose you never really appreciate kit until the shit hits the fan. I sure as hell didn't. I wore it but didn't fully appreciate it.

[aroberts]

I agree with Big Col. When I was a lot younger, I came off in a 50 k area when a van turned in front of me. Broke 3 ribs and an ankle. But by far the most pain I have ever experienced in my whole life was the gravel rash when my trousers just got shredded (not fun lying on the side of the road in your undies waiting for an ambulance either).

Simple decision maker for me. I don't ever want to have that again. My jacket has flaps and zips that let the air in. Cordura trou get hot, but only when stopped and you can undo them a bit when your stopped.

[kiwifruit]

I don't find a set of full leathers uncomfortably hot on a hot summers day.

[MSTRS:Me]

dpex - what a crock of shit. Waaaay more bikers are injured than are killed. Gear is all about MINIMISING the injury. No surprises for guessing what happens to the 'died of injuries' stats when insufficient gear is (not) worn.
I wouldn't care, except for the wee fact of high treatment costs hurting all of us through ACC levies.
If cover was provided on a sliding scale, dependent on gear worn, would you still prance about essentially naked?

[yungatart]

You are entitled to your opinion, dpex.
But do you know how they get embedded gravel out of your skin at A& E? They use a scrubbing brush and minmal pain relief. I hope you are as tough as you think you are, because the nurse isn't going to stop just because you are crying in agony.

[FROSTY:Me]

I've asked the self same question in a diffferent way ahile ago. Question is are you "safer" being cooler therefore more mentally sharp ? I experienced this at Nelson one year.Perferated leathers rather that standard ones and the difference in comfort on a hot day suprised me.
Id be interested to see the riding gear available for some of the hotter climates.
I did have a thought of some form of body protection like MX guys wear. Enough to saVE SKIN BUT LITTLE ENOUGH TO STAy cool

[p.dath]

I've asked the self same question in a diffferent way ahile ago. Question is are you "safer" being cooler therefore more mentally sharp ? I experienced this at Nelson one year.Perferated leathers rather that standard ones and the difference in comfort on a hot day suprised me.
Id be interested to see the riding gear available for some of the hotter climates.
I did have a thought of some form of body protection like MX guys wear. Enough to saVE SKIN BUT LITTLE ENOUGH TO STAy cool

I have to say I've been tempted at buying one of these "mesh" jackets. Designed to still save your skin in a slide, but lets lots of air through.

[p.dath]

First scenario. Inside left corner. Coming the other way at the wrong time is a bus. The leathers save the initial ground contact. The bus goes thumpety thump.

The statistics I have read suggest a corner accident is the most common, but your not likely to run into oncoming traffic if your outside of a city. I think a super busy road at 30,000 cars a day has a 2s gap between cars, and is meant to have a median barrier.

At 10,000 cars a day the gap is much larger. Many "progressive" countries overseas use either a median barrier or some way of seperating the traffic. In NZ it varies by which terriroity your in. Alas most terrirories do nothing about roads this busy.

And finally, many more NZ roads are something more like 1000 cars a day or less. The gap is now so large that your not likely to get hit by an oncoming vehicle, or that an oncoming vehicle can stop before hitting you.

Second scenario. Outside right-hander. Back washes out, rider sails over the bank and hits a tree. Tree gets pissed at the assault. Rider is turned to mush inside his leathers.

I guess it depends on how badly you wash out. The tree may cause a single serious trauma - which is usually survivable. Abrasion resistant clothing may save you form suffering a second serious trauma - which is usually the difference between living and dying. Plus it is highly likely to save a lot of your skin. Loosing skin is pretty painfull.

Third scenario. Biker washes out, skids on various parts of his leathers, hits nothing, isn't run over by a bus, and spends the rest of his/her life preaching about the value of 'protective' clothing.

Haha. I think that if they perceived that it saved their life, they would be doing a lot of preaching! Nothing like learning the value of something by nearly loosing it.

I say, 'Bullshit!'

I guess if I had some influence on the situation (which I don't), I would prefer an education system, probably at the beginning of the driver licencing program, that told riders about the most common kinds of accidents and the resulting injuries, and how to minimise those injuries.

Then we could leave it to each rider to make an informed decision, confident that they know the risks they are accepting.

[slofox]

If you get hot in your leathers, you aren't going fast enough to get the breeze through...go faster!

[dpex]

the best method to decide what you should wear in any condition is to ask yourself this
As im binning and flying through the air ready to land what would I prefer to be wearing?

Ask this question before you ride, as its hard to get your gear on in time whilst mid air.

Or you could ask of yourself these questions.

1. 'Because I will be riding today with minimal clothing should I take extra, extra, extra care throughout the ride?'

2. 'Should I ride more slowly?'

3. 'Should I corner extra cautiously?'

You see, for me there's two upsides to riding in a t-shirt, jeans and sand-shoes. First; I stay way cooler than I would even in modest gear. Second; I become Mr Conservative rider.

[dpex]

I don't find a set of full leathers uncomfortably hot on a hot summers day.

I guess it's fair to assert that some folk have far higher temperature tolerances than others. Mine is fairly narrow. I start feeling seriously cold when the temp drops below 18 degrees, and I feel quite ready to die in 23 degrees.

Remember the Christmas 2008 circuit at Taupo? The heat was intolerable. I had to wait in the shade of the building, with my jacket right off and pouring water over my head and timing matters so that I was very much last to go through the dummy-grid, have my chin-strap and pack-protector checked, then off into the breeze.

Even the five minute wait on the start grid almost did me in.

The first race was okay, on account of the heat of the day had yet to get up a head of heat. Then we had to wait two hours till the next. By the next I'd done at least four litres of water and still didn't want a piss!

The last person I saw as I went for the dummy grid was Sue. What I didn't realise was that my brain had been fried by the heat. And we hadn't yet started! Round I went till I found my spot at the start grid. Then sat, waiting while the marshals took their time. Poom, we're off.

I came screaming down the front-straight to end lap three and utterly ballsed the hairpin and still didn't realise my brain was fried. Took turns 2 & 3 faster than I have ever dared. Rolled into 4 feeling like superman. Rolled into 7 and started scrapping shit off the crankcase....'Yahhoooooo!' Screamed I as I nailed the dude on the Duke going outside!

The sweeper was there and suddenly Sue's face entered my thoughts. Why? Dunno. Maybe because it was the last face I recognised before the start.

Anyway, I felt a deep frown forming, followed by a question, 'Why are there now cones over the mini-S?'

I almost went through them till the dude on the Duke roared past on my left and rolled right. It was about then my brain came back to life and I realised I was so far gone that I'd somehow associated seeing Sue with a standard MottoTT track-day, on 5.

That was it. End. Stuck up a hand and kept it up all the way to the off-ramp.

That is the effect serious heat can have on a 'reasonably' experienced rider who suffers badly from heat exhaustion.

So, you see, in my case I am actually a lot safer riding in extreme heat (for me) in light clothing than leathers.

Now transfer such effect onto a once-a-monther who is too embarrassed to admit the heat kills him/her, so he dresses in the full leathers.

[kiwifruit]

Perhaps look at why the temperature affects you so much, maybe there are some things you could do to reduce your sensitivity to it.

[Quasievil]

Or you could ask of yourself these questions.

1. 'Because I will be riding today with minimal clothing should I take extra, extra, extra care throughout the ride?'

2. 'Should I ride more slowly?'

3. 'Should I corner extra cautiously?'

You see, for me there's two upsides to riding in a t-shirt, jeans and sand-shoes. First; I stay way cooler than I would even in modest gear. Second; I become Mr Conservative rider.

ah ha......and with you this mindset other road users will follow ?

Bikers mindsets often have little to do with a crash, often its the other guys mindset thats out to fuck ya up

But we all know this right ??