Newbies and UoA riders - this is aimed at you!!

[Subike]

Okay, I'm going to ignore the sarcasm and stupidity and answer thus:
I ride with:
- Decent well fitting lid, I have an HJC and a Shoei, both around $1000.
- Decent jacket, I use either AlpineStars (choice of a few), or I use a Technic which is weather proof
- Decent gloves, I like using my hands, AlpineStars
- Either AlpineStars pants, with armour, or Dianese textiles
- Decent boots with ankle bracing, and with titanium toe sliders
- Dianese back protector.

A one piece suit, or at least top and bottom textiles that zip together are a good idea.

The optional bits are the Titanium toe sliders. Sometimes I replace them with newer ones. I also ride with headlight on. And I ride defensively, keeping a defensive depth, making sure I plan where to go if "x" or "y" happens. I also listen attentively to experienced riders, again this is the living vicariously bit.


Who gives a damn about payouts from ACC - preventing the damage is the object lesson here.

Fuck en ell mate
That lot is worth more than my bike!
What gold mine do you live in??
And I take it your a student om a student allowance that MY taxes paid for or are still at home with well off parents...take you pick ( you need that for your gold mining mate)

If I was to wear all that gear I would feel like a fucking idiot!

My jacket is cow hide, cost me $50 ( fuck the plastic crap with armour)
My pants are cow hide, 3mm thick, owe me a 6 pack of beers( will slide for miles and still look ok)
My gloves are Nappa hide, have their own wet weather covers, cost? Had then that long I think I paid a tinny for them about 20 years ago!
My boots are std work steel caps, $150 from NZ saftey, will out last your fancy riding boots by miles. Dont leak, warm, comphy, and take wing mirrors off really well!
My Neck warmer is am arm cut out of a bargin bin jersy, pure wool. f
My Helmet? a 4 star HJC that I bought for $495. Guess that was a cheappy
As for fallin of ya bike being somthing that MUST happen to everyone
No thanks I like the seat... I gunna stay on it .Dont belive in thinking negative..
ATGATT....yeap, agree,
But its still personal choice as to what you wear.

[Patar]

A couple of things cross my mind reading your post... but before I start - may I remind you that this is a public forum where people state their opinions and you are welcome to disagree. What you have taken as whinging, others will take as good advice.

1: Just out of curiosity - when you jump off bridges - do you wear the appropriate safety hear? When you jump out of planes - do you pass on the recommended safety items? Im sure you dont - so why isnt it a sensible suggestion that people wear reasonable safety gear when riding a machine that is capable of reaching high speeds and is invisible to most other road users?

2: Im pretty sure your "I dont give a rats arse about what other people do anytime etc" would very quickly change if that person was to cause injury or death to someone you cared about.

MBB - you sure know how to start a shit fight...

you missed my point pretty efficiently.
When I go bungy jumping/skydiving I will (obviously) have the bungy chord/parachute on me. After that anything additional I decide to wear is my own choice. Bungy jumping it could be argued that you should wear a helmet when being dipped into the water as there may be floating debris just below the surface of the water, again with skydiving could wear a helmet, overalls, goggles, some fmx armour in case I do hit the ground yada yada. You get the idea, there's an absolutely limitless supply of safety gear that could be worn, it's up to the individual to make the decision of what they feel is appropriate and then to accept the consequences of their decisions (this is a different rant that I could go on about).

With regards to not caring what other people do, is in regards to actions that affect themselves, not other people. If someone crashes their bike and is badly injured because of a lack of safety gear then I don't care, bad luck to them. If they crash and kill/injure someone else, then I still don't give a flying fuck what they were wearing but I will be ready to lynch them (assuming it was an at fault crash and no a puncture/oil spill etc.)

[madbikeboy]

Fuck en ell mate
That lot is worth more than my bike!
What gold mine do you live in??
And I take it your a student om a student allowance that MY taxes paid for or are still at home with well off parents...take you pick ( you need that for your gold mining mate)

If I was to wear all that gear I would feel like a fucking idiot!

My jacket is cow hide, cost me $50 ( fuck the plastic crap with armour)
My pants are cow hide, 3mm thick, owe me a 6 pack of beers( will slide for miles and still look ok)
My gloves are Nappa hide, have their own wet weather covers, cost? Had then that long I think I paid a tinny for them about 20 years ago!
My boots are std work steel caps, $150 from NZ saftey, will out last your fancy riding boots by miles. Dont leak, warm, comphy, and take wing mirrors off really well!
My Neck warmer is am arm cut out of a bargin bin jersy, pure wool. f
My Helmet? a 4 star HJC that I bought for $495. Guess that was a cheappy
As for fallin of ya bike being somthing that MUST happen to everyone
No thanks I like the seat... I gunna stay on it .Dont belive in thinking negative..
ATGATT....yeap, agree,
But its still personal choice as to what you wear.

Umm, actually I grew up without parents.

I've worked hard, I don't spend money on booze or stupid stuff. Plus I look for bargains. I've been riding for a while, and you tend to acculmulate stuff (including 20 years of PB magazine...).

[madbikeboy]

In an astounding turn of events...

PirateJaffa - is it true that you're - get this - the Safety Officer for the UoA riders club???

Does your safety message sound something like "go hard, if you break any bones, crawl to the hospital".

[Subike]

Umm, actually I grew up without parents.

I've worked hard, I don't spend money on booze or stupid stuff. Plus I look for bargains. I've been riding for a while, and you tend to acculmulate stuff (including 20 years of PB magazine...).

Fair nuff,
I assumed wrong of you, but there is a lot of crap gear out there being sold as ""the best availabile" "" fantastic new synthetics"" etc and it aint worth the money you pay for it.
The people who have been riding Horses, Bikes and flying open cockpit aeroplanes since Wilber Wright flew the first one all swore that good leather lined with sheepskin was better than anything else.
WTF have horses got to do with this, stand back and look. Its a steel horse you ride, the only difference is it dont know its own way home.

[RDJ]

I wear good gear all the time - i.e. every time I ride - and it is expensive. But as I get older I heal slower. Therefore - Shoei Multitec, Vanson Bones mesh jacket with armor, Icon Timax gloves, Sidi Goretex boots, Draggin' Jeans with armor. For colder weather / overseas touring, switch to Rev-It jacket and pants also with armor.

I do most of my riding to work, and total about 11,000 commuting kms a year - and about every second or third night I'm coming home in the dark.

A while back I was reading the UK Visordown threads on gear, and to cut a long story short, a thread developed on Hi-Viz gear being not such a good idea as drivers could be more inclined to cut us off, pull in front of us etc. on the basis that they would consider us more careful / scared / wary than average - and that Hi-Viz gear therefore increased our risk.

Since I have headlight on all the time, LEDs in the taillights, and my helmet and jacket and boots are reflectorised, and since the logic of the above argument while somewhat circular was also persuasive, I ditched my Hi-Viz sleeveless jacket for a month to see what would happen.

In short - I still wear ATGATT and maintain conspicuity with the lighting and reflector tape etc. but I no longer think that a Hi-Viz jacket makes me safer. In my own experience it encouraged a substantial minority of car drivers to worse behaviour.

This is of course anecdotal. (YMMV).

[bomma]

In an astounding turn of events...

PirateJaffa - is it true that you're - get this - the Safety Officer for the UoA riders club???

Does your safety message sound something like "go hard, if you break any bones, crawl to the hospital".

and the personal attacks continue......for someone who "has an IQ good enough for MENSA" you havnt said a whole lot of smart things starting from post 1......in all seriousness, i agree with you that a lot of idiots that ride to uni are twats and that they SHOULD wear better protective gear.....my point is that you should not have generalised that to the "Bikers" that go there.....we are an entirely different breed....and chances are 80% of the idiots riding to uni are not on KB so your attacks are, once again, misdirected and unbased......and i always thought Jafa was takin the piss....im the bloody secretary for the club and i never knew about it but then stevo never tells me anything

p.s. fuck asshole dumass fuck titties (hadnt sworn at all this post so thought id chuck em in)

[HungusMaximist]

I do say Mike, good on you for help the poor uni chap out.

Stink that he wasn't wearing proper gear to your exppectations but like with anything, you're gonna get people like that. Unless you're willing to let your actions to do the talking and starting forking out some cash and time to re-educate the youngins and start a petition of somekind.

For the time being just take in fact that people's attitude aren't gonna change in anytime soon or by your rants. However right you are, it's a pretty vicious circle you're digging here and like with most heated KB debates, alot of the arguments gets tedious and endless pretty quickly.

Just to get the facts straight, Auckland Uni SMC club and the Akl Uni bikers are seperate entities.

Good thread though, and again, awesome that you helped out, just don't get to dreamy about changing the world though...

[xwhatsit]

In an astounding turn of events...

PirateJaffa - is it true that you're - get this - the Safety Officer for the UoA riders club???

Does your safety message sound something like "go hard, if you break any bones, crawl to the hospital".

Still waiting to hear back about my question, but nevertheless I'll give my opinion here;

PirateJafa thinks you're in favour of passing laws which make `proper' riding gear compulsory. He's not arguing that we should all run around in hoodies and jandals. In fact, if you meet the guy, you'll understand why he's Safety Officer (what a grand name!), he's definitely an ATGATT chap and a damned careful rider to boot.

What he's arguing for is the right of us to choose to wear whatever we like (as long as we have a helmet of course I suppose). He's worried, because the same argument you're using (at least what it looks like what you're using) can easily be extended to ban us using the roads for anything except miniature 80kph-limited BMW C1s with seatbelts and all-round airbags. It's just the scale of the argument.

I don't like authorities thinking their job is to product idiots from their own stupidity. In fact, I quite like having the right to choose to wear my dressing gown down the end of the road and back on my bike -- as I did in the middle of the night a day ago.

Of course, I don't really believe you think the government should legislate that. I think what you really want to say is people are dumbarses for not wearing a bit of gear here and there. Unless I've profoundly misjudged your character in the past.

[bomma]

*snip* In fact, if you meet the guy, you'll understand why he's Safety Officer (what a grand name!), he's definitely an ATGATT chap and a damned careful rider to boot. *snip*

omg he is safety officer for realz

[madbikeboy]

Still waiting to hear back about my question, but nevertheless I'll give my opinion here;

PirateJafa thinks you're in favour of passing laws which make `proper' riding gear compulsory. He's not arguing that we should all run around in hoodies and jandals. In fact, if you meet the guy, you'll understand why he's Safety Officer (what a grand name!), he's definitely an ATGATT chap and a damned careful rider to boot.

What he's arguing for is the right of us to choose to wear whatever we like (as long as we have a helmet of course I suppose). He's worried, because the same argument you're using (at least what it looks like what you're using) can easily be extended to ban us using the roads for anything except miniature 80kph-limited BMW C1s with seatbelts and all-round airbags. It's just the scale of the argument.

I don't like authorities thinking their job is to product idiots from their own stupidity. In fact, I quite like having the right to choose to wear my dressing gown down the end of the road and back on my bike -- as I did in the middle of the night a day ago.

Of course, I don't really believe you think the government should legislate that. I think what you really want to say is people are dumbarses for not wearing a bit of gear here and there. Unless I've profoundly misjudged your character in the past.

What a well thought out post.

I agree with what you're saying, and I also believe in freedom to do stuff without legislation. The dilemma is that if a particular segment or activity is noted for having high risk, then if that community doesn't self regulate, the alternative is for legislation from people who have little understanding.

I am concerned that the end game is that people like me, who like freedom, will get rules imposed because of others who ride without gear or care. I don't want mandatory limiters or GPS on the bike, I don't want horsepower limits. But, if you look at what is happening in the UK around partial liability around accidents (contributary negligence), then it's not hard to extrapolate to our very own nanny state utopia.

[madbikeboy]

and the personal attacks continue......for someone who "has an IQ good enough for MENSA" you havnt said a whole lot of smart things starting from post 1......in all seriousness, i agree with you that a lot of idiots that ride to uni are twats and that they SHOULD wear better protective gear.....my point is that you should not have generalised that to the "Bikers" that go there.....we are an entirely different breed....and chances are 80% of the idiots riding to uni are not on KB so your attacks are, once again, misdirected and unbased......and i always thought Jafa was takin the piss....im the bloody secretary for the club and i never knew about it but then stevo never tells me anything

p.s. fuck asshole dumass fuck titties (hadnt sworn at all this post so thought id chuck em in)

You're the secretary? What are your notes like, is there shorthand for fuck, cunt, shit, etc?

Do you have to be a current student to be a member, or are those of us who got our quals in the 90's allowed in as well. I have not got any ulterior motives with uni-chickies...

[KiwiKat]

Very valid topic.
An interesting debate / rendering of points of views / insults.
Points Content 35/50
Crap 50/50.
We've all been there, were no better, maybe we're still not and it's a shit job to have to clean up the mess. I'd love to be able to ride without safety gear. Reality sucks.

Keep arguing guys. There's no easy answer.

[bomma]

You're the secretary? What are your notes like, is there shorthand for fuck, cunt, shit, etc?

Do you have to be a current student to be a member, or are those of us who got our quals in the 90's allowed in as well. I have not got any ulterior motives with uni-chickies...

lol so no straight answers huh?? guess when confronted your mouth stops writing cheques.....and nah dont have to be a uni student to be a member, should join mate, will only cost ya a gold coin

[madbikeboy]

lol so no straight answers huh?? guess when confronted your mouth stops writing cheques.....and nah dont have to be a uni student to be a member, should join mate, will only cost ya a gold coin

If you met me in meatspace you'd understand that's not true, I just hate wasting cyber-ink. Tell you what, next ride that you organise, flick me a PM and I'll ride with you all. And then we can debate the merits of freedom of choice all you want.