If you only read one article about gear: Difference between revisions

A simple fact of life, faced by every motorcyclist (whether they acknowledge it consciously or not) is that motorcycles are unsafe. Being on two wheels, they're much less stable (able to resist tipping over) than cars. There's no safety cage around a motorcyclist, protecting them from the outside world.

Perhaps the most important lesson about motorcycles (and cars): It is impossible to reduce your risk of collision to zero.

There is literally nothing you can do to completely eliminate all risk of a motorcycle accident when you're riding. You can make that chance very small, but it will always exist. That is why we wear riding gear: it protects us in that instant where circumstances coincide to separate bike from rider, whenever and wherever it may happen.

In a situation where someone makes a mistake, and the rider is separated from his or her motorcycle, the safety gear being worn can mean the difference between waking up sore the next morning and waking up in the hospital, or not at all. Note that it doesn't matter whose mistake we're talking about: the rider's, the SUV driver's, or the deer's. Any one of them can cause a serious enough problem that the rider is suddenly separated from her bike.

 

 

This is not all to say that "accidents are inevitable, so sit back and relax," for the opposite is true. There is so much you can do to prevent collisions.  You need to take the [[Should I take an MSF course?|MSF beginning rider's class]], if you haven't already. You need to read [[Riding Techniques|articles]] and [[Ninja 250 Rider's bookshelf|books]] on how to ride safely. You need to think about how you ride, and learn lessons when you make mistakes. By no means should you come away from this article saying to yourself, "accidents just happen; there's nothing I can do about it."

<td> Melts in high-heat situations </td>

As a point of reference on the crash survivability of textile, I once asked Rider's Wearhouse (makers of the Aerostich Roadcrafter textile suit) about crash damage they've had to repair. The guy I was speaking with said they've had numerous suits come back after crashes (some as fast as 70-80 MPH), and not one of them had been damaged badly enough to stop protecting the rider. That says a lot to me about the ability of textile to keep a rider safe. (Yes, of course it may be that they never saw the suits that really failed; surviving an 80 MPH slide down the asphalt is all I can reasonably ask from my safety gear.)

The more colorful your riding gear (particularly your jacket and helmet, which is what most people will see from the front), the easier you are to see. The easier you are to see, the less likely other drivers will act as if you're not there. I started riding with my high-beam on all the time during the day, and noticed that people seemed to see me better. Woo!

Note that, although red and orange seem really bright in sunlight, they fade out to grey at twilight or in the dark. White is an excellent color, along with flourescents, because they remain bright through twilight.  

When you're looking at textile jackets, you want to select something with the highest surface of "ballistic" nylon possible. This is the heavy-duty, thick-weaved nylon that usually reinforces elbows, shoulders, hips, and knees on riding gear. If you could find a piece of riding clothing that was all ballistic nylon, you'd be set, but no one makes that. I suspect such a garmet would be too stiff to be really useful, but it's a good goal to strive for.

I highly recommend getting armor in whatever gear you're looking at. Check to see that the armor is [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_armor CE-certified]. That is ''the'' standard for motorcycle protection.  

Helmets come in a variety of shapes, as do heads. In general, each brand will have a different signature shape (although Arai produces helmets with three different shapes). When your head and the helmet have different shapes, you will put it on and immediately feel pressure points and blank spots where the helmet doesn't press at all. Your goal is to go into a shop and try on every helmet they have. It's the only way to get a good fit.

<p><table border=0 cellpadding=3>

<td> the <i>absolute minimum</i> you should ever pay for

gear -- any less, and chances are you're getting unsafe gear. </td>

<td>these prices are "about normal" for good,

high-quality safety gear that's not extravagant or overpriced. </td>

<td> this is for normal production items; you can always pay thousands

of dollars for custom manufacture, gold inlay, custom graphics, etc.  

</td>

<p><table border=1 cellpadding=3>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Item </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Minimum price </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> "Normal" price </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> High price </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Notes </th>

<td> Winter or waterproof gloves tend to cost more than summer-weight

gloves </td>

<td> I personally wear combat boots ($40) because I can't find any

$500+ </td>

<tr> <th colspan=5 bgcolor="#555555">Totals</th> </tr>

<td rowspan=2> Note that most people mix and match from the "cheap" and

"regular" columns, as well as mixing leather and textile, so the

totals shown here are unrealistically high. </td>

 

====The Finanaces of Crashing====

<p><table border=1 cellpadding=3>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Item </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Casual Carl </th>

<th bgcolor="#555555"> Safety Steve </th>

<td> Total </td>

<td> $30,620 </td>

<td> $1,470 </td>

And, of course, this strictly-numbers analysis doesn't look at what happens to a person who has to endure that kind of pain for 4-5 months. It doesn't examine the mental problems that could develop, or the strain on relationships with other people, or the fact that Carl chose to never ride a bike again as being far too dangerous -- he considers himself lucky (and rightly so) that he didn't die in that accident.

'''About IanJ:''' I'm just a regular guy, who happens to have some opinions on motorcycling and what kind of gear he thinks is safe. I encourage you to read this article with a critical eye, because I'm probably wrong. I am not paid any money by anyone to write this stuff; I do it because I hope it'll help other riders to be safer. Please engage your brain before taking any free advice you found on some guy's website.