Lovely hot day today so I'm sure loads of you was out on your bikes (jealous or what)

BUT

I drove up from Brighton to home & saw quite a few idiots wearing bugger all protection :rolleyes:

I mean 2 up shorts & Ts on A24 in excess of 70 mph, jeans & Ts on M25 - it just doesn't bear thinking about if something happened :eek:

It may be comfortable then but just imagine being comfortable for 6 months as you receive umpteen skin-grafts - scary.

I also heard that bone grinds down at a rate of 2 inches per 50 foot of travel on tarmac...







Its all-right, my wife's a PI lawyer & can sue the car-driver whose fault it'll be anyway ;)

:rolleyes:

:(

[Edited by Puff The Magic Wagon! - 7/13/2003 11:13:26 PM]

Know what you mean, I was up on the Cat & Fiddle where most were in full gear.

However, riding back through town there was a bloke on a new-ish TL1000 in shorts, no T-shirt, no gloves ... :eek:

i done a wheelie yesterday down the high street in t-shirt and shorts.

i love the attention every one turns around, especialy with a loud bike.

Twit :rolleyes:

Well done you must be very proud! :rolleyes:

Puff I know what you mean, plenty down my way ride with nothing more than t shirt shorts and sandals.

I learnt my lesson after a 30mph crash where I was in t shirt and jeans and was lucky enough to lay on the side of the bike as it slid down the road. I was told afterwards if I had not managed to keep myself on the bike you lose 1.5 inches of skin and bone at 30 mph and obviously the faster you go the greater the disintegration :eek: After that my attitude has always been I don't care how hot it is I go out in full leathers and gloves.

Ask Simon De Bank about not wearing the right kit.. i never go out without my leathers on after he posted his story.

Jza

I hate seeing people in just t-shirts and shorts, but worse is when they have their wife/girlfriend/sister on the back in similar flimsy gear.

I would never, ever allow someone I loved on a bike without the right gear on.

If you're too hot in leathers, you're going too slow ;)

I think its a short term thing, riding a bike in shorts/t shirt/flip flops. Looks cool to some, gets you looked at.

Then you slide down the road, once.

I learnt my lesson on a chicken chasser in Cyprus, fell off at about 30 (flat out). As the "doctor" scrubbed out the cleaned the wounds with a scrubbing brush and hydrogen-peroxide. I still have the scars, mental and phsical.

Z

I saw an old BMW with a guy and a young lad pillion, both wearing t-shirt, jeans etc, no gloves....its all well and good choosing not to wear the gear yourself, but allowing a child to do it is out of order IMHO.

Thankfully most bikers I saw round Wales yesterday seemed to have the right gear on, altho I bet they were sweating, cos I was. :(

Normally (99.9% of the year) I wear steel toe cap leather boots, kevlar & leather jacket, kevlar and leather jeans, £100 studded gloves & back protection rucksack.

Today I wore gloves, backpack, chino shorts and a short sleeve light blue linnen shirt for my 8 mile unidirectional A road commute ;) Very VERY silly. I will probably do the same again tomorrow if it is in the nineties. Those completely averse to risk shouldnt even be on a bike! ;)

I have no issues with being told off here!

Diesel, no telling off, but I guarantee if you fall off it'll be the last time you'll want to wear a t-shirt or shorts ever, covering up the disfiguring scars will make sure of that.

It's entirely your choice of course, but I'm a self-confessed gear-nazi ;)

[Edited by NotoriousREV - 7/14/2003 4:51:39 PM]

i would'nt feel safe just wearing shorts and t-shirt cos i'm so used to wearing leathers

Blade rider i take it u got a blade then, if so i have one as well cool

The least I'd ride in now-adays (if I had a bike :( ) is leather trousers, boots, gloves & a Dainese Body suit with a heavy denim top - slight compromise but still offering good protection...

i've fallen off my road push bike at 35mph. basicaly grazes and some blood, but NOT through to the bone like every one is saying, never needed skin grafts or ****, some ppl r basicaly talking pish.

on our bikes (like the ones you see on the tour de france) we reach speeds up to 60mph and in some cases beyond, imagine falling off naked, well with lycra i suppose.

Depends I suppose it you go down & bounce or go down with a few hundred kg of motorbike on your leg...

Story this weekend from a Biker mate:

Picture this: Late teens hired scooters on a Spanish holiday. Him one-up, two mates with GFs two-up.

Every day they would race to the beach, my mate on one scooter would always win due to less weight (nothing to do with riding ability!).

All wearing 'standard' shorts, no T-shirts. On the final day one of the trio decides to 'go for it' and win the beach race.

He stoofs it into the corner and slides along the road with the GF still holding him around the neck. The GF stands up and the usual grazes around the wrists with a few seconds delay before they pour with blood.

His mate has similar injuries around the chest, but suddenly screams

'where's my nipple?'

they look and a point to a greasy streak 20m in length. :eek:

Skin grafts (from inner thighs) and a prosthetic nipple later he was fully aware of the consequences of being a muppet.

About 10 years ago I was going down the M1 (in the car).
A bloke on a ZZR 1100 in tea shirt and shorts passed me doing about 140.
Some time later (about 8-9 miles) there was a big hold up of traffic and I had to slow.
Matey had swerved to avoid a car, come off and slid down the road.
At that speed he was down to bone pretty quick. I will never forget the horrible red and pink goo that was spread all along the road, until it terminated at his body. He died at the scene, not because he hit anything, but he bled to death in what must have been minutes.


Ever since then I've always thought it unfortunate that people don't have the sense to get leathered up (even in this heat) when they ride, let alone when they start to go a bit quick.
It's their choice I suppose, but I wonder if they really consider what would happen.

Personally I've always worn leathers.
To be honest I feel quite naked without them, and wouldn't even consider it.

As I posted on Alanjack's thread:

I was out for a ride on Sunday morning with a friend who is a Consultant (Doctor) and one of my neighbours rode past on his scooter wearing shorts and T-Shirt and his response was "It's good to see the organ donors out and about". I guess he's seen his fair share of what happens to you when you crash without good protective gear...:eek::eek::eek:

Matt.

Who's not come of a moped on holiday...;) Well me! I was the one patching his inexperienced mates up!

I had a good look at other bikers on the way home yesterday - 1/2 in T shirts and half in full proper protective gear. All of them passed me on the way home - more confidence I guess, and I have backed off normal speed to mentally compensate for the lack of usual gear! Not that it helps if an artic runs over your head though. That's naively of more concern!

Was watching them sliding on their arses at Laguna Seca on TV yesterday - a great testament to you hot sweaty sticky 100% leather preachers ;)

D

(Back in his jacket & boots ;))

Beloki came off his cycle in the Tour at less than 35 mph (after he had braked for the corner) and broke his elbow, arm and femur - all of which I wouldnt have done in my bike gear. It's personal choice of course.

Matt

Organ donors?

No thank you, not after they've been ground to suet...

Minced liver and onions Puff/anyone ;)

I cant get my head around the fact that so many bikers in the past week were wearing just T-shirts and jeans and no gloves!! I may have been sweating like mad but after sliding down the road a while ago, in my leathers, I would never go out without them on. These guys must be barking mad not wearing any protection.....I may be uncomfortably hot but I know I'm going to be protected...

I know it shouldn't but this really winds me up...

I had my accident in January, wearing leathers, 40mph and silly woman decides she wants to be in my lane without looking. Well after sliding a good 20 meters down the cold A12 there wasn't much left of the leather on my leg, or skin come to that.
I was wearing fully padded leather trousers and these probably saved my skin wearing down to the bone. They did nothing for the 14 fractures in my left arm or shattered shoulder though.

Then you see some twat in shorts, trainers, no top riding around on an R6. I think the only way these people will learn is if they do actually come off.

Perspective lads! You talk like its YOUR skin - maybe a bit like that nutter in Silence of the Lambs ;)

Frankly, middle lane hoggers irritate me far more than anyone wearing Metallica T shirts whilst, rather stupidly, getting their knee down ;)

D
(Back in Black now)

Same old story with the T-shirt wearers, 'it'll never happen to me....'



:rolleyes:

I personally don't care if someone comes off in a t-shirt and shorts, but I'm still going to tell people they should be wearing leathers, if it saves someone from serious injury etc. etc.

I ride my Puch Maxi while I'm naked, and my enormous gut drags along the ground on each side, preventing me from falling off.. honest ;)

AT LEAST WEAR SOME FECKING JEANS!

Minimum level of clothing for me is jeans, boots, gloves and jacket (leather of armoured thingy).

I've had big bikes for many years so I've got all the kit, but people seem to think it's funny when I wear leathers on my Gilera Runner 180. Last time some joker made a sarky comment I replied "after lengthy experimentation I have concluded that the tarmac is just as hard whichever kind of bike I fall off",