Got gear?

[MNDZA]

I'm not sure if I've asked this before, but....
Do you all wear your full gear all the time? I always wear FULL gear, but I noticed, in the Chicagoland area, that about 90% of riders don't wear full gear..... more than 80% don't even wear a helmet. I've also seen many people hang their helmets on the side of the bike and yesterday saw a guy and his passenger riding with both of their helmets on the sides of the bike. What the hell is the point of owning a helmet and bringing it with you if you're not going to wear it? Maybe they'll quickly grab them and put them on when flying in mid-air after an accident.

 

[uscgduncan]

My kids want my life insurance to pay out, so I have to gear up. Greedy little b@st*rd'$.

 

[neshi]

The only time I dont have full gear on is when I'm in the back of our moms house teaching my bro how to ride and have to hop on to show him something and even then i am in first gear and am letting the bike idle with no clutch VX535 first gear idle = I can walk faster than that.

But any time I get on the bike other wise I always put on all my gear & reinforce this with my little brother and all I know!

It's a sad thing I see plenty of people(other bikers) blow by me on the highway while I am doing 75 with nothing more than a helmet(required by law or $100 and/or 30 days jail) and a tee shirt. the thing I don't get is that Ive fallen at 20MPH and have ruined a good jacket and been bruised bad if one of these guys take a fall just the thought makes me want to vomit at the possibilities!

 

[Owl]

I wear all of my gear, all of the time.. I dont have riding pants per say, but I have two pairs of jeans with knee pads sewn in. Gloves, jacket, lace up steel toed and shanked boots, and helmet, even during the past week or two in 100+ heat and 80% humidity ..

 

[Professional_Noob]

Howdy! So, if you are military, you have to wear pants, over the ankle boots, full fingered gloves, reflective vest, long sleeve shirt and ofcourse a helmet! If you get in a wreck and die without all of that on, your family may not get the life insurance! Anyways, I would wear all of that **** anyways! Road Rash is no joke! I've seen the locals around here ride with shorts, no helmet and flip flops on!

 

[xgrafcorex]

Howdy! So, if you are military, you have to wear pants, over the ankle boots, full fingered gloves, reflective vest, long sleeve shirt and ofcourse a helmet! If you get in a wreck and die without all of that on, your family may not get the life insurance! Anyways, I would wear all of that **** anyways! Road Rash is no joke! I've seen the locals around here ride with shorts, no helmet and flip flops on!

Yea, I wear all that stuff minus the reflective vest. The Navy (at least) has backed off on the vest thing.

Every time I ride, I put on my gloves, armored and padded jacket, riding boots, helmet, and wear either some dickies or some riding pants I bought. Problem with the riding pants I have is that they are a little short so when I'm sitting on the bike, it makes it a little harder to reach the ground..so I typically just wear the dickies as they are more comfortable and don't restrict my ability to maneuver.

 

[LittleRed]

I'm paranoid that the one time I go out without a piece of gear is the one time I'll wreck, so I wear it all the time. Also, considering the fact that I work at a store that sells gear it would look kinda bad to show up to work on the bike without my fair share of padding : )

One little note, I went on a ride today towards Mt. Rainier and at one of the look-out points along the road, these two other bikes pulled over to stop and take pictures. It was a pretty hot day out today and even in my mesh jacket I was toasty, but this one girl who was a passenger on one of the visiting bikes was wearing nothing but a flip-flops, a helmet, a bikini, and a fake-and-bake tan (she looked a bit orange...).

I couldn't help but cringe at the thought of what would happen if they lost control around one of the many sharp corners along that route...

 

[fz6rwolf]

Jeans, helmet. Used to not even wear helmet after I retired from the Navy (rebelling I suppose) but now at least the helmet. Can't understand the flip-flop thing, think that would hurt your toes upshifting LOL.

 

[jazzpaintball]

I'm paranoid that the one time I go out without a piece of gear is the one time I'll wreck, so I wear it all the time. Also, considering the fact that I work at a store that sells gear it would look kinda bad to show up to work on the bike without my fair share of padding : )

One little note, I went on a ride today towards Mt. Rainier and at one of the look-out points along the road, these two other bikes pulled over to stop and take pictures. It was a pretty hot day out today and even in my mesh jacket I was toasty, but this one girl who was a passenger on one of the visiting bikes was wearing nothing but a flip-flops, a helmet, a bikini, and a fake-and-bake tan (she looked a bit orange...).

I couldn't help but cringe at the thought of what would happen if they lost control around one of the many sharp corners along that route...

+1 about the wearing everything all the time for anytime you can fall....

Although, i have to wonder, where the hell were the tourists at for i have yet to see anyone wear a bikini beyond long beach and at a swimming pool in Western Washington , however :squid: 'ish it is

 

[mbridge51]

I'm not sure if I've asked this before, but....
Do you all wear your full gear all the time? I always wear FULL gear, but I noticed, in the Chicagoland area, that about 90% of riders don't wear full gear..... more than 80% don't even wear a helmet. I've also seen many people hang their helmets on the side of the bike and yesterday saw a guy and his passenger riding with both of their helmets on the sides of the bike. What the hell is the point of owning a helmet and bringing it with you if you're not going to wear it? Maybe they'll quickly grab them and put them on when flying in mid-air after an accident.

I wear full gear all the time. I'm now wanting leather pants and a jacket for cooler weather. The jacket is bright and ugly, but hopefully it helps other drivers see me. Even with Mesh it gets hot riding in 90 degree+ temps. In hotter temps, if stopped at a light, I sweat alot, but once moving the air passing through the mesh and over the sweat has a cooling effect. The pants and jacket have a connection zipper.

Olympia Airglide 2 Mesh -High Vis Jacket (took out the standard back pad and put in Dainese Back Protector). It has good elbow and shoulder armor.


Olympia Airglide Over Pants with knee and hip armor.

Olympia Gauntlet Leather Gloves with knuckle armor.

TCX GTX Infinity - full calf riding boots.

Icon Airframe Helmet.

 

[cbzdel]

I dont have riding pants because 90% of my rides are to work and I have to look decent and dont feel like changing..

But 99 % of the time I wear jacket, gloves, helmet, and boots

The 1% exception I had the other day was when I was stuck in traffic 1 mile away from my house and when I say stuck in traffic I mean I would move 10 feet ever 3-4 minutes and it was about 80* out!! I had a buddy in the car in front of my so I took off the jacket and gloves and put them in his car.

But I have to say it was a whole new rush once I broke though the traffic and gave it some throttle the 1/2 mile to my place, strange how that works lol

 

[fz6r rider]

All I wear is a helmat and gloves I used to wear a heavy duty jacket when I lived in PA but since moving to florida its just to damn hot I may buy an ICON vest with reinforced spine gaurds but other then that it just jeans helmet and gloves but then again I love the way the wind feels going down the highway at 120 am I stupid? maybe but my philosophy is live life to the fullest and enjoy every second

 

[moopie]

I do wear full gear at all times but it does vary in it's level of protection.

1. full face helmet
2. two jackets to choose from (one leather with no armor/padding and one mesh with armor/padding)
3. two pants to choose from (one textile with armor/padding and one pair of draggin jeans with no armor/padding)
4. steel toed hiking boots that almost cover my ankle completely
5. three pairs of gloves to choose from (one perforated leather pair with armor/padding, one leather pair with gel palms only, one textile/leather palm pair with no armor but has thick padding)

 

[spacemonkey]

i always wear a jacket, icon motorhead, and helmet, scorpion exo. gloves seem to fatigue my hands alot and i only wear them when riding for fun, same with boots, those are actually comfortable tho, dainese torque out air, dont own any pants yet but im looking for a decent comfortable pair, any sugestions?

 

[MNDZA]

i always wear a jacket, icon motorhead, and helmet, scorpion exo. gloves seem to fatigue my hands alot and i only wear them when riding for fun, same with boots, those are actually comfortable tho, dainese torque out air, dont own any pants yet but im looking for a decent comfortable pair, any sugestions?

I haven't tried any leather pants, but I do own a pair of Draggin Jeans kevlar reinforced jeans with hip/knee armor. Very comfortable. I also just ordered their kevlar liners last week so I could wear them under my regular jeans.

 

[xplodnstar]

ATGATT!!!! I don't leave my driveway without all 5 items on. Helmet, Jacket, Gloves, Pants and Boots. I may not be the sexiest looking with my skirt tucked into my jeans, but if anything happens on the way to work, the EMTs won't think I'm totally stupid.

There are sooooo many comfortable riding jeans out there with abrasion protection and knee pads, everyone should be using them. CBZDEL, this means you. Get some pants. Draggin even has nice chinos with Kevlar and kneepads. They are good for work. I have a pair of their cargo chinos that look nice on me, but have full coverage. I just pull the kneepads out and stick them in my tank bag if I'm planning on walking around somewhere.

You can live life to the fullest without sacrificing your skin.

Is this enough of a rant yet? Oh, WTF!!!! BIKINIS?!?!?!?

Okay, there.

 

[stroke]

i have to admit.. when riding around my small town back and forth to work i only wear t-shirt shorts tennis shoes and a helmet... its too hot to wear all the gear especially since the highest speed you can go in my town is 35

 

[Adrenaline Junkie]

I used to ride in a tshirt without a helmet all the time. And then I hit some sand in a corner and dropped my bike around 40 or 50 mph. Believe me, it is not fun to go down in a tshirt. I tumbled only a couple times, but still got pretty bad road rash on my arms and back. I've broken several bones, and none compare to how painful it is when you have to scrub sand out of road rash and clean it with h2o2. Now I will only ride with my armored leather jacket, helmet, gloves, jeans, and boots.

 

[SoulRider]

So how many people are wearing hiking boots and thinking they are ATGATT?

You need ankle protection, which most riding boots will provide. Steel toes are for construction work, not really going to help on a bike crash.

And jeans provide pretty good protection against road rash (found out the hard way) but since there will be a gap between your jeans and your jacket there is a big hunk of skin that could get raspberried to heck! (once again, found out the hard way).

 

[Verranth]

I always wear my helmet,
98% wear jacket with CE pads
90% wear gloves

Dont own pants or boots yet. I'm still looking into the right pair for me.
If you have any recommendations for the VA/DC/MD area, please let me know. Those of you in the area know how nasty it can get up here with humidity and heat.

Icon has some riding shoes I'm on the fence about. I have no idea which pants would be appropriate. And I do have a desk job, so I will need to look "office" worthy. Luckily, I'm in IT, so jeans are OK. Starship trooper look = not Ok.