How do you guys make people "Understand" why gear is important?

[iSpoolin]

Ok guys so I started thinking the other day after this convo with me and my girl:

We were getting ready for a bike ride. I was in my Icon Arc Speedfreak Jacket, Icon TRX Timax Short gloves, Scorpion exo 1000 helmet, Teknic Chicane boots, and jeans. She was in her Teknic Vogue Jacket, Scorpion Exo 700 Helmet, SS Gloves, short shorts, and a pair of leather boots that are about knee height (which are fine, they're thick as hell, so decent enough)

Me: Why do you have on shorts, you know better.

Her: Its 85 degrees outside, why would I wear pants?

Me: Because I'd rather not see you all torn up laying in the road if something happened, just like i've told you before?

Her: But how am I suppose to enjoy the ride if i'm burning up the whole time?

Me: You'll be perfectly cool while we are moving, don't worry.

Her: Yeah but what about while we're stopped or moving slowly?

Me: Its just something you have to deal with when you wanna ride on days like this. I'm in heavier gear then you and i'm not going to complain.

Her: Well I don't see how you stand it, i'm burning up just standing here

Me: Well so am I, but I love riding, and if it takes me getting a little hot to be able to enjoy it and be safe i'm fine with that.

Her: Well i'm not doing it that way.

Me: Well stay home, because as long as i'm here your not getting on a bike in shorts. Ever.

and she continued to complain and finally gave in about 5 minutes later

Anyway, how do you guys get your loved ones, passengars, friends, whoever it may be to understand why no matter the weather you should always wear full gear?

Now my girl knows better she really does. I think she just wanted to see what i'd let her get away with.

Do any of you guys run into this problem?

I explained to her when I bought her gear that she HAD to wear it anytime she was on the bike, and she understood. But lately shes getting ignorant towards gear.

 

[Rabbitman109]

I have had this with my dad all the time. He said that he most likely won't wear a jacket this summer. I told him about riding pants, and he pretty much said, why would I want to get them? It is frustrating, when they do something that they know is not safe, even after you have told them numerous times. I would refer her to this:

Road Rash Queen - SabMagFAQ

 

[dart1963]

repeat it over and over...

show her pics of the infamous girl (Brittany Morrow) who went down :

 

[XTRAWLD]

You show them pictures or a video of road rash, or of bikes going down in general and that anything can happen at any time. You can never predict when an accident will happen. They should smarten up as long as they don't want to be hamburger..... Do they remember skinning their knee as a kid if they fell? Imagine it 20x worse..... Hopefully they will get the hint.

I can't look at gross bloody pics, but I can figure out what happens to skin when pavement and people collide.

 

[Rabbitman109]

repeat it over and over...

show her pics of the infamous girl (Brittany Morrow) who went down :

I beat you to that by a minute. The link I posted was to the entire story. Make her read that and see what she says.

 

[Marthy]

If we drive around and the weather is nice we wear jeans at the minimum. If we are going for a few days ride, pants too. Always helmets, jackets, gloves and hicking boots. She feel more comfy and secure with gears on, so no problem on my side. I broke her in propelly... LOL It's a matter of getting use to it right at day one. I'm Canadian, I can event imagine myself riding without a helmet at a bare minimum... just the way I always did, since 6 y.o.

 

[stuna]

at age 50 i found out . you cant protect people from themselves

 

[XTRAWLD]

I just read her story for the first time. Wow, I want to wear more gear than I do already - and I'm fully and completely always geared up!

 

[Sparkxx1]

With your father, be a son and show him these, after that it's his choice.
WARNING DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE BOTHERED BY VERY!!!!!! GRAPHIC PICTURES!!!!
Wear Gear ***NSFW*** "Very Graphic" : Yamaha R6 : R6 Forum

Think you don't need boots? WARNING - GRAPHIC! - Sportbikes.net

*Graphic NSFW* How not to lube a bike chain. : Yamaha R6 : R6 Forum

As for your girlfriend, show her the pictures and what I posted. If she complies she can ride with you, if she doesn't then she stays home or she follows in a cage. end of story. You never know when shit happens with a motorcycle either with maintenance or riding.

There are alot more of those, but it should be enough.

Their skin and bodies will never heal the same again.

 

[Chucker]

I don't let people ride on my bike without gear, or in my car without a seatbelt. Even if I can't make them understand, I can be sure that I am not a party to them getting injured unecessarily. My rules are THE rules when you're dealing with my stuff. If you don't like it, that's your problem, not mine.

 

[Raven_6R]

I feel like I had the same conversation with my wife every time she wanted to ride.
She now has all the gear and loves going for rides. She is thinking of taking the MSF course this summer to get her license.

 

[XTRAWLD]

Since we are on the topic.....how protective are jeans? I don't wear jeans, I wear motorcycle pants (Alter Ego with liner for colder weather and a similar mesh version for warm days). I've always been scared to wear just jeans....how do jeans hold up to road rash? I am thinking about Sartso jeans (which are obviously above and beyond regular jeans), but I wonder how protective an every day pair really are.

 

[JSP]

Since we are on the topic.....how protective are jeans? I don't wear jeans, I wear motorcycle pants (Alter Ego with liner for colder weather and a similar mesh version for warm days). I've always been scared to wear just jeans....how do jeans hold up to road rash? I am thinking about Sartso jeans (which are obviously above and beyond regular jeans), but I wonder how protective an every day pair really are.

Jeans wont do much of anything in a crash. They are cotton and will just shred right through. Not to mention there is no impact protection. Your knee is a very likely candidate to hit pavement first, so say goodbye to your kneecap. I have seen kneecaps ripped right off from people not wearing gear.



here is a link with some videos:

Top 7 Things That Will Happen in a Motorcycle Crash (NSFW with Pics & Video) | Best Beginner Motorcycles

 

[iSpoolin]

I'm definitely going to show her that link. Hopefully then she'll understand. Shes mainly that way because she had ridden with guys before, that would let her ride without a helmet, or with the helmet just on not even latched, in flip flops, shorts, etc. But its like I told her, thats because they didn't give a damn about her. I do. but she can't wrap her head around that lately, even though she did at first?

Since we are on the topic.....how protective are jeans? I don't wear jeans, I wear motorcycle pants (Alter Ego with liner for colder weather and a similar mesh version for warm days). I've always been scared to wear just jeans....how do jeans hold up to road rash? I am thinking about Sartso jeans (which are obviously above and beyond regular jeans), but I wonder how protective an every day pair really are.

Not very. I know I take a risk with riding in jeans, but generally I wear full length boots and Icon knee/leg guards. So very little of me is not protectected by some form of armor.

 

[XTRAWLD]

Figured as much. Thanks! Both my pants have knee armour, and the "cold weather" version has hip protection also.

 

[elikhom]

How to Avoid Skinning Yourself Alive - Brittany Morrow on Vimeo

 

[CDN6R]

Just a thought.... Can we have some of these very graphic links placed as a "Stickey"? So we can have access to them to show to people who do not want to wear gear? Laurie

 

[Rabbitman109]

Just a thought.... Can we have some of these very graphic links placed as a "Stickey"? So we can have access to them to show to people who do not want to wear gear? Laurie

Took care of that for you, because I agree. It is very annoying to me to see people not wearing gear and I think that I piss a lot of new riders off because they are all gung ho until I tell them to wear everything all the time.

http://www.600cc.org/forum/f9/reasons-wear-gear-21695/

 

[karl213]

Yeah I used to wear just jeans all the time and I'm lucky I bought pants because the one accident I had I slid about 70-80 ftdown the road. I was wearing alter ego pants and they got torn up pretty good and still had a little road rash. Couldn't imagine what it would have been like without them. So now I rarely ever go riding without them. Only time is when I'm taking my brother learning around the block/neighbourhood

 

[e.blackadder]

Have had similar problem with my wife. She won’t wear anything that doesn’t look good and no protective gear looks good enough for her. She bought riding jeans just to appease me, but never wore them once. My insistence on getting a proper riding jacket too she took as a justification to get a new leather jacket, which looks really sharp (and cost more than all of my gear), but is all fashion and no protection.

The ATGATT has become an urgent issue for me since switching to FZ6R. Before, on a cruiser it didn’t bother me at all and I’d frequently squid it myself. Probably because of the weight of the bloody thing and the back rest. These days I feel naked without gear. As a result I don’t volunteer to ride with my wife anymore and if she asks we only go short distances at city speeds to Starbucks. Fortunately she wants a date, rather than riding.

Sometimes you just can’t win. Sometimes my mom, when she runs out of arguments says “I don’t doubt you, nevertheless …” and you can’t really say much to that. This might seem cruel, but some people need to learn the hard way.