How much protective clothing do you wear?

[Ron]

I wear leather jacket, full helmet, jeans, boots everytime. Rare exception for short trip to the store.

Anything long distance I put on the chaps and gloves.

If it's warm out (over 80 F) I take the chaps and/or gloves off. If it's hot (over 100 F) I take the gloves off and put the chaps back on.

NOTE: must be moving and have fairly low humidity! over 100 F I wouldn't last but an hour in stop and go traffic. The chaps and jacket at that temp slow the evaporation of sweat. End result is I'm cooler with full leather than without.

[REFFI]

I always wear a full face helmet (comes from the days of no windshield and contact lenses that would dry out in the breeze) and earplugs. Wind noise greater than 45 mph damages the hearing. My plugs have sonic valves in them so I can still hear normally, but loud noises (like gunfire, or the wind) causes the valves to close.

I always wear my Bates leather jacket (armored elbows and shoulders, front and rear vents). I have a pair of Joe Rocket buckskin gloves that are stretching to meet the length of my fingers. I used to wear a pair of Roper's gloves with an extra pad in the palm, but I wore through them, finally, and couldn't find them again.

I have a Scotchlite reflective "Halo" band around my helmet and I had my wife sew Scotchlite down the legs of my Bates Cordura chaps (but I don't wear them for commuting unless I'm going to be traveling in the dark or it's too cold for jeans).

I wear jeans, mostly. I even used to wear jeans to the beach, but I don't go to the beach anymore, too hard on the skin.

I wear a pair of calf high waterproof boots with a plastic (inside) protective toepiece.

I have been known to go from the dealer's to my house in only jeans, helmet, gloves and boots, but it is less than five miles away.

I've been down four times, one of which was on a dirt bike (tee shirt) and once, in summer, on a highway. The nurse at the hospital couldn't stand to pick the gravel out of my elbows so I had to do it myself.

Stay covered and stay hydrated.

Ralph 80G

[desert1]

armor

Full face helmet......HJC waterproof and armored jacket.......waterproof and armored pants (taken on long trips).....
Leather gloves with some kevlar here n there.......calf high leather boots.......St. Christopher Medal...

Bruce

........and as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our souls, there walks a lady we all know..........

[John]

Re: armor

Originally posted by desert1
Full face helmet......HJC waterproof and armored jacket.......waterproof and armored pants (taken on long trips).....
Leather gloves with some kevlar here n there.......calf high leather boots.......St. Christopher Medal...

Bruce

........and as we wind on down the road, our shadows taller than our souls, there walks a lady we all know..........

Who shines white light and wants to show...how everything still turns to gold...and she's buying a stairway to Heaven

[Dragonrider]

Far too much till I need it...and then not nearly enough.

It's a daily struggle....but mostly I'm a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy.

Mostly, I do wear a helmet...it holds my earphones in!

[MAXIMAN]

95 times out of 100 I am "Mr. Safety". I get ribbed about it. Dave from Houston gave me a hard time at Bandera about my "Killer Bee" outfit...hehehehe . It's full of armor and black and yellow.

However today it hit 103 her and I simply cold not do it. Even in shorts and "T" I almost passed out. But never doubt. I always...ALWAYS wear a full faced helmet of the highest quality I can afford. Here's what one of mine looks like:



Not cheap...but my head is worth every penny of it to me!

[Dennyz]

protective gear

I just discovered mesh jacket and pants. For those of you that are not familiar with this gear, it is like wearing a knit body sock with pads attached all over. Wow! In my opinion the way to go. For me, the mesh outfit is my motorcycle underwear. I always have my pads on. If I need warmth, I wear a nylon jacket and paint over my mesh gear. If it is wet, I where my rain gear over my mesh gear. Gone is the day of the heavy riding jacket and pants. Gone is the day of riding in a blue jeans and shirt because it is to hot for the riding coat and pants. Gone is trying find a place to stow my big heavy riding gear on the bike.

The nylon warm gear and rain gear fit in less space than my old riding jacket. Because of the capillary effect of the mesh, my skin does no come in contact with my outer gear (rain suit) , I stay warm and dry.

And on the hot days, I feel like I am riding in my underwear. No sun hits my skin and I have air moving all around me. I went riding on a 97 degree day and actually got chilled at 70 mph. What a treat!

The gear I have is called FieldSheer (www.fieldsheeer.com)

I also wear vented cloves, boots and my Shoe X-Eleven full face helmet.

[CWilliamson]

A coworker of mine always wore his helmet. One day coming back to work from lunch he left it off (only lived 2 miles away what could happen right?) he got rearended while waiting to turn left at a busy intersection. Skull got busted up pretty good. I never go without mine now.

Clark

[Targetman]

Sorry to hear about your co-worker.
It's a terrible thing when someone you know becomes "a statistic".
How's that old saying go about most accidents happening within a mile or two of home? Even though you're only going aorund the corner, you should wear your lid.
Just ask Garry Busey. Anyone remember his accident? He was just going around the corner, and he hit it the corner. (what a freak that guy is)....

"In 1988, Busey suffered severe skull fractures in a motorcycle accident. He had not been wearing a helmet, and at first doctors feared that he had suffered permanent brain damage. When Busey eventually recovered, he vividly described leaving his body after hitting the curb at 45 miles per hour, and being lectured by angels who spoke in thought with androgynous voices. After he was discharged from the hospital, Busey spoke out against rules requiring motorcycle helmets be worn and said he would continue to ride without wearing a helmet. He has since reversed his position on helmets."


Gary Busey World

[HobbyMan]

I have heard too many statistics and being that I don't want to be one of them, I always wear a Full face helmet, Leather Jacket( at least zipped half way), jeans, and steel toe boots. It has been 110deg. outside, making extra protection necessary because of those weary(I mean CRAZY and DANGEROUS) Texas drivers on the cell phone going home from work. SO, I never go without protection.

[webbcraft2150]

Here's my rundown. Brain frying full face and of course my Snell approved Yamaha T-shirt, cargo shorts and high speed tennies.

I also rely on my cat-like reflexes, superior acceleration and braking, fear, ear pierceing horns and a handy St. Christopher medal. Oh, yea, throw in a bunch of "been there, done that".

[planedick]

OK I did it...

Well, after reading all those horror stories I went down to Cycle Gear and bought me an armored jacket. I admit I have been riding around in T-shirt and jeans with cowboy boots. Going on a nice long trip this weekend and decided it was cheap insurance against road rash. I've had more than my fair share in the 50 plus years I've been riding and I know in these later years I don't heal nearly as fast as I did. I bought a nice mesh jacket with a removable liner and rode home in it in the blazing heat and air DOES go through it for cooling. WOW

[orc_lover]

I bought a Joe Rocket "ballistic" jacket off ebay a few weeks ago for my wife and we are still waiting for it to be delivered, which sucks. You see a few days ago (long overdue on the jacket) my wife laid the bike down at 30mph comming home from work. She was wearing a cheap old full face shoei helmet (dont have 150$ for a new one), jean jacket, combat boots, and blue jeans. Car pulled into the lane with her and unfortunatly shes only been riding for 3 months so she's not quite as adept at "sharing a lane with blind idiots" as alot of bike vets are. Her first drop, She's now sporting a couple feet worth of fresh pizza markings on her elbows hands back shoulder and thigh (Buell Blast bike is fine, cracked a turn signal). I was real proud of her, she managed not to tumble and she concentrated sliding. Idiot in the car of course high tailed it out of there.

I wrote a nasty email to the seller of the jacket that night before my head cooled down.

Me personally I used to never ride around without at least leather jacket and Full face helmet. Lately however with the heat I have been riding with just a 3/4 helmet on with shorts/shirt and sandles. After reading this thread I am thinking its time to order a jacket for myself. I just needed to be reminded of where all these damn scars I got came from.

[Mortman22]

You will find this in the helmet thread also.

I wear an HJC CL-SP full face helmet. I also wear a heavy leather jacket, boots, and jeans evey time. Occationally ill go without the jacket to the store, but thats less then a 1/2 a mile. But on any sort of substantial trip I won't wear anything else. When I was like 6 my older brother put his GSXR 750 through the rear end of a car. The car cut right in front of him and locked up the brakes. Needless to say it was ugly. He went through the rear windshield, broke the shifter off with his head, broke 5 ribs, dislocated his shoulder, and had a compound fracture of his radius. His arm was all twisted around the peddles. He ended up with his head stuck under the dashboard. The firemen said it was the first time they needed the jaws of life for a motorcycle accident. If he wasn't wearing his gear he wouldn't be here. This is why I wear full protective gear.


__________________

[bwilding_2000]

I usually wear a HJC CL-14 unless it is just to darn hot and then I wear a half helmet. I also usually wear gloves, boots, and jeans.
I once wrecked into a car that pulled out into my lane and then just stopped there. I was probably doing about 40mph and had no helmet. I had gloves, wool jacket, boots, a wool cap, and Levi's. I walked away from that with a cut on my head and some slightyl bloodied knees! The jeans didn't even rip on the asphalt! My bike(xs850 at that time) was half way under the car.


The only time I don't wear a helmet is when I am going around the block.

It was a cold December when I had the wreck. I didn't wear my helmet because "the visor would fog up". Lift the visor, DUH!