The T-shirt question....

to tell you the truth i just think that a lot of “new” bikers just dont know any better - its not necessarily the case that they wont but they just dont know…

Thats another “washing machine” (Hot Point)…

Why is it that a Biker goes through a test that is 65% Road Reading and Awareness 20% Riding Skill and 15% Theory.

The Cage Driver gets 90% manouverabilty of the Cage and 10% Theory and F**k All else !!

No wonder they aint got a clue if they see something with two wheels !!!

hehehe…

hey manouverability is important when you have to drive while

having a ciggarette

changing the radio

having a conversation

getting kids to calm down

putting on make up or shaving (and yeah i did actually see a guy once shaving while driving)

talking on your mobile

and changing lanes without looking…

all at the same time…

OK Sheeesh you’ve lost me…

Baloo posted :

“Agreed, as long as those people provide a waiver to the NHS they do not need to attend to their injuries. After all if they can refuse to help smokers and soon fat people, why not people that won’t minimise the risk of injury to themselves.”

To which I replied :

"So by your logic, you think that next time you have an accident on your bike, that the NHS should refuse to treat you because by choosing a form of transport that is more than 20 times more likely to result in death or serious injury per mile travelled than travelling by car, you obviously haven’t minimised your risk of injury ?

Perhaps therefore, the govt should make it compulsary that a bike licence is only valid if the appropriate waiver to NHS treatment in the event of an accident is signed ?"

I then tried to explain that from the smoking point of view the NHS makes no difference between those who smoke high tar ciggies or those that smoke the ‘safer’ low tar ones - as they think smoking’s dangerous period - most non-biking doctors & nurses I’ve met have exactly the same view of motorcycling, it’s dangerous period, no matter what you choose to wear.

So if like smoking they’re going to have a cut off point, then it’ll simply be riding a bike as it’s also the easiest way to do it, or would we end up with paramedics checking your clothing for the correct CE labels before they decided to treat you or not ?

As for protective clothing, there is very little ‘official’ protective clothing being made for bikers outside of one or two companies like BKS. Since the EC introduced a standard for protective motorcycling clothing, virtually none of the manufacturers have adopted it. Sure, they may have ‘CE approved’ references on the tags or in the marketing blurb, but this only applies to the impact protectors not the construction of the suit itself.

So I guess that would mean 99.9% of the biking population is currently failing to wear approved protective gear, be it in jeans & T-shirt or a Dainese one-piece suit.

I wonder how many of you could wear full leathers for 10 hours a day 5 days a week while riding in the sun?

I’m a courier and I can’t the dehydration is to much. So you say drink more water, well thats the easy bit but you still need to use the toilet and most companies you deliver to don’t like horrible scummy couriers using their pristine toilets in case we start shooting up smack or something in them. Oh yes I’ve had that one thrown at me.

Dehydration has almost caused me to crash after a mere one hour of riding.

So tell me about these fantastic vented summer pieces of kit that’ll keep me cool? they don’t unless you’re moving at some kind of speed which tends not to happen while you’re stuck behind a coach on piccadilly. Also they tend not to last to long being used 10+hours a day so often there is no alternative to the t-shirt, open jacket and jeans which may not give the best protection but gives some protection and you don’t collapse from heatstroke.

In fact it gets so hot this time of year in central that when I was riding NTV’s for Securicor the frames heated up so much you could burn yourself on them.

It’s your choice what you wear and most of you it appears would frown at what I use but to be honest until the time you start riding 10+ hours a day everyday you won’t understand that riding in full leathers in the sun is very unsafe.

Sorry to say it Barro, but Pat’s right.

We choose to ride which is riskier than a safety tested airbagged crumple zoned cage.

So its actually a choice. The docs should treat you no matter what you’ve done. Its called the Hippocratic Oath…at least that was what they used to operate by before they all became greedy gits and started doing Private shifts…

Where is the love. YOu wanna ride buck naked? Go for it. You’re the idiot.

You have a brain so you ride with protective gear to keep it working…

How many racers would get on their bikes without full protection? Not a single one, and I think its fair to say they are probably the best riders out there that never have to look out for trucks, cages, mini cabs, Black gabs, lemmings, grannies with cars bicyclists or even coppers!

So there…

SUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!1

Where are ya Barro?

Isn’t he in France this weekend?

As Cezar says, I think after falling off without the right gear, only a fool continues to do so after. It’s easy to get carried away with the feeling of freedom and enjoying the ride in the summer without gear on, but things happen and accidents hurt and can leave the most horrendous scars.

I’ll be riding with my Arlen Ness all-weather jacket this year, which when the inner (cold and water) layers are taken out leaves just the armour and air-mesh outer part, which feels like you’re not wearing anything! Perfect for summer. I compromise on jeans sometimes though, but quite often wear my leather trousers, or full one-piece leathers if in the mood or going for fast rides.

Last year I made use of my off-road armoured vest which worked well, but wouldn’t offer the same protection as my new Alren Ness jacket. I would rather be hot, than risk skin-grafts.

How many of the preachers ride bikes all day everyday? You can’t make a decision for someone and you don’t know the circumstances of that persons decision.

The racers comparison doesn’t work. They don’t ride 10+ hours a day and have the use of toilets so can drink all the fluid replacement drinks they want without screwing up their kidneys.

Nylon mesh jackets are dangerous to crash in. They have a nasty tendancy to melt when faced with tarmac friction. Gravel rash is nasty, Burns on your gravel rash is worse.

You can get burns from friction caused by the nylon lining of leathers. Doubt many of you have replaced that nylon liner in your leather jacket or trousers with silk somehow.

So many people believe the protective gear they have is decent quality only to find out when it really counts that it isn’t worth a damn.

Its def a case of get what you pay for! Goretex is good for summer (I got leather at mo, waiting for pay day!)

Sean and I have had a little ‘bump’ and that scared me enough not to go out with out my gear on - Sean wouldn’t let me anyway even if i wanted too! (Bless him!)

I couldn’t for the life of me EVER got out in shorts and t-shirt though.

I can see both sides - each to their own!

Interesting points of view here…

Outcome of any bike accident has as much to do with luck as what gear you’re wearing. It’s not the law to wear more than a lid; just don’t expect my sympathy if you lose 1mm of skin for every mph you slide… And that’s not to say that i’ve never gone out without all the gear on… My now “famous” red dressing gown springs to mind

I agree with you ladyPRider, it’s a personal choice, however, I still wouldn’t get on my bike without being fully kitted up, no matter how hot the weather.

A colleague at work was knocked off at relatively low speed last year, she was wearing her leather bike jacket, proper bike boots but ordinary jeans and suffered awful rashes where the jeans split as they came into contact with the road. Ouch is all I can say and she now rides in full leather kit or her fabric Rukka one.

what response from a stranger to basically saying ‘i think you’re stupid wearing that’ do you expect to recieve exactly?

Indeed JB !

I remember the first time I saw you, you didn’t even have socks on FFS ?

How unprotected is that? Imagine the chaffing that could happen to your left toe after those gearchanges!

Hehe. So I think we can say that it’s a case of each to their own, and the devil take the hindmost! Or summat.

Now, where’s that petition for female riders to wear mini skirts gone ? don’t worry, I’m talking about the leather ones.

Riding 42 years, on the road 31 years, lost 17 close friends to bike related accidents, got four brothers who ride and loads of friends also into it, 14 years as an ambulance paramedic, 9 of those covering the boxhill area, seen every bike injury and suffered alot my self.

Have I got an opinion, you bet, ask me sometime when you have an hour to kill.

Cheers Mark.

As per my comment on “wots the f******g point”. If you are going to put crash bobbins on your bike, why are you not going to wear leathers?

haha, dont we all enjoy a little bit of chaffing every now and again? normally i have to pay good money for that kind of thing

apologies to anyone who has now lost their breakfast with this kind of mental imagery!

er, what do crash bobbins on a bike have to do with being too hot in leathers and having no where to store 'em at your destination?

Point is, you put crash bobbins on your bike so that if you bin it, it stops damage. Would make sense that if you are going to protect your bike for accidents you would do the same for yourself. However, it is individual choice.

Considering whiplash is now a major common injury in car accidents how many of you wear neck braces while driving?

I mean come on it makes sense to protect yourself doesn’t it?