Staying protected

[Cookie]

Remember thar most car accidents happen within a few miles of your own home. That applies to motorbikes too! I go to pick up some groceries on my bike, I'm in my gear...

[akducati]

This is a bit hard to type as my right wrist is in a cast. My first broken bones! I was coming around a corner down a hill at about 35mph. A truck load on teenagers was stopped in the middle of the road because they missed their turn. It's possible they may have even been backing up. All I saw was white tailgate! I hit the brakes and because I was in corner front washed out and down I went. FF helmet has scratched shield, Vanson jkt is pretty scraped up, had Sidi vented Vertebras on but left ankle still got bad sprain, Firstgear Meshtech pants show no scuffs at all, and had on ICON TI-max gloves which got scraped up. Only thing I may have done is to have really snugged up the gauntlets of gloves for more wrist protection but thats only speculation. No bruises or roadrash! Cracked the wrist end of the radius and broke the ulnar tip but I'M ALIVE. Yes, gear works! MH

[22080]

Ouch!, sorry to hear that. Take care of that paw. Thanx for the post.

[AndyK]

In the early 80's I buried a Yamaha XS1100 in hwy 67 in Saucier Ms. It was Feb. and I was wearing boots, jeans, full face and military A1 jacket. Notice anything missing?

Walked away with my hands dripping. Spent weeks walking around not being able to tie my own shoes.

[M900Wes]

Great post, thanks for the reminder. Hope things heal up for you in the long run. I washed out on some gravel/salt and smacked the side of a mountain in Jan. Totaled the bike, but was in full leathers, Alpine Star two piece, Sidi's, RF 1000, and walked away with a dislocated shoulder. Was back on a bike in six weeks, but if I had been without gear... would have been much worse. I had debated when buying gloves to get the full on "track style" with protected knuckles or just the leather ones. The crack in the plastic part of my Alpine Star GP's has convinced I made the right choice. That would have been my knuckles..... and I play guitar for a living. Stay safe and thanks for the post... WES

[EvilSteve]

I wear full gear all the time:

AGV TiTech full face
Dainese Bora jacket
Dainese Wave Wave G2 back protector
Alpinestars GP Pro gloves
Dainese P103 leather pants
Sidi Vertigo boots.

I'm a fairly new rider, I have ~2200 miles on my S2r.

To all of you guys that have had accidents, I'm glad you're still here to tell us about it and to learn from you.

Dan

[Dynamic213]

Wow great stores guys. This is definitely a good wake up call for everyone here.

Another issue I think that everyone missed about "protection" is the VISIBILITY. I noticed too many rides out there who wears full black leather gear for the "cool" factor... myself included. :P

My wake up call came around a few days ago during one afternoon, when my co-worker almost ran me over at an intersection. She was trying to make a left hand turn while I'm approaching from the opposite direction. Well apparently she failed to see me and made the left hand turn right into me! I had to swerve out of the way from this 6000lb hunk of metal as quick as I can. She finally saw my bike in the midst of her turn, and quickly swerved away in order to avoid a nasty collision.

After the incident, she told me that she did not see me at all because I was in full black outfit, sitting on a black bike (dark actually), riding on black road, which was about the worst combination ever. The worst part was that she didn't even see my high beam headlight!

I don't know if she's just one of those careless drivers or what, but it's people like this that gets riders seriously hurt or killed!

Since then I have decided to purchase a red KBC Racer retro helmet, and a red/white leather jacket for more visibility.

[mmoore]

good point on visibility. I used to be an all-black guy, but now have a red helmet and red/white Ducati Corse jacket. Hoping it makes a difference. (Oh, and the Termis coudn't hurt either [laugh])

[EvilSteve]

Visibility is why I have a bright helmet. When I buy peforated leather next year I'll be getting brighter than straight black too.

The whole "not seeing the motorcyclist" thing doesn't just come down to colour, there are other factors involved including the attentiveness of the driver.

Dan

[GS750E]

I will not ride without my gear. I do not have pants but jacket, gloves nad helmet are a staple. I once moved my bike 150 feet without a helmet on. It felt weird.

Jim