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ok fairly newbie rider, and outside of the brain bucket what gear go you wear? Do you wear any special gear, footwear, eye protection... things like that.
I'll kick it off;
My wife bought me a Vulcan NF-7002 mesh armored Jacket, and i have 2 helmets a full face Hawk Advanced and an Outlaw Half Helmet with a set of goggles and my engineer or my jump boots
:riding:
There is another thread somewhere about gear, but no reason why we shouldn't have another, a few new folk around and we can always merge them later.
Helmet, always australian design rules, better than USA or European - full face with flip-up visor and sunnies, just too pretty to want to lose my jawbone so the halfie and goggles are on top of the wardrobe and will just be spares.
I used to be always a 'leather beats all' rider but it isn't quite true, needs to be good thick old-fashioned leather. I usually wear my heavy leather Brando every time but as Aus is so hot and I cannot afford airmesh etc. I have a couple of thinner leather jackets that I will sometimes ride to the shops. My solid, heavy leather pants are now mainly in the cupboard as I have decent quality kevlar-lined cargos. The looseness of fit makes them cooler.
I have rain gear, a full suit with all the European design rules compliant padding and so on but it doesn't feel as tough as leather. I do wear it, armoured, with or without lining depending on heat, when riding the bush as I am not travelling fast. On tarmac I think it would not be all that good at 100 kph despite the fact many wear it, Don't fancy plastic burnt into my skin.
Gloves, Fox dirtpaws for summer and for winter kevlar military gunloader gloves.
I have a Fox armour set but don't like it.
If I were doing a long 'adventure ride' I would have to invest in lightweight Kevlar underwear, full set, and a perphorated leather two-piece racing suit. I would try other armour to find a set I get on with and spend up on both neck and knee braces.
I have also seen cheapish Kevlar hoodies that I may try for $80, not sure if they would protect in an off, might ride up a bit.
Boots always, Steel capped work boots as I have worn for forty years. I know elastic-sided is maybe going to come off in a bad off ... but I truly hate lacing up boots and I am not going to spend $600 on MX boots. Might yet get some good road rider boots.
I have various balaclava, face-mask and scarf type extras for winter and despite people laughing at me when I tell them, full-body silk underwear is superb for both cool and warm and less than $100 a set .... black of course.
I tend to wear protective gear all the time. That is MX boots, core-tex enduro suit, gloves, helmet, and upper body armour. It is kind of calming ritual to wear them and when I hit the road with all that gear I feel smarter than in my younger days when I wore WW2 Finnish FIghter Pilot leather helmet, shorts made of Jeans, moccasins, Nokia mobile phone, light enduro gloves, and tribal necklace.
Well, this is more "bike gear" for protection ... protecting one's hands and one's pride!
Yesterday, I went out on my little XTR - got to my destination - parked the bike - shut it off - side stand down ...
Simultaneously, through my full face helmet, I saw some pleasant scenery walking by, smiling at me :clap:. Yeah, I'm cool! :naughty:
More background - I haven't ridden the XTR for a few months, and forgot about the vibration ... and how it puts one's legs to sleep.
Anyways, as I am enjoying the lovely smile at me, Mr Cool Biker, and in the process of dismounting the bike ...
Ooops, ooops, ooops ... my tingling half-asleep leg didn't clear the seat ... oh no! I can feel the notoriously poorly designed XTR side stand giving away ... over the bike goes, with me pinned underneath! Not cool.
BUT ... in my failed attempt to retain "cool composure" as the little XTR was collapsing, I also failed to remove my hand from the left hand grip, and the bike came down hard on my hand! No body parts broken, but my mirror and rear signal smashed. And my hand is clearly bruised and swollen. I think my armored gloves saved me from broken bones. And my armored pants / jacket saved me from any road rash & more bruises as I collapsed on the ground, bike on top of me. And my full face helmet saved me from displaying my embarrassed red face (I didn't remove it until I was far away). :eekers:
Note to self - MOUNT THE DAMN HAND PROTECTORS! They serve a very useful purpose, besides looking cool. But they need to be mounted on the bike, not sitting in my storage area.
And a mishap can happen when you least expect it, or want it to. Scenery can be sooooo distracting!
Hand protectors - a good idea!
I'm guessing you were not running your helmet cam. Will just have to roll that little movie in my head.
Consider this: Your hand certainly would be broken if you'd accomplished this with the Jialing. And maybe your leg too.
Don't want to jinx you, but you once said you'd never had a getoff in, like, seven or eight decades of riding. Does this now count as your first?
cheers!
This was awesome story :lol8:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
Good story LJH :clap:, but it would be easier to relate to with some pictures of the "pleasant scenery walking by". :lol8:Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
Cheers!
ChinaV
This will probably be on Youku, if any of the several laughing pedestrians with mobile phone cams were quick enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
You're absolutely correct - and this morning, my JH600 went in to have its hand guards installed (it needs special brackets fabricated).Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
I think what happened was when the bike went down, the end of the clutch lever took the brunt of the impact, and squeezed my hand between the grip and the lever ... like a vise grip ... ouch ... damn, that REALLY hurt ... and it didn't get better until I figured out that I could lift the bike up.
Well, I've had many bikes fall over while on the stands (wind, me using the bike as a hammock, coming off the center stand over a curb, not being aware that my side-stand is actually not down, etc), but never when the bike has been in forward motion ... I'm such a sissy-rider! So, no, my record is still clean ... but this is probably event number 1,000 of me making an idiot of myself.Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
Summer-riding is coming ... which means female summer attire ... oh oh.
I've done that one! I stopped to take a leak, down she goes, snapping the clutch lever! A $12 piss that was. Yes, KLR levers are cheap.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
cheers
That has never happened to me. What has happened to me quite some time is that I forget to disable the sidestand when I begin to ride. It is hell annoying!
Yup - me too! I was going to disconnect the side stand switch but then I recalled the saying "most failures are caused by the nut that connects the handlebars to the seat." I guess that is why manufacturers put the side stand switch in.Quote:
Originally Posted by moilami
But I've been thinking, hand protectors should also be standard equipment. I've never had this happen to me before, but wow, what a lesson for me - it is extremely dangerous getting one's five little fingers caught between a lever and a grip. I'm sure a finger could be very easily snapped in that vise. And it happens in a fraction of a second.
Hand protectors, I like to call them bark busters.. are, IMHO, more important than gloves. I've 'used' them 4 times so far (1 blue truck, 1 bus, and two minivans). 4 times I'm could have lost a hand, finger, or mangled something, even with gloves. For a brain bucket, I have a full face Nolan and a 3/4 Nolan helmet. Both very good quality, but fortunately, I never 'used' them before. The full face is a hassle for most of the short trips I do around town. The best would be to find a 3/4 with a detachable chin strap. Andre, pics of your helmet please?Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
Aggressive/Defensive driving for me in China means riding between cars like a ping pong ball, and cars are the pallets. Only there's a repulsive magnetic force between me (the ball) and the cars (red pallets). I can do this because a bike is much more nimble than a car. Also, thumpers are, again IMHO, the perfect engines for Chinese traffic. I don't really care very much about power high end revs, I don't expect to go anywhere fast in China, but I want it in 1,2,3,4.. . just enough to stay away from the red pallets. Accelerating/decelerating fast.. Traffic regulations, rules and just common curtsy, I completely ignore a long time ago; I expect anyone to do anything at anytime, and I try not to get worked up and just enjoy the ride instead of losing my lid everytime someone invades my space. I try to read drivers and anticipate their actions as much as possible. That ofcourse means being aware of my surroundings. Both my ears work well, infact, I have dumbo's big ears. And I forgot about mirrors long time ago, I just keep turning over my shoulder, a good habit from the days of riding the road bike. I only miss the mirrors when I was riding with andre last week; never rode with anyone before. This is just how I ride,
I don't consider myself an expert, and I'm open to any suggestions/criticism.
I don't suppose that's what you meant by protection, but for me riding style is as important protection as gear.
What I don't have is a proper riding suit. I just couldn't find anything in Kunming that doesn't make me look like an astronaut, or it all sorts of cheesy logos all over it.
Slabo thats great. it makes me think out side the box when it comes to protection. Not just clothing and armor, but how to apply a science to it on the back of the beast and keep my attitude adjusted while riding.
This is all good stuff, now that i have been feeling my way back into the saddle, I tend to be a bit more relaxed but still conscious that I'm totally open.
with the gear that I listed before I forgot to mention the gloves
they are a set of Alpinestars SMX-2 with carbon fiber armor over the knuckles and heavy weight denim jeans
I had that side stand switch disabled on day one on my Skyteam. Don't want to have that kind of fail safe systems prone to break on my bike.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou
I'll ride with quite a lot of protection, for a precise reason : I love bikes, but I also have a lot of things I want to do in my life, including riding many other bikes ! ;-))
So for me it is :
Gloves
Back Protector
Tex jacket with shoulder and elbow protection
Knee pads
Riding boots
and helmet of course...
You know I hear alot of complaints by guys in the states about Helmets and having to wear them. i get ribbed a lot by my older friends who ride cause i have a full face.
I know its silly not to ride without the helmet but do some of you come across those machismo types that argue against it
The argument against helmets is like seat belts, usually expressed that it is a personal choice and doesn't affect others. But it does, family and friends, first attenders, insurance rates, street sweepers!
Same with licenses. It can be seen as anti-social because it affects the community not just the perpetrator. I made that choice myself but I accept the consequences and know what I do. Same for other 'illegals', anarchists, rebels and criminals. All part of society and tolerated or not by those who have power. An always shifting ground of viewpoints about rights, opinions, freedom, responsibility. individual balanced against community, and shadowed by perception of abuses, over regulation, corruption.
Hence a forum and discussion, one of our few tools to have different viewpoints argued. Balance is the key. Chi and yin yang.Attachment 3364
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gardo
Why do you care ? It's your head in the helmet, not theirs. If they want to smash or tear their face on the concrete, it's their choice, they do what they want. If you want to survive injuries or death, live to enjoy your life, travel, discover, ride again, it's your choice, you do what you want and what others may say or think, oh well, you just don't give a s..t ...
Those kind of people really annoy me, they're wasting my time with their bla-bla... I don't come breaking their balls about wearing a helmet, so don't come breaking mine about not wearing it.
;-))
Fred's right in saying that ultimately we're each individually responsible for our own safety (unless we have children or GFs or other loved ones riding pillion, and then we do have substantial legal and moral responsibility for them).
As a bicyclist, I was forever a no-helmet type -- until American Thanksgiving Day 2010, when I was taken out by a motorcyclist and knocked out cold (for the first time in my life) by a hard cranial landing on the very hard concrete flowerbox lining the lovely bicycle path. I was riding fast, and so was he, so it was over in the blink of an eye. A blink that in my case lasted about 30 seconds before I came to. I ride daily, often substantial distances, but I've not mounted my bicycle since that day without my skidlid on tight.
And among the tens of thousands of other riders on the road, on bicycles and motorbikes and scooters, I'm pretty much the rare exception. I'd say in Shanghai max 20% of scooter and motorcycle riders bother with helmets. Among bicyclists, I'm one in 10,000.
Darwin will have his way in a place like Shanghai, or pretty much anywhere in China.
Ride safe!
Can't really remember anyone ever saying stuff like "you should not wear helmet" or "you should not wear full face helmet". If I would hear something like that, I would probably take it like some random phrase saying nothing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gardo
With apologies to my fellow Americans, you overestimate the quality of the gene pool in America!Quote:
Originally Posted by moilami
"Helmet Laws Suck" website
http://www.bikersrights.com/images/bumpers/hlsuxred.gif
http://www.bikersrights.com/images/H...sStillSuck.gif
OK, they are not saying riders SHOULD NOT wear helmets, but they come pretty damn close. Their argument: Helmets are dangerous, just like airbags!
cheers
I wear a full face helmet every day, irregardless of the weather. Saved me many times from being smacked in the head by flying bugs, and at least once from a rather large stone that came flying off a truck. I can't imagine riding without one, and I always urge my friends who ride in China to put one on (even going so far as to donate a couple of them rather than watch them ride without). First date with the current GF began with buying her a helmet so she could enjoy a trek out on the bike with me, she's still with me and so is the helmet 2 years later :).
My gear - Full face helmet, mid wrist length leather gloves with plastic inserts on the knuckles, a good pair of Alpinestar boots that need replacing after 3 years wear and tear, either a full length textile jacket with armor padding under a full length leather coat, or a shorter leather coat also with armor padding for good weather. I've got a pair of textile snowboarding pants that I've been wearing the last couple of months in the cold weather, but I know I need to get some proper riding pants with knee armor.
Nuhaus,
Interesting point about pants. I have a friend in California who was involved in a horrific crash in Idaho, taken out by an 18-wheeler. She was wearing full leathers, but she had failed to zip them together in to a single unit -- which is something we all can easily forget. As a result, the jacket pulled up and the pants went down, and in addition to having multiple bone fractures and serious internal injuries, she also lost a ton of skin, and required months of hospitalization.
Don't want to turn this thread into fright night, but it really is those little things that can lessen, even slightly, our odds of catastrophic injury.
I still wonder if there was anything I might have done to project my clavicle in my fall in Kunming. I wear a thick, close-fitting leather jacket that has very nice armor in the shoulders. But I'm thinking that, short of those motion-sensitive air bags now on the market, there's really nothing that could have helped. Well, if I'd responded better to the circumstances and gotten away from the bike as it went down, rather than clinging to it. As I recall it in my mind, there really wasn't time to react much.
Good on you for taking good care of the GF. It's a powerful for of affection, respect and maybe even love to insist on suiting up. And imagine what the rest of your life would be like if you were OK in a getoff but your pillion was seriously hurt for lack of proper gear....
cheers
One thing I have learned and it is that you can't argue with fanatics or believers.Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
It is indeed close politically to say you should not wear helmets if you say helmets are dangerous.
That said, I respect people's right to risk smashing their head like a shell of chicken egg.
Too late.Quote:
Originally Posted by euphonius
Encounters with trucks are never bound to be good. Always gives a healthy respect for the risks we are taking when we encounter those true life tales. :eekers:
On a similar note, the only person I've met who got knocked unconscious after an unscheduled dismount is also the only person I was unable to convince to wear a helmet.
Something im wondering about the armour. I've found a jacket that I like, seems not too hot, has removable innards but doesnt have any hard bits. Like it has some extra padding on the the bendy bits and back but only really offers skid-defense. Would you pair this with one of those body armour sets (that seems like a sort of excosceleton) underneath or wear hard pads on the outside/inside (?) or just get a jacket with the hard bits built in. Its kind of hard to figure out whats best to get for like an all purpose convenient set that I wont be tempted to take bits off or open up when i get sweaty.
When you talk about body-armour do you specifically mean hard gear or does this also include padding and abrasion resistant gear?
Armour has a different purpose to the abrasion resistance of leather or kevlar of course, it is designed to protect against knocks and crushing and to a small extent against piercing impact. Nothing apart from maybe airbags will really help in a 100 kph crash into an object or worse against a moving object with combined speed to take into account. You also have the effect of you hitting the armour. You should read up on the design rules and ratings according to where you get the armour, ie Euro or US and work it out for yourself. I know that Travis Pastrana has stopped wearing knee braces because he thinks they caused him imjury twice. It also depends on the type of off. MX, you want knee brace and all the external gear, road slide, you want good leather AND kevlar.
Nothing will stop you choosing not to wear all the gear on a really hot day when you are just going 'up the road a few km' for some reason. Apart from self discipline. I have a jacket with built in hard back protector and padding, all EU, hardly ever wear it, too bloody hot and bulky. I have a Fox overarmour set, never worn it much. But I wear leather jacket and kevlar pants whatever the weather and if I was touring I would wear the purpose built stuff because of the increased odds of daily riding new ground. If I was commuting everyday, I would do the same and upgrade the helmet too. There are ride reports here where you see the lads wear over armour and light weight gear, you see them fall off (slow) and recover to, so basic stuff does a basic job and obviously you can train yourself into the mindset of wearing it every time. Its your skin and bones.
Comfort is also part of the choice. You have to try it all on and imagine whether you would get comfortable if in it all day. You can get lighter mesh and armour suits but whatever the weather and wherever they are, professionals wear all the gear, all the time, usually a full set of leathers. I have googled and read many many pages of reports on all this stuff and seen various conclusions drawn about all of it but nothing in all the tests yet beats full leather for slides. For impact, good luck and a clean life and good Insurance, for the family to continue on with.
I need to keep telling myself the above.Quote:
Originally Posted by moilami
hey, I d like to ask you for advice. I have that Jialing 150, my first bike good helmet and my jacket from taobao that sucks. I ve read all this treads about safety and 70 slide and decided to invest some money in gear. My first thought was to buy leather and spend 3000rmb on jacket, but after visit in that 798 shop i think its not enough. I've seen what they have and I like even those non jackets. There is a set 2700 for a jacket and 2400 for trousers and i think quality of this gear is very good, but they have also jackets for 7000rmb, so the set I'm looking at is some lower shelf. Does it make sense to buy this Revit set not highest price range or its better to find something else. It's better to buy a set right
And by the way, can I have some more tips how to get to that Mr. Yu's shop, because I couldnt find it,
cheers
Well, if you want to really blow your mind, head over to the BMW dealer. Jacket, pants, helmet, gloves & boots will run you over 30,000 rmb. However, IMHO, BMW gear is damn good. I love its boots & jackets. Helmets, I'd go with the new carbon fiber Shuberth for a mere 9,000 rmb. I should get back into raping & pillaging to afford my habit.
But all of this stuff is completely personal preference. Prada or LV or Coach?
Feel free to call me directly for Mr Yu's directions, or pop by the CBD on your bike and you can follow me up. Tough to find the first time.