jackets....worthless?

[johncam4]

along the same lines as the helmet post
who has been saved by a jacket

[cernunos]

I have a good scar on my left arm because of NOT having a jacket. Good skin graft of 7 x 3 inches. I never did before or since not wear a jacket. One freakin' time an' I go down. Also broke my rule of never riding any one elses bike. Love that little GStwin and the GStwin forum.

C.......

[PITBULL]

I have a nice scar on my left arm as well due to not wearing a jacket I went and bought a Joe Rocket  as soon as my arm healed enough to  try a jacket on.   Wish I had  bought one the day I bought the bike.    =(    really wish the bike had a jacket though its still looks like its in pain  :dunno:

[cernunos]

I see people ridin' in shorts, t-shirt (or NO shirt), sandals, no gloves and I think..."you've either never been down or you're into pain or you think you're invincible...or you just plain aint right...". Gotta love the little baby G and the baby G forum.

C.......

[Roadstergal]

Ja, around here I see a lot of guys in just T-shirts and shorts... almost as frequently, they have a chickybabe perched behind them, wearing a little crop-top tank and short-short shorts.  All I can think is, honey, just because he doesn't go down at home doesn't mean he isn't going to out on the bike, and you're going to be a lot less pretty after he does.  

[cernunos]

My toes literally curl when I see that...but hey, it's America and everbody has the right to go down naked ...Love ridin' that GS and watchin the words go by on the forum.

C.......

[ghettorigged]

I wrecked on my jacket on my right side. Just a little tender elbow is all I suffered up top!  

[dgyver]

Not jackets but you will get the point.......

Gear is good. Just ask Jason. About 70mph, he rear ended me on my TLR Monday night, locked the front wheel and flipped his RC51. Leathers have scuffs all over them. There is even a tire mark on the back of his helemt.

From my 60mph low side at Roebling:
http://img21.photobucket.com/albums/v64/dgyver/Misc/JRlowside01.jpg

I have a fair amount of scars on my right bicep from hitting a car while riding squid style in '87.

[MarkusN]

I took a spill at about 75 mph and slid for what appeared to me an eternity. A few bruises from going down a bit hard, a hurting ribcage from rolling over. Probably a broken small toe (never bothered to have somebody look at it more closely) from the edge of the steel cap in my Cat boots. Bullson textile Jacket and Sanmaru textile pants in tatters. Not a scratch to my skin.

Yes, I'd definitely say that jacket saved me some (bad) scars. Dunno if I'd have walked from the scene without my gear.

The helmet didn't take a single scratch though. Apparently I held my head high all the time.

[geekonabike]

I got back a week ago from a summer in Taipei (Taiwan), where scooters outnumber cars about 4:1 and what we call motorcycles (most 125cc class) about 20:1.  Most people not on the bus/train ride scooters in everyday clothes.  Ladies in skirts or dresses with open-toe high-heel shoes are common.   Most helmets are a joke compared to our US DOT and SNELL certifieds.  But over there it kind of works, for a number of reasons as far as I can tell.  First, the speeds are relatively slow.  (It felt exciting riding 70, then I remembered it was km/hr. Fast enough on a 125cc Yamaha scooter.)  Second, people in cars expect to see scooters and will, albeit sometimes grudgingly, give way.  Third, the driver licensing test out there is REALLY HARD, so car drivers are fairly skilled.  Fourth, so are the scooter riders, perhaps out of fear of death.  Still, I was blown away by how they could ride--albeit slowly but moving--four across between the cars in the outer lane and the curb on some streets during traffic jams (and there are no traffic jams if you're on a scooter!).  Perhaps fifth, there is much less sense of "ownership" of the lane, that we're taught to establish in the US when riding.  The way they drive/ride out there, if tried in the US, would cause tremendous road rage, but out there it is kind of the code (if there's room, go for it), everyone knows it, and traffic moves along quite nicely.  In four trips and about seven months there I think I've seen the aftermaths of three scooter accidents, with nobody seriously hurt.

Long story short, in some cultures it seems to work--statistically--that people don't so much need the protective clothing.  Due to very different circumstances presently in the US, however, I'm going to stick to the MSF recommendations and at least compliment my full-face SNELL helmet with my gloves, boots and my Teknic jacket even here in hot, sunny Oklahoma, though I am seriously considering something perfed to replace the jacket.  For the highway, maybe a Roadcrafter one-piece is in my future.  Still using jeans down below for now, but eventually I'll spring for armor there too.

I should note that two-wheelers are not allowed on the highways in Taiwan.  Not even the imported CB1300's.

FWIW,
Mike D.

[noodle]

Speed is the factor here... no-one I know gets dressed up in bike leathers to ride a bicycle...

Having said that if you're gonna go over 30mph you need the right gear - I had an off at 20mph and came away unscathed. The bike (GS125 at the time) fell on me and squashed and grazed my right forearm JACKET ARMOUR rather than my arm

An easy test... Run along at a fair rate along the road when no cars are coming wearing just a T-shirt... Then dive onto the floor....

People might get the point then. Its so OBVIOUS that protective clothing is a good idea it amazes me when I see riders with exposed extremities...

As for scooters I *STILL* wouldn't ride around without sleeves. Sleeves can be replaced easily, skin less so...

[Mat]

i have scars on both my forearms from wearing holes through a jacket
can't even imagin how big the scars would be if i didn't have it on
but i do know this my whole right sholder and most of my right arm would be scar tissue if it wasn't for my jacket
and i don't think i would have walked away

gloves really saved my hands too the back of my hands and down to the second knuckle would be pretty ripped up too

but needless to say now i wear a jacket and gloves all the time no matter how hot it is outside even when its breaking the 100's

besides... the girls love it :mrgreen:

[geekonabike]

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not advocating losing the sleeves when riding.  I was just struck by the culture in Taipei, which is probably more dominated by scooter riding than anywhere else in the world.  This first-world city is surprisingly un-gung-ho about safety gear for riders, and I was looking for reasons why they would be that way.  As pointed out by another, speed probably is a very important factor.  I probably gave the wrong impression when I wrote about going 70km/hour, as that only happened once and most limits were 40-50, and you could go slower easily since there were also bicycles, often with quite old people on them, more closely hugging the curb but anyways legally on the streets excepting highways.  I did a lot in the 30km or less range on my two-day tour.  And I know, you can still get hurt at those speeds.

Looking back, probably another of the bigger factors is the climate.  The place is not quite as hot as SW Oklahoma in summer, but the humidity can be way up there.

It was just interesting to me that other cultures don't necessarily share our views about the importance of protective clothing (but they do wear "helmets"), and to look at what else is different that might explain it.  Is their "calculus" less reasonable than ours?  It was very interesting to see what goes on in a two-wheeler dominated part of the world, in many ways several steps closer to biketopia IMO.

Here we feel we have to be paranoid about crashing, and with good reason.  It's a bit like how some places in the US are no more prone to gun violence even though folks have shotguns in their pickups, while folks in other places are more paranoid about guns and pass much more strict laws about such things.  How's that for a can of worms!  (Please direct any replies to this last point to me personally if you wish, as I really don't want to start a thread on the topic of guns.  In fact I really don't want your replies either, but since I wrote it I guess you have the right to tell me what you think about it.)

The idea that we should wear it because "the chicks dig it" should go on a banner across the apparel section of every motorcycle shop.  Maybe sexist, but that may spare more arms than all the MSF efforts to get kids to do right.  Maybe a campaign with models.  (Oh no, not the "I won't ride with a guy who doesn't have protection" slogans, please!)

Sorry, I write too much.  --Mike D.