Gear question: pants

[jomei]

For me:

I have this thing about constant riding. I am turning back into a person who would sell his car. (Thank god you can ride in LA year round almost.. (got stuck in rain last night man did that suck! Ask Pantablo it rained like a mother all night....))

Back on topic... I like the leathers and all. I find many of them to be MAD uncomfortable #1 and #2 they can be really gaudy. Since I do hella riding.. well.. I do not feel like looking like a moron. Instead I opted to pick up some alpinestars shin/knee protectors. They fit under my pants and I can take them off and stick them in my bag when I get somewhere, or I can just leave them on.. most people can not tell that I am wearing them. (Unless you wear Magnum PI crotch buldge jeans...and if that is your thing then .. well.. ok then.. thats your thing.) I wear those about town, and I never travel the freeways or exceed 30-45mph. Do not get me wrong. 30-45mph hurts like hell, I can tell you that for sure.  

Any other time.. I have leather for that, but those are times when I will not be just putting to the movies, out to dinner, or 3 blocks to the coffee shop.

Risk management and containment is my job. You analyze the risk, and come up with an acceptable level comparing all facets.

30-45mph is acceptable risk to me with the level of gear that I wear. A (snell/dot BARE MINIMUM) approved helmet, high quality leather or kevlar gloves, high quality properly fitting leather jacket, leather boots and knee protectors under my jeans.

No matter what you do in life, there is always unknown. You can only prevent to the best of your abilities the things that you can control or are previously aware of, and make sure that all your bases are covered. That is why I check my chain and sprockets every time I leave my house, give the bike a look over after anything that could have possibly caused ANY damage, and at least subtract a couple months from the maint schedule. If I am unsure of something, then I would just rather spend the $50-$500 and change it. I think my limbs and possibly life is worth the $500.

The other post about tires got me wondering WTF because if you are at all uncomfortable and unsure about something that important, then in my opinion, CHANGE IT.  

That is only my opinion though.

If you ride on that, then you have then accepted the risk and it becomes part of your over all equation. That guy with his lady friend that rides without gear has accepted that variable into her equation. You can suggest that people do things, but you can not tell them. In the end people are just people and will do what they will do.