Out and about the back roads of SW Ohio and SE Indiana, I noticed that most H-D riders don't wear helmets. I knew that for years and years. Ditto the fact that in warmer weather, "muscle" shirts and a few T-shirts are the standard upper torso "protection".   BUT do the Milwaukee twin crowd protect their feet? So, their toes and ankles are sheathed in 20 llds of leather, rubber and neoprene, but their heads are protected with........ :dunno: Are they all wearing this heavy foot gear to protect their delicate feet or is there some darker, sinister reason? Like, to kick the bejeezzus out of sport bike riders at a bar? (Or at least  look like they could kick the crap out of us "weeny" riders?

Someone wearing an Aerostich, full-face helmet and hard-armored gloves would be much more effective in a fist-fight.

come to L.A. and you'll see plenty of sportbikers with FF helmet, t-shirt, shorts and sneakers (occasionally flip-flops).

of course, if you were in a slide at any speed (say, above 20mph :dunno: ), i don't think a guy in jeans would be significantly better off than a guy in shorts.

I can't remeber who did it, but one of the bike magazines did a 'test' of different riding apparel's effectiveness.  The test involved wrapping a large roast in different material, tying a rope to the meat, and dragging it behind a pickup truck.

I don't rememeber the results in detail, but I do remember that heavy leather was the best abraision resistant material, while even the heaviest jeans were next to useless.

I keep seeing everyone saying jeans are useless... Maybe I'm freakishly lucky... but through years of dirt riding (and consequently dirt crashing) I have never had complaints about my jeans. I'm been tossed, thrown, flipped, hurled, and verious other verbs, off my dirtbike (I do trail scrambles) and NEVER had a problem. I've lowsided on my dirtbike in fields and pastures, hitting rocks, tree branches, and various other uncomfortable substances, and barely suffered a scrape.

I low-sided the old GS before, once coming out of a turn, slipping in sand and diesel fuel. The jeans protected me MUCH better than shorts would have. I would have been bleeding something awful had it not been for them. The jeans allowed me to get up and walk away without even a drop of blood lost. The second time was in a parking lot during wet weather. I lost traction at the rear, and slid for a few feet. Nothing but a slightly red right knee and a bruised ego. Had I been wearing shorts though, I would have no doubt had thigh and calf abrasions.

When I had my big crash, I low-sided at roughly 50mph, and I suffered minor and superficial road rash. It was fully healed in 3 days, as it was a very light surface abrasion. Had I been wearing shorts, I might not have a right leg anymore.


Feel free to dig into me.

 

The HD riders usually wear the boots for traction when pushing them or extra coverage for when the base gaskets blow and they get burnt with the hot oil :dunno:








:mrgreen:

I like some HD's but some of them do have engine problems.

The only reason I was "flipped" off, ed, was because I was goofing around on the motocross course and had a bad landing. The reason I was flung off in a turn was because I hit a hidden sinkhole in the middle of it.

It was a 1980 Yamaha XT 250.

I don't think you want to compare crashing on dirt to asphalt.

That said, every wreck is different. Sliding down 3 lane highway after low siding is a lot different than overshooting a curve and bouncing through a cornfield. In that first case, the jeans will burn through pretty quickly.

The boots are either because they're work boots and the rider just always wears them or it's so they can look tough.

I wear Cat steel-toe work boots to ride.

Quote from: Rema1000Someone wearing an Aerostich, full-face helmet and hard-armored gloves would be much more effective in a fist-fight.

Oh yea true that, those Icon gloves with Ti plates ... can punch through a freaking car window ... even unintentionally ... and of course you can wrestle a bear in the damn aerostitch ... (Yea I know BMW ad but it was a copy off the aero wasn't it)
Cool.
Srinath.

The Custom Colors are fun to play with...  I think I like Hi Viz with Red ballistics.

Or maybe Blue with Red.

Quote from: callmelennyI don't think you want to compare crashing on dirt to asphalt.

That said, every wreck is different. Sliding down 3 lane highway after low siding is a lot different than overshooting a curve and bouncing through a cornfield. In that first case, the jeans will burn through pretty quickly.

When I crashed my old GS, I didn't bounce through a corn field. I slid 80 feet up hill, and then hit a curb, bouncing over onto a rocky embankment before stopping on some boulders protectinng me from falling off the cliff.

ah . . . one of those times when it's nice to hit a boulder.

My dad has the HI-Viz and Red Aerostich.  No offense Dad, but you are a goofy looking bastard in that thing, but I KNOW that even blind people can see you in that thing, so .  By the way everyone needs to imagine a shortish 58 year old in that Hi-Viz suit :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  it is quite humorous.

Quote from: oppy00My dad has the HI-Viz and Red Aerostich.  No offense Dad, but you are a goofy looking bastard in that thing, but I KNOW that even blind people can see you in that thing, so .  By the way everyone needs to imagine a shortish 58 year old in that Hi-Viz suit :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  it is quite humorous.

:lol:

Quote from: oppy00My dad has the HI-Viz and Red Aerostich.  No offense Dad, but you are a goofy looking bastard in that thing, but I KNOW that even blind people can see you in that thing, so .  By the way everyone needs to imagine a shortish 58 year old in that Hi-Viz suit :lol:  :lol:  :lol:  it is quite humorous.

That RULES!

There's nothing like walking around in something soooo loud that people stop what they're doing to stare at it.

Have you seen my jacket? :lol:

Quote from: indestructiblemanah . . . one of those times when it's nice to hit a boulder.

:lol::lol::lol:

1973 called. They want their jeans back!    :lol:

Nice bike, even if it's not PURPLE!  

Quote from: RVertigoThat RULES!

There's nothing like walking around in something soooo loud that people stop what they're doing to stare at it.

Have you seen my jacket? :lol:

A Kawasaki jacket on a Suzuki? Looks like you're conflicted. :lol: