Appropriate street riding gear is...?

Having had two cracked collar bones , one dislocated knee and at least three concussions two involving being knocked out cold and many other bumps and bruises in one season of competitive pocket bike racing all at speeds around 50 mph in full race gear . It still amazes me that anyone riding a full size bike in anything less than proper protective gear can't see the writing on the wall , let me put it another way it's going to hurt and could make a mess on the asphalt , you know the thin red line that follows your path as you slide down the road on your arse in your denim jeans and jacket with trainers and no gloves and an open face helmet.

[redrider67]

The good old debate...I will tell you how I crashed then you all can flame away..I am posting to make a point.

I crashed last September doing a wheelie at 100MPH..

Gear I was wearing.

Scorpion EXO700
Held Akira Gloves
JR Speedmaster Jacket
Draggin Jeans
Gaerne Boots.

At that speed you can guess how long I slid and tumbled down the highway, seemed like eternity.

My injuries open wound fracture to my left tibia, took the skin to the bone. 2 quarter sized road rash on my right knee. No other road rash to my ass or legs just the impact points of hitting the road with my knees.

Before you all flame away, I was on a country 2 lane road with a 3 mile straight with no cars coming. Normally where I do wheelies so if I crash the only person I hurt is myself.

Only thing I regret that day is not wearing the JR leather pants that day, if I would have probably would have avoided the 6 day hospital stay and surgery and the 3.5 months on crutches.

So I can attest that draggin jeans do hold up but leather is better!

I did order another pair of the jeans with the knee armor, so I will still wear them for the local bike nites.

1. Don't do wheelies. Its dangerous and illegal in most states.

2. Kudos to the OP. The best gear is gear you wear. Yahh, I have all sorts of leather doodads and I put on as many as I humanly can whenever I ride the bike because dammit I paid for the $!&@$#!$@!!! things so I might as well use them! But get stuff you'll use.

[redrider67]

Originally Posted by steingar

1. Don't do wheelies. Its dangerous and illegal in most states.

2. Kudos to the OP. The best gear is gear you wear. Yahh, I have all sorts of leather doodads and I put on as many as I humanly can whenever I ride the bike because dammit I paid for the $!&@$#!$@!!! things so I might as well use them! But get stuff you'll use.

From now on I ride the speed limit and wear full leathers

I need to get some pants, preferably leather....ones that dont make me look homoerotic if i have to walk into a store. OH well.

[redrider67]

Originally Posted by TattooedGQ

I need to get some pants, preferably leather....ones that dont make me look homoerotic if i have to walk into a store. OH well.

If you are on a budget NewEnough has some for $139.00..

Teknic Chicane Leather Motorcycle Pants :: New Enough, LTD

Those aren't bad, I think I'll pick them up when i get home from work, thanks!

[redrider67]

Originally Posted by TattooedGQ

Those aren't bad, I think I'll pick them up when i get home from work, thanks!

Don't know of you looked but they have the jacket that goes with it for $199.00

I have been down a few times and only one was my fault. I have thoroughly enjoyed having to remove the dirt, gravel and other biologic material from my skin using a wire brush to prevent infection and disfiguring scarring. I also abso-freaking-lutely love watching the races, and one thing I have learned from what I have seen and experienced is this simple mathmatical formula:

↑(Protection) = ↑(chances of only a bruised ego)

Had I been wearing better protection I would have missed out on that wonderful scrub your flesh off with the wire brush "Learning Experience".

That being said, and as it has been said before, you wear what you can afford to, HOWEVER some people have other 'physical' issues that make it hard to find their desired level of protection. Since November I have lost 50 lbs and have another 150 to go before I can 'afford' to buy a set of Leathers. So in the mean time I take a lesson from the 'Stunters' and wear under armor under my jeans, and wear CE Armor (Community Europe if you ever wondered what CE meant) as well. Other than that it is the usual:

FF Helmet, JR Gauntlet Gloves, A-Star SMX Plus boots, and a little common sense.

[redrider67]

Originally Posted by skwyd

I have been down a few times and only one was my fault. I have thoroughly enjoyed having to remove the dirt, gravel and other biologic material from my skin using a wire brush to prevent infection and disfiguring scarring. I also abso-freaking-lutely love watching the races, and one thing I have learned from what I have seen and experienced is this simple mathmatical formula:

↑(Protection) = ↑(chances of only a bruised ego)

Had I been wearing better protection I would have missed out on that wonderful scrub your flesh off with the wire brush "Learning Experience".

That being said, and as it has been said before, you wear what you can afford to, HOWEVER some people have other 'physical' issues that make it hard to find their desired level of protection. Since November I have lost 50 lbs and have another 150 to go before I can 'afford' to buy a set of Leathers. So in the mean time I take a lesson from the 'Stunters' and wear under armor under my jeans, and wear CE Armor (Community Europe if you ever wondered what CE meant) as well. Other than that it is the usual:

FF Helmet, JR Gauntlet Gloves, A-Star SMX Plus boots, and a little common sense.

You might want to consider some Carhartt jeans they go up to size 54 in the waist. Actually some of them are 15.75 ounce denim which is more than draggin jeans. Along with some knee armor from a place like Bohn Body Armor and you would have some decent protection.

Here is a link for Carharrt Carhartt Jeans: Heavyweight Cotton Denim Work Jeans B73DST

Originally Posted by redrider67

Don't know of you looked but they have the jacket that goes with it for $199.00

I acutally got a decent leather off of kneedraggers a couple of months back, but snice they took paypal and not my cc over my work server I did pick up some clearance vision boots for 109.00 I didn't even know about that site thanks Red.

[redrider67]

Originally Posted by TattooedGQ

I acutally got a decent leather off of kneedraggers a couple of months back, but snice they took paypal and not my cc over my work server I did pick up some clearance vision boots for 109.00 I didn't even know about that site thanks Red.

No problem, Vision boots are awesome actually picked up a pair of them when they put them on clsoeout!

is this overkill ?

Sidi Vertigo Corsa
Teknic Lightnight gloves
Shoei x-eleven helmet
Tour master apex leather pants
Fieldsheer Flex leather jacket

why would that be overkill......oh and i just got the pants and boots in the mail yesterday.......pretty sweet stuff.

I mainly ride onthe street and I wear:

shift dyer leather jacket
denim pants
icon basic boots
AGV helmet
icon Merc gloves

wanna know what irony is I went on a short trip with no gear thought what the hell I just go and come back quick later I went down trying to avoid 2 maniacs crossing the street. just a reminder always wear your gear ppl

My one and only crash in 23 years and 100's of thousands of miles was at night in the rain avoiding a crazed pedestrian who stepped right in front of the Wing. Rashed the forward fairing a bit, but no rash on me (did limp around for a day pretty good). I had full gear but probably wouldn't have suffered much worse without as I was at pretty low speed.

I still don't get the jeans/leather pants discussion.

Why in God's name would someone doubt that leather is better than jeans? For anyone who ever saw a bike race with an accident and the rider sliding down the track for some distance the answer is very apparent.

Sorry, there should not be a discussion if leather is better than jeans but rather a discussion how much risk you want to take as a rider.

Riding alone is risky, Just get the gear that would give you the best chance.

Dont think it matters what you wear just as long as it protects you as much as possible!!!.I have a mixture of both and it really all depends on how i feel on the day. scoosh

Yes leather is always better. I ride three miles on surface streets to work. Leather is also expensive and a pain for a short ride. On a hot day I wear jeans on my short ride to work.