Dont think you dont NEED all gear

saygbye

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Havent been around in a while but i thought I would share this. A buddy of mine went down on his GSXR-750 last weekend. Going around a corner too fast. back end started going, let out of gas, back "re-gripped" and high sidded. we basically all wear same gear i.e. rok-tech jacket, kevlar pants, helmets and gloves. NO MOTORCYCLE BOOTS, just dumba** gym shoes. well the only thing on him that got hurt, other than his pride was his foot. just goes to show you need ALL gear. I went today and bought some Sidi motorcycle "boots".  they look like high top gym shoes but are made for aggressive riding. PLEASE get all your gear on.
 
good post and sorry to hear about your friend. i know a guy that went down @ around 55mph a few years ago. he was in a cars blind spot on his bike when the car decided to cut him off. he basically had to lay the bike down to keep from getting ran over. this guy always wears full gear. when he got stopped after wrecking, the pavement ground threw all the pads in his carbon fiber gloves annd his pads in his pants and coat. all he had because of wearing his gear was a broken leg. no road rash.
 
Hurts a heck of a lot less too.
SHOCKED.gif
 
I had the same thing happen to me years ago. I had to have skin grafts on my foot to minimize the scarring after everything filled back in. Thanks for the reminder about the gear.
 
Here's my own reminder about proper footwear when riding:

Before

After

I'ts a lot easier to buy a new pair of boots than have your foot slowly and painfully heal for an entire year.
 
I high sided my ZX-9R a few years ago and all I got were some fractured ribs and a $4000 repair bill. That made me a believer in wearing all the gear all of the time.
 
(warbrown @ Dec. 01 2006,23:13) Here's my own reminder about proper footwear when riding:

Before

After

I'ts a lot easier to buy a new pair of boots than have your foot slowly and painfully heal for an entire year.
Ouch!!! I have 2 pair of boots...but never wear them because its taking too long to break them in and are uncomfortable new...You got me rethinking my laziness to wear proper foot wear.Think im gonna start wearing them around the house to break em in... Just curious...Were you wearing sneakers? ..Jay
 
I have been wanting to get a set of sidi boots fo a while but I have a 24" calf and size 16 shoe {thats like a 55 in eur sizes}  So I guees my feet go unprotected...
sad.gif
 
(carolinadoublej @ Dec. 01 2006,14:11)
(warbrown @ Dec. 01 2006,23:13) Here's my own reminder about proper footwear when riding:

Before

After

I'ts a lot easier to buy a new pair of boots than have your foot slowly and painfully heal for an entire year.
Ouch!!! I have 2 pair of boots...but never wear them because its taking too long to break them in and are uncomfortable new...You got me rethinking my laziness to wear proper foot wear.Think im gonna start wearing them around the house to break em in... Just curious...Were you wearing sneakers? ..Jay
yup. Shoe popped right off and my foot got a good taste of the pavement. Boots are a must.
 
(warbrown @ Dec. 01 2006,18:13) Here's my own reminder about proper footwear when riding:

Before

After

I'ts a lot easier to buy a new pair of boots than have your foot slowly and painfully heal for an entire year.
Dayum, WB, I'm keeping those pics to send to the family as to why I just ordered a pair of the Sidi B-2 boots.

I have Icon Super Duty 2 boots for casual riding and if attending social events and Sidi B-2 on order for the more aggressive riding only days.
 
Good thread. I say it all the time, the thing that sells me on the gear are the vids of guys crashing at 100+ mph and the worst injury they suffer is to their egos. They stand up pissed off. They don't lay there hurt.

You can see what kinds of injuries are common just by looking at the gear. But I've seen some photos that curled my hair.

The head is the most fragile, of course. Get a good helmet. Full-face. Wear earplugs. Make sure it's comfy so you'll wear it, just as with all other gear. You don't want to go down without a helmet. Even if you don't get an impact injury that pops your grey matter onto the sidewalk, you don't want to have an ear scraped off or your whole side of your face with road rash all over it. How about a broken jaw? The helmet can reduce the possibility of that injury as well.

Those little bones on the inside and outside of your ankle? One of the first things to go. Get boots. I think if you don't wear any other gear beside a helmet, get some good biking boots. Not those Harley style "engineer" boots, either. They will not protect your feet 'cause they'll just get yanked off. When you pick your boots, get a pair that will clamp or strap to your ankle in such a way as to eliminate the possibility of them getting stripped off in an accident.

turb06LE240, there is a company out there which makes the boots for people with large calves but I can't recall who they are. I thought it was Sidi but . . . . Please, keep looking.

Next thing, of course are the hips. Get leather pants. If you can get it with a little extra leather layering on the hips, you'll be doing yourself a huge favor. Make sure they're also padded on the knees and make sure the pads sit correctly over your knees, especially when in riding position.

Next target is the spine. Get a spine protector and use it. This is one I've been lax about.

Gloves. The hands get damaged very badly. The palms and the knuckles. Get gloves with good armor on them to reduce or prevent abrasion injuries to these areas. They should not pull off easily at all. Wrist straps are critical. If you use velcro, make sure the strap closes on the top of your wrist, not the bottom and make sure it sits in the groove of your wrist, not the back of your hand or arm. Also, strap them down completely to reduce or eliminate the possibility of them getting peeled down over your hand during a sliding accident.

Jacket. The upper body, especially the shoulders and elbows are the next to go. Padding and leather at all points. A must. Make sure the sleeves are zipped up tight to your wrists to prevent curling of the leather and more importantly, to reduce the chance they will be pushed up your arm in a crash.

If you can, get jacket and pants which zip together. It will help keep your jacket from riding up or your pants from riding down to expose your lower back to abrasion injury. Another area in which I'm lax.

There's more, no doubt.

I'm a gear nazi, yeah.

--Wag--
 
P.S. Sorry to hear about your friend. Hope he does okay.

--Wag--
 
(carolinadoublej @ Dec. 01 2006,21:11)
(warbrown @ Dec. 01 2006,23:13) Here's my own reminder about proper footwear when riding:

Before

After

I'ts a lot easier to buy a new pair of boots than have your foot slowly and painfully heal for an entire year.
Ouch!!! I have 2 pair of boots...but never wear them because its taking too long to break them in and are uncomfortable new...You got me rethinking my laziness to wear proper foot wear.Think im gonna start wearing them around the house to break em in... Just curious...Were you wearing sneakers?   ..Jay
I wear the Icon motorheads. They take about 10 seconds to put on. Step into them, clip two ski boot snaps and your off.
 
all of this has got me wanting to get gear over the winter, havent laid a bike over that I have owned yet, but certainly wouldn't want to start with a 550lb busa. boots and pants are going on the christmas list!
SHOCKED.gif
 
thanks for the replys. hes ok just turned out to be some internal brusing on his heel. hes still linping though. bike dameage turned out to be about 3500. i went and got some boots and so did he. ive always heard there are 2 types of motorcycle riders... those who have crashed and those who are going to crash. (thier fault or not).
 
Excellent thread, hope the rider comes out ok!

I have gotten so used to wearing boots that riding without them is like shooting hoops without a net....

Bumpin this one back to the top.
 
Glad he is not hurt too bad. It's just smart to wear all the gear you can when riding a busa. We all push the bike harder than we should when we ride, and even the best riders who have never gone down will be faced with problems from bonehead cagers at some point in time. I find riding moe enjoyable when I know I have taken all the precautions I can as far as gear is concerned.
 
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