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--