Some bikers, you must be nuts

True story:

Many years ago (1983) I parted company with my GS750 and went flying over the handlebars – the landing sucked. Two broken wrists and a compound fracture on the elbow as all my weight came down on them. Fortunately I had the right gear on so apart from some other bruises I was OK. *

I was taken to a “bikers” ward in Warminster where there were 6 or 7 other guys who had come off, but they had all done legs and so were stuck in bed. For the week or so I was there I use to change the TV with my teeth – no remotes then – and they use to light fags for me, honest you could smoke in hospitals back then.

At then end of the ward was a private room which had another biker in it – heavily sedated. He’d smashed himself pretty badly, legs, pelvis etc. but he also had no protection apart from a helmet and he’d slid on his back for some distance and was basically skinned. The sedation was to keep him quiet because of the pain from this – it didn’t work cos he had his dressings changed 3-4 times a day, and even with me turning the TV up to full volume, the noise he made will live with me….

Moral (for me) a 2 foot square piece of leather is easier and less painful to repair than a 2 foot square piece of skin.

* Funny bit – lying in the ditch afterwards I thought I’d find out which bits of me hurt so I started patting, legs, chest, head – everything hurt. Took a while to figure out that was because my arms were broken J

When I was a teenager, I lost all the skin off my right hand side, from the outer ball of my foot, right up to my nipple, with a few exceptions on the less sticky out bits, courtesy of a SMIDSY from a middle aged woman in a Nissan Micra.

I didn't do any screaming, but there were a few shouts and swear words in the months that followed, and a lot of grunting and biting on a stick and then throwing up, when the gravel rash was getting cleaned. The pain just made your eyes close, your teeth gnaw, your throat growl, and your stomach turn. Makes me sick now thinking about it.

Originally Posted by SoulKiss

No legal requirement for a lid on anything with three wheels or more...

I know, wouldn't do it myself though, those things are far too tippy.

I came off in June 2004. Despite armoured leathers some roadstone got in and ground a hole through to my hipbone. My party trick was to touch it, painful but impressive. No wonder it got infected and oozed yellow stinking pus and took months of very painful daily dressing to heal up. By painful - read so painful that I dreaded 10am each day when the district nurse would call (as I had a busted pelvis) and had to bite my teeth so hard to avoid screaming.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Anyone who travels on a two wheeler or quad above 30mph without at least protective gear for your torso and head, is an idiot in my opinion.... still their choice.

Anyone who makes statements like that are idiot in my opinion


You could easily say anyone who rides a motorbike is an idiot, unessecarily increasing the risk of injury by not using a car! Its think its rather ironic.

[STRAMASHER]

I wear what I want when I want and ride accordingly.

You can always tell the daft Brits Abroad, cutting about Cannes or Tarragona on their redhot tupperware torpedoes in full leathers with their Ribena kid heads. All melting and angry in the traffic.

I'm a bigger idiot on a bike when I have "all the gear" on.

Originally Posted by beabert

Anyone who makes statements like that are idiot in my opinion

You could easily say anyone who rides a motorbike is an idiot, unessecarily increasing the risk of injury by not using a car! Its think its rather ironic.

This has nothing to do with the probability of having an accident. You can be just as safe on a bike by riding in your underwear. This is about minimising the risk of injury should an accident happen. Almost every biker I talked to seem to agree that having an off is only a matter of time. Those that had an off while wearing their kit were thankful for wearing it when it happened while the others seem to think of themselves as idiots for riding in jeans or t-shirts. Never met someone proud of their injuries.

The riding gear is not going to make much difference in a major crash but thankfully their are not that many compared to the much more frequent lockups, skids, drops, panic reactions etc.

In the later (and more frequent cases) appropriate riding gear will make the difference between dusting off and a trip to the hospital for skin treatment.

No one should be arrogant enough to think it will never happen to them but if they do, fair enough, I wish them a safe ride and the best of luck. On the other hand as bikers we should strive to make the sport as enjoyable and safe as possible and that includes minimising risks by improving our skills and preparing for the worst.

Originally Posted by beabert

Anyone who makes statements like that are idiot in my opinion

My caveats on 30mph (because we've all done that on a push bike), and on torso and head (because injuries to the legs are unlikely to kill you inless you damage a major artery), make my thoughts on it very liberal compared to the majority.

Shall I start a poll?

Out of interest, what experience of crashes do you have?

Originally Posted by maxinc

Almost every biker I talked to seem to agree that having an off is only a matter of time.

The riding gear is not going to make much difference in a major crash but thankfully their are not that many compared to the much more frequent lockups, skids, drops, panic reactions etc.

Yup, there's only two types of biker, those that have been down, and those that are going down! (and they are all going to go down again at some point!).

I'd say that proper leather does make a difference in a major crash, and I think there is little doubt about how much difference a helmet makes. Beabert thinks I'm an idiot for saying you should have protection on your head! I know what you mean in that in some circumstances no amount of riding gear is going to to save you, but those kind of crashes are thankfully quite rare.

Properly fitted leather suits are not just for abrasion resistance, the armour in them also obviously helps protect from bone damage, but what the emergency services and crash investigators know, that lots of riders overlook, is the unflexible nature of a properly fitting leather suit and riding boots, means that it actually holds you together in an accident. In a similar way to putting a cast or bandage on a wound, or wearing walkings boots helps stop you from getting a sprained ankle.

You have a much better chance in a major crash in leathers, than you do without, they help stop limbs getting ripped apart/off, and they help prevent internal heamoragging (sp) from killing you before an ambulance can get you to theatre.

My last big crash was about 55mph through a barbed wire fence, and into a field. And I wasn't riding ike an idiot, it was black ice. My textle trousers have a big rip right across the groin! I broke two ribs and was red wine coloured down one side from ribs to knee. I couldn't pee or sh!t without internal pain for a week. I also had various rips in my gear across my arms and legs from the barbed wire. The result of not wearing gear in that accident doesn't bear thinking about (especially the prospect of having my balls ripped off!).

For me even choosing textiles over leathers for high speed riding is a safety compromise driven by comfort.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

When I was a teenager, I lost all the skin off my right hand side.

BTW, this was at 25-30 mph

[dizzyblonde]

As I can see where you are coming from on the textiles v leather thing, flinging yourself through a barb wired fence is a bit of an extremity for testing the toughness of your gear though!
I have seen leather gear rip just as bad from sliding, barbed wire is made to rip at things.
Personally I prefer textiles, I actually don't feel safe in a leather combo. I haven't worn them for years, and I decided to start wearing a PSX-R set I had altered to fit to me this year..........don't feel safe, don't feel comfortable at all, feeling sweaty actually started distracting concentration of riding. I doubt I'll wear them again.

I've always worn draggins in summer, I've worn them once this year, and gone straight back to textiles. I suppose dependant on mood, I prefer to feel pyschologically safe when I'm out these days, I prefer to have the comfort of knowing theres a decent barrier/buffer protecting me in the event of a woopsi.


Now then.....full leathers will not stop a car from taking half your leg with its bumper. Hard knee protection will dig in, and remove half the tissue attached to your knee. You will need a skin graft and several plastic surgery operations to make it look almost acceptable...well enough to stop kids from throwing up in a swimming pool at least. Leathers won't stop you feeling sick when someone touches your leg, and it won't stop people staring at it either.

Suppose it doesn't matter what you wear, if its gonna go wrong it will.

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

flinging yourself through a barb wired fence is a bit of an extremity for testing the toughness of your gear though!

Perhaps it's an extremity for the gear, but it's not that unlikely for the rider, we have hundreds of thousands of miles of country roads that are lined with the damn stuff.

[dizzyblonde]

Thats what I was meaning, I imagine manufacturers test for slides on tarmac and brushes with vehicles than several hundreds of miles of wire shaped scissors.