Riding Gear
When something soft (like us!) meets with something hard (like the road!), it’s usually us that come off second best. Even in slow speed falls, injuries to riders and pillions can be severe. However, these injuries can be minimised through wearing the correct protective clothing.
Suggested protective clothing for a savvy rider includes motorcycle specific jacket, pants, boots, gloves, ear plugs, and of course, a good fitting helmet. As a bare minimum, a motorcycle specific jacket, gloves, helmet should be worn, with strong pants and high ankled boots (laces firmly tucked away!… nothing worse than coming to a stop at lights and having your foot caught on the peg and falling over!)
Helmets:
Jackets:
Jackets come in all forms of materials, including leather, and synthetic. Ensure you choose a motorcycle specific jacket, which is usually made from tough, durable materials, rather than your ‘dress’ jackets that are usually soft materials that fall apart during a slide along the road. Jackets with protective armour around shoulders, elbows, forearms and back offer improved protection in the event of an impact. Removable aftermarket protection such as back protectors can also be purchased to provide further protection in the event of an impact. Buy the best you can afford if sport biking and high speed is where you are at. A snug fit is important as leather stretches!
Pants:
Like jackets, pants come in all materials, and offer varied levels of protection. As with jackets, look for pants that have thick soft body armour stitched into the key areas such as knees, hips, ankles, bum, etc.
Gloves:
Not only do gloves keep your hands warm, they are also crucial for hand protection in the event of a fall. Your hands are usually the first part of you to hit the road, and considering how important your hands are to your lifestyle, it’s worth protecting them with gloves. Gloves are available in both winter and summer versions, and some offer Kevlar / protective armour over the knuckle region.
Boots:
Strong sturdy boots are a must when riding, as in the event of a fall, the lower parts of a rider (namely feet, ankles, shins etc) are usually the most likely to be injured. The more higher spec boots provide limited ankle movement, minimising injury during an impact, but are more uncomfortable to walk around when not on the bike. Good sturdy bike boots. providing heel and ankle protection are reasonably priced, and readily available.
Ear Plugs:
Ear protection doesn’t usually come to mind when motorcycling, however over longer distance rides, they are essential. With the 'wrong combination' of windshield and helmet, wind noise through your helmet can and will cause hearing damage over a long period of time e.g. tinnitus (a constant ringing in the ears). Ear plugs are cheap, readily available at chemists, and provide great protection, eliminating excessive wind and exhaust noises, whilst still allowing the important road noises to be heard. A must for the longer distance rider!
Neck Warmers:
Keeping warm on those chilly mornings is essential to make motorcycling safe and enjoyable. Most camping stores sell cheap neck warmers that will eliminate cool wind on your neck, helping you maintain body heat, and maintain concentration and focus during riding.
Putting it all together:
So how does all this safety gear offer protection? You need to assess all your gear in terms of a crash and slide accident. Will your pants, jacket and gloves stay where they are meant to be or will they slide up (or down) as your body slides along the road? This means that all cuffs i.e. wrist and ankles must be securely fastened. Also the belt and Velcro fasteners (if any) around the midriff area are tight enough to keep the jacket down. Sliding across the road on your butt causes a huge amount of heat to be generated. This means that any garment that can only take a cool iron (110 degrees C) will melt if it comes into contact with the road surface. If the fabric is also against your skin it will melt right into your flesh and make your road rash even worse.
Choosing the right protective gear will not only make your riding experience more pleasurable, but in the unfortunate event of an accident, will minimise injuries such as ‘road rash’, and hopefully make the recovery process much quicker!
Hope to see you all out there with the right gear on!
