Do you wear ATGATT?

[PPWW]

They say most accidents happen within 15 miles of home.

Thought the insurance industry here in The States said it was within 5 miles of where you live.

Looks like my math degree must be even lower than yours Sir!
Always happy to play along…

 

[tooblekain]

I ATGATT...Ive gone done enough times on the street to know the value of ATGATT (went down 5 times on the street). I would rather sweat than bleed any day.

Plus, the most expensive gear will always be cheaper than a hospital bill...

 

[jeffjcalweb]

i'm still a new rider, with just a little CRF250L... I'm ATGATT as well and always looking for new/better. Off road or on, if its too hot to put the gear on, its too hot to ride. I have even tried to get ATGATT plates but they are taken... so yes, ATGATT from the first time i got on a bike and so far have not broken that rule.

 

[Ludolf]

...and when I think about all those days when I was riding my scooter in t-shirt, shorts and flip-flops ... ok, I had gloves on and the helmet
Nowadays ocassionally I go by with simple jeans and snickers, but rest of it is in full protection. looking now to improve those 2 with some kevlar reinforced jeans and deep-cut snickers with proper ankle protection. Like many of you said, you only need to go down once to appreciate having ATGATT

 

[Johnny D]

Now I've got a cooling vest for the heat..

What exactly is a cooling vest? (When it comes to clothes sometimes I'm not very observant )

Does it have vents to force air thru or something?

 

[Chestnut]

Evaporative cooling vest. Like soaking your shirt, but it holds more water so it stays wet for hours instead of minutes.

 

[Johnny D]

and they might actually do more good there than hanging on my sorry behind! (oops... hope that doesn't violate the polite language effort.)

An important point. If they are time consuming or a nuisance to put on, a person is tempted to skip it "just this time".

Question: Do those pants go on and off without taking your boots/shoes off? That's the kind I know I could make myself wear.

 

[amwoolner]

Seeing pictures of some post-gravel gear tonight reminded me of a site I saw a while ago.
RockTheGear.org
Read this girl's story, you may reevaluate your riding apparel (or rather lack thereof).

I know many will think this is insensitive and stupid... oh well. In the first part of her video telling her story she says they were doing 120... 120!?!? That's dumb even if you are "Rocking the Gear." I realize that stuff happens and things happen quickly, but I also know that when you look at the statistics compiled by many sources (NHTSA & IIHS to name a couple), you will see the dramatic role speed plays in the many accidents and deaths from motorcycle crashes. It comes down to reaction time, and at 120 you just don't have it. Secondly, the majority of motorcycle accidents at large happen at slower speeds which would not result in the horrific scarring she had. Look at the wrecks that happen to bicyclists in some of the road races at speeds from the high teens to around 40 or 50 mph on some of the descents. They're wearing long speedos for heaven's sake, and you don't see the results that she was displaying.

Now after all that, am I saying don't wear safety gear? No, no and no again. Safety gear is the smart move, but to each his own. I'll be honest, I don't always wear it. But what I am recommending which doesn't happen at a far higher rate, is concentration on your surroundings when riding, driving at a safe speed, leaving distance between you and other vehicles to allow for more reaction time, and riding within your limits. Doing these things will be much better in the long run than someone slapping on some gear and thinking, "I'm good to go now," while cruising at 100 mph.

OK, sorry all... off the soap box

 

[Mike Cash]

I only read the story....didn't see the video....so I had no idea they were doing 120.

Yeah, my impression has changed drastically and my sympathy has evaporated now that I know that.

 

[Johnny D]

I know many will think this is insensitive and stupid... oh well. In the first part of her video telling her story she says they were doing 120... 120!?!?

I appreciate the girls testimony and the message it contains about protection. But when I first read it, it did seem to be lacking in detail ... it left me wondering, what exactly was the cause for the accident? If I have a passenger on back, I ride with extra caution. But her boyfriend apparently wasn't quite so careful.

Even on a straight highway, perfectly paved, no traffic, at 120 MPH a bird, a blown tire, a mechanical failure of any kind. Or even a sudden gust of wind could be the cause. Not to mention the way people in 4-wheelers drive.

This thread has inspired me to look into getting some real gear. I have been very lucky so far with no accidents on a street bike (Plenty of stupidity when I was a kid on dirt bikes of course). I know part of that is that I have had safety training (smith system etc). But we all have to admit that part of it is just blind luck and random chance.

I just replaced my 20 year old open face helmet (with face shield) with a new modular TORC with Bluetooth. The hitch for me in the past has always been trying to get a helmet on over my prescription glasses. I haven't worn it on the road yet because I'm still trying to figure out the Bluetooth thing.

 

[Chestnut]

It wasn't a crash, she fell off the back. I have no idea how she managed to do this. I know when I rode on the back of my husband's R6, I didn't care if I was 'crowding' him. I wasn't going -anywhere-. I guess it makes more sense if they were going 120mph. If my husband had gotten up to that kind of speed I would've squeezed him in two. I never watched the video, just read the story (I use my phone for internet, and really don't have enough signal at home for vids), and there was no mention of what their speed was.

 

[Mike Cash]

She said the wind took her off. All this time I've been wondering what kind of wind would pull a passenger off the back. Now I know it is the 120mph wind her irresponsible idiot boyfriend generated with the motorcycle.

 

[Old Can Ride]

Clothes are extremely cheap when compared to the price of skin graphs.

 

[Fuzzy]

Just Google "motorcycle road rash" and select "images". Most were not doing 120 mph. Which one do you want to be. My personal choice is to wear the gear.

 

[draco_1967]

She said the wind took her off. All this time I've been wondering what kind of wind would pull a passenger off the back. Now I know it is the 120mph wind her irresponsible idiot boyfriend generated with the motorcycle.

doesn't she say something about a helmet that was waaay too big, along with a hoodie flapping in the wind? I haven't watched that video ina long while...

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Mike Cash]

doesn't she say something about a helmet that was waaay too big, along with a hoodie flapping in the wind? I haven't watched that video ina long while...

Sent from my VS930 4G using Tapatalk 4 Beta

You're still ahead of me; I've never seen it.

 

[L.B.S.]

You're still ahead of me; I've never seen it.

Years ago, I seem to recall seeing something along the lines of a video presented in a "slideshow" format, of all the individual pictures of post accident gore/clothing/motivational speaking appearances etc.

 

[Fuzzy]

Interesting how the tone of this thread has become picking apart and challenging the lady's story.

 

[Mike Cash]

Interesting how the tone of this thread has become picking apart and challenging the lady's story.

Where have we "challenged" it or "picked it apart"?

Some of us were previously unaware of the very LARGE detail of the idiotic rate of speed they were traveling at. I have said that the information alters my view of her story.

 

[shadowsmurf]

Just Google "motorcycle road rash" and select "images". Most were not doing 120 mph. Which one do you want to be. My personal choice is to wear the gear.

As far as I am concerned, how she got into the accident, what speed she was going, etc, are irrelevant. Like Fuzzy said, you don't have to be going 120 mph to get road rash. A friend of a friend's son was going about 40 mph with an inexperienced passenger through a bend on a road. The bike hit some gravel, the passenger freaked and started to move around and grab at the driver, bike went down. Both where just wearing helmets and gloves as only protective gear. Both got nasty road rash on left arm, shoulder and legs. In both this case and the subject article, if they had been ATGATT, the road rash would have been greatly reduced or non existent.

For me the point of this thread is ATGATT reduces injury when you have accident, regardless if the accident resulted from one's own poor judgement, inexperience, third party or act of God.