oh, what to wear?

[wyldkat81]

Hi all, well, got my suzi gp100 booked in for MOT next Friday - first one in nearly 9 years so fingers crossed and hopefully my CBT in a few weeks

Question to you all...leathers or not??

even though its not a very powerful bike, it's not always MY bike that will cause me to come off so should I be wearing leathers or jeans and jacket be fine??

I know it's not exactly a legal thing to HAVE to wear leathers, I would just like peoples views on this

Cheers all
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Smile, it's just another day!

[Paxovasa]

Textiles
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Suzuki GSF600 K3 (in the fastest colour, black).

[deanoet]

Hitting the road at 30mph is the same road whether on a small bike or a big bike.

You can get armoured jeans which I use around town for ease. Look like jeans, comfy to wear all day. Extra protection if you do fall off and slide.
Makes; Hood and Draggin get good reviews
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CBT Passed 18th July 2007 : Previous Bikes> CG125 : Current Bike> Hornet 600 : PASSED DAS 30th Oct 2007
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[Alex A]

It's entirely your choice. You don't fall off, then it doesn't matter what you wear. You do fall off, and it can and does matter, even at 20mph, whether you're on a Fireblade or an Aerox scooter.

Personally I pretty much always wear jeans and a jacket
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Current: Ducati Panigale R / Ducati Streetfighter S / Suzuki GSX-R1000 L5

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

Well i wear what suits the weather..or distance. Some may wear what suits their style or commute. Some just like style.

Most of us end up with far too much gear.

[edit] Waits for Itchy to come on and say 'I travelled to mong-istan in only a jock-strap'


Pat
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The Harry Turner Project

[Ingah]

You're less likely to be seen on a small bike.
Some (stupid) people want to overtake small bikes at all costs and this can cause accidents as a result.
You've got less braking power at your disposal.

How about leathers and a half, to compensate for the added risk

Admittedly you're less likely to be travelling at a higher speed when you come off.

A random consideration is cold/wetness. Both of which will spoil your riding experience and both of which are near entirely preventable with the "right" gear.

For your information (assuming you haven't seen this before), i'm going to quote what i've said regarding gear multiple times before (Note: Haven't made any changes to it, so those that have seen it before may as well save their time and skip on to the next post):

"Here's what i've picked up (i.e. i'm not an expert) over my time on these forums, and riding in general - might help you/others:

Someone (i think on here) is in a wheelchair (assumedly for life), because - they were told by the doctor - that they weren't wearing a back protector when they came off at ~30mph.

However, i can remember G saying (who was himself summarising what TC - an expert in the field - has apparently said) that the hard plate style back protectors often cause severe injury in accidents.

My (personal) solution is to have a CE-approved foam insert in my jacket, because although it may not provide the head-on protection of a full back protector (which i also own), it is A) No extra faff at all over not bothering. and B) Does not suffer from the issue of potentially causing damage, whilst still providing protection.

I have heard (mentioned once, so this could be untrue) that if your head hits something very hard (brick walls and lamp posts come to mind), head-on, at 20mph - you will die regardless of how good your helmet is. Food for thought.

The damage in motorcycle accidents is said to gradually get worse as you go down the body. This would imply that your ankles and feet will take the most (i guess this makes sense as your bike falls onto them and traps them against the road whilst you are still moving along on your side), and that your shoulders will probably be OK if any part of you is. Bear in mind that the hands are reasonably low down on the body when you stand with them by your sides, wear good gloves! (it is instinctive to reach out with your hands when you fall - meaning they often take the first and therefore logically most severe impact).

I'd wear boots for sure, snapped and worn-away-by-the-road ankle bones would cause a disgusting mess.

I've seen nasty pictures at least a couple of times of badly skinned knees (like chicken legs), from 20mph falls.

A thought about kevlar jeans. I use Hood jeans (kevlar) and you can add protectors for your knees. I have done this and would not ride without - i'd like my knee impact spread out please :/

It's not coming off that really causes the damage (if you're wearing gear), it's what you hit after you've come off (and that's something that not even armour helps much with - best you can do is put abrasive resistant materials in between your skin and the road - and impact armour in key areas to spread (not reduce, just spread) the forces at the time of impacts)

Someone else (on here) had an interesting perspective. They said they wear gloves, boots, back protection and a helmet. Because the bones they break can be bolted back together but the spine and nervous system can't.

Leathers (especially important for the legs) act as a splint, holding blood, broken bones etc, in place until medical aid arrives. This can save your life. Kevlar jeans and textile unfortunately don't do this (although i will say, regardless, i wear textiles and kevlar most of the time as being uncomfortable is worse and likely to make me crash through lack of concentration).

Best thing to do, is get lots of training and take it seriously, as gear probably won't save you if you're relying on it to alone."
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-- Ingah

[Grimnir]

It might sound obvious, but have your jacket (whatever type) zipped up. There was a guy who one summer decided that just wearing a leather jacket was enough without zipping it up. The extra ventilation on a hot day was nice until he had a spill somewhere near the A4 / Brentford. Managed to slide feet first on his back - the jacket was pushed up his back towards his shoulders. He lost a lot of skin off his back. Don't do it. Just doing up the first part of the zip (if you really can't stand the heat) makes so much difference here.
I was a courier in London for 7 years (see my post about the 176,000 mile zzr600) and always wore a zip together two piece suit with flexi armour in the usual places. If i was given money every time someone asked 'don't you get hot in that stuff?' I could have retired. Yes I got hot and thankfully never did anything much worse than low-side the bike so the leathers never got tested. Not too bad for half a million 'working' miles...
Wear some kind of armour and don't hit anything!
Be careful but have fun - it is not all doom and gloom

[metalangel]

Might as well buy your gear if you're serious about doing this, and give it its first run at the CBT.

I did my CBT and all my lessons in just jeans and trainers, but I was wearing the school's jacket, gloves and helmet.
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Previous: 2002 Honda CB500 (sold), 2007 Suzuki SV650SK6 (crashed), 2005 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer (sold). Currently bikeless
"A faired bike will get you 10x more clunge than a unfaired one." -Marlboro Matt

[Kal]

I touched my knee down briefly in a 30mph low slide and the jeans offered no protections what so ever. What did save my leg from some ugly scaring was the amount of upper body armour I was wearing and the Bike boots I was wearing at the time keeping my leg off the floor until I came to a rest.
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Kal...
I Like To Hoon It Hoon It I Like To Hoon It Hoon It I Like To Hoon It Hoon It Ya Like To (HOON IT!).
1984 GB250 Clubman,1983 CB250N Superdream, 1999 GPZ500S

[el_oso]

i agree that normal jeans do not protect that well against road rash. although i have never come off my motorbike i have had a fair few spills on mountain bikes and the jeans and my knees got shredded. i found out that never wear track suit bottoms/plasticy material. tends to burn and stick to your skin and causes a great deal of pain trying to get it off. i always wear boots of some kind and gloves as i believe these are the places that are most likely to go down first and quite possibly the most important and most used body parts.
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Duke 390
Previous: '05 XR125L | '96 XJ600S Diversion |'05 Suzuki GSXR1000 | '05 Honda CBR125-R | '97 YZF 600R Thundercat | '11 Honda CBR250
Car: Jeep Wrangler 4.0L

[ajbsmirnoff]

the first time I put armour on i fell off. scratched and scuffed my new bike trousers

Admittedly I was practicing the swerve test for Mod1). twas on a cg, at 30ish, my knees were fine (my elbow which i landed on broke some ribs, and part of the bike poked a hole in my leg althoughy the trousers were fine)

Worn it ever since. The accidents aren't planned out at the start of a drive, we don't know what's going to happen or when a Volvo isn't looking and doesn't see us. We have to prepare for the worst.

When you look in a breakers yard for crashed car parts etc. No one driving those cars expected the accident they had.

[Clanger]

It's totally your choice. But I would recommend sturdy boots, and a pair of good padded leather gloves. Remember one of the first things you do if you fall is put your hands out.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[wyldkat81]

wow, thanks for all your advice guys and gals.

Going on a tight budget I will have to invest in some leathers a bit later on.

Gloves, boots will be the norm anyway so I had better start looking....

Thanks
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Smile, it's just another day!

[stinkwheel]

One thing to consider is the waterproofness and windproofness of your gear.

From this point of view. Textiles are probably better.

Being cold and wet is much more likely to make you lose concentration have an accident in the first place.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.