How can you people ride in this weather?

[R-S-V]

I did the same thing Friday. Black helmet, black mesh jacket, black jeans, black gloves and black boots. When I was leaving work one of my coworkers looked at me like I had ten heads. She was like "Are you really wearing that outside?" I said "sure am, it shouldn't be too bad once I'm moving, I rather be bit hot than loose my skin" She completely understood

[Jaynnus]

Originally posted by R7
Ok but don't tell anyone, i don't want to be labeled as one of those gearless squids....

Friday i took a ride to Concord to get my atv registration, shorts, Tshirt.. yadda yadda
Saturday "someone" talked me into a ride for iced coffee, shorts, Tshirt, no gloves, no helmet.. but i did have eye glasses on though I feel so ashamed for what i have done

I had my sunglasses on too....and I changed from shorts and flip flops to my jeans...so that redeams me right?

Meh.....I am not ashamed!!

[ducatiwheelie]

i did the naults ride yesterday.....448mi logged in full gear, was alittle hot but with alittle speed the temps were fine.....im so used to wearing my gear now....especially riding with everyone in here.... would never think not to wear any, even if its a small ride.....

[Jenn B]

Suck it up, it aint that hot!

[taylor]

Originally posted by Jenn B
Suck it up, it aint that hot!

so long as you keep moving, it's really not that bad.

[benVFR]

Get the mesh and get the mesh pants too, mesh pants breath better then jeans.

I was OK up & back to the track on Sunday in my cordura + back protector, with NO vents. It really wasn't that bad this weekend. I figured we'd be riding too fast to wear the mesh.

In 2002 I went for a ride on July 4th with my old joe rocket suit, it was like 100 degrees and humid, that was bad. Only made it about 50-60 miles from home before I turned around.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by chr|s sedition
Well, in that case, you might as well get a Oldsmobile. If I'm on my bike, I wanna do my (bad) version of the Rossi thing and GO!!!!! IMHO, going slow and upright on a sportbike is like sugarless gummi bears (whats the point?)

Dress for the crash, not the ride.

-sedition

lack of gear doesn't cause crashes
lack of gear doesn't cause injury either,

crashing does, what causes crashes, squidly behavior and not paying attention , you take a risk every time you ride whether wearing gear or not, maybe YOU whoud be the one in an oldmobile with airbacgs and seatbelt

OH ya, the other site is sport riders, this site is STREET riders, more than sportbike peeps here my friend, and theres quite a few that are comfortable riding without wearing gear for all you safety nazis out there

[bigred875]

2 words.. under armor

[chr|s sedition]

Originally posted by RandyO
what causes crashes, squidly behavior and not paying attention

and then there is stuff like peopel cutting you off, running red lights, rear ending you, animals, etc...NONE of which has to do with squidly behavior or not paying attention. Agreed, "It's a dangerous business going out your front door", but some of us wanna minimize the amount of skin we may have to graft some day.

[bigred875]

Originally posted by chr|s sedition
and then there is stuff like peopel cutting you off, running red lights, rear ending you, animals, etc...NONE of which has to do with squidly behavior or not paying attention. Agreed, "It's a dangerous business going out your front door", but some of us wanna minimize the amount of skin we may have to graft some day.

no doubt... which is why i wear my gear 90% of the time.. but in that 10% of the time i dont...I dont wanna hear it...lol we are all adults no?

I can see telling youngins etc...but there is a point.. it goes from educating to preaching really quick...

it's assumed risk..for some riding without gear is like sex without a condom... they know it's dumb...but they are willing to take the risk...

be sides minus a helmet "gear" isnt going to save your life...it will minimize injury...but a leather jacket and gloves isn't gonna help if someone blows a light and t-bones you

[R7]

Originally posted by bigred875
no doubt... which is why i wear my gear 90% of the time.. but in that 10% of the time i dont...I dont wanna hear it...lol we are all adults no?

Though i'm probably up around 95% of the time wearing gear, so that makes you 5% more squidly than me

[bigred875]

Originally posted by R7

Though i'm probably up around 95% of the time wearing gear, so that makes you 5% more squidly than me

lol..i am sure I am a lot more squidly then you..hahah I'm a squid with gear...lol

[R7]

True true
Hell, I don't even do pop wheelies or spinouts anymore

[bigred875]

Originally posted by R7
True true
Hell, I don't even do pop wheelies or spinouts anymore

i dont do spinouts

[bara954]

big red, thank you for saying that. i always wear gear when im gonna be going fast or hitting the twisties or highway or anything else that i feel poses a major health risk to me. obviously that level of comfort is going to be different for everyone. ill never say anything to anyone about wearing gear when its 100 degrees outside, thats there comfort level so my hat is off to them for doing what they feel is safe. i feel that if im in just out for a joy ride to take in the nice weather, im not going to test my limits. i keep my speed in check and drive very defensively. im not a follower and if i choose to wear gear its because i feel its necassary. ive been on rides in full gear where everone else is in shorts and ive been on rides where the oppositre is true. ive met with people from this site 3 times and all 3 times it was hot and i was in full gear becasue i know im to be riding outside my comfort zone. my decision of what to wear while riding my bike shouldnt affect any of you personally. ive been in more scary situations when im in full gear while driving hard, than i have in shorts while taking it easy.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by chr|s sedition
and then there is stuff like peopel cutting you off, running red lights, rear ending you, animals, etc...NONE of which has to do with squidly behavior or not paying attention. Agreed, "It's a dangerous business going out your front door", but some of us wanna minimize the amount of skin we may have to graft some day.

why does this have nothing to do with paying attention, it has EVERYTHING to do with paying attention..... how is it I see people cutting me off and avoid them, I see people running redlights and avoid them, same with animals, gravel in corners etc. sounds like yer hell bend on going as fast as you can with no regard to your situation, you should't even be on the road, you should be in a jonny cab

btw, there are more peeps here comfortable not wearing gear than you think

[SVRACER01]

dress for the crash, not for the ride.
you might be the BEST rider in the world but that guy in the chevy over there might be the WORST driver in the world.
we are all adults here and i think its commonly agreed upon that if know you are going out to have "fun" on your bike then dress accordingly. with that said, when i lived in Phoenix, i rode alot in t-shirt and shorts (ALWAYS a helmet) and its up to you if you think being sweaty and hot is uncomforatable, then imagine taking a shower with road rash up your legs and arms, and putting Neosporin on those same wounds for the next month. whats worse?
I have a Joe Rocket Santa Fe jacket (half perf leather, half mesh and it works pretty good.
its your life though so ride how ever you want.....i do

[MissTwisties]

....everyone is entitled to do whatever they want, it's true...as said, we're all adults. My only problem about riding with someone not wearing any gear at all (shorts and t-shirt) is that I don't want to be there to see the skin and blood all over if something happen to that rider. It's something that would stick in my mind forever. My husband sometimes takes off on his bike (he did last night) wearing only shorts and t-shirts, and sneakers, I think....I was pissed. We have young children, and if he was to be out of work for injuries that he could have avoided, it would put us out on the street. And I'm not even talking about how it would affect us to see him suffering and missing skin all over his body. Now I won't say that I will never ride without my jacket, but I always wear jeans and my boots, my helmet and my gloves. I have yet to go out riding without my jacket. I have a leather one, and a mesh one. So there is no reason fo rme not to wear at least the mesh jacket.

[ancosta]

I very much see motorcycling as something where a person interacts with an environment, and because we do not have complete control over the envrionment, or even reasonable control over it sometimes, then the lowest common denominator becomes the biggest forseeable risk in the environment. For someone new like me, I might be the lowest common denominator in the picture. For someone like Randy, it could be something like an animal, oncoming car, etc.

It's up to the rider to make their own decisions, and if people want to judge them that's fine, but it's not someone else's place to tell them what to wear for safety gear.

I think that it should be up to people's insurance companies to decide to cover them or not based on how much precaution they take when gearing up, not the governments.

[13]

Wow, and to think I felt guilty riding today without my jacket. I've even got a new tattoo I need to keep out of the sun! But I threw caution to the wind and went out with ONLY boots, jeans, t-shirt, helmet and gloves. Man, I felt almost like a rebel. Then I read this thread. Shorts? My frame gets too hot for that.

[MnM]

just keep moving...the worst is getting stuck in traffic

[RandyO]

Back to the original question
How can you people ride in this weather?

I've been some hot humid weather on some of of my trips, and the areostitch roadcrafter is the best hot weather gear I can think of, the fabric in them certainly isn't a wind block, you are as warm or cold as what you wear undereath, ventilation is excellent, splash some water on your t shirt underneath and once your are moving the evaporating water will have air conditioning effect but be warry of bees flying in your open gauntlets as your casually riding along in WV no shoulders to pull over and a coal truck is quickly coming up from behind

[chr|s sedition]

Originally posted by RandyO
sounds like yer hell bend on going as fast as you can with no regard to your situation, you should't even be on the road, you should be in a jonny cab

that's pretty hot that you can pigeon hole my riding style becuase I acknowledge there are things in the world beyond my control...why don't you ask many of the people on this fourm who have riden with me if I ride with "no regard for my situation" before making such accusations.

-sedition

[Wayne-o]

I did a squid ride last night. Shorts, t-shirt and construction boots. It could become addicting.

Wayne-o

[RandyO]

Originally posted by chr|s sedition
that's pretty hot that you can pigeon hole my riding style becuase I acknowledge there are things in the world beyond my control...why don't you ask many of the people on this fourm who have riden with me if I ride with "no regard for my situation" before making such accusations.

-sedition

Well, in that case, you might as well get a Oldsmobile. If I'm on my bike, I wanna do my (bad) version of the Rossi thing and GO!!!!! IMHO, going slow and upright on a sportbike is like sugarless gummi bears (whats the point?)