Question

[MissTwisties]

Got a question here. "Dress for the crash, not for the ride"

Is this the correct expression? I have a friend who luxured me in an email telling me "I can't believe you are promoting this for your ride!". He rides a cruiser. I explained to him that it is just frowned upon to see someone showing up on a ride under-dressed and that "dress for the crash, not for the ride" only means to dress appropriately in the unfortunate event someone would indeed, crash. I guess from most people points of view, the sentence does look bad...?

Either way, I'll edit all of my posts about the ride and say something like "Please dress appropriately with riding gear"

[Paul_E_D]

You got it right. Not to sound harsh, but it's people like that who get killed on bikes. They choose to deny the obvious risk involved.

[slaps76]

F*ck him. That's the right expression, and I highly doubt you're offending anyone here with that.

[MissTwisties]

Well from his point of view, I was saying to dress for the crash as if we were going to do extreme speeds, act like idiots on the roads and be irresponsible riders bla bla bla That was NOT the message I was trying to project. I think since he rides a cruiser, that's the way he understood this expression, but I figured sportbike riders know exactly what I meant...and I've read that expression many times on different forums. Oh well.

[capt1014]

The expression is to bring awarness to the "proper" gear and not the crash itself.
Say whatever you want to;

Gear up
Gear required
Dress for the occasion

most of us know exactly what you mean and none of us expect to go down, we are just being prepared in case it does.

[hqp921]

Originally posted by MissTwisties
Well from his point of view, I was saying to dress for the crash as if we were going to do extreme speeds, act like idiots on the roads and be irresponsible riders bla bla bla That was NOT the message I was trying to project. I think since he rides a cruiser, that's the way he understood this expression, but I figured sportbike riders know exactly what I meant...and I've read that expression many times on different forums. Oh well.

Welcome to the internet, where misconstructions begin with a single keystroke.

Although the phrase makes perfect sense to me, I can see how it can be misinterpreted. I think as long as you make it clear that it's about being prepared, and not preparing to be irresponsible, you've got your bases covered. If someone chooses what you said to mean differently, it's their mistake, not yours.

[LiononaLeash]

Since you brought this up Miss Twisties, I have a friend that wanted to take the MSF ERC course, so I took it with him for fun(It was last Sunday).

One thing that stood out to me was that they said DRESS FOR THE RIDE and not for the crash.

I spoke to one of the instructors about it(they both rode nice Harleys). I think the phrase was in reference to things like"if its cold, dress in layers" or "if it's gonna rain, wear your rainsuit." Apparantly it wasn't in the context of the possible crash event.

The thing that bothered me was that they said it in front of the whole class that you "Don't have to dress for war every time you go out." It really didn't sit well with me, and I was surprised to hear it in front of an audience of newbies.

Also, it was not clarified to the rest of the class in regard to what that phrase referred to. Implicitly it seems to say "dress for comfort so you can stay alert." but no mention of protection in the event of a crash. Duh?

Well, to me, and I'm sure alot of you comfort is important. But that concern comes AFTER protective dress in the event of asphalt surfing. I "dress for war" EVERY TIME before I climb on my motorcycle. I gear up even for a short trip to the corner store to pick something up, and also in hot weather.

I've been in enough bicycle crashes(I'm a cyclist too) over the years to understand how severe the consequences of crashing are.

Don't worry about how you word it Miss Twisties. you are doing the right thing!

[akira700]

This is the trouble with these short bumper sticker phrases that try to sum up everything.

Everyone says something different even though they all purport to be looking out for your safety. Though I think:
"Dress for the Crash" is better then "Dress for the Ride".

I try to wear my kevlar reinforced pants or my leathers everytime I ride. My Dragging Jeans Cargo Pants are ok for work and have a kevlar reinforced knee area and butt area. Expensive for pants but really comfortable and I would hope hold up better then plain old demin.

The other thing is to not think "boy I got my gear on, I can do anything!"

Always ride defensive as if the worst could happen and keep a wide view of your surroundings.

[RandyO]

paranoia

[KB]

Half full or half empty.

Your reply to that jamoke should have been "Hey buddy go eff yourself"

KB

[taylor]

Originally posted by LiononaLeash
Since you brought this up Miss Twisties, I have a friend that wanted to take the MSF ERC course, so I took it with him for fun(It was last Sunday).

One thing that stood out to me was that they said DRESS FOR THE RIDE and not for the crash.

that's bizarre....i could have sworn that the first place i heard the phrase was at the msf course. they emphasized proper riding gear and gave many examples of bad things that can happen to you when you go out without the proper gear. maybe just different instructors....

i totally agree that it's the proper phrase....now i just have to figure out how to get one of my friends to take the advice seriously and start wearing gear