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"Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

  1. #1
    Super Moderator OreoGaborio's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    I was just over on Sporbikes.net & came across a thread that talked about why we wear gear... though i'd start this kinda thing up over here. so, with that, i'll paste a carbon copy of what i posted there

    what do you guys say when people make comments about your leathers? Here's a few that I use, and i'm SURE that most of you guys will come up w/ the same kinda stuff.... with that, here's my "top 10 list" (yeah, i know there's not 10 so fuck you )

    "I'd rather sweat for 20 minutes than bleed and ooze puss for 6 months or more"

    "I'd rather spend a grand on leather than 50 grand on new skin & body parts"

    "A lighter wallet is less painfull than having 1/2 your body ripped off by a giant cheese grate"

    "a fender bender is alot less painfull when you have a crash cage around you... i'm alot more vulnerable to impact"

    "the streak of blood left on the pavment left behind a person sliding on ashpalt at speed isn't something i wanna experience in person"

    if i'm in the mood for a demonstration i'll tell them to put their hand to the pavment & rub it... tell them that's 0mph, then ask them how they'd think it'd feel at 5... 10.... 20... 80mph

    if they give me the "are you a bad rider? do you crash alot?" crap, i'll ask them if they or anyone they know has ever been in a fender bender & when they say "well yeah" i'll say "well then you must be a shitty driver"

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    -Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
    GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Phoenix Graphics | Woodcraft | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media

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  2. #2
    Kosher Assassin Stoneman's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Seeing as the leathers I usually wear on the street are the same leathers I crashed in a few years back, I simply show 'em the damage to the leathers. I'll hand 'em the jacket (Vanson Avenger) and tell 'em to feel how heavy it is. Then I'll ask 'em what they think woulda happened if it was my skin...

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    Did you grit your teeth and try to look like Clint Fuckin' Eastwood?
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  3. #3
    Tie me up not down Jaynnus's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Sweat washes off, road rash does not.

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  4. #4
    Got Boost? katana0215's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    a simple "better safe than sorry" usually works

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  5. #5
    Twin Addict Half Squid's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Leathers are cheaper than skin graphs and only hurt the wallet for a week or two, when skin graphs could hurt for quite some time, and look like shit the rest of your life...

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    Rides: 13 Hyperstada, 09 SFV650, 97 CBR 900RR
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    RIP A.B. RIP BEET, I Ride in Leathers because I would rather sweat than Bleed...

  6. #6
    I kick hippies...and Kham Nikon's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    i don't have leathers but I wear a jacket and gloves and I am gonna look into a leather jacket next year. If I could get a set I would no doubt. Remember the guy from the ZRX board that I am on that commited suicide within the last year - Steve?..... You could carry a picture of his wounds around and just show those to the person and end it with - "he commited suicide a year later cause of these wounds.....if he had his leathers on....that wouldn't have happened and his kids wouldn't be fatherless....."

    WEAR YOUR GEAR PLEASE.... I certainly don't want that to happen to anyone else....

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    Bras cause cancer.

  7. #7
    Lifer
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    I get much more annoyed with "casual" riders asking me stuff about gear, or telling me it is too cold, too rainy, whatever, for me to be riding.

    Some guy at work a couple weeks ago...

    "It's too cold to be riding, you're nuts... I ride a (insert harley blah blah)"

    "You evidently don't enjoy riding as much as me...."

    Just gets old after a while...

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    Last edited by benVFR; 11-18-04 at 12:10 PM.

  8. #8
    Member By-Tor's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    1) "Cause I actually ride"

    2) "This cow sacraficed it's skin so that I don't have to"

    3) If the dumb ass biker that asks me the gear question has his girl with him I say "Would you stay with her if she was covered in road rash and skin grafts?"

    4) My leathers carry some 80mph battle damage so I just point to them and let the gear speak for it's self.



    Sure am glad I wear gear. It's a lesson I would never want to learn the hard way.

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    Dang! You got shocks, pegs... lucky! You ever take it off any sweet jumps?


  9. #9
    Littering and........
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    After I bought all of my gear, I get nervous riding without it, I feel like I'm gonna die. Cant even ride with just a t-shirt on, too scared.

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  10. #10
    Littering and........
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by Mr. E. Squid
    That a real obnoxious attitude ben.

    Yeah, heaven forbid "casual" riders, what scumbags....

    No, they probably DO in fact enjoy riding as much as you do ben, but wait, that's NOT possible if you don't ride in shit conditions right...
    Mr. E, do you need some time in the time out chair? Perhaps a nap?

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  11. #11
    Everybody to the limit!
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by Mr. E. Squid
    Here, why don't you come try and put me in one....

    Awww, highsider, the squid is flirting with you, isn't it cute

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  12. #12
    Lifer
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by Mr. E. Squid
    That a real obnoxious attitude ben.

    Yeah, heaven forbid "casual" riders, what scumbags....

    No, they probably DO in fact enjoy riding as much as you do ben, but wait, that's NOT possible if you don't ride in shit conditions right...
    You're friggin clueless...

    I don't seek out casual riders and give them a hard time. Casual riders (like you) seem to seek me out and give ME a hard time. I know you are not super casual but you are closer to it than I am. The guy in question was not wearing motorcycle gear, does not ride to work, etc.. so I would have had no idea that he has a bike to pose with. He saw me wearing gear, and gave me a hard time.

    The conditions are not "shit" right now. I rode today. I didn't have a single tire spin, low traction scare, etc.. and it was fairly comfortable.

    I would LOVE to be able to skip out of work and ride all afternoon, it is a beautiful day.

    I do have a lower opinion of people who buy motorcycles just to be "cool" and not actually ride them though. I have a low opinion of consumerism anyway and buying a product to look cool or basing your self esteem on the material good that you own is just kind of sad IMO.

    Ben

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  13. #13
    Super Moderator OreoGaborio's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    keep the drama shit outta my thread


    see ya later... i'm riding to work

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    -Pete LRRS/CCS #81 - ECK Racing, TonysTrackDays
    GMD Computrack Boston | Pine Motorparts/PBE Specialists | Phoenix Graphics | Woodcraft | MTag-Pirelli | OnTrack Media

    The Garage: '03 Tuono | '06 SV650

  14. #14
    Lifer SEVENSGT's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    and ben wonders why his date this weekend sucked

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  15. #15
    Kosher Assassin Stoneman's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by OreoGaborio
    keep the drama shit outta my thread


    Boy! Wouldn't THAT be nice. First, we'd hafta convince Joe that every thread on this board is not about HIM...

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    Did you grit your teeth and try to look like Clint Fuckin' Eastwood?
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  16. #16
    ultrabuddy twrayinma's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by Stoneman
    Boy! Wouldn't THAT be nice. First, we'd hafta convince Joe that every thread on this board is not about HIM...
    of course they're not....

    they're about MEEEEE!

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    The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple.

  17. #17
    Everybody to the limit!
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by twrayinma
    of course they're not....

    they're about MEEEEE!
    They used to be about us

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  18. #18
    ultrabuddy twrayinma's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by Honclfibr
    They used to be about us
    sorry, i was just using you to get to cookie.

    or was it the other way 'round? i can't remember anymore.

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    The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple.

  19. #19
    Senior Member slingblade's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Sweating = weight loss

    Less weight on bike = faster


    I just wanna be faster

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  20. #20
    Lifer oreo_n2's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by twrayinma
    sorry, i was just using you to get to cookie.

    or was it the other way 'round? i can't remember anymore.

    If you keep acting like a bitch, i'm gonna have ta slap like ya one!


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    Brent LRRS #772
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  21. #21
    I'm Sorry, What? Jank's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    I tell people "Because little old ladies continue to turn left."

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    Chris J.
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  22. #22
    Super Moderator TheIglu's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    I'm on the "Bikers" email list at work.

    No emails from the list for nearly 6 months, then we all get this email with a link to a sportbike crash.

    Then the guy who wrote the email talked about how "stupid" those colored leather suits are. He commonly used the terms "They" and "those types of riders ask to be killed".

    People like these assist my bad words about people who don't wear gear. "They" make the rest of us look bad when they crash. And EVERYONE will crash.

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  23. #23
    Lifer Teez's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    I have since stopped trying explain why I ride in "gear". Other than a few isolated occsaions, I always wear my stuff. Especially after watching it save my husband and a good friend's (Brett aka Cooter) life. If people choose not to I have not been able to change their minds.

    I get harrased often by "Harley" type riders. Insisting helmets are for pussies and my leathers make look like a power ranger.. but fuck ' em

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    Kimberly
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  24. #24
    Senior Member ancosta's Avatar
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    Re: "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    Originally posted by OreoGaborio
    what do you guys say when people make comments about your leathers?
    For every negative comment I get on my power ranger gear I get about 15 positive ones.

    If someone is obnoxious about it...I tell them to go on google w/"safe search" off, and look up images using the keywords "motorcycle accident". (warning, you'll get terrible gore pics)

    I ask them how much better those poor people would be if they wore full gear.

    I'm always in boots/jacket/gloves and often riding pants...too much risk vs. reward for me.

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    Andrew
    03 Suzuki SV650

  25. #25
    Lifer daviid's Avatar
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    "Man... why do you wear all that gear?"

    i came accross this essay a while ago. i like to keep on hand

    ----

    No Need For Gear
    Author Unknown

    Riding without boots and crashing might cost you some road rash or foot mash or even in an extreme case might lead to amputation. You might never walk without a limp. You might battle a weight and fitness problem for the rest of your
    life. You might never walk with pain. But it probably wouldn't kill you.

    Riding without gloves and crashing might cost you some road rash or a Munched hand or the severe, excruciating pain of mangling a body part rich with nerve endings. Or you could lose a finger or two. It could cost you the ability to play ball with your son, to properly feel the gentle curve of a woman’s breast, or to hold a beer. But it probably wouldn't kill you.

    Riding without at least an armored jacket and leather trousers or full leathers or an Aerostich or even just a leather jacket and jeans and crashing might cost you serious road rash. You might grind off a nipple. You might embed gravel in your elbow. You might get beef jerky all over your back. You might grind off your kneecap or have a scar resembling Australia on you calf like a friend of mine does. You would be scarred for life and not be able to walk on a beach shirtless without feeling self conscious. You might end up like Kevin Spacey's character in "Pay It Forward" and have to deal with the same awkward moment every time you remove your clothes with a new lover. But it probably won't kill you.

    Riding without a back protector and crashing in all but rare crashes would be inconsequential. However, there are so many variables out there- curbs, fenders, poles, guardrails, and debris in the road- any one of these could be the golden BB that nicks your spinal cord in just the wrong way and leaves you in a wheelchair for life. Or, maybe you just have constant sciatic pain in one leg. Or you can't move your legs. Or you have to wear diapers for when you @#%$ yourself, and/or a colostomy bag you have to pull out of your pants leg and squeeze your waste out into the toilet at a bar like a guy I know. Or you can't move from the chest down. Or from the neck down. Are you good at working joysticks with your mouth? Or maybe you might need a respirator? Or 24 hour care? Certainly, there are impacts that are completely foreseeable that would permanently injure you even with the best back protector in the world. But there are crashes and subsequent impacts that even mediocre back protectors can make that little bit of difference in- the ones you get up and walk away from, sore all over, but *walking*. Do you want the last time you walked to be when you walked out of 7-11 with a pack of smokes and then got on your bike? Those precious few steps out the door and over to the bike to be the five steps you remember the rest of your life because the next time you were off the bike you were lying strapped to a backboard staring at the headliner of an ambulance, tears running down your face because you couldn't feel the little piggies and you were almost ready to vomit at the stench of your @#%$ because you lost control of your bowels? Riding without a back protector and crashing might not make a difference, or it might make all the difference in the world. It might not kill you, but it might make you wish it had.

    And, finally, helmets. Riding without a helmet and crashing might be of no consequence. You might never even touch terra firma with your head. Or you might give yourself an asphalt facelift. You might get a concussion that results in only a bad headache the next day. You might get a serious concussion that lands you in the hospital for endless CAT scans and MRIs, and for the rest of your days be plagued by migraines. You might fracture your orbital and lose your vision. You might fracture your skull and end up
    fully functional but with a horrible Frankenstein like scar and a metal plate that bothers you on cold days and sets of metal detectors in airports. You might have a closed head injury from which you don't awaken from for hours or days or weeks or months- all the while your mother, father, sister, brother, children, workmates, and/or riding buddies come a visit you, filling an utterly depressing hospital room into a gauche jungle of flowers and bright card saying "get well soon!" that you never see or smell. Sure, you might awaken completely normal besides the hole drilled in your head to reduce pressure. Or you might awaken a little fuzzy, unsure who these people are. Or you might awaken and have to re-learn everything it took you all your life to learn, eventually returning to normal or even better like Harrison Ford in "Regarding Henry". Or you might awaken a man-child, drooling and laughing as you try to stack blocks, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt signed by your mother, father, sister, brother, children, workmates, and/or riding buddies- which you will never read. Or you might have an open head injury, from which the "you" you know will most likely never return. The rest of your life -be it a day, a week, a month, a year- will consist of feeding tubes, the endless beep and whoosh of the heart monitor and respirator, and the drip-drip or IV fluids, catheters in your rod, and feeding tubes. Of course, you won't mind all of this; you'll be in a dream land no one knows about. Your body will waste away and
    atrophy. Eventually, the shell that used to be you would give out, and your loved ones would have to make the most grueling decision of their life. Or, you might die on the road, fluffy gray brain matter mixing with blood and cerebro-spinal fluid. Perhaps you last ride would be twenty miles an hour down the street by your house combined with an impatient young driver and an
    ignored stop sign. Or perhaps it would be a ride on the freeway and a pothole denting your rim and popping the front tire off the bead sending you into the guardrail. Or you might go out in a blaze of glory with a 100 mph wheelie ending the wrong way. Whichever way, would make maybe a 10 second news story depending on where you live, maybe a paragraph buried on page 32B of the paper. Riding without a helmet could be of no matter- or it could mean the difference between going on as you are now, or having life taken away from you as if God flipped a switch.

    I can live without toes or a mangled foot- but I choose to try and prevent that. I can live with a hand that looks like a burn victim's and maybe relearn to write with my left hand- but I choose to try and prevent that. I can live with a scar in the shape of Australia on my calf- but I try and prevent that. I can live with road rash on my torso and arms- but I try to prevent that. I could live in a wheelchair, agonizing through every day, but I chose to try and prevent that.

    I can't live as a man-child. I've already played with blocks. I only drool when I sleep.

    We all make choices. Gear can't always save you. All the best leather, denim, Corduroy, Kevlar, fiberglass, and plastic are useless when fate throws the Immovable Object or the Irresistible Force in your path. But I choose to stack the deck in my favor. If it all ends up for naught and the stacked deck and the cards up my sleeve end up losing to Fate's royal flush, so be it. But I'll try.

    -Author unknown-

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