What do you wear for a casual ride?

[Bernardo]

Today is friday...

Me:




on my pillion (just imagination!):

[caratz]

safety first i say !!!



my riding gear:

helmet:é piece Arai RX-7 GP Randy Replica Red

http://www.araihelmet-europe.com/rx7gp/eng/index.php?page=designs

Suit under 10°C: BMW Comfort Shell
http://www.1000ps.at/businessnews-2341445-BMW_Bekleidung_2009

Suit over 10°C: BMW Comfort Shell Pants + BMW Protektorenjacke



http://www.1000ps.at/businessnews-2341445-BMW_Bekleidung_2009

Gloves: AlpineStars GP Pro Gloves


http://www.alpinestars.com/store/productdetails.aspx?productid=355677

Shoes: AlpineStars Supertech R

http://www.alpinestars.com/Supertech_R/pd/np/111/p/222008.html

How is the new protector vest of BMW compared to the old one ? Not too warm ?
Me ? I mostly don't wear BMW stuff out of realpolitik. I find that it's too much money to pay for stuff that is manufactured in Hungary, Romania or Serbia. However I own a BMW Venting Machine suit, and a pair of Aeroflow boots, manufactured in Italy by Oxstars. Very nice and comfy gear in hot weather.

Suits :

2 piece leather from Daemen. Slightly shrunk with the years. The Venting Machine of BMW. Aerostich Roadcrafter, the most practical piece of riding gear I own.

Gloves : Held Phantom, fantastic. Held Snowflake for the winter, fantastic. BMW raingloves, good. Gerbing double coiled electric gloves, fantastically outstanding, but a bit unpractical with the wires.

Helmets : Shoei Multitec, Shoei XR 1000 Both excellent gear.

Boots : Oxstars soon to be replaced by the Daytoana Evo CTX, the Aeroflow. A

Glasses : Addidas special frame with special optical inserts. Great gear.

There is no such thing as a casual ride for me. ATGAT

[JHB1984]

sorry wrong pic, i´m only have the first gen of the protector vest.
but it´s very comfy, cooling is good for the city traffic + the protectors in the elbow range are very comfy for my metal-inserts (smashed my elbow/lower arm)

btw: don´t know which bmw gear you have, but mine is 100% handmade by professionel childworker from china

[mfettara]

Airflow jacket and airflow trousers

[T2pd1]

Airflow jacket and airflow trousers

I have the Airflow 4 jacket and pants as well. They work great! It's been in the upper 90's (f) here lately and they are very comfortable. I can get a bit warm stopped at a long traffic light, but it cools down quickly as soon as you get moving again. The pants felt warm one day when I was sitting outside at a cafe to eat. The shin/knee pads got sticky on the legs. I just wear jeans instead if I am going to do more that ride.

[badger]

Today is friday...

Nice. Sorry, not sure what happened to the rider, so just the pillion left....

I've lost a knee to riding in shorts when I was a kid about 10'ish. Repalced then, and again when I grew out of it about 16. I went through a phase of kitting up completely for any riding at all, and found that I started to avoid the bike unless a decent length trip. No popping to the shops or visiting friends - ended up taking the car... That was 20's, and now heading towards 40 I have swung back to the casual approach to be honest. If I am working in our London city office then I commute 7 miles in a business suit and helmet. Leather soled shoes are always fun. Unless it is raining, as then I make sure I have an overcoat - nice light Barbour job...

During the weekend I tend now to go to mates places in shorts/sneakers in summer, but anything over 30 mph I kit up completely. I think that is the answer - speeds over 20mph will eat your knees/etc. You are bikers - take a bit of risk, but be careful. If kitting up completely for a 5 mile ride then you have to ask yourself what you are doing? Get a car..

PS - she must be a Hardly rider as she seems to have some chaps on....

[TamerS1000RR]

To enjoy the ride I dress for the slide as the book says, statistics show the a big portions of accidents happens really close to home, i.e in short rides.

I'm always in Draggin jeans and textile or leather jackets.

[throttlemeister]

ATGATT for me. There is no such thing as a casual ride and a serious ride. There is no crumple zone on a bike, you are the crumple zone. Statistics say 90% of motorcycle accidents happen within a 10 mile radius of home in known territory. Seems to me that the negative effects of complacency due to familiarity of the area are best limited by wearing proper gear. And don't say this doesn't apply to you, because we all do it. We all do things we would never do on a big ride, because 'we know the road, so nothing can happen to us'.

[motorbikez]

I'm with you there Throttle, I always wear leathers or textiles( Halvarssons) for when its cooler or wet.
Wear poor or no protection and have an off and it you end up severely damaged but hey I'm all for live and let live its a free world so wear what you want.

[rr1ke3]

I wear my Scorpion EXO1100, Dainese Avro Jacket, Dainese Pro Carbon gloves, Levi Jeans, and my Dainese Toque Pro In boots.

[Flynt]

substitute First Gear jacket with Kevlar jeans and this is me... with knee/shin protection under jeans. Never crashed though.

Who has crashed and what has worked?

Flynt

[CoffeeFirst]

+1 with throttlemeister's comments. ATGATT for me as well. Depending on the type of riding and weather I wear either textile jacket & pants (BMW) or full leathers (Vanson). Always wear full face helmet (Arai RX7), gloves (Held) and riding boots (Sidi or BMW).

[GSteyn]

I do differ from track to casual riding.

Full leathers on track (road bike) with back protectors, helmet, gloves, race boots, etc.

MINIMUM dress for casual:
Shoes that cover the ankles,
textile biker jeans,
leather jacket
proper gloves (in a slide, you cover with your hands),
Helmet, ALWAYS tightened.

Off-road
Jeans,
off-road boots, back protector,
off-road gloves.

[bugsplatter]

ATGATT for me every time I'm on the motorcycle, regardless of the nature of the ride.

For me, this is a quality textile jacket (I have two, a Revit Sand jacket/pants for most weather, and an older Firstgear mesh jacket for the hot summer months. Arai full-face helmet, quality gloves, Sidi boots.

[Mirage_ZA]

I wear helmet, jacket and gloves all the time. Riding with boots to coffee shop 800 meters away would be an overkill in my view . Long trip or breakfast runs, addition of boots and riding pants.

[Major_Trouble]

Shiva, judging by the responses here it would be interesting to know how many ride with plain jeans and the armoured variety on casual rides. I am in the kevlar jeans camp as a minimum reduction in my normal ATGATT approach to casual rides.

[double.d]

Many years ago i watched a mate come off his bike at 60mph wearing just shorts, thongs and Tshirt

I don't take a ride casualy so i always have kevlar jeans, jacket and gloves on. With boots of course although it gets very uncomfortable here in summer

[Torstenlaw]

I just came off the bike in Sept. for the first time on a really hot day. The good news is that I was wearing my gear: kevlar jeans, Spidi mesh jacket with armour, Daytona boots and my Rossi AGV helmet (GP Tech). The only damage was some bruising and rashes. No road dirt though. The accident was 10 km from home and the person that did the u-turn never stopped.

So yeah, always wear your gear! As I was standing there waiting for the cop to show a squid rode by in his tank top!