Talk to me about gear

[CanberraR3]

Just to respond to the comment that people hardly ever face plant. When Amanda came off her bike last year, the most damaged bit of kit was her helmet. She was wearing a Shoei XR1100 full face. The chin bar lost most of its outer layer, the visor was scratched and broken and the top front section was badly scraped. She was also wearing good boots, Draggin Jeans under some Motodry Street pants (with armoured knees and hips), Triumph leather jacket and Five gloves. Most of the gear was unmarked, although both pair of pants had to be cut due to her broken leg. Had she not had her leg trapped under the bike as it slip and had her foot not hit something causing it twist under the bike, she'd have walked away with not even a scratch.

But it was clear, she hit her head, face first, on the ground bloody hard. Unlikely maybe, but it does happen.

 

[TriumPhil]

In the only two bad get-offs I have ever experienced (both bikes were totaled), each of the helmets I was wearing did their job. Without them, I'd likely either be dead and buried, severely disfigured or impaired in some unpleasantly chronic fashion - at least more so than my normal state.

 

[1olbull]

Just to respond to the comment that people hardly ever face plant. When Amanda came off her bike last year, the most damaged bit of kit was her helmet. She was wearing a Shoei XR1100 full face. The chin bar lost most of its outer layer, the visor was scratched and broken and the top front section was badly scraped. She was also wearing good boots, Draggin Jeans under some Motodry Street pants (with armoured knees and hips), Triumph leather jacket and Five gloves. Most of the gear was unmarked, although both pair of pants had to be cut due to her broken leg. Had she not had her leg trapped under the bike as it slip and had her foot not hit something causing it twist under the bike, she'd have walked away with not even a scratch.

But it was clear, she hit her head, face first, on the ground bloody hard. Unlikely maybe, but it does happen.

Probably me said that, no? This surely can't be analyzed without proper scene data; but, your description kind of sounds like after the fall she was pinned or caught by the motor. If that is the sequence of events, the head bashing and leg twisting likely followed. If so, I would not call that a face plant. Thank God she is healing and shall hopefully recover in full.

 

[TriumPhil]

Steve, I think that when you involuntarily depart the bike at highway speeds and above, particularly in a high-side launching vs. a low-side ditching, you will have very little control over where your head does and doesn't go, hence, which parts of your head or face may or may not meet up with fixed hard objects over the course of its unintended travels is far less a matter of choice than it is of random chance and that is why I choose to cover the entire coconut and strongly recommend the same to others.

Unpredictability is an intrinsic element of most accidents (refer to Boog's earlier post describing his 1st whoop-tee-doo!).

 

[wordwarrior]

Top to bottom
Shoei GT Air full face helmet (vents in chin, top front, top rear; Closable)
summer jacket Frank Thomas Mesh (possibly moving on to Frank Thomas Kinetik Air, part leather)
Winter jacket Hiene Gerrick Gore Tex
Summer Pants RST Kevlar Jeans
Winter Pants, Heine Gerrick (match Jacket)
Boots, surprise surprise. Heine Gerrick Gore Tex
Gloves - Summer and winter (gore tex) Heine Gerrick. Plus Keis X800 heated gloves.
Sadly, Heine Gerrick went bust. There are limited oulets re-emerging but not the force it once was.

 

[Boog]

Just to respond to the comment that people hardly ever face plant. When Amanda came off her bike last year, the most damaged bit of kit was her helmet. She was wearing a Shoei XR1100 full face. The chin bar lost most of its outer layer, the visor was scratched and broken and the top front section was badly scraped. She was also wearing good boots, Draggin Jeans under some Motodry Street pants (with armoured knees and hips), Triumph leather jacket and Five gloves. Most of the gear was unmarked, although both pair of pants had to be cut due to her broken leg. Had she not had her leg trapped under the bike as it slip and had her foot not hit something causing it twist under the bike, she'd have walked away with not even a scratch.

But it was clear, she hit her head, face first, on the ground bloody hard. Unlikely maybe, but it does happen.

I hope she fared well after the get off. Like her, my first get off allowed me to view the edge of the asphalt up close and personal. My first point of contact with the ground was my chin bar. When I hit the deer two years later, I am not sure if my helmet ever touched the ground. if it did, it wasn't hard as I didn't find any marks or smudges after i got up and took it off.

 

[wordwarrior]

As a footnote:
Met an orthodontist once, He reckoned that facial reconstructions massively reduced after the introduction and acceptance of Full Face helmets. However, He said neck injuries increased. To be fair, this was a while ago and I think Helmet designs have moved on considerably and probably protect much better now, full and open face but even though I would like to ride open faced in the summer I stick to a full face, gotta think of my stunning good looks

 

[Boog]

WW, your Ortho buddy makes a good point when it comes to changes in injuries after new safety equipment is introduced. Back in 2005 while attending the annual SOMA (Special Ops Medical Assn) conference in Tampa, one of the statisticians was speaking on the increase number of severally wounded servicemen in their extremities. The safety nut was telling us all that they were investing millions of dollars to find out why the increase. Most of us looked around and realized it was because the body armor was far better than it had ever been thus saving more lives than ever. Those in the past had the same extremity injures but since they didn’t survive, no one took note. I think the same thing is at play here with the increase in neck injuries because more people are surviving the crash thus giving the ER more viable patients to work on. Thanks for the idea…

 

[Ogremeister]

As a footnote:
Met an orthodontist once, He reckoned that facial reconstructions massively reduced after the introduction and acceptance of Full Face helmets. However, He said neck injuries increased. To be fair, this was a while ago and I think Helmet designs have moved on considerably and probably protect much better now, full and open face but even though I would like to ride open faced in the summer I stick to a full face, gotta think of my stunning good looks

(true)
I had a young teenaged girl ortho patient that crashed a 4-wheeler (ATV) PEELED THE GUMS from her lower anteriors down into the base of her bottom lip BUT THE BRACES & TEETH REMAINED INTACT??!!

A lot of debridement and sutures, antibiotics & a fine recovery.

Had another young man ortho patient who raised & trained horses. Got kicked in mouth & loosened teeth but somehow didn't damage any (the brackets & wires also remained intact??)

Funny thing about that one is how fast the alignment went afterwards!!

Just goes to show, same as a bike crash...the outcome is unpredictable.

_______________________________
I always wear my neck brace!!!




(ok, NOT true)

 

[1olbull]

Steve, I think that when you involuntarily depart the bike at highway speeds and above, particularly in a high-side launching vs. a low-side ditching, you will have very little control over where your head does and doesn't go, hence, which parts of your head or face may or may not meet up with fixed hard objects over the course of its unintended travels is far less a matter of choice than it is of random chance and that is why I choose to cover the entire coconut and strongly recommend the same to others.

Unpredictability is an intrinsic element of most accidents (refer to Boog's earlier post describing his 1st whoop-tee-doo!).

I agree to a point, Phil. An objects motion is governed by its center of mass. Forces either concentric or eccentric determine its rotation. A human body's center mass is approximately in line with the navel area; so, the sequence act of ejecting off a motor produces eccentric forces that cause the body to rotate prior to landing. The initial impact is generally at the center mass or torso area. This is similar in fashion to a falling car that generally lands on its wheels and not its roof because its center mass is well below the center of the vehicle. The time from rider ejection to impact is very short and rider influence is usually not a factor. In my 40+ year experience of investigating hundreds of motorcycle collisions, riders and passengers ejected post impact rarely land directly on their heads. The head impact is usually secondary. Just for fun google motorcycle crashes and watch for yourself. Some of it is entertaining. Most are in foreign countries, as they use dash mounted video way more than here in the US.