Talk to me about gear

I see you’ve made your choice but I will throw my pitch out there as well for full gear which I use most of the time. After riding for 29 years, I tested my gear for the first time Aug 16, 2009 on Hwy 67 south of Denver. I was wearing combat boots, 5.11 pants and shirt under a Scorpion synthetic jacket with winter weight gauntlet gloves. I caught hell from my ridding buddies who wore fingerless gloves if any at all. I was on an ’06 VMax and NOT tearing it up in the S curves. Just before the pavement ends, decelerating head shake turned into a tank slapper and I did my best superman impression as I endoed in the soft stuff next to the road. My helmet was a Shoie RF100, (full face) which saved my ugly mug! My first point of impact was on the edge of the pavement on the chin bar. My body pivoted on my face and bounced me up and around till I hit a pointy boulder someone had left sticking out of the mountain side. The jacket helped to keep my arm attached to my torso but I did snap the top knob off of the upper left arm and managing to fracture five rides on the left side. The Shoie took a seriously big hit judging from the ¼” deep gouge that was just over 3 inches long. Well, seeing that I still had momentum. I decided to further test the helmet by banging the back of my head on a buried rock roughly the size of a helmet which stopped the forward movement of my head as I watch my bellybutton pass a few inches in front of my eyes. Looking at the impact point on the back of my head looks like it took a shotgun blast. The Shoie saved my life at least three time during that test and the jacket saved my arm. The only external bleeding I had was from my knuckle on the right thumb which had busted a seem on the glove, nothing else.

After healing, I got a Yamaha FZ1 as my rehab bike when I moved to VA. Two years and 20,000 miles later, I met Bambi on a blind curve in the woods. This time I was wearing the same pants, shirt and combat boots, but had changed jackets to a Joe Rocket and upgraded the helmet to a Shoie RF1100. No blood external after the introduction but I did fracture my sternum and one rib. Healing, as mentioned before does take a tad longer after such adventures, but wearing good gear allows one to try again…

1olbull said:

So, I've been thinking of trying a textile jacket with removable rain and thermal inserts.
Which brand is BEST? I am concerned about riding in heat and rain far more than warmth from the cold.

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I've had great success with Tourmaster's Intake Jacket. Fits well, flows lots of air, lots of sizes (including talls) and both the rain and thermal liners are included for a VERY reasonable price - around $150.00 or so, last I looked. CE Armor in the shoulders, elbows and back also included.

Check it out.

Bull take a look at these, just a thought, saved my bacon on Independence Pass last June. Strange here it is a year later and I am going to take another run at her. Go figure, what makes a man do such things?

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/revit-tornado-jacket

Bull, I ride yer round except on the snow/ice. I use the tourmaster synergy 2 heated liner and gloves which work well. The liner never is allowed over the first position on the controller as the temp here usually doesn't get below Zero F. The gloves need to work a little better though. After 35 minutes at 75 in single digit temps, my thumbs get cold.

kblahetka said:

Thanks for the input. I went and purcahsed a HJC modular helmet today.

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Good luck mate, I will be interested to know how do you find it. I've used plenty of modular helmets and got rid of them, HJC, Nolan102, Shark Evoline3, Shoei Multitec, scorpion transformer 900 and BMW one. Best of them Scorpion and BMW. Both of them are not Australian standard However, they are comfy, and quiet, well ventilated, etc IMO. Helmets are always a matter of personal preferences. Enjoy it

I have the Tourmaster like the one above. I like the style better than the Joe Rocket but the quality is about the same. I have tried several modular helmets and the Fulmer is about as good as any unless you want to spend mega-bucks.

Rolltide100 said:

Bull take a look at these, just a thought, saved my bacon on Independence Pass last June. Strange here it is a year later and I am going to take another run at her. Go figure, what makes a man do such things?

http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/revit-tornado-jacket

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This is the one I use as well, works great for a nice breeze blowing through, the insert folds up quite small for cold use, or rain. I find if it does rain and then stops, the jacket drys out quickly when riding, so removing the insert if the day changes has no wet jacket feel. Like I posted before< replace the sponge back pad with a solid one.

I tried on a joe rocket jacket at the local honda dealer and it fit well. I put it on my birthday list as the wife says I'm hard to buy for since I just buy what I want.

TO rocket said:

I believe in ATGATT. It's saved my bacon more than once over fifty years of riding. Currently I use a Shark Evoline 3 modular helmet and a cheap jacket . The following is not for the sqeamish so don't read if you have a weak stomach.Last year my rding buddy's son was dating a therapist whose job was teaching guys that had lost part of their face to eat again. All were involved in bike accidents and had ground away bits, some had lost their jaw completely. What really amazed me was that, at the time she had 20 patients! Obviously it is not that rare though we never hear about it. I saw what happened to Warp's helmet when he went down on the way to Maggie Valley via my place and if he wasn't wearing an Evoline with the front flipped down It wouldn't have been pretty(not that it is at the best of times.......). Your head your choice.

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I have to agree with Paul if I had not had on full leathers with body armor and a full face helmet (which I remember watching the face shield grind off on the asphault as I was face down on it) I would be a lot uglier then I am which is pretty bad already. I to am from Illinois where the right to not where a helmet and kill your self is predominent. I remember asking the Canada officer about whether they had helmet laws and he looked at me kind of wierd and said yes and if you did not have one on we would not be talking. I gave him a puzzled look and he said he took mine off me and there was not a place on it that did not have asphault marks on it. He siad God must not want anything to do with me which is why I survived !!!!!
I highly recommend hard vertabrae prtection no matter how uncomfortable it is it beats have 6 frctures on three vertabrae.