[IronFist]

My neighbor wears his leather/armored pants every time he rides. I used to watch him heading out before I got my chinabike, 10am sundays, fully kitted up on his VFR. I thought, I can see wearing a helmet, but pants are stupid. I got my 150cc and when going 65mph I started feeling like a test pilot without a partchute.

I looked into high speed wipeouts, and found out that riders who weren't run over by cars were surviving a tumbles at 60-70-80mph. Not all lived, but it wasn't always a death sentence. A full face helmet can save a life, and that is good. 24% of face plants are just that, landing on the face, mainly the chin.

What sold me on ATGATT (All The Gear, All The Time) was a study on riding gear and the recovery time after an accident. The number of skin grafts, and hours of physio, in relation to the type of gear a rider was wearing. I don't fear death, on a bike or in a bath tub. But if I can cut my hospital time down 80% after a survivable tumble, that concerns me a lot. I hate hospitals.

I was in the hospital for road rash when I was young. 45mph, downhill on a ten speed when the chain torqed off the sprocket, and I was flying through the air with no shirt, or helmet, and jeans with ripped knees.

3rd degree burn to 60% of my back with inbedded pebbles. I again stress that I don't want to sound preachy. You are all old enough to make your own judgements. I just wanted to let people know why I wear gear, and I agree that some is better than none. If you're not rich, gear is expensive, as SpeedSouth said, upgrade over time.

If I see a rider in flipflops and T-shirt I don't care. But now when I see a guy wearing nice gear I don't think it's overkill, I think "That guy is serious business".