TBR7 cruise - don't trust a soul

[Megadan]

Originally Posted by China Rider 27

Healing up my small injury and I will be just fine and hopefully smarter for it. What it made me realize though was something I didn't want to think about and had been keeping in the back of my mind. That is the fact that riding two wheels means the chances are high the bike and or you will be going down sooner or later, because of your judgement or some other factor beyond your control. You need to prepare for this event. When I got home I ordered a padded and armored jacket and will be getting some pants soon!

Don't count out proper riding footwear and good gloves either. I cring at how many people I see riding without gloves on. The first thing to usually hit the ground are your hands.

[China Rider 27]

I hear yaa! Good reminder. Those thin leather gloves I got gotta go!

[OneLeggedRider]

Amen on the gloves Dan. Your hands and eyes are probably the most valuable things you posses. When I took this last spill I high sided at 60mph, got body slammed into the pavement and slid for several feet after. But thanks to the helmet jacket and Jean's the only road rash I suffered was on my right palm. And I got lucky, even it wasn't too bad but I should have been wearing gloves.

My problem is I have very large hands and have always had trouble finding gloves, shoes and hats to fit. I worked as a welder/fabricator for 20yrs and only found one company that made kidskin gloves that were big enough. A couple months ago I ordered a cheap Amazon pair in the largest size and I couldn't get them over my knuckles. I might try some Mechanix gloves but they don't afford alot of protection.

I will say one more thing, when you climb on a motorcycle you assume the risk. The freedom you feel when you lean around a tight curve and power out with the wind in your face.. should also be a reminder of just how exposed to the elements you really are. I got complacent, hadn't had a serious motorcycle accident in 30yrs so I got stupid and careless. And the human body is pretty fragile when exposed to G-forces and sudden stops. So wear the gear, I'm a firm believer in that. But getting body slammed at 60mph on the pavement? Doesn't matter what gear you've got on, something's going to give, something's gonna break.

[Wild Dog]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Don't count out proper riding footwear and good gloves either. I cring at how many people I see riding without gloves on. The first thing to usually hit the ground are your hands.

Amen to that. It's natural instinct when you fall from a bike, motorcycle, bed, ladder we tend to use to hands.
A good pair of riding gloves are not very expensive. I been using a pair of Rev'it! dirt 2 gloves i paid for them only 70 usd.

[Vtunimog]

Originally Posted by Megadan

Don't count out proper riding footwear and good gloves either. I cring at how many people I see riding without gloves on. The first thing to usually hit the ground are your hands.

I learned that the hard way - I was fortunate enough to grow up on a long road that had about 5-6 old dis-used town roads running off it so everyone used to come to my house to ride the old roads some of which snaked up into the mountains pretty far. about 30 miles of roads with maybe 15-20 houses total on the road so it was pretty much our playground. We all had smaller Honda XR's/XL's which thankfully meant low noise and fairly slow speeds - - riding on one of the roads I made the mistake of hitting a washout at the wrong angle I went down hands first. and my buddy behind me did the same but over the handle bars - both of us superman'ed it - skinned hands, rocks in bedded in our palms but we walked away and got right back on (thankfully it was very low speed)

Now I don't get on the bike without my gloves.