Okay, let’s talk about gear.
Helmets keep you alive. If you’re not wearing a helmet with a chin bar (full or modular), you don’t care about your face. On such a helmet, the face shield keeps shit out of your eyes and noise out of your ears. If your helmet does not mitigate wind noise very well, you should be wearing earplugs. Tinnitus is no joke. I like the ones with the little plastic filter in them, but even cheap disposable foam ones are better than nothing, and yes, you will still be able to hear traffic noises just fine.
You’ll want to replace your helmet every three to five years, because the foam inside degrades and loses its ability to absorb impact. If you accidentally drop your empty helmet on the ground, it’s fine; if the helmet hits the ground with your head in it, it’s time for a new one.
Airbag vests are great and offer protection from organ damage due to impact. You like your organs. I believe there are also helmets that have neck airbags in them to keep your head from snapping around and breaking your neck.
The rest of the gear is to reduce injury. You won’t die without it, but you will hurt. Maybe a lot.
Gloves, pants, jacket all prevent abrasions. Tall boots with proper stiffening also keep your ankles from getting broken. The armor pads are designed to protect the areas of your body that are most likely to skid against the ground: knuckles, palms, knees, butt, elbows, back. All of this gear doesn’t have to be replaced on any time schedule, or if you slide in it, but you can easily determine whether it’s damaged enough to need replacing. Armor pads are normally removable in jackets and pants.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Dress for the slide, not the ride
I’m gonna disagree with you about dropping the helmet at all. I also disagree about earplugs, wear them always even with a full-faced helmet if you’re going more than 30mph/40kph.
I ride every day, and otherwise agree with what you’ve written.
The rest of the gear is to reduce injury. You won’t die without it, but you will hurt. Maybe a lot.
With high speeds and asphalt humans easily become meat crayons
Excellent post. I don’t ride, but I do see loads of people just riding around at high speed with only a t-shirt and jeans…
Then again, these people are the next organ donors!
Once you’re moving faster than, say, 10MPH, whatever speed you’re going is fast enough to kill you or make you a drooling idiot when your head bangs on something hard and motionless. Beyond that, adding speed just decreases the chances of drooling idiot.
Full disclosure, I have ridden without a helmet. Not often, but I probably will again. I have a pair of goggles for the eyes. I much prefer the comfort and safety of having a helmet on, but –
Briefly riding around quiet neighborhood streets by me, that I know well enough to know which houses have little kids, during the day, on the little scooter, … maybe. After a long time on big interstates on the big bike, when the helmet has been pressing into my forehead too long, also during the day, flat rural interstate, light “traffic”, excellent visibility, highways I am pretty familiar with? Maybe.
And the whole time I would be thinking “I shouldn’t be doing this.” My current helmet is much more comfortable than my last one, and I don’t need to wear earplugs with it unless I’m doing a long ride at 70+ MPH. Putting it on is easy, easier than having to listen to that voice in my head saying I should have put it on, I have music in it, I’m having a hard time now thinking of a situation where I wouldn’t want it on.
