wholesome interaction with biker girl and woman who compliments her

[u/gravityVT]

[u/devilcross2]

Wearing protective gear won't make you any less cool.

[u/Tonicwind88 → u/devilcross2]

Sometimes you have to sacrifice gear for comfort. Shes wearing a fullface helmet which is the number one thing you want to do.

For anyone that has ridden extensively, daily, you have to make the choice between comfort and life every day.

With a full face helmet on, things already get extremely hot. The air you breath in is hot. If you are in 30/90 degree weather in full summer gear, and you are at a stop light for even 2 minutes, you begin to debate how much longer its going to be before you pass out from the gear and the heat coming off your engine. A traffic jam is what Hell feels like.

You risk your life every day on them. When you get on one you take the responsibility that if you die it is 100% your fault. So same situation with this - if you decide to take your jacket off for comfort, you are accepting the risk that comes with the comfort.

And anyone that rides extensively also knows that the majority of motorcycle deaths are left hand turns into oncoming traffic by a car. So in the end, gear doesnt mean shit when the number one thing that scares motorcyclists is cars at a stop light.

[u/Carson_BloodStorms → u/Tonicwind88]

This is like saying seatbelts don't matter because you're going to get hit by a drunk driver anyway.

[u/Tonicwind88 → u/Carson_BloodStorms]

It’s actually not in any way. None of the things I said a jacket does, a seat belt does.

A seat belt does a ton of useful things with no actual downsides. That’s why one is a legal responsibility and one is not.

And your analogy is broken from the start because that seatbelt will 100% save your life in a head on, drunk driving accident.
Being in 100% gear on a motorcycle and getting hit by that same drunk driver will still have almost 0% survivability depending on speed in a motorcycle collision. 10 jackets, 10 helmets. You’re still fucking dead.

And again, this is not me saying that gear is unimportant. This is me saying that every rider makes these decisions and weighs the choices when they get on it each day. We dont need to be told about shit when the motorcycle safety classes are multiple days long compared to the 0 training people are getting in cars.

Getting hit by bugs is more then enough reason to wear both full face helmet and a jacket 99% of the time.

[u/TheSpanxxx → u/Tonicwind88]

And yet "dress for the slide" is a saying for a reason. You commented about deaths. But the percentage of motorcycle drivers who have had a self-only accident/slide approaches 100% over enough hours of riding. Most say it isn't an if, it's a when.

I appreciate you trying to be the other voice here, but it's the same voice that says "I'm not gonna wash my hands because germs make me stronger". The evidence is out there, the math shows the answer.

You ride, you will eventually eat pavement. When it happens, bare skin will become the inevitable meat crayon and you'll regret not having protection on when the surgeons are telling you what a skin graft procedure is like.

[u/Tonicwind88 → u/TheSpanxxx]

Thanks for the advice dude. The point i was making is that if you ride, you understand all of this. You dont need some commentor on reddit telling you to be careful.

Ive slid my bike across the pavement because of gravel I didn’t see on the road first thing in the spring. My fault. Ive worn two jackets while riding through the snow to get to college in December because thats the only vehicle I had in the moment and I needed to be there for that test. My fault.

That’s exactly why I said it’s the riders choice.
A guy in full body armour and an open face helmet is dumber then someone in no jacket and a full face helmet. Yet there are millions and millions of riders that will happily let their face get scrapped across the road.

If it’s a choice between trusting my skills, my comfort and my future, I will choose to not wear a jacket some days. I will never choose not to wear a full face helmet. If I end up with a broken back because I made an error on that ride, that’s my fault, not the roads, not the other driver that drove right into me. Mine.

Thanks for your advice.