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Has Gear Saved Your Life?


Ryanme17

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Reading Logicus's post on his recent crash got me thinking. Between the collective experence of all the VFRD members, we probably have a lot of personal testimony for ATGATT.

I'll start: gear turned what would probably have been a broken shoulder and a concussion into a bruise the size of a mosquito bite.

If this convinces one rider to get the gear it will be a good thing. Even if it just convinces me to bite the bullet and buy full armored instead of just lined pants.

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I think that we are all on board here, but I'll bite.

A slow 90 Degree turn low-side. Helmet turned what woulda' probably ben... (I don't even want to thing about it :pissed: ) into, well, a scratch on the helmet and a memory of how hard and fast it hit the pavement :fing02:

:biggrin:

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Oh yeah, went dirt riding on the VFR last year, I finally hit the ground at about 25mph. When I hit I thought, hell this isn't bad, the next thought as I was sliding,,,,,,, S#1T !!!!! my fairings!!! :biggrin:

I came out alot better than the bike, a little sore, but the armor did it's job, that day I was riding with Cortech mesh jacket, Tourmaster pants, and Cortech gloves, all had armor.... and of course a full face helmet.

Even when it's in the 100's,,,,,,,, ATGATT

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Man, you should see one of my helmets. I certainly would have been messed up if that had been my head. My leathers have taken a beating over the years too. Of course, all of these were on-track incidents. I wear good gear on the street too but haven't tested it too many times.

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I have two incedents where I didn't crasah but the gear probably kept me from crashing.

First I hit a bird with my leg. It had been hit by the semi in front of me and the wash threw it into my shin. My boots kept the pain to a minimum and I rode on.

Later that trip (long trip) I hit a bird with my forehead at 70+ on an on-ramp in a state where helmets were optional. Good thing I kept my helmet on, since I would probably be dead without it.

Just think, if gear can save your skin while not crashing....... what can it do for you in the event of a crash?

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July 4th 2006, wearing combat boots, jeans (w/o armor), a Joe Rocket textile jacket with full armor, Teknic racing gloves, and a fullface helmet...

Going through a sweeping left hand turn I impacted a guard rail at the apex at a ~45 degree angle (I'd rather not go into the "how"). A lady who saw the whole thing said I was at least 8 feet in the air. When I came to a stop I was back in the middle of the road (to this day I don't know how) with my collarbone separated from my shoulder-blade, a bruised heel, and road rash in three places. Ironically the jacket was shredded at the places I slid but the jeans were fully intact. The helmet had slide scrapes on one side (that could've been my head!).

The only meds I took was Advil and I was in a shoulder sling for two weeks. The shoulder still bothers me but it could have been worse!

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I always ride with full gear regardless of how hot the temp is and many of my friends think I am out of my mind. I laid my bike down about 3 weeks ago doing about 25mph and was lucky to walk away with very minor injuries. My right thumb was jammed pretty hard and it also suffered a deep laceration. The top of the gloves have a hard protective shell over the knuckles and they were scraped very badly. Had I not been wearing gloves I am sure I would have lost plenty of skin on both of my hands. My jacket and pants also suffered some abrasive damage but other than having a sore shoulder I walked away smelling like roses. My gear did it's job and did it well. It is no coincidence that all the damage on my gear occured in the areas that were reinforced with armor.

Regards,

Rollin

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When I went railin' on Old Sonoita Highway last August and ran off the road into the desert, I rode the bike to an almost stop. When it pitched over, I jumped off and landed on my feet. If I hadn't been wearing my Alpinestars boots, I probably would have gotten gravel in my shoes.

When I was a kid, and a much better rider than I am now (remember those days?), I was making a left turn around a corner on my trusty Honda CL-90, going much faster than I should have been when I hit a patch of sand. The bike went away so fast I never knew I was going to low side until the side of my helmet was bouncing along the street.

I was wearing an open face helmet with a flat face shield. The side snap on the face shield was ground down to the brass and the side of the helmet was severly rashed. If I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I'd probably be dead or at least be missing my left ear. Riding gear was unheard of back in those days and I was pretty bloody from the shoulder and arm abrasions. I have never ridden a street bike since without thinking about that incident while strapping on my helmet, and it happened in 1970 or 71.

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Yes, in particular the helmet. Landing on my head and one shoulder after being hit by a car. Helmet definitely saved me.

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Hit a deer full-on at 100km/h years back.

Slight concussion and small(ish) abrasion on right shoulder.

Went over the bars and landed under the bike. Smacked my head on the tarmac hard. Would've been a fatality or permanent brain injury without helmet. Long slide down the highway into the ditch/gravel - tore up all my gear from top to bottom - helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, boots. Abrasion + gravel = :biggrin:

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Several times.

PA210092.jpg

Boy, that's just a flesh wound! I should pull mine off the shelf and take a picture of it. It's got rash down through the fiberglass over an entire half of the helmet. The crazy part is that I wore it on the street for about 5 years after that. You should have seen some of the weird looks I've gotten by squids at stoplights.

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Skin? Yes, right arm. left arm, knees, face, hair, hands, fingers, knuckles, toes, you get the idea.

Hard to stop the puncture wounds with leather/fabric though. So, bruises, rashes, broken bones - well, what do you expect?

Life? Hard to say. I've used a couple of helmets to their design intent without suffering a headache. Like everyone says; I don't like to think what would have happened without the lids.

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If this convinces one rider to get the gear it will be a good thing. Even if it just convinces me to bite the bullet and buy full armored instead of just lined pants.

Not to change the subject: Truth in the words that it's not If but When. Keeping it to a minimum is key.

I don't think you've been on a motorcycle if you haven't gone down :fing02: Moms that know this cringe.

That being said, I can not say that I've ever seen a VFR rider that was not out fitted properly :biggrin:

back to your regularly scheduled tales of mahem :pissed:

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My gear saved me from skin abrasion. ER Doctor and nurse commented full face helmet most likely broke my collarbone said they had seen it before.

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If this convinces one rider to get the gear it will be a good thing. Even if it just convinces me to bite the bullet and buy full armored instead of just lined pants.

Not to change the subject: Truth in the words that it's not If but When. Keeping it to a minimum is key.

I don't think you've been on a motorcycle if you haven't gone down :huh: Moms that know this cringe.

That being said, I can not say that I've ever seen a VFR rider that was not out fitted properly :beer:

back to your regularly scheduled tales of mahem :lurk:

I've seen several squid types on VFRs, most recently here in Boise, riding a R/W/B. No helmet, shorts, no gloves, etc...

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the helmet saved my life

the back protector my spine

the rest my skin

and luck saved my life when that washing machine fell on top of me..... tongue.gif

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yea, after 19 years ,85,000 I went down 2 months ago, first crash - best part , don't even know WHY.

damage - very lucky , only dislocated shoulder, small road rash ( more a burn than cut, and the red skin looks like it now. shoulder still sore, weak)

9:30 pm , bored, decide to go on a short around the neighborhood ride - on rt 1 in Jersey , 4 lane divided , 55 , stop lights every 2 or 3 miles -- I'm in slow lane just waitin fer exit, car ahead starts to slow, I start to slow, next thing I know I'm sliding down rd at 55 . ?? only thing I can think was, tire on a patch of oil at exact second I put on brake ( not hard.) my bike was also very lucky - bent H'bar dented tank, muffler / pipe rash, small bend - still useable. less than $500. damage not counting deluxe paint job I went for.

I almost always wear a reinforced Jacket and gloves, helmet a must. IF I was wearing a 'shorty' instead of full face, my ear woulda been crow food. and flow thru M'cycle jeans saved my knee.

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Three Accidents Full gear minus riding boots on two of them. I use mostly Joe Rocket Gear Textile and it did its job every time.

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Never been hurt on a motorcycle, but I have been down on the street and in the dirt. Without question I would have been dead if it were not for helmets and would have spent my share of time in ER’s if it were not for quality armor.

Instead of being dead or in the ER, I walked away unhurt each time. Once my helmet had half a dozen chunks taken out of it as I tumbled end over end after stupidly trying to stand up too soon while sliding after a low side. And, a car got to have a body shop fix a crease in its front fender when my forearm, protected by a high quality Vanson jacket and armor, crushed the fender and not my arm. Off road; daymn, I can't even count those :beer:

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i took a large sweeping turn and for some reason got nervous and hit the brakes.well i jumped a curb doing about 50 and managed to keep it up at landing.the bottom of my helmet hit the windshield.i know it would have hurt a lot more without it.

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JR Alter Ego and Scorpion Helmet kept me from going on a permanent vacation after a "conflict" with a tractor trailer up in Macon, GA on I-75 last year... most of that adventure has been posted on here before...

I did end up however going to "sleep" for 10 days (coma), completely missed the month of September, suffered major internal injuries and lost almost too much blood, a brain injury i.e. left frontal lobe damage, etc. Major carnage, but, nothing external was broken or deformed, except we think one of my little fingers, which was ignored in ICU as there were too many other things that weren't working well together. All the damage I had was the result of my landing impact and sudden stop after flying through the air for about 80-100 feet. I'm not sure but guess I was probably going 80 ish.... It took me a long 5 months to recover to about 90% and go back to work... I'm thinking/feeling I'm at maybe 95% now give or take, doubtful I will ever be at 100% again.

I've ridden, raced mc's for almost my entire life, and while I've certainly fallen before plenty of times, this one was my worst ever.

Obviously I escaped death and am lucky enough to now be able to ride again, and hopefully get a few more miles in, but I'm pretty sure another one of those and I'm partying with the angels...

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Saved my life and my skin.

Approximately 85-90 mph right hand turn lowside into a concrete barrier. Wearing full two piece leathers, gloves, boots, Arai lid. Injuries: Broken right scapula, dislocated right shoulder, skin over elbow split open due to impact even with elbow armor in good shape, slight rash on right shoulder from leathers moving, hunk of meat taken off top of left wrist where gauntlet glove rolled up and exposed skin. The leathers were not worth sending to Barnacle Bill's to repair due to the extreme abrasiveness of the concrete. Boots were ground down, feet were ok. Helmet was ground down all over, my brain never worked right to begin with so I guess it wasn't effected. One glove had a puncture from something that matched a hole between my first two knuckles, probably something from the bike. Best I could tell from the gouges on the concrete and what little I could see during the spin cycle, the bike and I played pinball with each other and the concrete barrier for a considerable distance until we came to a stop about 10 feet from each other. I wish somebody had been there to video it, cause I bet it looked cool. :lurk:

If I had not been wearing gear, the concrete would have eaten me up much worse than average worn asphalt. If I had no helmet I would have been an organ donor. Of course, if I hadn't been wearing full gear, I'd never have entered the turn anywhere near that speed...... Hmmmm, does this mean that ATGATT causes crashes? :beer:

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