I just added some gear to my ATGATT. I always wear my High-Viz jacket, now I have a pair of Joe Rocket Phoenix 3.0 Mesh overpants in my closet. They are pretty darn comfortable. The zipper goes past my knees and the knee pads are adjustable. There are hip pads are really wide and long so they offer nice coverage.
I have a couple of High vis jackets. I have two street helmets. one is High vis yellow and the other is white. So educate me here. If I wear that stuff on my scooter I'm posing but on a motorcycle I'm Not? How about a white helmet and mostly blue jacket? How about if I ride my XT350 with knobbies on the street? Isn't that posing? Oh well, I had a good time posing for over 15,000 miles last year. Now I need to find a Hi Vis Milk Crate for my KLR to turn it into the ultimate poser bike
Funny Klaviator, I almost feel like a poser with all the gear. It seems overkill that's for sure. But...it won't be overkill to me if I ever need it. Talk about different phylosophies; the custodian at my school rides a Yamaha 1300 cruiser of some sort. I saw him ride away yesterday with his half helmet, shades, and short sleeve shirt. I don't mean this as a judgement, in fact I was joking with him today about it. We should take a picture just for fun to show the difference. Also, he's about 6'3" and ways about 275 lbs. He was a wrestler/footballer in school so he's quite large. He's a good guy though. He says he has almost 30,000 miles in the past 3 years so he rides quite a bit.
Visibility is good. It costs little, weighs nothing, and in a pinch it can save your life. I started wearing a white helmet when I started riding a bike, reasoning (correctly) that white is more visible than most colours. My wife and I ride pairs and she has one too, so I know this to be fact. I can see her helmet long before I see the rest of her, which makes identification easy because unless you're a cop, white helmets are rare. Then there was this incident, reported on the Burgman USA Forum. http://burgmanusa.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=49236&p=460692#p460692 Briefly: Seattle. An inky, rainy night, rider down, oncoming car, driver saw a white helmet and slowed in time to stop when they saw the rider sprawled across their lane. That would convince me, if I needed convincing. Ride safe. Be seen Scott Fraser Calgary
Yeah, but exactly what is an ATGATT scooter rider posing as? I mean, who are you going to impress? Most people, if they want to pose, will pick a HD, a sport bike, or a big, round the world capable adventure bike to pose on. OK, you MIGHT impress a few other riders but lets face it, there are far better ways to pose. Ultimately most of us ride because we enjoy riding. For me wearing riding gear increases my enjoyment of the ride because i'm more comfortable while riding and also because I know I'm doing something that makes my dangerous pastime somewhat safer. For some people, wearing gear takes away from their enjoyment of the ride. Everyone is different and needs to make their own decisions.
Hey, Klaviator, I just put a black milk crate on my dark gray 2012 Suzuki DR 650 SE. What a practical addition! It's truly amazing how many groceries you can pack into a milk crate. I also mounted a small cargo net with hooks to keep stuff from flying out at speed. I have one of those pricey billet aluminum racks made for a DR and I fastened the milk crate onto it with 12 wire ties, very tightly cinched. It's definitely not going anywhere. Not exactly a fashion statement. However, I could care less. In the week it's been on I haven't driven my car so I'm saving gas big time.
well, the implication from my bmw pals was that by atgatt-ing on a scooter, i was pretending to be a REAL motorcyclist -- which should probably earn them a trip to the woodshed. i ain't pretending to be shit, assholes; i'm trying to stay safe because i'm rolling at the same 65-to-80 mph on MY commute too! next time it comes up, i'm welcoming them to hop on a 250cc ride and hit the 520 bridge in high gusts and rain like i do -- only they get flip-flops, a northface hoodie, and some spare lifting gloves as per what is assumed to be "proper" scooter attire. (they can have my cell number, too, if they need some help picking their skin up off the road.) bitches, my COMMUTE is more of an ADVENTURE than any lazy sunny-day cruise to wenatchee on your RTs!
Now tell us how you really feel. LOL! Commuting truly is an adventure, especially the during the morning rush hour.
By "low profile" I did not mean "invisible." My new, expensive, shockingly comfortable three-layer riding jacket is fifty-percent radioactive green. That's okay; I welcome any edge in visibility and survival. If I look silly, so be it. What I'm referring to is the tendency for some to posture a bit...leather chaps, their favorite iconic motor-company name in broad markings on the back; Death's Head patches; loud helmet designs. Nothing says POSEUR like a lot of skulls worn by a guy getting off a Vespa.
I refuse to wear armor (other than a full face helmet) but I am big on visibility. I also put a milk crate on the back of my XT225. And I brought home a reflective orange triangle (slow moving vehicle sign) from work which I attached to the back of the milk crate, which blocks my orange vest from the back. I ride this bike on the freeway at about 55 mph, and I have noticed a lot less tailgating after installing the sign. Bright orange or yellow/green helmets may be more visible in the daytime, but they disappear at night. White really shows up at night. The worst thing you can do is wear a black helmet, or a helmet with any kind of graphics, which work like camouflage. Black helmets are often worn by cruiser riders, and helmets with complex graphics are often worn by crotch rocket riders. Neither can be seen in traffic.
I'm not sure that's posing. I've seen a number of "cross dressed" riders out there. It's more amusing than anything else. I think that some of those riders are just trying to confuse people.....or maybe poke some fun at them.
Wait a minute... are you guys saying I shouldn't wear my comfortable BMW Savannah jacket on my PCX?? That's for warm weather, of course; when it's colder, I'll break out the Hein Gericke fringed black leather H-D jacket. Ah, the pitfalls of buying "branded" gear when you change bikes with some frequency. Captain Jim
You need to cover up all Honda logo's and then apply the appropriate BMW or HD logo to your PCX when wearing that gear I you really want to confuse people, put a HD sticker on your PCX and BMW roundel on your wife's While you're at it, add a milk crate on the back
First, wear what you are comfortable with. I wear mostly full gear on my motos, but on the scooters I wear a helmet and boots. I use the scooter for running errands, shopping etx. I would take the car beofre I would "gear up". All motorcycling is risky, and I am willing to take the risks. I do have insurance.
Umm... I don't drink milk. I suppose I'm going to have to have some work done on that H-D tattoo, too, huh? :huh Captain Jim
If I had an unlimited amount of money, I would love to have a separate, much more casual and stylish, but still armored, clothing wardrobe for my scooter. Gogogear or Tucano Urbano Jacket, Draggin Jeans etc. In all cases this gear is in fact of inferior quality and water-proofing to what I have already. I don't have pots of money, so I wear the same gear on my scooter as on my motorcycle. End of story.
Riding is risky. So are a lot of other things. The fact that I don't wear full armor does not mean I don't take it seriously. IMO, the worst possible thing you can do is to take a "casual" attitude toward riding. I always compared riding to being in an aerial dogfight. You are completely surrounded by the enemy. Anyone of them can take you out at any time. It requires all the attention you have, and even that is not always enough. Draggin Jeans are a great thing to wear while riding. They look and feel just like regular jeans. But most of the time for shorter rides, I just put on my helmet, hop on, and go, wearing whatever I happen to be wearing at the time. That does not include shorts and flip flops. At the minimum it means jeans and some kind of athletic shoes. I put on a jacket if it is cold enough. But if it is going to be too complicated, I just take the car. In fact I rarely ever combine riding with any other activity. I personally am not a BMW fan (other than vintage) and would much rather be seen riding a Honda. I have seen BMW lookalike stickers with KLR in tiny letters made to put on KLR650s. The new ones look a lot like BMWs. I have to admit, if I owned a Triumph Bonneville, I would probably have a Triumph jacket.
Well...it's what ya can live with. Reminds me of a few guys I processed administrative separations for in the Navy - boot-camps, new recruits. First big night out, they'd get a five-inch Navy anchor and USN streamer on the bicep. Second big night out, they'd get arrested, slug a cop, get charged, convicted...and as a result of all that, discharged Other Than Honorable. So they'd be standing there as they get their walking papers...with that stupid NAVY tattoo on the arm. Costs about ten times as much to remove it; and they won't even have a JOB to PAY FOR it!
Seems you and I "learned" to ride about the same time; I started a bit later than some, around 1954 as I recall. Unlike yourself I stopped counting the number of times I've off-loaded on bikes. Sometimes it happened when I was trail riding and other times it was on the street or freeway. It occurred to me around age 30 that I'd been pretty damn lucky thus far and I bought my first set of leathers, decent boots, gloves, etc. Since then the frequency of get-offs hasn't seemed to change much, I've still managed to fall over or run off the road or being cowardly simply bailed off when that mean ol' yellow jacket decides living in my helmet is his thing. I see guys & gals riding wearing flip-flops and T-shirts and it always reminds me of myself back in the day. I do my best to refrain from lecturing them about ATGATT since I consider riding a personal choice and risk management is part of it. Sure, I care about them and inside my head I'm thinking how dumb they are but then I recall what it was like being young and able to heal fast and then I smile a bit. For all of you who don't subscribe to ATGATT I'll keep my fingers crossed and wish you all the best. Please take care of yourselves people, you're part of my family. LL75