Is ATGATT overrated?

[JimVonBaden]

Originally Posted by Tucson Jim

I've done both. Lately I feel naked without over the ankle boots, heavy pants, armor jacket and helmet. I don't use a grinder without a face shield, or weld without long sleeves and helmet, nor do I ride in a car without a seatbelt, why take the risk?

Gear can make the difference between a hospital stay or a walk away.

IIRC Gary Busey hit a curb with his head on a slow turn slide/get off in town. Look how nuts he is now.

To be honest, he was pretty nuts before that!

Jim

[MikePike]

99% of the time I am fully geared.

I have been known to not wear my overpants. That recently stopped when I got home I had my 11 year old daughter waiting at the door over pants in hand asking me "Mister Man why aren't you wearing these, some example you are." She then walked away in disgust

Since that one day over two months ago I've been slapping every bit of gear I can on and I'm looking to get an airbag vest as well as a chest protector for under my jacket. 95% of the time I am doing slab and back roads. Am I armored enough for it? Probably but it doesn't stop me from throwing my gear on. For me I have too much to lose by being out of work for skin grafts and I have an example to set.

In fact we are measuring my youngest who rides with me occasionally for Motoport pants because no company makes them small enough for her unless we go custom. Apparently I created a monster (according to motorcycle hater mommy) because she steals my motorcycle magazines from the mail and has tacked several pictures of a GS650 Dakar to her wall with a sticky note saying "5 years and this is MINE!" on the largest and is bugging me to get a KLR650 or something of the like so we can go "adventure riding". I have very minimal skill in the dirt/gravel but I love this site and some of the small ideas (like the wally world atv seat cover and mixing racks and cases, as well as prep items) are great.

I think she reads this site more than I do especially the face plant section and she is bigger on safety gear than I am. I will be slowly working up to better gear than what I have now just to make myself feel safer and set the bar high for her. It's so easy to put on the gear why wouldn't you is the question I ask myself lately (after being humbled by an 11 year old).

[erkmania]

Pardon me if I missed some pertinent post in this thread that affects my original response to the OP in the KillBoy thread. I'm just copying and pasting my response here (from there) since the OP likely abandoned the other thread; narcissist's do that and I don't care to give this dork one more minute of my time, but I did want him to see this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by goodcat8
This whole ADV "ATGATT" (fixed) sermon is hilarious. Wear what ya want while you've still got the freedom to do so.

Those Marines in foreign countries crack me up, too. For gawd's sake! They're so frickin' overdressed.

I guess they can be forgiven, though, since ATGATT for them means "All The Guns, All The Time."

You do what you want, but please just have enough medical insurance so that I don't have to pay for your boo-boos. You have the right to choose. You don't have the right to eff with my wallet!

Now, meander on and be free...

[ehatcher]

There are other things I like to do besides riding. I like to go to work and get paid. I like hiking, fishing, going to the gym, going for walks with my wife in the evening, etc etc. If I fall off my motorcycle wearing gear, my chances of being able to do all the other fun stuff are a lot better than they would be without gear. I work in healthcare, I frequently see what happens after motorcycle crashes: people can't do stuff for a while or maybe never. Gear makes good sense to me.

A few years ago I worked on a bad ass biker who went down at about 40 mph with just jeans, a leather vest and a half helmet. He lost an ear, half of his nose, most of his left cheek and 2 fingers. He eventually lost the use of his left arm due to infection. Really messed up some of his tattoos too. He was laid up for about 4 months. After the extent of his injuries set in, he spent a lot of time crying. He was a proffesional muscian: that career was over. He like to fish, that was gonna be hard now with one arm and a hand with no thumb and index finger. Going out in public was kinda hard too, lots of people stared at him. A full face helmet, a jacket and gloves would have made his accident an inconvienence, not a life changing event. I guess he was not afraid of a boo-boo.




E

[Reverend12]

I bet you have the assless chaps as well..

[motobone]

I wear all of my gear all of the time to set an example for my kids and to be able to see them grow and maybe be responsible riders too. I also wear gear because I look better in the first outer skin I i have, not the second skin thats all smooth. My wife also prefers skin over scars.
...and it never fails, if I wear my weak boots, I have a minor injury that could have been avoided.

I guess if you're going to ride off road, you're going to fall, so when I'm on the street, its just habit and peace of mind. It's not necessarily avoiding death, it's saving your hide on even a simple off.

I also like to read the equipment thread to find the "most awesome" gear available gear. I just look cool

[daveinva]

Originally Posted by blk-betty

To me, for just running a quick errand, it's not worth the effort to change clothes and put on protective gear for a very short ride even though I KNOW the risks are pretty much the same as a long ride.

Correctly identifying a risk, but failing to do anything about it. Yup, great strategy, I think I'll follow that.

Or, maybe I'll just take the car for a stupid two-mile errand, and save the bike for when I can enjoy my ride to its fullest-- wearing proper gear.

[blk-betty]

Originally Posted by daveinva

Correctly identifying a risk, but failing to do anything about it. Yup, great strategy, I think I'll follow that.

Or, maybe I'll just take the car for a stupid two-mile errand, and save the bike for when I can enjoy my ride to its fullest-- wearing proper gear.

We all make choices, I acknowledge the risk and accept them.

Guess I have been lucky, or a careful rider, who knows but many of the guys posting here who are the strongest advocates for ATGATT seem to have been down quite a bit.

If I had a track record of frequent get offs, or even close calls, I suspect I would be ATGATT too but I can count on one hand the few times I've had oh shit moments where I was actually close to going down or hitting something.

[Mr. B]

Originally Posted by JimVonBaden

This won't end well!

Jim

This won't end, period.

[mrphotoman]

Originally Posted by blk-betty

We all make choices, I acknowledge the risk and accept them.

Guess I have been lucky, or a careful rider, who knows but many of the guys posting here who are the strongest advocates for ATGATT seem to have been down quite a bit.

If I had a track record of frequent get offs, or even close calls, I suspect I would be ATGATT too but I can count on one hand the few times I've had oh shit moments where I was actually close to going down or hitting something.

How long will it be before you join the "darkside"

[BTL]

Originally Posted by car94

[Wraith Rider]

Originally Posted by erkmania

You do what you want, but please just have enough medical insurance so that I don't have to pay for your boo-boos. You have the right to choose. You don't have the right to eff with my wallet!

Same thing applies to motorcycling at all.

[stubmw]

Originally Posted by Wraith Rider

Same thing applies to motorcycling at all.

The logical extention of the thought you refer to, the safest thing to do when it comes to motorcycles is just don't ride one at all.

[Boon Booni]

Originally Posted by blk-betty

...but I can count on one hand the few times I've had oh shit moments where I was actually close to going down or hitting something.

Same here. I've had few oh shit moments and have only been down once in 20 or so years of riding on the road (we're not counting dirt are we? ). I attribute this to mostly luck in the first few years of riding followed by an increase in skill set as the years went by.

My gear has always consisted of a helmet, though I've never ridden in flip flops the shitty tennis shoes I'd wear when first starting out weren't much better. About 15 years ago I started paying attention to how I rode and consciously tried to pick better lines, counter steer and lean the bike over for real. I also started to try and get a feel for maximizing my braking, though my XS Eleven and CB 500 had such shitty brakes that they may as well have been the first factory installed ABS.

It was about 13 years ago that I got my first full set of gear (aerostitch darien some sort of kneeish high boot and decent gloves). At first I didn't always wear the darien pants, I was riding a KLR at the time and the mandatory uniform included a pair of carhart unwashed duck double knees. They might not have been as tough as the darien nor have any armor, but they made jeans feel like tissue paper.

Like many have said, riding without the gear now feels akin to being in the car without a seat belt. The gear keeps me dry in the rain, cooler in the summer than bare skin, and looks cool as shit everywhere else

[Boon Booni]

Originally Posted by daveinva

Correctly identifying a risk, but failing to do anything about it. Yup, great strategy, I think I'll follow that.

Or, maybe I'll just take the car for a stupid two-mile errand, and save the bike for when I can enjoy my ride to its fullest-- wearing proper gear.

Gotta admit, I am not one who typically enjoys 2 mile rides, unless it's 2 miles of track. Seriously though, around town riding is often pretty dull. I hate sitting at stoplights in suburban hell.