Risk Management
Risk Management
UP FRONT
MARK HOYER
ONE DAY, YOU CHOSE. YOU GAVE UP walking or driving full-time and got on a motorcycle. If you were very young when you did it, you may have had help from your family, but here you are, still caught in the wonder of moving on two wheels.
And I am betting you are not uninformed of the risks involved. The dimension of the risk may be lost on youngsters, and even some of us more mature riders, but there is no doubt after the first time a young kid crashes his little motorcycle that the idea of what might happen, and that it can hurt, takes hold.
The main idea, of course, is to not crash. There is much we as riders can do to avoid painful brushes with gravity and the abrasive, unforgiving earth. Foremost is to work on your riding skills without ceasing, learn better control, increase awareness and focus on improving those critical crash-avoidance elements such as hard braking and evasive maneuvers.
But, really, sometimes a crash can’t be avoided.
I bring all this up because we got a letter from reader Tom Grattan stating— no, exclaiming—that we were “irresponsible” for showing a motorcycle rider wearing jeans.
"Jeans don't get it. Got it?!?" On one hand, he's got a point. I~:ve crashed in jeans twice, and denim was insufficient for complete protec tion from asphalt both times. The cotton vaporized, the seams split, and I was only going about 25 mph in each instance. Further, while abrasion resistance was quite low, there was zero impact protection, so in addition to the nasty scrapes on my lower extremities, Another forum regular, “M143,” brought up a good point for off-roaders and dual-sporters: “I like a helmet in the woods—it helps bounce the branches off my head. I wear Aerostitch Combat Touring boots both onand off-road. But unless it’s cold, no helmet on the street 90 percent of the time. Most but not all the time I wear gloves. Don’t crash is the best protection I have found.”
"It's IRRESPONSIBLE to show anyone riding a bike with jeans on. I don't care how `cool' the bike is." -Tom Grattan
“I wish you guys would take some responsibility for the message you’re sending out on the cover of your [February] issue and also inside the mag. This has been going on for years. You picture someone riding a really cool bike with an appropriate jacket, but they’ve got jeans on. Ever take a bike down with jeans on? I hope I don’t have to explain to you what the results are when you’re sliding along the pavement and then moaning to the paramedics who are taking care of you. It’s IRRESPONSIBLE to show anyone riding a bike with jeans on. I don’t care how ‘cool’ the bike is. Act as a role model for other riders and have sense to show people wearing safe riding gear.
"I see nothing wrong with the cover pic. I ride in jeans or work pants all the time... Besides, I'm not sliding sideways around my favorite pea-gravel track. I figure some protection is better than none." -Joe Zuppardo
I had severe bruising on my hip for weeks. Yet I still make the choice to ride in jeans.
And plenty of other people do, too.
I went to the Cycle World forums and also to our Facebook page and posed the question: How do you decide what to wear, each time you ride, and how much does it vary from ride to ride? We got some very good answers.
Facebooker Joe Zuppardo commented, “I see nothing wrong with the cover pic. I ride in jeans or work pants all the time in midwestern Ohio. I can’t afford an expensive riding suit and it’s often too hot to wear leathers. Besides, I’m not sliding sideways around my favorite pea-gravel track. I figure some protection is better than none. I never ride without a helmet. Now that would be irresponsible.”
But we had plenty of people weigh in on the helmet question. Many states have mandatory helmet laws, but there are plenty of places that still don’t require a lid, and a lot of folks only wear a helmet because of the weather or if it is during “bug breeding days,” says Midwestern forum regular “Monkeyshines.”
We also had a San Francisco resident, “kdharri,” echo the weather comment: “Like most folks, my gear use is more weather-related than safety-related on any given day. I do have and frequently wear textile with armor, but if the weather gets colder, I’m more comfortable in leather. I do try to avoid riding in less-than-textile, but it is not a hard rule.”
Said “Fatfatboy” on the forum, “I’ve tried wearing more gear for safety’s sake, but it just takes me too far away from the experience. If I had to wear gear all the time, I’d probably buy a convertible, and if I weren’t forced to wear a lid I wouldn’t always wear one, but I would most of the time. I dress for the ride and comfort not the crash.”
He does bring up a very good point about comfort. Expand a moment and consider other forms of gear, like the electric vest: When it is so cold that your body starts to shut down blood flow to your extremities, this affects your very ability to react to the ride.
“I would call that ‘comfort gear,”’ said Piotr Jamka on Facebook, adding a winking smiley to his comment. “But if you aren’t comfortable when you are riding in the cold then you aren’t riding safely.” Bob Tranquilli was quite succinct in his comment: “Some folks have a low threshold of “aghastitude.”
Meanwhile, Greg Kruse wants the safety freaks to chill. “It’s a shame peo-
"I've tried wearing more gear for safety's sake but it just takes me too far away from the experience... I dress for the ride and comfort not the crash." -Fatlatboy
pie are so easily offended by others’ choices. I miss the Norton-girl-type ads and free spirit of motorcycling. Riding skills and awareness are just as important as the gear you wear. Lighten up, wear what you feel comfortable with and enjoy the ride!”
Associate Editor Mark Cernicky always enjoys the ride, from being the dude in the jeans on the Gregg’s Customs R1 Tracker shown here to riding in full leathers on Ben Spies’ championship-winning Yamaha YZF-R1 Superbike on a racetrack. And I have a feeling that, given the chance, he might fall into forum contributor Havace Eveeloj’s camp if he could get away with it: “I always wear a helmet and gloves. And, often, nothing eiser As for me? I measure and consider
the risk every time I ride a motorcycle. I consider the weather, the time of day, the motorcycle and the roads I plan to ride. And I consider myself. Am I tired, distracted or feeling in any way out of sorts? Sometimes I wear my Aerostich Roadcrafter when it’s too hot for an Aerostich. Sometimes I do the unthinkable and dress for fashion on my ’54 Velocette, riding in an open-face helmet, sunglasses and a waxed-cotton Belstaff jacket, a riding garment without one piece of armor or space-age, abrasion-resistant fiber.
Why?
Because it feels good to be out there. Being out there is why we don’t take the car. And while I can’t deny that Cycle World is to some degree a “role model,” should we go AGATT (all gear all the time), as many people stated, wearing inflatable crash vests, neck braces, fully armored gloves and roadracing leathers/boots in every photo because that is the safest we can be?
No. We all choose how far we want to go out there, every time we ride. Keep making the right choice. Your own. □
