Okay, let’s talk about gear.
Helmets keep you alive. If you’re not wearing a helmet with a chin bar (full or modular), you don’t care about your face. On such a helmet, the face shield keeps shit out of your eyes and noise out of your ears. If your helmet does not mitigate wind noise very well, you should be wearing earplugs. Tinnitus is no joke. I like the ones with the little plastic filter in them, but even cheap disposable foam ones are better than nothing, and yes, you will still be able to hear traffic noises just fine.
You’ll want to replace your helmet every three to five years, because the foam inside degrades and loses its ability to absorb impact. If you accidentally drop your empty helmet on the ground, it’s fine; if the helmet hits the ground with your head in it, it’s time for a new one.
Airbag vests are great and offer protection from organ damage due to impact. You like your organs. I believe there are also helmets that have neck airbags in them to keep your head from snapping around and breaking your neck.
The rest of the gear is to reduce injury. You won’t die without it, but you will hurt. Maybe a lot.
Gloves, pants, jacket all prevent abrasions. Tall boots with proper stiffening also keep your ankles from getting broken. The armor pads are designed to protect the areas of your body that are most likely to skid against the ground: knuckles, palms, knees, butt, elbows, back. All of this gear doesn’t have to be replaced on any time schedule, or if you slide in it, but you can easily determine whether it’s damaged enough to need replacing. Armor pads are normally removable in jackets and pants.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Dress for the slide, not the ride
I’m gonna disagree with you about dropping the helmet at all. I also disagree about earplugs, wear them always even with a full-faced helmet if you’re going more than 30mph/40kph.
I ride every day, and otherwise agree with what you’ve written.
As long as there’s not a head-shaped mass inside the helmet when it bounces on the garage floor, the foam will be undamaged.
You’re right about the ear plugs, though. The only reason I know my current helmet is soundproof enough for me is because I have had several which were not.
I’m going to recommend an ice or pcm vest to keep cool in the summer. Makes wearing protective gear much more bearable. If you live in a dry climate you can use various water evaporating gear.
Ride defensively, cars hurt A LOT!
I bought a pack of 12 neck gaiters from Goodwill for like three dollars. Soak in water, wear around neck, works a treat.
Excellent post. I don’t ride, but I do see loads of people just riding around at high speed with only a t-shirt and jeans…
Then again, these people are the next organ donors!
Once you’re moving faster than, say, 10MPH, whatever speed you’re going is fast enough to kill you or make you a drooling idiot when your head bangs on something hard and motionless. Beyond that, adding speed just decreases the chances of drooling idiot.
Full disclosure, I have ridden without a helmet. Not often, but I probably will again. I have a pair of goggles for the eyes. I much prefer the comfort and safety of having a helmet on, but –
Briefly riding around quiet neighborhood streets by me, that I know well enough to know which houses have little kids, during the day, on the little scooter, … maybe. After a long time on big interstates on the big bike, when the helmet has been pressing into my forehead too long, also during the day, flat rural interstate, light “traffic”, excellent visibility, highways I am pretty familiar with? Maybe.
And the whole time I would be thinking “I shouldn’t be doing this.” My current helmet is much more comfortable than my last one, and I don’t need to wear earplugs with it unless I’m doing a long ride at 70+ MPH. Putting it on is easy, easier than having to listen to that voice in my head saying I should have put it on, I have music in it, I’m having a hard time now thinking of a situation where I wouldn’t want it on.
Saving this
Never biked but just in case
You’ll hear people say “all the gear all the time” (ATGATT), but I feel like equating things like helmets and airbags with gloves and jackets and pants is misleading. I mention the earplugs because while they won’t do anything in a crash, you will fuck up your ears without them.
You’ll also hear people say (mainly about helmets), “Get the most expensive helmet you can afford. Is your head only worth $150?” This is also misleading. Look for ECE rated helmets. DOT-only rated is “ehhh.” Snell rating is out there, too, but helmets with those tend to be really expensive, and their ratings are comparable to ECE. (ECE is arguably a better standard, anyway.)
The most important thing about a helmet is fit. It should be snug, should pull your face around when you move it, without slipping. It should be comfortable for you to wear for long periods of time. Different manufacturers make different shell sizes and shapes for different helmets and their size designations. If you buy an expensive helmet that doesn’t fit you well, you won’t want to wear it. Retail price is not the way to decide what helmet to buy. Sure, you can spend $1000 on a Shoei helmet, and they’re good helmets, but you’re also paying for the branding, and you’re still going to need to replace it in three to five years.
Personally, I ride with an HJC modular helmet. Quite comfortable for me, HJC is a known brand (not some weird Amazon/China fake DOT sticker thing), and it was … wait for it … $150. I have a jacket and gloves, but I don’t wear them very often. If future me slides, he probably won’t die, but he’ll suffer immensely. I don’t like that guy anyway.
Should probably be posted on !bestoflemmy@lemmy.world too.
Thank you, and you’re more than welcome to do so.
