Why is it not compulsory to wear full leather protection while riding?

ttaskmaster said:
Helmets. Bikers. Riding without.
Seen three just this month my own self, including one in just sunnies down a 70mph A-Road.
Obviously it's mostly a Summer thing, but I see it quite a bit, especially in town and all on public roads.
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Make that four...
Was at the pub last night and some Yoof on a 400cc dirt/off-road/crosser thing pulled in, yammered with his mates and then went speeding off.

The nearest house is over half a mile away on twisty 50mph roads (which most people do 80 along), while his most likely point of origin of Whitley is about 4 miles , so he's not even nipping around the corner.
 
Picture in this weeks MSN of the Dunlops (William and Michael) riding some classic race bikes on the roads of Armoy in t-shirts and shorts....just sayin
 
Sagalout said:
Picture in this weeks MSN of the Dunlops (William and Michael) riding some classic race bikes on the roads of Armoy in t-shirts and shorts....just sayin
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Ah, but they are trained professionals being filmed on a closed road under controlled conditions, don't try this at home, blah blah blah...

Incidentally, do you mean MSN or MCN?
If the latter, then pay it no mind anyway. There's a reason it's called More Crap than News!!
 
Freefaller said:
as part of the CBT though they should show people the dangers of not wearing protective clothing, then if they choose not to they only have themselves to blame.
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They do on the CBT. Mine was around 5 years ago but iirc an off at 30mph with regular clothing/no protection and you will lose half an inch of skin/muscle/meat a second. Then nylon tracksuit bottoms such as those your typical 16 year old moped rider will be wearing will have nylon burned/melted into the skin that can't be removed.

I haven't riden in 4 years or so since I passed my driving test, but even on a moped I always wore boots, textile jacket gloves and at least heavy jeans if not textile bottoms. Personally value my body too much and regardless of the way you ride there are far too many people that don't see you, even when restricted to 28mph
 
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Don't believe everything you read/hear. You are not going to lose an inch of skin and muscle per second at 30mph lol. You must have looked a right sight on your moped! People do those speeds cycling in Lycra for crying out loud!

Just watched mondo enduro tonight - they spent half the journey round the world without helmets by the look of it.
 
Sagalout said:
People do those speeds cycling in Lycra for crying out loud!
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What I was thinking as I read that post. I used to hit near on 40 going downhill on my mountain bike wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt! :)

Though I do appreciate that would equate to < 1% of my journey time compared to 90% journey time on a motorbike increasing the likelihood of serious injury.
 
On my cycle commute to Leeds I hit 46mph on Harewood hill, and spend a good few miles between 25-30 on the long descent into the city
 
Wouldn't ride in anything less than jacket, boots, gloves and helmet nowadays.

Had an off a couple of years back when a farmer decided to dump a load of corn in the middle of the road half way around a bend.
lost the back end on the corn then the highside slammed me into the tarmac at 50, and while there's no lasting damage other than a couple of scars, it hurt and i'd rather not go through that again.

Even though it's not law, it only takes one bad crash to realise how good gear is, unfortunately sometimes one crash is all you get.
 
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I tried riding in a pair of leather trousers this weekend.

The lack of mobility while wearing them made them dangerous to use, I couldn't shift around on the seat, I couldn't manoeuvre to get my foot down at junctions either.

The wife was the same, she needs a decent range of movement to get on the back of the Tiger as she is only 5"2, leather trousers reduced it to the point where she couldn't get on at all.

Back to jeans for us.
 
Frozennova said:
They do on the CBT. Mine was around 5 years ago but iirc an off at 30mph with regular clothing/no protection and you will lose half an inch of skin/muscle/meat a second. Then nylon tracksuit bottoms such as those your typical 16 year old moped rider will be wearing will have nylon burned/melted into the skin that can't be removed.

I haven't riden in 4 years or so since I passed my driving test, but even on a moped I always wore boots, textile jacket gloves and at least heavy jeans if not textile bottoms. Personally value my body too much and regardless of the way you ride there are far too many people that don't see you, even when restricted to 28mph
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That's good to know - I did mine well over 10 years ago and the instructor did mention what was good/bad protective clothing but it wasn't part of the test per se.
 
atpbx said:
I tried riding in a pair of leather trousers this weekend.

The lack of mobility while wearing them made them dangerous to use, I couldn't shift around on the seat, I couldn't manoeuvre to get my foot down at junctions either.

The wife was the same, she needs a decent range of movement to get on the back of the Tiger as she is only 5"2, leather trousers reduced it to the point where she couldn't get on at all.

Back to jeans for us.
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You must have a weird bodyshape considering millions of others can use leather trousers without any problems :p

However, in this weather I don't blame you for not wearing leather - I hope the jeans are at least kevlar jeans - do you have any knee protection? Aren't you worried about scuffing it on the floor?
 
Freefaller said:
You must have a weird bodyshape considering millions of others can use leather trousers without any problems :p

However, in this weather I don't blame you for not wearing leather - I hope the jeans are at least kevlar jeans - do you have any knee protection? Aren't you worried about scuffing it on the floor?
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Getting my knee down on a Tiger xc?

The bike physically can't tip over that far as the hero blobs dig in at relatively moderate angles of lean, then shortly after that you are past the limits of the tyres.
I have relatively short legs, so need a decent range of movement in my hips to not only get on and off it, but to get my foot done at junctions etc.

Leather was just too restrictive, so it will be back to jeans.
 
Frozennova said:
Mine was around 5 years ago but iirc an off at 30mph with regular clothing/no protection and you will lose half an inch of skin/muscle/meat a second.
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I think it's around 1-2mm of flesh at 40mph.

atpbx said:
The lack of mobility while wearing them made them dangerous to use, I couldn't shift around on the seat, I couldn't manoeuvre to get my foot down at junctions either.
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Were they brand new?
Were they tight fitting?

I can understand it if you've been riding for ages and never tried leather before, but you should be OK once you've worn them a couple of days, even on a Tiger.
 
ttaskmaster said:
I think it's around 1-2mm of flesh at 40mph.


Were they brand new?
Were they tight fitting?

I can understand it if you've been riding for ages and never tried leather before, but you should be OK once you've worn them a couple of days, even on a Tiger.
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I've been riding for 22 years and never worn leather trousers before.

These were "nearly new" as in only used a couple of times but in the correct size.

The bike is just there to use if the weather is nice and we fancy a ride, I don't really have the time on it to be breaking trousers in on the off chance they might stretch when I can just go back to jeans or get a pair of textile trousers instead.
 
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