Here we go again...

[HYPERR]

I have no concept of 'too hot to ride'.....

[Ryethil]

Okay,Okay, I took enough CR*P from the guys here at the station for not realizing I had said the wrong things. I would like to know for once how you guys think but then if I did, I would probably be a man and that would ruin my whole day!!

As a side thing, one of my so called "friends" here at work is a serious motocrosser and he was the one who gave the idea for the MX helmet. He's spent the last couple of hours telling me that Dirt Gear is armor and very open for heat purposes. But I'm not going to wear advertising on my body no matter how cool it is. Actually, he isn't all bad for he pushed (how do men get around pushing women as if they were 5 year olds?) to a couple of serious street riding websites and I found somethings that may be extremely workable. I'd never heard of dermal cervical armor before. It runs down your back and keeps your spine in place in an accident. It's very flexible when you bend down but doesn't flex side to side or compress. Might be handy.

Anyway...

I have never believed that riding motorcycles was any kind of 'safe'. I wear protective gear and it has done it's job whenever needed... so far. I accept that I may wad it up on any given ride, but I also believe I will walk away from any incident I have..... wishful thinking or not, that is what my brain thinks will happen.

I guess that is true of all of us. I would of never had learned to ride if I thought different. The only problem is when we think we're immortal...

But I am fully aware that some idiot in a cage could have an incident..... and that I could be involved in their incident. There ain't no gear that can handle being taken out by a car at speed. Situational awareness is great and all, but you miss just one idiot with a cellphone stuck to their head, and the world will suddenly become a very painful place. If your lucky, you won't even know it.

My greatest fear is that I'll not only know it but it will constantly go off in a gray haze of no memory left. I was born here but the Texas legislature must be made of congenital idiots for we no longer have a helmet law. See above^^ Everyone is immortal!

Life is a dangerous game. There are thousands of ways to get killed. All we can do is minimize the risks, wear protective gear, and keep our wits about us. I personally don't believe that praying will help any, but it also can't hurt. I have come much closer to death at work than I have on a bike, but that could change on any ride.

I work in an environment that can be anything from domestic violence to like last week, someone coming back to the scene to kill the person you're working on because he's the witness to a crime the would be killer did. And you're in the way! I never had that happen when I was riding a motorcycle.

I have no concept of 'too hot to ride'.... just never been lucky enough to have the problem..... too flucken cold, sure, but that's a whole 'nother issue. If I did ever encounter too much heat, there is a ton of mesh gear with decent armour I would love to try, some with drinking systems built in if dehydration is an issue. If that isn't enough and you're still being wiped out by the heat, then maybe it is too hot to ride...... just can't fathom it myself.....

Well, It took a "GUY" to show this poor pitiful gurl, the error of her ways. I promise I'll do better.

He's looking over my shoulder. I'm going to kick him in the cr*tch when I finish this.

[Ryethil]

You actually believe that the cell phone using soccer mom in the Ford Excursion that decides to make a left turn in front of you at the last minute, or the brain dead kid in the '88 IROC-Z who decides to blow a stop sign completely into your path out of a blind side street actually gives a dodo what kind of bike you are riding???

I highly doubt they even realize there is a bike in their path.

I'm sorry all the IROC-Zs here are driven by speed freaks. Any Camaro that's used and for sale will usually smell of Crystal Meth when you open the door. I won't go into the gory details...

I'll take the cell phone using soccer mom. PLEASE!

[jstark47]

Alex- I'm just gonna tell you what I do - not what you should do. This is just what works for one person. I've not ridden a ST1300, but we have an '03 Trophy here, so I'm familiar with the heat put out by a full-faired sport tourer in the summer. If I'm moving, it's tolerable. I try not to take the Trophy places I think I'll get stuck in traffic on hot days.

I wear:

• - a Teknic mesh jacket with armor at the elbows, shoulders, and back
  - Hein Gericke mesh pants, without the liner, with armor at the knees and hips
  - lightweight leather gloves with knuckle armor but no additional padding like my heavier gloves
  - over the ankle boots
  - a full face HJC helmet (FS10 or CL14)

The helmet doesn't really bother me on hot days, if I'm stopped I flip up the visor. When moving all this stuff is tolerable. The gloves probably bother me the most, but I can't ride gloveless and keep a secure grip.

Would I wear all this stuff and ride at 102? Well I wouldn't ride for pleasure, but if I had to get someplace, sure, I'd go. Water bottles, as you pointed out, are mandatory in the heat. Or strap a camelback to the bike.

[PacificShot327]

(how do men get around pushing women as if they were 5 year olds?)

Why do you let them?

Well, It took a "GUY" to show this poor pitiful gurl, the error of her ways. I promise I'll do better.

He's looking over my shoulder. I'm going to kick him in the cr*tch when I finish this.

Methinks you have a bit of an anti-male issue here...

Anyway, I'm along the same lines of thinking with Buzzz there - there's no amount of gear that you can strap on that will save you in ALL situations. You do the best you can, but you need to be comfortable for the ride. That said, I bought mostly mesh gear.

Jacket
Gloves
And the "Cross My Heart" pants from Speed and Strength.
All good gear. All very forgiving in the heat.
Normal full face helmet from Scorpion -- that is one piece of gear I will absolutely not compromise on at all.

[HYPERR]

You actually believe that the cell phone using soccer mom in the Ford Excursion that decides to make a left turn in front of you at the last minute, or the brain dead kid in the '88 IROC-Z who decides to blow a stop sign completely into your path out of a blind side street actually gives a dodo what kind of bike you are riding???

I highly doubt they even realize there is a bike in their path.

I'm sorry all the IROC-Zs here are driven by speed freaks. Any Camaro that's used and for sale will usually smell of Crystal Meth when you open the door. I won't go into the gory details...

I'll take the cell phone using soccer mom. PLEASE!

My best friend used to have an IROC-Z 5.7L.

I don't think there are too many IROCs left in captivity. I think they have all been pretty much crashed and totalled by meth freaks.

[Ryethil]

Alex- I'm just gonna tell you what I do - not what you should do. This is just what works for one person. I've not ridden a ST1300, but we have an '03 Trophy here, so I'm familiar with the heat put out by a full-faired sport tourer in the summer. If I'm moving, it's tolerable. I try not to take the Trophy places I think I'll get stuck in traffic on hot days.

I wear:

• - a Teknic mesh jacket with armor at the elbows, shoulders, and back
  - Hein Gericke mesh pants, without the liner, with armor at the knees and hips
  - lightweight leather gloves with knuckle armor but no additional padding like my heavier gloves
  - over the ankle boots
  - a full face HJC helmet (FS10 or CL14)

The helmet doesn't really bother me on hot days, if I'm stopped I flip up the visor. When moving all this stuff is tolerable. The gloves probably bother me the most, but I can't ride gloveless and keep a secure grip.

Would I wear all this stuff and ride at 102? Well I wouldn't ride for pleasure, but if I had to get someplace, sure, I'd go. Water bottles, as you pointed out, are mandatory in the heat. Or strap a camelback to the bike.

Thank you and an apology of sorts. I was taking a lot of heat because a sister was jumping on my case because I might be giving the newbies the wrong impression. And there is nothing so powerful as a mother protecting her "cubs"

I do ride for pleasure in the heat. The ST1300A isn't the heat demon everybody warned me about but the heat coming off the engine has no good place to go. Various motorcycles that I have ridden have had very hot things or areas that were put in the way of your leg or your nether regions if you ride one or two of the sport bikes that I've known. However,
you have to take procautions if you do ride. I think a lot sportbike riders are suffering from heat exhaustion but there is no way to tell when you've got what's left of them delirious and in a great amount of pain. It isn't a factor at that point...

I like your ideas and they are a bit more doable then what I had in mind. I've found a mesh pullover that is similar to your jacket. It is actually cooler than my kevlar pullover. It too has armor in all the right places though it might be a little light in that it doesn't have any of the bulges that jackets ususally have. However, it is supposed to be just as protective as a jacket and lighter in weight. Weight is important too because I don't weigh all that much anyway. The mesh pants that I had seen up this point had really bulky liners in them sort of like MX pants. I'm seeing some that are fully open to air flow and I can wear them over my jeans. They too have armor in all the right spots. Though being female I need the armor in slightly different spots and a lot of designers can't seem to understand this. *sigh*

The gloves I normally wear are made out of durable stressed leather and have extra leather at the knuckles though they are fingerless. My boots however, may be a weak spot in that the ones that I wear are really cowboy boots with added padding instead of GP style. For me they're more comfortable because again I find summer weight boots to be cut slightly wrong where I don't have any problems with the heaver women's boots.

As for the helmet, I've read some earth moving studies that say that the Snell helmet certification may be as destructive as wearing as little helmet as possible. It seems that the Snell standard has a stipiulation that is supposed to require a helmet to stay together for more than one massive blow. This may in fact allow too much force to penetrate the helmet and go straight to the head. Lesser standards may be better. go figure. they are made out of lighter material that fails with less force applied to it and that means less force transmited to the head and the brain inside. Anyway, I'll stick with my MX helmet though it might looka a little strange though tank top guy and his inexperienced rider look like just another statistic to me.

All this may have even a greater meaning. I had plans for the ST1300A to become my main ride but a strange toy may have fallen into my lap. A XR1200 that had been on deposit may have been forfited. Since I now work for the dealer I get first chance at it. It would take the place of the Buell for many things and would be easier to ride around town but like the Buell, it would require me to wear stronger but light weight gear. We'll see.

I realize now that once again I was panicking because someone was putting a standard on me when I was pretty armored up anyway. That I was relating heavy leather armor to what my partner was requireing me to wear to make myself protected in her eyes. I may be an experienced rider but that doesn't mean I'm an experienced person all the time.

Thanks...

[Ryethil]

(how do men get around pushing women as if they were 5 year olds?)

Why do you let them?

Well, It took a "GUY" to show this poor pitiful gurl, the error of her ways. I promise I'll do better.

He's looking over my shoulder. I'm going to kick him in the cr*tch when I finish this.

Methinks you have a bit of an anti-male issue here...

Actually I don't have anti-male issues. it's actually just the opposite. I've chosen to live and work in environments that are filled with testoserone. Except for the private most points of my life, I'm good enough to be one of the GUYS. However, most the men I know make me prove that every time I do something. But I get their respect. My mother and my sister keep saying that I'm not feminine enough but I've traded that to be all that I can be. But it still doesn't stop most men from trying to lead me as if I was small and needed to be protected. However, I'm not that small and a bit buff to be treated as helpless. But that doesn't stop guys from wanting to treat me as a lesser being. However, I wouldn't trade being a woman for anything. So I just accept their beliefs in good spirits and again try to prove I'm equal to them.

Anyway, I'm along the same lines of thinking with Buzzz there - there's no amount of gear that you can strap on that will save you in ALL situations. You do the best you can, but you need to be comfortable for the ride. That said, I bought mostly mesh gear.

Jacket
Gloves
And the "Cross My Heart" pants from Speed and Strength.
All good gear. All very forgiving in the heat.
Normal full face helmet from Scorpion -- that is one piece of gear I will absolutely not compromise on at all.

I went to the websites and I esp like the gloves. I've heard a lot about scorpion gear and will look into them. I liked a lot of other stuff they showed. The Tourmaster jacket was what I was looking at first. But I really need something that I can wear a light weight blouse under without sweating through it. As for pants, mesh looks like the way to go though I've worn cycle weight jeans before and liked them though they aren't very flattering. I'm becoming more and more glad that my bike has hard saddle bags.
I understand most riders feelings toward Full Faced Helmets and I can understand their beliefs for the helmets are a life saver esp. if the victim is sliding along the concrete on his or her face. But I've already been in a minor dust up and took some nasty hits when I highsided and though my helmet was pretty much destroyed, it saved me from any damage. That and it's so much cooler are my reasons for continueing to use it.

Today has been interesting for a larger world of motocycling has opened up for me. I have been intoduced to many peices of equipment that I wpould never had found if I had stayed in a Harley world. I still prefer Harleys in many ways but the attiude has got to be modified. We're not all 40+ year old men looking to relive their youth. Things have got to grow to encompass the new stuff too.

[Ryethil]

You actually believe that the cell phone using soccer mom in the Ford Excursion that decides to make a left turn in front of you at the last minute, or the brain dead kid in the '88 IROC-Z who decides to blow a stop sign completely into your path out of a blind side street actually gives a dodo what kind of bike you are riding???

I highly doubt they even realize there is a bike in their path.

I'm sorry all the IROC-Zs here are driven by speed freaks. Any Camaro that's used and for sale will usually smell of Crystal Meth when you open the door. I won't go into the gory details...

I'll take the cell phone using soccer mom. PLEASE!

My best friend used to have an IROC-Z 5.7L.

I don't think there are too many IROCs left in captivity. I think they have all been pretty much crashed and totalled by meth freaks.

Yea, but most people who drove them seemed either they had something to prove or they were too out of it to understand that there was a real world arounfd them. I'm glad your friend is niether!

[jaskc78]

Disregard, changed my mind.