read my post on what made you sad yesterday  !!!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Acrazybiker, The moped thing in spain is all well and good, but i was a rep in santa ponsa in mallorca and a girl at our hotel came off a moped at 30 mph slid down the road on her front in t shirt , mini skirt and flip flops lost 4 toes, her chin and left breast. But with hindsight she and many thousands would not have been injured at all! But its the "it'll be allright !" attitude that all too often ends in tragedy! Although saying that, it IS all about personal preference so i don't neccessarily dissagree with you, I just hope you and others dont ever have to find out the hard way!                                                                                                                                                                             

i do agree with you geoff, i would never let my kids pilly unless they have all the gear on, and yes i do ride with a hoodie and leather cut on, but i also see bikers with all the gear on looking so restricted in body movement that thet can hardly turn there head etc to check on traffic, plus i think that most not all but certainly alot of accidents are due to rider error, but yes if is should get knocked off my arms would get it, but if its a long trip i am going on i will wear my proper biker jacket with a hoodie over the top, still looks cool with all the benefits of a protective motorcycle jacket !!!

I don't class myself as particularly stupid (others may disagree), and I have had various offs over the years at speed on the motorway as well as just your general "car not looking and pulling out on you" etc. on smaller roads, but there are still occasions when I went out last year with jeans and a vest on when it was really hot.   I understand the argument for the bill being steep for scraping bits of us up off the road, but as has been said, smoking is perfectly acceptable but costs the NHS an absolute fortune.   I am also a hypocrite, if I am taking the kids anywhere significant they have to wear full leathers and full face helmet as well as good gloves.  When they are 18 and on their own bikes I won't have a say, or at least it can be ignored, but for now they are my responsibility and I insist on it.   I hate riding in leather jeans, I find it restricts movement on your seat and makes me uncomfortable, but I'm sensible enough to do it now for long journeys although the fact remains that most accidents occur within a few miles of home so I realise I'm not helping myself.  Like Dark One, I will always wear gloves though because I have always worked with my hands.   At the end of the day, I am making an informed choice, I already have the scars.  These kids on scooters have no clue and think they are invincible which is the problem and no amount of photographic evidence or video will convince them otherwise I don't suppose because they are at that age that they think they know everything.                                                                                                                                                                             

The least protection I have had is a pair of jeans, even as pilly.

As a rider I can count the number of times I have not had armoured trousers on on one hand. And that's only ever been when it's a quick 2 min to take the bike to the garage.

I always wear boots, after an off on a lesson 2 years ago I ended up on crutches with ligament damage to my ankle, would have been a lot worse without boots on, always jacket, gloves and full faced helmet, to ride in summer now I have Kevlar jeans with knee and hip armour in them great stuff, looks good but still have the protection :-)

an please don't forget that exhausts get pretty hot..  was stupid enough to get on back of bike for a ride down the field at a rally... bike had just done the drag run.... short skirt..hot exhaust...burning flesh..an nice scar...                                                                                                                                                                             

Provoked quite and interesting list of opinions and comments here!!

I admit that it does get damn hot wearing the clobber but when moving at speed I nevet seem to notice that!  As ha been said quite a bit it is all down to personal choice.

I think the thing that stated me off on this is just seeing a few lads the other day on their bikes in t-shirts etc basically acting like total idiots weaving and cutting up cars etc and basically just giving bikers a bad name!

I don't smoke, or drink any more as I cost the NHS enough on that front already!, and never gave that a thought but yes, it's true that the cost to us the tax payer probably more for the treatment of smoking than accidents.

It's all individual choice and no matter what, we are all still bikers and am sure we would all still look out for each other no matter what we wear at meets and in general!                                                                                                                                                                                

perhaps in the interest of safety, motorcycles, mopeds and push bikes should be banned.
We know how dangerous they are, i'm sure most bikers involved in accidents will be wearing some form of protective gear. Where does it stop, how much of a nanny do we have to be.

I do not want to be told what to do. I'm not a moron. I can think for myself.
And yes i do ride a push bike with no plastic brain on the outside, (i like the wind in my gray hair) i don't wear lycra either. I just don't like the idea of putting my meat and two veg on display.
I wish i'd been a  biker in the 50s.

"I wish i'd been a  biker in the 50s."   Me too!! there were a lot less cars on the road and no speed cameras!!!                                                                                                                                                                               

Jimmy Saville's old safety slogan - "Clunk click every trip"  for car drivers.
Equivalent for bike riders must be along the lines of wear your protective gear every trip   Not that I have always followed that advice myself, but makes sense                                                                                                                                                                              

Came down the M1 today from Northampton and 5 bikes went by one with pillion .

1st through was all kitted out apart from boots both had trainers on ... next 4 no boots all trainers and only one had armoured jeans and no one had bike jacket 

If they had been riding in proper rideout formation that would of helped too but guess what they weren't they were travelling really close and if one had stopped or even slowed suddenly because they were so close and just bunched together i'd be surprised if any of them would of been able to avoid a collision .

All of the points raised are very relevant.  I do agree with Ian, last weekend I did the Blackpool meet - the weather was terrible on the morning I set off. I had thermals, jeans and waterproof armoured trousers on and joking aside could hardly bend my knees.  I have to say that I was really uncomfy and felt so restricted.  I know that safety should always come first - but............. I do feel at limes it is lovely to feel free and wear jeans and a soft leather and open facer.

Yeah I agree with Katie here, it has to be a trade off between practicality comfort and protection, we have probably all been guilty at some point of dressing inappropriately, and some times it IS worth the risk, but generally speaking, we should all wear some form of protection, 'cos you just dont know what the other idiots on the road are gonna pull on ya next, as long as you can move, and are comfortable, then the protective clothing that you wear should be your choice, I am totally against legislation, for therein lies scope for abuse, and the prices to be pushed up, and force a lot of less well off bikers off the road....food for though guys

one of the reasons the kids on scooters don't wear protective clothing, is they have been made to feel ostracized from the biking world by bikers; looked down upon. So they feel stupid dressing up on 30-50mph machines, too much ego significance on c.c. their age forgives the fact of their insecuriy    And before anybody says, what is this geezer on, I own and run a scooter tuning site with nearly 2 million hits a month.                                                                                                                                                                                 

personally... i wont ride anywhere without gloves.. proper jacket and boots.. come the hot weather i'll leave the leather jeans off and wear my kevlar draggin jeans.. feel semi naked without the armour it must be said.. but defo worth it.. have tried armour under them.. but that just didn't feel right...                                                                                                                                                                             

Might be one of the reasons GUNS but I hink its laso about image from their peers. That and the cost.

I think parents who let their kids ride em should make sure they have right gear and where possible...(kids will try and get away with it) make sure they where it. There is some not so boring kit out there these days and ebay is good place for cheap gear.

I see them on their scooters and they are fearless (wish i had some of their confidence) but worries me to death on how they would fair if they come off.

                                                                                                                                                                               

After coming off my bike last summer and not much of my leathers left by the time I stopped!! I have never been more grateful than that I'd spent a bit of money kitting myself out properly!! Money well spent!! I think these 'bikers' should be made to see the damage to the skin by just falling off a push bike!!! Sweat it or regret it!! I have been known to approach and talk to these guys but more so to the little girls on pilly who don't know any better, because their bf's are wearing shorts and should know better.                                                                                                                                                                              

I'm sort of fortunate to be able to have quite a lot of motorcycle gear.  I've never got on withy leathers but do have some very good textile suits, An Aerostich 2 piece for all weathers and a couple of sets of BMW textile hot weather gear for when I have been riding through SW USA in July/August.   I have done a few short jaunts to the shops without the gear when in the States, wearing only gloves and glasses  (interestingly, the first big trip in the states, I carried my helmet and didn't wear it in states that didn't require it and I actually felt safer whilst riding than with it on.  No good in an off obviously, but I was aware of a lot more around me and saw and heard things a lot sooner).  Now though I wear the helmet all the time but have a super lightweight full face that isn't too much of a drag in the heat.   In really hot countries, I learnt the hard way so always wear long sleeves and trousers.  Was in Greece back in the early 80's riding when they had a severe heatwave.  Me in my shorts and tshirt got severely sunburned on the bike.  Now it's always the hot weather armoured stuff for me.                                                                                                                                                                                 

sweaty leathers are pretty minging, let's face it  Do you all manage to clean them???. How do you all do it???