Читать книгу Proficient Motorcycling - David L. Hough - Страница 32

Even with the best of licensing, training, and skills practice, some crashes are simply unavoidable. For example, a moose suddenly emerges from the shadows and knocks you off the bike, or an oncoming coal truck swerves over the centerline in a blind corner, forcing you off the road. When you get your chance to crash one of these days, you’ll be hitting the landscape in whatever gear you decided to put on before the ride.

If today is going to be your day to crash, what do you want between your body and the pavement?

But even if you don’t get to crash, your riding gear has a lot to do with your ability to control the bike. I’ll leave it up to your imagination how I know this, but a couple of wasps dropping into your boot takes a lot of attention away from the task of keeping the motorcycle pointed between the lines. A sunburned neck can make it too painful to turn your head to find that car hidden in your blind spot. A bouncing stone cracking into your shin can distract you from the slippery manhole cover ahead.

So riding gear is more than just uncomfortable body armor worn reluctantly day after day just in case today happens to be your turn to crash. Good riding gear protects against wind, sun, heat, cold, rain, and flying debris. A shatterproof face shield not only protects your eyes from grit but also keeps your face from getting wind chapped. Leather gloves not only protect your palms from road rash during a spill but also keep your knuckles from getting burned by wind and sun and help your fingers avoid blisters. Tall leather boots provide ankle support as well as protection from a hot exhaust pipe or from nasty biting insects.

But if today does happen to be your turn to crash, it would be handy if your gear also provides impact and abrasion protection. Competition-weight leather will slide for something like 80 to 100 feet on rough concrete before it grinds through to your underwear. Cotton denim will rip to shreds in about five feet. Fabric riding suits with armored patches can be almost as abrasion resistant as leather and a lot easier to clean after a few days of high-humidity travel. Of course, we can adjust our gear to the riding conditions. The more hazardous the situation, the greater the need for good stuff. When I’m making a nighttime transit through deer country on my two-wheeled rocket, I’m inclined to wear my heavyweight leathers. When I’m driving my dual sport sidecar rig up on the logging roads, I prefer a two-piece fabric riding suit.

Good riding gear protects against the weather and flying debris. Leather is the king in terms of abrasion resistance, but fabric suits with internal armor can provide excellent impact and abrasion protection, as well as water resistance.

Abrasion-resistant gear is a number-one priority to keep your skin away from the pavement, but impact pads in the knees, elbows, and shoulders will cushion the blows and reduce broken bones. Leg and arm injuries can be painful, but chest and head injuries are more likely to be critical or fatal. That’s why some riders wear a spine protector or upper body armor under their jackets.