To ATGATT or not to ATGATT - and to what extent

I have always been wearing a helmet since I have started riding scoots in 1972. Open-face initially and then full-face, once I realised how much better the visor was than goggles when going fast (most of the time back then). As well as a leather jacket, quality jeans (not always), leather gloves and leather boots at least covering my ankles. That was it and has been it for all the years up to now - 49 total. I will forego the jacket when riding just in town, especially on hot days. I never wear shorts on a bike, though. I have been fortunate only to have fallen off a few times (all low-sides) in all these years and have been lucky not to have crashed into anything or to have had anything crash into me.

I have always been riding defensively - anticipating all other vehicles at interchanges, making eye contact, extensively using my mirrors and thinking for drivers in my immediate vicinity, including those behind and beside me. Even more so as I grew older and supposedly wiser. I have probably spent at least a third of my time riding as a commuter or in traffic, and invariably lane-splitting. And I keep a keen eye on all my rides - tire pressures, tread depths, and that everything works; lights, horn, brakes, etc.

So, have I really been lucky or have I been more careful/alert/prepared? I cannot say. I continue to ride fast, most of the time.

I approach each ride as a chess game - I think most of us do. Subconsciously by now in my case, of course - me against everything else on the road, including oil spills and expansion joints. Crashes forever remain the main risk - the potential check-mate call. IMHO, only two things are of undeniable benefit in a motorcycle crash (impacting something or being impacted by something - not merely falling off and sliding along) - a good helmet, preferably full face, and a neck brace. And nobody wears the latter.

I am not convinced of the street/road benefit of leather suits (especially branded ones) or adventure garb, bulky back protectors and the new craze; blow-up vests (wearable airbags) - not to be confused with blow-up dolls (-: I believe most of that is simply opportunist/innovative vendors finding new scares to extract cash from group-thinking riders, mainly n00bs. But that is me.

And it also scares new riders off, aside from no one wishing to wear all that sh1t. Especially in summer or close to home.

So, I will be sticking to my own (personally proven) formula. However, I am contemplating getting my wife a neck-brace, even though she might protest. Her latest bike jacket features an integrated low-profile back protector. And I do not allow her to wear an open-face helmet - the halfway compromise being a flip-face modular Schubert. The pillion forever constitutes the more compromised position in a motorcycle accident.

I stopped riding in South Africa in 2001. I was a daily commuter. When I moved to Oz, I realised how much better it is to ride where, for the most part, everyone follows the rules. I have flirted with the danger of not always wearing the right gear often enough to make me realise what a stupid idea it is.
For me, the younger you are, the more important it is to protect your bread winners: head, hands and feet.
I shudder when I see riders without gloves and protective footwear. Everywhere I have lived, helmets have been compulsory.
I hate motorcycle gear for one reason. It’s black with garish branding, for the most part. I now have evolved to Knox protective gear and I can wear what I want over or under it.

To replace some of that gear a person could wear an airbag. Little less bulky but gives a lot of safety.

Well I agree and attire much like Estoma. I will wear a half helmet on my fairing bikes and realize it is not the safest covering. I wear as much safety gear as I can be comfortable in. If it is hot and miserable then I will take it off. I do accept the risk of motorcycling for fun. So no, I am not an ATGATT dude.

ATGATT means different things to different people - for better or worse. I've ridden with folks who adhere to the classic definition of nothing less than full racing leathers with all the accoutrement at all times. I've ridden with folks to whom it meant a full set of patches - any and everything else being entirely optional.

I have a set of gear somewhere in between those extremes that I usually won't venture beyond the neighborhood without - and which thankfully served me well enough when I had to depend on it. Most of the gear most of the time?

Now that I have one good eye, I will only use a full helmet. After my first broken foot (unrelated to biking) I always wear Alpinestars boots. In cold weather, a heavy leather jacket and in warmer, a lightly armored Joe Rocket for textile. And gloves. I always assume cages don’t see me and will hit me.

Bigjaype said:

I stopped riding in South Africa in 2001. I was a daily commuter. When I moved to Oz, I realised how much better it is to ride where, for the most part, everyone follows the rules. I have flirted with the danger of not always wearing the right gear often enough to make me realise what a stupid idea it is.
For me, the younger you are, the more important it is to protect your bread winners: head, hands and feet.
I shudder when I see riders without gloves and protective footwear. Everywhere I have lived, helmets have been compulsory.
I hate motorcycle gear for one reason. It’s black with garish branding, for the most part. I now have evolved to Knox protective gear and I can wear what I want over or under it.

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I appreciate that modern kevlar® garb is good and proven, but I still find it hot and imposing to wear. Nothing yet beats leather IMHO - more so in terms of protection, convenience and presentation - and leather comes in more colours than just black. Neither Knox® nor leather helps much to dissipate impact energy, though. Lastly, Knox® is hardly cheaper than leather and conceivably not nearly as long-lasting. I still have a 1982 leather jacket that I can and do wear, whenever I manage to fit in it occasionally - and it is not that my lats will not fit )-:

lctrc said:

ATGATT means different things to different people - for better or worse. I've ridden with folks who adhere to the classic definition of nothing less than full racing leathers with all the accoutrement at all times. I've ridden with folks to whom it meant a full set of patches - any and everything else being entirely optional.

I have a set of gear somewhere in between those extremes that I usually won't venture beyond the neighborhood without - and which thankfully served me well enough when I had to depend on it. Most of the gear most of the time?

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I like that - MOGMOT - most of the gear, most of the time. Sanity prevails after all (-: Not so easy on the ear, though - so it might just die a quiet death.

Nothing worse, to me anyway, than Tupperware torpedo pilots parading around gas stations and at breakfast (pee) stops on springloaded knees in their only one-piece branded (shall we add smelly) track-day leathers with scratched-up kneepad pucks.

When I ride the rocket: leather jacket with back, elbow and shoulder armour, Kevlar jeans with knees pads, motorcycle boots, leather gloves, full face helmet. I’ve high sided and been down the road at over 70kms/hr…. it sucked with gear even high quality armour doesn’t stop fractures but it reduces severity, without it I’d probably not be alive… doesnt need to be a full race suit, but covered in good quality gear a must.

All the time!!