Riding Gear Poll

jarrett said:

Any search tips for these?

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Because they're from more than a few years ago, and there's been a platform change recently too, I think you'll need to spend some time looking back thru older threads. But that'll probably need to be a manual search, because due to that platform change et al, I don't think the search facility here will help too much finding anything earlier that about 2021 unless you've already got the specific thread?? Someone else might be able to help with a username or two tho? That might make it a bit easier?

Maybe you could try adding site:spyderlovers.com to a search thru google, bing, or duckduckgo, etc??

jarrett said:

Ok, thanks. I've found a few. Looks mostly like rear end and t-bones at intersections.

I'm sure a helmet would help with that, but not sure a lightweight, mesh jacket would help much in those situations.

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It sounds like those accidents you've found were mainly the more recent occurrences, and weren't the accidents resulting in someone dying, which are largely many years back now (I think about 2018??) Because IIRC, just about every accident where someone has ended up dying was quite a few years ago now (and 2018 was probably just the most recent) there were a few reported here, more elsewhere... but they all would've very likely been faaarrr less damaging to the riders/pillion if only they'd been wearing even just a lightweight mesh jacket!!

I'm fairly sure that in pretty much all of the fatal Spyder accidents that I can recollect being reported/discussed here, while it's easy to have 20/20 hindsight, it seems that the single major contributor to the resulting death was the lack of protective gear that would've at the very least minimised the skin loss injuries that resulted in the fatal damage &/or infections.

To me, while I'm going to ride anyway, anything that's reasonably do-able which will tend to help limit any potential/likely injuries to something being 'less than fatal' is worthwhile bothering with, even if it does mean I get a little warm when the bike stops moving; but, like I've said before, it's your Spyder, and it's your body, so it's ultimately your choice...

For myself, I choose to wear ATGATT basically all the time, and yes, I've still been injured on the odd occasion, but those injuries only reinforced my ATGATT tendencies because of how bad they WEREN'T - heck, anyone who gets hit by a cement truck travelling at 60 kph is going to feel it, even the driver of the car that the cement truck pushed me'n my bike into felt it; while the gear that I had on did actually help minimise my injuries! I got to go home that afternoon, cos I had all the gear on and 'only' ended up with some minor scratches, a bunch of pulled muscles, a lot of really bad bruises, and a couple of broken ribs, thanks to me wearing protective clothing with basic armour in the elbows, knees, hips, and back; while he, the driver of the car that I was pushed into by what was effectively a moving 'immovable object', despite being in a semi-protective cage, wasn't wearing any protective gear & he lost a lot of skin from a rotating wheel as the cement truck ground us both into each other, and he then got to spend a fair few days in hospital getting skin grafts and on heavy duty anti-biotics, and he still doesn't walk too well, years after the fact - but the cement truck & driver barely felt a thing, the driver didn't even realise he'd hit anyone for about 50 metres, let alone a large motorcycle and a car that he dragged for that distance!!

So I'm convinced that even if ATGATT doesn't completely prevent injuries, the injuries you're likely to end up with while wearing it are generally far less than if you didn't have the gear on at all; and I can say that in the full knowledge that I've walked away from that ^ and other things where others didn't; so AFAIC, even the lightest weight protective gear is better than nothing (have you ever seen a foot with the big toe peeled right off back to the ankle?!); and I've seen far too many friends & others who simply did not survive what should've been survivable accidents, if only they'd had boots on, or a mesh jacket, or kevlar pants, or maybe even that rudimentary armour that came with the jacket/pants inserted into the built in pockets in said garment, where it could've reduced/minimised the impact/damage that often only just killed them!!

Just Sayin'

As I said earlier, they are here if you look, but it's a fair while back now. However, they are still just 'anecdotes', albeit some rather harrowing 'anecdotes', one I recall of a well respected member here watching their loved one struggling and ultimately failing to recover from an accident where they weren't wearing that mesh jacket which would've made so much difference. So if you want more than 'anecdotes' from members here where they share their own experiences and knowledge, then this sort of 'social media' Forum is probably not the right place to be asking &/or looking; altho I get the distinct impression from your posts and that since you came here to ask, you maybe don't really want to 'find' or even be shown any of the research papers or scientific documentation behind the recommendations for ATGATT, and that you probably wouldn't believe any of it anyway, regardless of where/however it came to your attention. Maybe that's just my read of it, tho?!

Still, that's OK, I've said it a few times here already - it's your Spyder/bike, and it's your body, you can choose do whatever you like with either...

Altho I truly do hope that you don't find out the hard way why so many people DO believe the 'anecdotes' that abound on sites like this & most other social media that's made up of little else, &/or the fairly significant body of evidence and documentation available elsewhere presenting the recommendations for ATGATT whenever the operators (ie, in the case of a Spyder, YOU) are placed at increased risk of injury from their surroundings, especially when they are the very first thing that's likely to make contact with the scenery, roads, &/or vehicles around them if anything occurs!

jarrett said:

Do you have some of that to share? I definitely prefer science to opinion, for sure.

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Go to your preferred search engine, google, bing, duckduckgo, whatever; type in 'ATGATT research' or something along those lines, you can try a wide range of options; submit your search; then spend some time looking thru the results and maybe reading some of it - you might actually need to read a thru few of the motorcycle mag/site articles to find the references they used as sources, &/or dig a little beyond the Forum 'anecdotes' etc that will probably appear higher up in the results list (because the stuff at the top of the search engine results lists is where the majority of those searching go first). The research information you're after is there, but you'll need to take the time, do some reading, & make a little effort to get to it.

Here's a few references that I've looked up for you:

• MAIDS. http://www.maids-study.eu/. June 2019
• Serre, T. et al. The motorcyclist impact against a light vehicle: Epidemiological, accidentological and biomechanic analysis. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2012
• De Rome, L. et al., Motorcycle protective clothing: Protection from injury or just the weather? Accident Analysis and Prevention. 2011

And a quick grab from one exec summary:

"... the use of personal protection equipment can directly prevent injuries up to 60% for the torso and almost 40% for leg protection. ..."

But as I've mentioned before, and I'm sure I'll do so again - it's your Spyder/bike, and it's your body, you can choose do whatever you like with either...