| Author | Message | ||
     Hooch1 |
Well, I was out cruising around and I got a wild hair to get me one of them newfangled iPhones. So I did. When I got outside, I realized I had no easy way to carry my fancy new phone in its beautiful, designer box. So I took the bag it was in, and against my better judgment, stuffed it between my handlebars and the fairing of my brand new XB12R telling myself everything would be okay if I am just very careful. Things went well but as I was turning into my apartment complex's driveway at about 15 mpg, my steering went berserk and I felt like I was thrown down to the left by my faithful bike! I thought it was a rear blowout it happened so suddenly and so forcefully. Broke the shifter, cracked my front signal and put a very, very light scratch on the rear panel. Oh, and a skinned knee and left palm. Lucky I don't need my left hand for anything!  | ||
| Diablobrian |
No jacket? One more reason to go ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time). I'm glad you got through it with relatively minimal damage to your body. A good pair of gloves might have saved your palm, and if nothing else a good jacket would have given you a spot to stash the box and prevented the crash... I'm not trying to bust your chops (not too hard anyway), but I'm really serious about gearing up for every ride. It can save your life. I know that it has saved mine and many other's lives and/or health through the years. Ride Safe Ride LONG. BTW take a look at the pay it forward sub-topic on the Rider's Assistance Network (RAN) board if you are having trouble affording the gear you need. Other BadWeBbers offer up their used gear for free (sometimes asking the recipient to pay shipping). If what you need isn't on the spreadsheet ask for what you need. We've been pretty successful so far meeting the needs of other badwebbers. | ||
| Jayvee |
Did the box fall down between your forks and frame or something? Maybe a tankbag or backpack or even a bungy cord needs to be added to your gear list... | ||
| Hooch1 |
Jayvee: I'm not quite sure what happened but somehow the box, about the size of two paperbacks stacked together, kept me from straightening back up. I didn't look into it too much because, believe me: nothin' ain't never goin' there again!!! DiabloBrian: I hear ya. It's so darn hot here in Stockton I've been really remiss in that department. Funny enough that I was at a couple of dealerships yesterday looking at riding jackets. I have a bunch of leather jackets but I was looking at something that ventilates better, offers better protection and doesn't make me look like a wannabe racer. Hey: is it kosher to wear a Harley jacket if you don't ride a Harley? They have this new black and orange jacket that is killer but I don't wanna appeat to be a wannabe Harley rider, either. Man, I just realized that I probably need to go see a therapist...} | ||
| Diablobrian |
I don't see any issue with wearing Harley gear other than the fact most of it is more fashion than ride oriented. I'm glad you were looking at gear, and I understand how hot it is out in the central valley having lived in San Francisco and Alameda for a few years while stationed on ships in the bay area. Modern mesh/textile jackets can keep you from getting wind burned and keep the sun off of you. They are even cooler than wearing a t-shirt. As long as you keep moving that is. Even more so if you get an evaporative cooling vest like the Joe Rocket Sahara. It absorbs water into it and cools you even more as the air flows across it. Good gear pays for itself and then some the very first time you hit the pavement, even at low speed. If you've ever had to have gravel scrubbed out of road rash you know what I mean!  It comes back to my personal quote in my profile: It is NEVER too hot to save your own skin. wear your gear, all of it. Don't make poser excuses! I'd rather sweat than BLEED! | ||
| Mikej |
Glad you survived fairly intact. I'm currently wearing my Vanson Buell jacket on the used FLT cruiser I just got. I'm finding, for some strange reason, that I don't get waved at as much on the FLT as I did on the Buell, maybe it's the combination of Buell jacket and full face helmet that's confusing them, no matter, don't bother me, just find it amusing. A bike is a bike, gear is gear, ride what you want, wear what you want, 'tis always better to sweat than bleed as some say. But I have been known to leave the gear off if I'm in a neighborhood rummage sale region and am going block to block, then I just ride naked (  naked in this case meaning no helmet or jacket and speeds under 30mph). It probably wouldn't hurt to figure out if in fact the iPhone case was the reason for the crash and not something else getting in the way of the steering. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"Modern mesh/textile jackets can keep you from getting wind burned and keep the sun off of you. They are even cooler than wearing a t-shirt. As long as you keep moving that is." It's over 110 degrees in the South right now because of the heat index, but it's a lot more comfortable to wear my armored textile jacket than it is a t-shirt (as long as you keep moving). A ventilated jacket on a really hot day will indeed keep you cooler by keeping the asphalt heated layer of air above the pavement from dessicating you. I hate to say it, but this is only my second year of ATGATT. I'm a believer now... there is no way I could have done it in the 70's and most of the 80's with the gear we had back then. Textile jackets won't work nearly as well as a leather jacket, but they work a lot better than a t-shirt or a leather jacket left in your closet. | ||
| Hooch1 |
since my fall I've been taking it really easy on the curve, especially lefties. I'm pretty certain the iPhone box was the culprit-I can see the abrasion on the instrument panel from the box getting jammed there during the getoff.and my bike is brand new: 1200 miles. The waving thing is funny-most Harley guys are too elitist to wave but there are always a few who will maybe out of kinship given our shared roots. As far as I' concerned, a rider is a rider is a rider. | ||
| Mikej |
I'm having fun waving to sportbikes while riding the bagger. Some of them look so confused when I do. | ||
| Clutchless |
Funny story actually My buddy that I ride with at work is about 50 years old and never wears anything besides jeans, boots, leather gloves, leather jacket. He asks me as I start my bike and throw on gear in august heat, "why do you wear that brain-bucket, man? You always wear that thing and you never use it." I say, "I'm planning to use it, I just havent come across any pavement rushing twords my face recently." | ||
| Thespive |
I love my iPhone! But I leave it in my pocket when I ride. ;) --Sean | ||
| Davidoforlando |
I have an '08 XB12R and I stuffed a small, cheap backpack under the tail section seat/cover... for two reasons. 1st. the darn cover rattled.. didn't like that. and 2nd... to have a way to carry things in a bind... | ||
| Bombardier |
Mikej, Never met you but, man, how can you advocate not wearing protective gear on a bike? I am led to believe that in the US it is not mandatory to wear a helmet. Surely this is a case of Darwin versus Common Sense? It is not just the damage to the person on the bike that is the issue. It is also the time and cost to all the people who have to care for somebody who did not care for themself in the first place. The wives who have to drive you to the hospital to get your dressings changed. The nurses and doctors who should be treating the elderly and people with sicknesses. The kids going without because Dad fell off his bike and cannot go to work. There is more to it than meets the eye. We need to take responsibility for ourselves. Here endeth the lesson. | ||
| Dick_stilton |
It is NEVER too hot to save your own skin. wear your gear, all of it. Don't make poser excuses! I'd rather sweat than BLEED! +1 On that! I get some very sideways looks when I am down in Italy. I saw a couple on a Fireblade take a low speed fall and the skin damage nearly made me puke. All they were wearing was T shirts, shorts and sandles. We are talking skin grafts here and I would rather have the skin on my A** stay on my A** and not transfered to other parts of my body. ATGATT... you know it makes sense. | ||
| Mikej |
(have a nice day) (Message edited by mikej on July 24, 2008) | ||
| Jstfrfun |
Mike, I got your point. Sometimes crusiers don't wave to sportbike riders,and then some do. I'm of the opinion that we are all on two wheels with our kneese in the breeze and dodgin the bugs. Some are layed out and others are wadded up on theyre machines,but we are all out there for the same reasons...just for fun. And we wear the gear so we can ride again!  | ||
| Packrat |
YEP !! I totally agree that ATGATT is THE way, but there are times (DAWG DAYS) down here in georgia when it is just toooooo freeeeekin' hot. I have on occasion, ridden without jacket or boots. Maybe I'm just so old(60) that the heat is more than I can bear...all I know is that when it's 101 degrees, humidity is like 98%, and heat index figures out to be around 115, wearing all the right gear means being very close to passing out (literally) from heat exhaustion. I know I should wear it, I've spent a lot of $$ to get good gear, but to wear it all and actually be uncomfortable,just doesn't make sense to me  | ||
| Pogue_mahone |
i kn ow this is lame. my jeep and cell phone have a patch of industrial grade velcro to keep my phone from bouncing out while 4 wheeling.i put the fuzzy part on the back of my phone. perhaps that will keeep the phone in place and not look so horrible. |
