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So you want to ride a motorcycle… and not die April 5, 2008

Lets be totally clear here. The statistics say that your are roughly as likely to get in an accident while driving a motorcycle as you are while driving a car. The obvious difference being that a car has a safety cage, and a motorcyle has, well… nothing. So, if you have a brain, you’re going to want to take steps to compensate for that missing safety cage. There’s no guarantee any of this will keep you from dying but it’ll seriously increase your chances of survival.

DISCLAIMER: I’m just a chick who likes to ride. I’m not a racer. I’m not a manufacturer or a scientist. Everything here is purely my opinion based on the research I’ve done. I’m compiling it here in hopes that it’ll save you from having to do quite as much digging as I’ve had to do.

Before we get started I’d like to point you to WebBikeWorld.com It’s filled with tons of useful information and reviews and something you should definitely bookmark.
Armor

Armor is, of course, critical. If the armor is worth buying it’s CE rated. There’s CE level 1, 2, and 3. Most things are Level one rated which is a hell of a lot better than nothing but you really want to shoot for two because it transmits one half as much energy to you upon impact. Level three is for racing and I have yet to encounter any consumer level stuff that’s rated level 3. As with most things Wikepedia has a nice article that covers the basics. Ratings refer to kilonewtons, and in case you don’t know, “A kiloNewton (kN) is a measure of force, rather than a measure of static weight or mass. Force is calculated by multiplying mass by acceleration. One kiloNewton equals approximately 100kg when the accelerating force of gravity is acting on it.”

Padding is not armor. There are a lot of motorcycle jackets out there with a little foam padding down over your spine. This is totally useless. It doesn’t hurt to have but it doesn’t help either.

The next question is “what to armor?” The answer is, absolutely everything you can.

Jackets will typically have shoulder, elbow, and fore-arm armor. Which leaves your spine and chest unprotected… pfft, who needs a spine or internal organs! So, you’re going to need to compensate. There are some companies that make form fitting, comfortable spine and chest protectors that won’t leave you looking like a football player. Knox is the brand you’ll see pretty much everywhere. Here’s a video showing some Knox back and chest armor.

Pants will typically have knee and shin protection but no hip. The only separate hip armor I’ve seen has been, essentially, armor shoved into pockets on bicycle shorts (Knox makes this too), and while I can envision putting on such a garment when suiting up for a motorcycle race, it’s unrealistic to expect anyone to don such a thing for their daily commute to work, or regular weekend rides. And while I always say it’s better to be safe than look good, even I think these things look idiotic.

Garment Materials

Here it’s pretty simple. You have two choices worth considering Cordura/Dynatech, and best of all, Kevlar. Cordura comes in various Deniers which has a variety of related definitions which essentially mean how dense the fabric is. The higher the number the better. I’ve seen garments with denier’s of 2000. There’s probably higher Cotton Jeans and 70 denier nylon require 4.5 pounds of force to tear. That’s it. That’s nothing. 620 denier takes 35 pounds which still doesn’t sound like a lot to me when you crash at highway speed. 1000 denier is 110 pounds which is getting better and is about the same as really good, new leather, but it’s still not much when you compare it to good kevlar which requires over 1,200 pounds to tear.

What’s important about this is that the harder it is for your suit to tear the less likely the road (or whatever else you’re rolling over) will have a chance to scrape away flesh.

But, there’s a subtle issue that doesn’t get nearly enough talk-time. Melting. The friction of your weight being shoved across asphalt at 60+ mph is severe and quickly converts into a lot of heat. What’s worse than road rash? Road rash with plastic melted into it. So, do your research and avoid suits that are made from polyester. On a related note I’ve read anecdotal evidence that if you’ve got something like good Kevlar that won’t melt the heat will still be there and possibly melt any polyester clothing you’re wearing under it.

Helmets

When it comes to helmets there are three certifications: DOT (required to use in the US), Snell (independent standards body), and the ECE 22-05. There’s a great deal of controversy over the validity of Snell certification for motorcycle. Motorcyclist Online does a good job of explaining the problem with a series of recent tests they did.

The end result is that if you’re concerned about the number of Gs that will be passed on to your brain during a crash you anything DOT approved is decent, anything ECE 22-05 is better. Making helmets that meet the unrealistic Snell tests results in harder helmets that tend to pass on more Gs to you, BUT they still pass DOT so they’re still decent. In the end, when all the helmets are whacked with hard things, the cost of a helmet has no bearing on how safe it’ll keep you.

The price difference between helmets pretty much determines which bells and whistles you get. Like lighter materials, fancy paint jobs, LED lights on the back, easy to remove washable clean liners, or visors designed to not fog in the dead of winter.

It should be obvious, but if safety is your concern your only choice is a full face helmet with chin guard. The two non-obvious things that I may have conceptually grasped when I was a new rider but never truly appreciated then was just how much of a pain in the ass the sun and fogged visors can be.

Sun:
You can’t flip down a shade to keep the direct sun out of your eyes like you can in a car. With most helmets you’re stuck with whatever vizor you happen to have on at the moment the sun appears. If your helmet is form fitting (as it should be) you may find that (sun)glasses don’t work as well as you’d wish because they get moved up or down a little by the padding. My recommendation is to invest in a tinted visor. But, if you ride at night too you’re going to want a helmet that lets you switch it for a clear one really easily. This is where something like Scorpion’s SpeedShift comes in handy. It makes it very easy to pop off the current visor and replace it. Scorpion and HJC (and others?) make helmets with retractable inner sun-visors, which is extremely cool. I’d love to get my hands on one of those for this summer. If you know of another manufacturer with a similar feature, please let me know.

Fogged visors:
It’s not as much of an issue in the summer but if you find yourself riding in cool weather this is a massive pain in the ass. With my old helmet I’d have to lift the visor at every stop-light or it would totally fog over and then put it down again when I started moving lest I freeze. Scorpion is also well known for helmets that don’t fog easily. It’s partly the coating on their visors, and partly the way they direct air over, or away from, them. They also make a snow helmet with a two paned visor with built in electric heating element.

WebBikeWorld has a good motorcycle FAQ that you should definitely read.

Boots

Motorcycle boots are a lot like ski boots. You want to keep your ankle from twisting, prevent the heel or ankle bones from damage upon impact, and have a material that will survive being dragged across the road. The things you want that a ski-boot doesn’t offer are the ability to more-easily bend your ankle vertically (for shifting), nice grippy bottoms, the ability to walk like a human. Some boots will also provide you with good shin protection, because the armor in your pants probably doesn’t extend down terribly far below the knees. Everything else is style, and there are a lot of styles to choose from. Many have armor in the right places but most of the time it isn’t CE rated so you’ll just have to use your best judgement. When choosing a boot don’t forget about waterproofing.

Gloves

The main thing to consider about gloves is the temperature you’re going to use them in. You’ll probably want a summer and winter pair because, speaking from experience, riding in the cold, with the wrong gloves, is a painful experience, and it probably slows down your hand’s reaction times. I’ve never seen gloves with CE rated armor, as it’s probably nigh-impossible to create ones that anyone would wear. Some have hard carbon fiber and / or  Kevlar protection on the knuckles and back of the hand, but I’ve never seen any winter gloves like this. You’re going to want to keep your eyes open for gloves that protect your wrist and offer some protection for the end of your ulna (the outside bone in your forearm).

As a programmer I would be screwed without the use of my hands, so I always wear full leather gloves with some sort of extra padding or armor across the back and fingers to keep them as safe as I can. Waterproofing is even more important in gloves than it is in boots because they’re right out there in the front getting pounded with water, but it’s pretty hard to get right, and if a glove is waterproof it means it’s not going to breathe well, so you’re damned if you do damned if you don’t. My advice is to invest in some waterproofing spray, and maybe consider different gloves for rain vs dry if your hands tend to get sweaty. Boots at least get a little rain protection from the angle you hold them at (or from the front of a scooter).

Tires

I just don’t have the knowledge to provide you with much advice in this department. Tires do make a difference. Just like a car there are different tires for different conditions. What’s more notable is how little tire a motorcycle has touching the road. Less tire means less grip, and warmer tires adhere to the road better. I’ll let you contemplate the implications for yourself.

Conclusion

Looking cool is not a good enough reason to not wear armor, especially not when there’s some excellent protection out there that looks good too, but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. Stay safe, and either spend what it takes to do so or don’t ride. Your life and livelyhood are not worth one more ride.

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If you spot any errors in this post, or things you think could be improved, please let me know so that I can correct them.