gizzo wrote on 04/27/14 at 14:42:29:Sorry for your losses, WD. But spare a thought for all the people that they saved. My lid has saved me in some big MX getoffs. My wife went down the road on her Monster a few months back. Fullface lid, jacket with armour and gloves took the pain on her behalf. I'm glad as heck she was wearing the gear.
Safe riding, y'all.
I laid down my Dyna at low speed (less than 15 MPH, more in the 5 - 10 MPH range) and landed on my left side. The jacket came out looking like this:
The helmet came out looking like this:
I broke my humerus (arm bone) in the ball at the top. No padding there, no real armor there. The pads on the elbow weren't aligned properly for me because the jacket was over-sized to cover my gut. Had they been in the right place, I might have bounced up off the pavement ready to ride rather than feeling like someone had just cut my arm off at the shoulder.
The picture of the helmet doesn't do justice to the scrapes that the shield (open face, 3/4 style) took. If the shield wasn't there I'd likely have earned the nickname "one-eye" or something close to that, and I'd certainly be sporting an uglier mug than I do now (not that it could get much worse, but hey...)
As you've noted, and as I read through when I was catching up on this thread, some will insist - as my grandmother did about wearing seatbelts - that the safety equipment is more dangerous than going without. I support, within reason, their right to make their own choices but I stand by the idea that generally speaking having the safety equipment on is better than going without.
I see people wearing half helm's (helmet required state) and riding in shorts and T-shirts. I may sometimes go without the riding jacket, but I ain't likely going in shorts. I may have been riding with rugged tennis shoes and not riding boots, but that is about as far as I go in not taking some precautions when riding.
I wish I lived where I could ride on less traveled paths with fewer idiots to worry about, but I don't and given the lack of shielding that my body came with, I do what I can to add more where possible.