Whats the ATG of ATGATT?

Are any of you guys road bicyclists or mountain bicyclists?

If so do you cover every body part and if not, why not?

True dat. My daughter fell off her bike last summer and got some really bad road rash on her left hand and wrist. A trip to the emergency room to have it scrubbed. You can still see the scar. Gloves would have prevented it... but hell, I never even wore a helmet when I was a kid... never mind gloves. I still refuse to wear a bicycle helmet... which my kids get on me for... and which sort of contradicts my stance about ATGATT.... so what the heck do I know?


Unrelated to that quote....

Generally, the idea of "hey, it's just a short trip so I won't wear any gear" is a trap in my opinion. If it's just a short trip, I take the cage. A friend of mine changed his oil and went for a quick test run around the block... of course he low sided. Good rash... mostly on the elbow and forearm.

The idea that you need to bring your "brain" with you always comes up in these discussions. As I have repeatedly said... wear whatever you friggin gear you want... but at no time have I ever even implied that somehow because I wear gear I can somehow not "bring my brain". This conversation is about gear. We can have another conversation about advanced riding courses, Proficient Motorcycling, Maximum Control, advanced turns, braking, whatever. BTW... non of the gear I wear would really protect me from blunt force trauma (my brain and I have always understood that)... that's not the point... never was. Sure some armor is better than nothing (esp on the elbows and knees)... but the gear is mainly for abrasions. Wearing the gear could make an off a non-event as compared to a few nights in the burn ward. Heck my Arai helmet is so freaking strong I can stand on it... the force that it can withstand is far and away more force than my neck can withstand... so, as they say, at least I'll leave a good looking corpse.

Best advice I ever got about riding a motorcycle was this: respect the machine... so respect the machine and wear whatever you friggin want!

I feel exposed on both of those... nothing like 50mph on a road bike coming off a mountain or on the mtb dodging tree's at 25mph

I don't wear more gear on bicycles because I'd die of heat exhaustion way before I needed them in a crash but trust me it's in my mind from time to time.

IMHO, that pretty much sums up the whole debate. It's all relative isn't it?

ATTGATT= Loud pipes!! DUH!!!

Such an easy question that you and others don't know how to answer it?

For those of you who confuse easy, the question isn't what you think about what others are doing, if you care what others think about you, or the effectiveness of any particular item..

The question was, what do you think the minimum is for ATG?

Key word is the first one; "ALL".

If you're not wearing "ALL" of the gear, then you're not ATGATT.


If you're wearing "MOST" of the gear, that would be MOTGATT.

If you're wearing "SOME" of the gear, that would be SOTGATT.


Commuting to work, I'm MOTGATT. Helmet, boots, gloves, jacket. Jeans or Khakis.

On a hot-ass summer day, I'm SOTGATT. Helmet, boots, gloves. T-shirt, jeans.

I've got such thick skin i can ride naked. lol

I'm reading through the topic and I'm quite surprised what is considered as full gear in other parts of the world... I have a friend from Miami who used to study at my university in Poland, he was shocked that I always wear full gear (codura mc pants and jacket with protectors, mc boots, protector gloves and helmet. When the weather gets warmer, so around 25C, 80F for all of you that use pagan imperial units , I switch to kevlar jeans with protectors). I don't really get driving in a tshirt or shorts. Jeans, a sweater and a helmet are hardly any protection...

I won't preach to anybody what protection should they wear, but I just find it... surprising. Maybe it's a case of a different climate, with temperatures 30+ it gets really warm.

Btw. a question to the people driving without full face helmets, I always wandered how does work when You hit those bigger, juicy bugs, you know, that hit like a rock and splat like an egg Getting one of those on the visor is not pleasant, but getting hit in the face must be a charm

Full protection is a large metal cage supported by a wheel at each of its four corners.

Anything less than that is not "All" the protection you can possibly use and you are unnecessarily taking risks with your safety.

From there on it's just a matter of degree.

Been there and done that...= a little bit more bruised than you but, that's about all. (and I always wear more gear off-road than on road as I expect to be pushing the envelope and therefore, screw up more.)
You're also off-road vs tarmac...baby trees and dirt are MUCH more forgiving than tarmac and telephone poles.:huh

Honestly, although I've never been to a track, I'd also wear more gear there for the same reasons = I'd be pushing my limits.
On the streets, I don't push the limits or my luck as I equate it to playing Russian Roulet with 5 bullets loaded in the six-shooter vs 1.

For the streets (to get back on topic) my minimum wear is Boots without laces, gloves, long pants (don't need surprise bees sneaking up and stinging my nuts) shirt and a helmet (mostly for it's eye protection).
Applying my riding philosophy STRICTLY to myself, if I have a get off on road, I'll have worse things to worry about than road rash.:eek1

Full Protection is not getting out of bed in the morning.

The very worst I have ever experienced was a very large and very angry bee that somehow got past my full-face shield and on down inside the back of my shirt inside my zippered jacket. So, I guess this would have been my only other option that day ...

I guess this is the worlds way of saying FYYFF...

Gear equals protection for a motorcycle. No one mentioned cars. If taken to your extreme, we should all be in a protective bubble and never leave the house. Apples to Cantelopes here!

Jim

I had to learn to keep my lips parted slightly so the clenched teeth could take the impact while the tongue pressed behind them kept the juice from coming through ...

What wear a antelope , lol
Or an apple
Get into a casket
Pop the bubble
Bubblleboy

I thought the rider wore the gear not the motorcycle

Bad English

No offense meant
Just in fun

Mountain biker here.

I wear a helmet - not even a full face helmet. I wear gloves (mostly for grip when I’m sweating) and biking shoes for clipless pedals. Otherwise, it’s shorts and short sleeves in the summer. But, what I ride is technical single track. Dirt doesn’t remove skin at the speeds I’m going. There are lots of trees, but no amount of Kevlar is going to prevent broken bones if I hit them at speed.

There’s really no comparison between the two – other than they both happen to have two wheels.

Possibly not much comparsion between moutain biking and motorcycles but I don't see much difference between road biking and motorcycles. Helmets aside, most ATGATT advocates include the need for skin protection against road rash.

So my question should have been better asked by sticking with riders of road bicycles. All the serious road bikers I see are in Lycra or something similar with almost as much skin exposed as covered and helmets that provide no more protection than motorcycle half-helmets.

I totally understand the need for lightweight while racing or less coverage because of heat, both ambient and caloric.

I could careless what anyone wears but it seems a little hypocritical if an ATGATT motorcyclist also rides road bicycles without similar levels of protection. And if they do, at what point does their motorcycle gear become a costume similar to what the "pirate crowd" wears. If protection is so important why not on bicycles too.

Of course if there are no road bicyclists who are also ATGATT motorcyclists, my question is mute, but that's not my suspicion.