Getting your Gear
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| My Light Gear |
Once all of the paperwork has been finished and it is legal for you to ride your motorcycle safety is the next concern. While a motorcycle may be the best toy you ever buy it can very easily kill you. The two types of gear are wet and dry. Both sets of gear constitute the basic: Helmet, Jacket, Pants combo, with some added accessories depending on the rider. I'll be going over dry gear since we are in the summer months still.
Helmet
The biggest one of course is the helmet. It is illegal to ride without one so you might as well get used to it. A good quote to remember is spend 20$ if your head is worth 20$. In short try not to be cheap when you buy a helmet and make sure it is DOT certified. The next part includes choosing what type of helmet that you want. While there are a good selection of types of helmets since this is for beginners i will only mention a few. The type of helmet you see most sport bikers wearing is you guessed it a sport helmet.
It is also called a full face helmet because of the bottom portion that covers your chin in case you decide to go chin first into the pavement. They provide good ear protection and lessen the wind turbulence. The only other helmet style in my opinion for beginners is the modular design.
A modular helmet is by far the best of all worlds. it allows you to make a full face helmet a ¾ helmet without the chin guard. They allow a greater deal of customization visors, chin protection and airflow. Everything considered a full face helmet is the best way to go for optimum protection. There are also helmets with bluetooth included like mine. The helmet is okay and the speakers blew out pretty quickly but they are user replaceable. Check out my review.
Shades
Since we are still in the head region. the next step is to protect your eyes. This part is primarily subjective depending on the rider. shades or goggles. either way protecting your eyes is a must. since you will be wearing a full face helmet. Eye protection in this variety are usually used with smaller helmets and ¾ helmets. Googles and glasses are fairly easy put on look good and ride. While you can use any pair you like these are my favorite pair from Amazon.
Ear Plugs
The next part is a very vigorous topic for riders. Ear protection is one of the more important things in life. With a motorcycle and constant wind turbulence your ears slowly become worse by the day. Losing any amount of hearing is considered a handicap in itself since hearing is an essential part of life. So how do we avoid this, simple really ear plugs. Here is where things start to get vigorous. Most riders will say they don't need them. In my opinion a great helmet prevents the need for ear plugs. The big problem with ear plugs and why I do not recommend them. You lose the sound of your surrounds. The bad driver honking at someone the ambulance or firemen siren. The sound of the wind changing because a car is in your blind spot. These are very helpful things for riders beginning or experienced. Ear protection while it might be for the right reasons you lose a lot of surroundings when they are used and while i do not think they are helpful i can not say that i have not used them before.
Jacket
Where you will usually see how long a rider has ridden is by the type of jacket they wears. The more expensive the jacket the more experienced the rider. The more stylish the jacket the longer the rider has been riding. While helmets can be shiny have decals or even look like the predator or batman. They are required to have and that can suck some of the fun out of it. A motorcycle jacket on the other hand is optional and comfort is a first priority with some of these jackets. Just for the record no beginner should ride without a jacket this is stupid and when the first fall happens and eventually it will the damage could be permanent.
A good motorcycle jacket consists of a couple layers and protection. The big things you want to look for are: shoulder pads, arm guards, elbow pads, and spine protection. After these things have been confirmed to be sturdy the next and best thing is style. What kind of rider are you going to be. A daily commuter, a racer, taking the lady with you to San Diego or maybe off-roading. Your style will be chosen by how you ride and your personal tastes. One of the more important things is being comfortable. Try on a couple of jackets and get a feel for them make sure your arms can move around and they're not too tight but never sacrifice quality protection for comfort.
Gloves
This one is pretty simple actually, when falling a human’s natural response is to extend their arms and break the fall with their hands; imagine falling at 40 mph and above. The general basics is to have a glove with enough padded palm protection to protect the hand against breaking a fall and knuckle protection for when the tumbling begins.
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| Bare Minimum Gloves |
Pants
Again shorts are not the heading for a reason. People get lazy when it comes to bottom protection. It does not matter how hot or cool it may look riding with shorts, track pants, skirts, or bikinis these are all a giant no. Its called protection for a reason. While they might be more expensive than regular pants just like jackets there is a plethora of different styles to choose from with all the same standards for protecting your legs.
Boots
The heading is not shoes. Over the ankle boots are the recommended motorcycle footwear. This is the utmost easiest place to get lazy for a myriad of reasons ranging from not matching your outfit, to I'm only going a short distance. While most casual riders wear regular shoes when they ride they are taking full responsibility of the consequences if a shoelace gets loose and sucked into the chain.
These are the basics of motorcycle gear, go to shops look up reviews make sure your gear is comfy and i look forward to seeing you on the road.
Amazon links:
Googles
Bluetooth Helmet
Motorcycle Jacket
