Commuting armor?
01-22-16, 10:40 AM
#26
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This is too awesome! Four coordinated replica costumes from Monty Python's Holy Grail -- on bikes!!
To the OP, I don't think motorcycle-style 'armored' clothing would be helpful. That stuff is mostly to protect against sliding on the asphalt. For a bike crash sliding would be limited.
I feel for you, being in a non-bike-friendly town. It makes me once again appreciative of my SoCal commute with nice wide bike lanes and bike-aware drivers. But there are tons of guys around this forum with commutes as bad as yours, and there is a lot to be learned. Stick around, learn about increasing your visibility, understanding car behavior from a cyclist's point of view, route selection, lane positioning, etc., and your skill at bike-commuting will increase, and hopefully you can reduce any unwarranted fear down to an appropriate level of awareness, caution, and vigilance.
Welcome to the club!
To the OP, I don't think motorcycle-style 'armored' clothing would be helpful. That stuff is mostly to protect against sliding on the asphalt. For a bike crash sliding would be limited.
I feel for you, being in a non-bike-friendly town. It makes me once again appreciative of my SoCal commute with nice wide bike lanes and bike-aware drivers. But there are tons of guys around this forum with commutes as bad as yours, and there is a lot to be learned. Stick around, learn about increasing your visibility, understanding car behavior from a cyclist's point of view, route selection, lane positioning, etc., and your skill at bike-commuting will increase, and hopefully you can reduce any unwarranted fear down to an appropriate level of awareness, caution, and vigilance.
Welcome to the club!
01-22-16, 11:04 AM
#27
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Serious motorcycle armor is a two-part system or more. Leather is for sliding; pads are for impacts. The pads are often multi-layer just like a helmet. Armor sold for trail and XC MTB does not have any sliding protection, and is considerably thinner in the pads. I think this is what I'd wear commuting if I wanted to. A jacket like the one posted on the previous page is sold for downhill racing and is very similar to some motorcycle products.
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Genesis 49:16-17
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 01-22-16 at 11:08 AM.
01-22-16, 11:05 AM
#28
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I don't think it has been said in this thread, but the very helmets which remain the only kind of "armor" that the majority of cyclists agree is worthwhile, are not much use in an actual collision scenario. This is why the fatality metrics for European cyclists that don't have as rabid an adherence to helmet use are not as bad as one would think. In fact, they remain better than those in the U.S. where helmet use is de riguer. After a tandem crash four years ago my stoker asked about armor and I looked at some. I've saved us a lot of money by simply not crashing anymore. YMMV.
01-22-16, 11:29 AM
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I don't think it has been said in this thread, but the very helmets which remain the only kind of "armor" that the majority of cyclists agree is worthwhile, are not much use in an actual collision scenario. This is why the fatality metrics for European cyclists that don't have as rabid an adherence to helmet use are not as bad as one would think. In fact, they remain better than those in the U.S. where helmet use is de riguer.
01-22-16, 11:42 AM
#30
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Well, it's turned into a Helmet Thread. :-/
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Genesis 49:16-17
Genesis 49:16-17
01-22-16, 12:30 PM
#31
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As someone who's been commuting by bike as well as riding road bikes for over a decade in a few different places, this sounds insane to me. If you feel that you are "almost getting hit" every day, it might be a matter of your perceptions rather than the actual likelihood of getting hit. Or for whatever reason you're placing yourself in unsafe situations.
As noted, if you DO get hit by a car, armor padding is pretty unlikely to do you much good. It's intended for hitting the ground. I guess you could wear it if it makes you feel safer. Personally I have significant objections to bicyclists wearing unnecessary protective gear. It doesn't happen in a political void. It helps convey the impression that bicycling is less safe than it actually is, and convinces politicians to pass ordinances requiring bicyclists to wear certain kinds of safety gear. Which tends to depress ridership, since it's more crap you have to buy. Even safety gear that is relatively accepted (especially here on the commuting forum) is probably useless in practice. There is no evidence, for example, that high-visibility/reflective clothing have any effect on injury rates of road users. It's a useless talisman. It's pretty likely that armor would be basically the same, except sweatier.
As noted, if you DO get hit by a car, armor padding is pretty unlikely to do you much good. It's intended for hitting the ground. I guess you could wear it if it makes you feel safer. Personally I have significant objections to bicyclists wearing unnecessary protective gear. It doesn't happen in a political void. It helps convey the impression that bicycling is less safe than it actually is, and convinces politicians to pass ordinances requiring bicyclists to wear certain kinds of safety gear. Which tends to depress ridership, since it's more crap you have to buy. Even safety gear that is relatively accepted (especially here on the commuting forum) is probably useless in practice. There is no evidence, for example, that high-visibility/reflective clothing have any effect on injury rates of road users. It's a useless talisman. It's pretty likely that armor would be basically the same, except sweatier.
01-22-16, 12:34 PM
#32
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01-22-16, 04:29 PM
#33
Resident smartass.
The only time I see peeps on bicycles wearing armour, is the downhill riders trying to get a ride up to the Downhill Park or up to Rose Hill (a residential area) so they can ride downhill into a City Park. As for commuters wearing armour... Nope.
01-22-16, 04:57 PM
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I guess my question was really based off how similar riding motorcycles in town is to bicycling, and how protective gear is almost required to be taken seriously as a motorcyclist (cruiser riders notwithstanding), but for bicycling on the same roads at nearly the same speeds, spandex and a tiny helmet are seen as perfectly adequate.
Really?
01-22-16, 05:02 PM
#36
Resident smartass.
I'll check with a friend though to see whether or not this is actually possible.
01-22-16, 06:43 PM
#37
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26-28,000lb load in the wagon, recovered by scanner plugged into into the Cat computer onboard.
The truck was ordered with .307 rears to reduce lower rpm for better fuel economy----beats the crap out of 390 gears at highway speeds. 600HP was to provide power for hills and to get rolling----beats the crap out of a 430 Cummings cut back to 375 for big company fuel savings.
Have to have a small load in the box so the trailer doesn't act like Superman's cape at speed. Not possible with fencepost holes or sailboat fuel.
The truck was ordered with .307 rears to reduce lower rpm for better fuel economy----beats the crap out of 390 gears at highway speeds. 600HP was to provide power for hills and to get rolling----beats the crap out of a 430 Cummings cut back to 375 for big company fuel savings.
Have to have a small load in the box so the trailer doesn't act like Superman's cape at speed. Not possible with fencepost holes or sailboat fuel.
