I noticed a number of people making comments along the lines of "around town my half helmet and chuck taylor's but longer trips.... ect, ect."
I think about the environment I am riding in based on a few things I have been witness to over the years. Around town there are tons of things that get in the way of your nice easy slide when you come off a bike. You know things like curbs, mailboxes, signs, bus stop benches, poles, and parked cars. After seeing someone slide face first into a small curb when they were just out for a short errand in their 3/4 helmet makes me wonder why anyone would wear less than a full face quality helmet. He was traveling in the 25 to 35mph range and simply hit a slick oily spot in the middle of his left hand turn. He slid just a few feet into the curb and promptly removed most of his face from the nose down.
I have also had to carry a friend to the hospital from a simple driveway drop when maneuvering his bike out of the garage for a ride. His high top vans like skate shoes did absolutely nothing to keep is ankle from shattering when the bike fell on it.
Sure riding a bike is inherently more dangerous than a lot of other activities and you could be in complete power ranger race gear and still die from a bad wreck but there are so many little things that can be avoided with proper gear. I mean a pair of heavy riding boots could have kept my friend from the pain of surgery, boots/cast, crutches, and missed work. It could have prevented the frequent pain he has and probably will have in the ankle for years and decades to come. I did not know the guy with the missing lower jaw personally but I can bet the days on a feeding tube and drinking through straws did not have nearly the cool factor that his open face helmet and sunglasses had when he was out for his short ride. Imagine being out of work for an extended time because you dropped your bike in a parking lot.
In my opinion it is more important to dress for impact protection and bone structure protection when you are around town in populated or otherwise busy areas than it is to dress for slides or abrasion resistance. When you are out on the back roads carving corners or cruising the open road slide protection rises in importance.
I commute on my bike so commute rides and touring rides have me in my tour geek garb. Joe Rocket 3/4 Length waterproof Touring Jacket with armor and an integrated back protector. Joe Rocket or Fieldsheer riding pants with hip and knee armor. Alpinestars Ridge Waterproof boots that are mid height. I do also have a Fieldsheer standard length textile jacket I wear from time to time as well.
When I am out for corner carving fun rides I have have a Joe Rocket leather race suit with full armor and an Alpinestars back protector. I use Alpinestar S-MX 5 race boots. I also use this at the track. I have a couple full face helmets and right now the HJC CL-15 gets the most use since I smashed up my Shoei RF-1000 in a crash a while back. I am thinking of picking up a new RF-1100 in Hi-Viz Yellow soon. I have several sets of gloves that I change out for different weather needs from shorter armored and vented gloves to full gauntlet leather winter gloves.
I have had several minor little wrecks or drops and have had little to no injury beyond a sore shoulder and a bit of a skin rash on a knee. One of my slides was enough to burn holes through the leather in the elbow, shoulder, and the palm of the hand.
