i totally understand your POV but if i come up to you wearing a helmet, good gloves, leather jacket, jeans and normal shoes and you still made the choice not to ride with me solely based on my foot wear (not ankle covering) then id honestly not lose any sleep over not riding with you (not you personally but right now you are a symbol.. lol)

and yea id be behind you.. i run my own pace and dont like the idea of some douche tryin to steal my line and push my pace when its a nice casual ride.. at the back i can run as fast as i want and if i come up on you ill just slow down and let you get ahead then catch you again.. no need to pass you unless youre putting me in danger.

 

sorry to jack this , but hells yeah trout with the redlines, that was a bike to drool over as a kid!

 

That's awesome. man! My favorite was my proline. It had all the hot chit right out of the box. Back when big dogs just came out...
It was the electric purple one.... black highlights. I LOVED that bike. I actually worked in a bike shop putting chitty bikes together to pay it off....LOL..

 

We talking Vans? Open toed sandals? Uggs for Men?

You come up in all that and a pair of Nikes I'd prolly figure you fecked up the boots and are waiting for UPS to deliver. Or like me and went with work boots till I found the ones I liked. Seriously, how many squids are gonna put on all that gear except the boots?

 

Yes, it is noticeable when you're at a standstill because they're heavier. Once you're moving, not so much unless you were really baggy jeans while riding where air cam go up through the wide openings by your ankles.

Also, I don't think everyone who preaches ATGATT is elitist (there are a ton of people who have scars to show the reason that they are ATGATT now), but when people start telling people that they shouldn't ride because they think that other person is a "squid" seems a bit elitist to me. It's that mentality of you have to be "this way" in order to be part of our "cool club".

To tell you the truth, I've seen plenty of examples of people who have fallen themselves or ridden without gear at times or are just ****ty riders who will look at someone who's on their first season and preach down to them and say **** like that and I think that's bull****. We all gotta start somewhere.

 

First off I'll start by saying that I'm new to bike riding of any sort. I've had my F4I for 6 months and I remember when I first got it all I could think about was getting this upgrade or this mod. Spending hours upon hours researching items and looking on these forums for what was the best thing to get and what would make my bike go faster and take off faster. While looking at these forums I began to notice that there wasn't just talk about upgrades but also an over abundance of gear and safety posts.

I found myself not looking for mods for my bike anymore but reading about experiences people have had that has caused them to be so strict about proper gear and concern for the safety of others. It reminds me of an old saying "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy". And I think it does stand true that no matter what a person does that causes me not to like them (and sadly it doesn't take much), I don't want anyone to have to go through something as painful as road rash on 50% of their body, or legs broken in half. I also found myself looking at videos of things that go wrong and thinking what could happen to me out there.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about the application of your rear bike and remembered somewhere a person saying that on sportbikes you don't really need to use the rear brake. I still do because at some point you're going to need that extra 20% stopping power and I want to be able to use that instinctively. And it is that mindset that I am training myself into for the time it may save my life.

So now I spend my time looking at gear. Until I get a setup that I am satisfied with, I wont be spending anymore money on my bike itself. Be it new flush mount blinkers or that Acraprovic full exhaust system with Power Commander that I'm absolutely drooling over. No aside from necessary maintenance, I know that no matter how fast my bike goes or how sharp it handles its useless without me on it.

Many people do come off as elitist jerks but by no means is it the majority and I have faith in my fellow sportbike riders that it is not intentional but I do have to agree with them to a degree. I don't want to be the guy that has to call 911 for my friend because his life is bleeding out on the road. Am I a squid? I like to think not sure I'm new and if you go riding with me I'll be the first to tell you "hey man I'll be behind you somewhere having the time of my life just make sure to stop once in a while for a smoke"

Anyway that my rant thanks for the help everyone these forums are teh bomb.

 

F4iSmurf, that's a great post.

The reason I wear gear, and the reason I recommend that others do the same has nothing to do with elitism, but everything to do with wanting to keep my skin and help limit other's injuries. I look around at people on the street and I see lack of gear all of time. If even one person comes on here (or up to me on the street) and decides that maybe not wearing gear isn't such a good idea, then it's potentially one less person who has to go through what a couple of my friends have been through.
That's the bottom line.
You can set up all these different scenarios (ok, it's 90 degrees, I'm going to meet a girl, it's only 10miles away, and I'll be going 35mph.... etc), but where do you draw the line? If you go down without gear.... it's gonna suck!!
I mean, why do you think ATGATT isn't just SOTGSOTT?? It's crazy talk!

And the issue I have with a thread and poll like this, is that it's loaded and can easily send the wrong message. Just because people choose not to wear gear sometimes doesn't necessarily make them a squid like the guy who's riding like a jackazz..... but it doesn't make it right, either. And I think it's irresponsible to suggest that there are times to wear gear and times to not wear gear. It's just not true, and I don't want to give people the wrong impression so that they have one more silly excuse to justify not gearing up. (or spending a couple hundred bucks on the most important part of riding.)
I've never declined to ride with someone because of their gear, but I'll tell them why they should get some.

 

So im on the road with some buddies, driving not riding, and just saw a guy flying down the highway on his bike easily 75 mph wearing nothing more than shorts and a helmet with a pair of sneakers. That my friends is a squid.

 

Not a "SQUID" I saw him while driving the cager today, by the way he is from Georgia. He is riding safe

 

^^Guy looks like what I wear when going down the highway.