your much more likely to mess up/injure your legs in an accident, however all your vitals are covered by your jacket. how much do you value life without legs(arm etc)? think back to all the bicycle accidents when younger what always got messed up, hands, knees and hips, then every once in a while elbows.

Wut?? pretty sure your comments homo... stupid desk job pancake cheeks...

 

I keep looking at these Forcefield Pro Pants - RevZilla

My concern is how much usability I'd get from them. I can see using it for weekend rides. But the work commute bugs me. I can't see wearing them all through the work day and changing in / out could get bothersome. And of course, if something is too bothersome we tend to skip it. Usually on that one day we need it (like my co-worker who skipped his jacket and boots the day of his $800k wreck)

Limb tubes to cover the knees and action shorts might be preferable for daily commutes.

 

I have both the Pro Action Shorts and the full Pro Pants, and 98 - 99% of my usage of my bike is commuting in traffic (freeway traffic). I can't decide which way I'd go if I was buying again. I like the shorts because the full pants are heavy and have a tendency to slip down some as I'm walking around (getting to/from the bike from ...wherever). They DEFINITELY make you look fat, if that makes a difference to you.

The shorts, though, leave me thinking: Why did I spend all this money buying outstanding protection, but skip my knees?? Maybe your solution of the Pro Shorts + the limb tubes is the way to go. I'm not sure.

It gets a little hot under the Forcefield stuff (which I wear under my Spidi pants, having removed their armor) when it's 110 - 115!

 

Thanks for the post and photos. Really shows the value in gear. It saved you thousands of dollars in medical costs.

 

good stuff, i was expecting to see a WHOLE lot worse... (not to downplay you wrecking though - it still sucks).

 

Is this the "co-worker" from the old job who "took it to the track" or whatever he B.S.'d about or someone else.

and last but not least, $800k, WTF DID HE HIT?!?!?!

 

No, actually this was the co-worker who was a pretty decent guy. Most I ever saw him do was ride in the breakdown / bike lanes to skip traffic.

He was riding in the right lane on I95 approaching an exit. The lane didn't require him to exit tho so he stayed put. The guy in the lane to the left cut across his path, sending him over the hood. The $800k was the hospital bill (luckily covered by his health insurance), with a large chunk of it being stuck in ICU waiting for the rash to heal some. The doctors couldn't operate on his broken leg / arm for fear of infection.

And yeah, that day he skipped his jacket and pants. His 600rr totaled, his wife & mom forbid him to ride any more and he's prolly got a permanent limp.

 

I saw 800k in damages and though he crashed on a flight line, into a plane or wrecked into a building doing mach 2. Never though about "personal injury damages."

 

Yeah, the rash caused more trouble than the broken bones. The rash delayed the surgery long enough for the leg to heal wrong, something about the muscles fusing together wrong.

 

gear use update:

Obviously my gear has been significantly compromised. Do a thourough examination before using. pay attention to any threads that may have been exposed to abrasion. once the thread has been broken it is can be easy to pull them out. Below is an update.
Jacket has <2k additional miles
gloves have <7k additional miles with 8+ months of daily use, note hole on thumb, and how these are the first pictures of the thumb. The gloves have never been cleaned
boots have 8500 more miles and 1+years of use(3ish years old now) and showing separation of soles.



Now own another jacket, and some RS taichi boot out perf leather pants.