Motorcycling 101: A fool's hard earned knowledge

Motorcycling 101: A fool's hard earned knowledge

Understand this; The moment you throw your legs over a motorcycle, you are risking your life! There is no looking over this fact, nor is there any loophole to escape. But there are methods to make motorcycling safer.

In this blogpost, we're going to discuss about "safety" in motorcycling. We can categorize motorcycling into our daily lives in various segments; be it commuting, touring, stunting, a hobby or just plain old transportation! It is a high risk activity, thanks to ones own stupidity or the others around. Face it, we're humans, and humans are stupid. You don't see wilder-beast trampling each other in a stampede do you? It's just us. Now to get you started I presume you already have a motorcycle, or are planning to get one. Good!

Riding Gear:

HELMET. A helmet does save your life. I can vouch for that after many crashes riding like a maniac or as sanely as possible. Get a helmet! Period! There are different types of helmets out there in the market. Now i understand that we're all fussy and the whole reason we travel in a car is to either have the air conditioning on or the heater. Face it buddy, you are going to sweat like a pig in your helmet. Your going to be the sweatiest pig on the road. Okay, now you see those half face helmets, with open sections at your jaw. Hmmm, they do provide much better air flow, and prevent sweating. Maybe i should buy that? NO! What if you fall on your face? We aren't cats. No, we do not land on our feet! Get a full faced one, preferably with a DOT or ECE certification.

Helmets are cooler in reality !

What is a DOT or ECE certification you say? DOT stands for the Department of Transport. It is an American standard pertaining to anything about motor vehicles and anything pertaining to it. and ECE is the European counterpart. Now these two standards have certain tests on helmets. These are not only limited to crash tests or drop tests, but many more. When you buy a DOT or ECE certified helmet, you are basically paying for a solid product. It is expensive than the average helmet, yes.

There are different sizes in helmets just as there are different sizes in shoes. No they are not all one size. Choose the one that fits you the best. The helmet, when worn must not shake when you rapidly move your head from left to right, and make sure the chin strap is always on. The correct size helmet gives you a snug fit and doesn't choke the life out of you.

For the newbie who's looking to get into track riding or touring, there are other factors to take into consideration. When you're on the track, things get hot really fast, and you shall sweat enough to fill a small lake. There is also the point of visibility. Track riders don't get mirrors, so you need to have as much peripheral visibility as you can. You need a helmet that has many vents and supports good peripheral vision. And one that is on the higher charts of DOT or ECE, because face it buddy, on the track, your probability of crashing is much higher. Meaning, you're going to have to shell out more money.

For the newbie who sees motorcycling as not just a means of transportation, but to see extraordinary places and to get on meaningless long road trips, you're looking at a touring type helmet. These helmets provide the same snug fit as track based helmets, but have lesser ventilation. This is because, when you're on the road, riding for thousands of miles, the wind is going to sap your energy by screaming against your helmet. You need a helmet that is silent, but does not cut out other essential sounds like a horn, or your engine/exhaust sounds.

For the stunter/off-roader/moto-x, you need a helmet just as snugly fitting, but offers better air flow. These type of helmets will mostly not have a visor and will need an additional pair of goggles to be worn. Yes you need to buy goggles as well, if you don't want half the earth thrown in your eyes.

JACKET: Jackets are confusing. Why a jacket? It's so expensive! And makes me sweat all over! And is such a pain to carry around when not in use! Buddy, i can tell you, that it beats the hell out of lying in the hospital for a week! And turns out cheaper too!

Dress for the crash!

There are different jackets out there in the market. Those leather ones you see, are most common. They are worn by bulleteers and Harley gangs, offer no armor, no abrasion resistant material whatsoever, and are as comfy as wearing a blazer on. DO NOT buy that type of jacket! Proper motorcycling jackets have CE rated armor in the elbows, shoulders, back and other high impact areas like the chest. Some even offer lumbar support. They are made out of Cordura or Mesh depending upon the model. Cordura is a material that gives high abrasion resistance, meaning it will not tear up as fast as regular clothes do in a crash. The armor in these jackets ensure that those high impact areas get as little force generated as possible. Some varieties of jackets have armor on the outside. Mostly the high end ones, with carbon fiber fitments. This external armor helps in sliding the rider so, the impact is significantly reduced by around 80%. 

For tourers, a jacket is most essential for the following reasons;

1. Safety! If you fall in the middle of a road trip in some unnamed place, there isn't going to be any medical facility near you. God forbid it happens when you ride solo!
2. Projectile protection! When you ride, other vehicles in front tend to pick up pebbles and other objects on the road with their tyres and pelt it on the vehicle/rider behind. A pebble at 70 miles an hour isn't a joke. It hurts like hell! Similarly when you ride in the wee hours, you will encounter a lot of bugs. These bugs have a nasty tendency to become suicide bombers and slam themselves on you. Painful as well!
3. Perspiration. On tours, it is essential to keep oneself properly hydrated. Our skin constantly sweats, and when riding a motorcycle, the wind instantly vaporises the sweat before it can cool down the skin. In that case, you are going to get dehydrated sooner. 
4. Rain/Weatherproof jackets really help a lot when riding in rain or snow conditions. Most come with an internal thermal liner as well.
5. In cities, it is just plain sensible to wear a mesh jacket with increased air flow, because there are a lot of idiots around who might slam into you.
6. Cool/Hip/Chic factor. Trust me, riding jackets are really cool to look at! Find one matching your helmet, and you'd be your own special power ranger!

GLOVES: The first thing you're going to do when you fall is stretch your arms out and try and break the fall. I've tried it multiple times (i practice falling on my mattress because i'm too soft to fall on asphalt), and everytime, those hands stretch out, it's natural reflex! Riding gloves are made of toughened leather, and are highly abrasion resistant. Most gloves come with armor as well, to reduce impact. There are different versions of gloves. Find one that suits you best. There's full gauntlet ones, where the glove reaches till your forearm, semi gauntlets which reach till the top of your wrist, street gloves that end at your wrist and all weather gloves that are basically used for rain/snow conditions.

This here is a riding glove from the Spartan stable!

RIDING PANTS: Just like motorcycle jackets, riding pants are made of cordura or mesh. They provide abrasion resistance and impact reduction, have armor at hips, knees and some even at the derriere. Alright! stop! I bought the jacket and the helmet and the gloves and now pants? Seriously? Yep! Riding pants work wonders when you ride on a track or a tour. Our bums are the softest part in contact with the motorcycle, and they tire out easily. Riding pants help reduce that tiredness, reduce slipping to and fro to the tank. Riding pants also have heat resistance, meaning, if you ride a big bore bike that generates a lot of heat, you do not have to fear kissing your family jewels goodbye. Riding pants prevent the engine heat from seeping in. Future generations saved! Yaay!

This is a Riding Pant! (notice the bike? It operates at 100 degree Celsius. Family jewels remain unsinged!)

RIDING BOOTS: Alright, we worked our way to the pants before, hold on just a little bit further will ya! To talk about riding boots, first off, they are expensive! Secondly, they seem unjustified! I know normal boots have hard leather as well, trust me I've used it before! In the case of a fall, our feet are the most awkward parts of the body that have no resistance to any torsional force applied to them! Riding boots have strengthened construction around the ankle zone, so your ankles don't turn or move at all. They also come with toe sliders, made out of aluminium or some sort of metal to assist in sliding. Overall, Riding boots save your feet when you fall! There are different types of Riding boots again. There are ones used on tracks (probably the coolest looking ones), ones used for motocross/off-roading and ones used for touring and regular commuting. Choose the one that suits your riding habits the best!

Motorcycle riding boots save you from abrasion directly from the road, give better grip too.

This lady here, is one of our riders, she's got the right idea to gear up!

Now that we've gotten "saving you when you fall" out of the way, in the next section, we'll talk about riding techniques! Stay tuned for Motorcycling 102! Hariathoo till then!!!

Ride hard, Live free.