ha ha, no man, infact I knew you would say that. Because of the distance I walk it up. In worst case scenario I dont. You cant say that as an ATGATT failure man!


It was my favourite helmet, and I dumped it. Coz it served its utility and in great style. Thats the beauty of a good helmet. It has so many small things that helps that we dont even notice.
The rubber lining on the inside ensured that the shell doesnt protude in, the visor popping off and not shattering! the grippy clip which ensured that it doesnt get lose and cause more damage! All these are things that we overlook at while buying an helmet!

Without the helmet I would have had my Jaw cracked wide open! The helmet took serious battering and hence was replaced by this KBC.

Every helmet is designed to behave in an x manner when it takes on impact. Lets call it x stages for ease.
If you have had a reasonable impact on the helmet chances are that it has already reached two stages of those x stages of responding to the impact. Ask yourself if you can predict that your crash would not need those 2 stages of total x... ? With 100% assurance?

Naah! My head is more valuable than a helmet to me!

Will buy a new one & use it full time, that's for sure..

quiet an illustration incorporating that 'x stages' funda dude. I'm not sure how many stages of the total stages my helmet lost with the impact but I'm confident enough that the lid would not be as much protective as it was although it looks fine.
Anyways, point duly considered!! Its time for new lid & retain the old one just as a momento in showcase for reminding me of the times when it saved my stupid head.

PS: No proper proper response on concerns for pillion safety so far on this thread,
what's your insight & experience as far as pillion safety is concerned Satyen??

Or 'Solo' riding is the verdict?

Thanks bro for sharing the article...
Real praises and sympathy for the girl too for bearing such a crash and hats off to the attitude she showed after the accident. Takes hell lot of guts to go back to the same place which had almost claimed your life previously.

It was somewhere in May last year when I had a minor crash in a thane city lane. Had skidded off due to panic breaking over a speed breaker at a speed of 30kph (It was my first ride out of Mumbai). That minor crash left a 1000 rupee note on my left elbow to wrist and a bruise in left knee. Had i worn gear, I would've escaped without even a scratch and saved my clothes too. That was the time when in my knowledge, helmet was the only thing that needed to be worn while driving.
Thanks to xbhp and Mitesh (Mitz), i was introduced to the concept of safety gear. Initially I bought only gloves and I was mocked for wearing gloves as just showing off but never really cared or even never thought of replying them because I know people's opinion is always situational. Today they mock for wearing gear but when they see you standing tall after an accident absolutely scratchless, those same people will start praising the importance of gear.
Though I am yet to buy my own bike, I have invested in a good safety gear including my own helmet too already for driving on my friends' bike.
I confess that until reading this article my arm pads and knee pads were only for out of city riding,,,but now All The Gear All The Time is my motto too.

None taken.. But I may need the bike during the day... In that case I cant run home and pick it up again... Also am a lazy bum.. :P

I edited my last post with some answers, take a looksie...

I hope you get your own bike soon bro

Ride safe

That was one hell of a reply dude to all the posts.. absolutely loved the part where you compared gears to cheatbook of a student.. Its funny how you least anticipate the need of gears/cheatbook & in many cases you end up regretting not getting the gears/cheatbook

PS: This thread better be immune to under18 children still appearing exams honestly, otherwise even they'll start following 'ATCATT - All The Cheatbooks All The Time'
Just kidding..

PS2 : @ Najju, ATGATT is the way to go from now on, & that applies to pillions too riding on our bikes atleast.

Dude chill for a bit... First up my ride from home to office is just 2 mins...

I have been riding for over 13 years... And by God's grace I have just had 1 accident... But I lost a part of my right thumb... So I do place safety right at the top... I used to be a kamikaze rider in my younger days... But I have learnt the hard way and I hardly ever talk to my wife when she is riding pillion with me... Complete concentration and controlled speeds... I can say for myself that I can accommodate quite a bit for other peoples mistakes too... No I am not implying that I am super man... But yes I concentrate hell lot while riding... If you yell out my name on the road there is no chance I will even hear it... And I advice this to everybody who might be reading this... Gear or no gear please concentrate completely... Because even with gears you might invite trouble for yourselves...

I was quite uneducated about gears until I joined this forum (thanks xbhp for the enlightenment)... I am saving up for a good jacket... Which would actually provide good protection... My friends laughed at me when I bought a daijya helmet for 6k but I knew that buying a Rs. 300 helmet just to avoid a cops fine wasn't the point of the helmet...

I am not saying I prefer convenience over safety... There are times when I just cannot carry stuff... Like when going for a meeting where I have one bag which is stuffed with samples and my giant laptop... At such times I just have my helmet and my gloves... I ride slowly obviously to avoid accidents and also because macbooks are quite expensive to repair :P... Also if I am going to the masjid I cant carry everything inside or with my mom or wife wearing the burkha there is no way I can gear them up... The best is ride with extreme caution... And no its not always possible to take the car or use public transport as during the months of ramazaan etc. we are almost always running late...

But the bottom line is yes gears are very very important... But in our daily lives they do become cumbersome to manage... The reason being in our lifestyle bikes are not just a recreational thing, but, an intrinsic part of our daily lives... And many a times its impractical to carry gears around... But, yes we should try to find a way around it... And if its even marginally possible to ride fully geared up... Lets make it a safer place for ourselves...

Parental Advisory:Explicit content

First off, I'd like to apologise if my post seemed in any way 'unchilled' to you. It wasn't intentional, I'm just putting a point forward that gears are important while riding, that's all.

Agreed whole heartedly with the bold part. Although when you say that "you can compensate for other riding mistakes", don't you think that there may be a possible scenario when your exquisite (no pun intended) riding abilities coupled with your 13 year long experience on 2 wheels may fall short of the required mark and that an accident can happen. What happens in this scenario?

I think almost all of us here are thankful to xbhp for teaching us the importance of riding gear. If you chance upon the 1st edition of the xbhp magazine, you can find my letter in there in which I've written the same. How xbhp has educated riders about the importance of riding gear has saved a LOT of injuries and perhaps a few lives too. Thank you XBHP.

I understand these problems, but kindly do recall the old saying that where there is a will, there is a way. If you really understand how important riding gear are, you'll find a way to accommodate gear into your life.

I'd drink to that

No you do not need to apologise... You are 100% correct... I agree with you wholeheartedly... And this is a real good point you are pushing... Just felt your emotions are taking control... But thats a good thing too...

As I said I am not claiming I am superman... I just concentrate completely... Yes I too can miss a lot of things like people coming from behind a bus or at a crossroad or some stupid dog who gets a brainfade... In that scenario I slow down regardless first check... But there is still a chance I meet with an accident... But bhai aren't there slight risks in every walk of life...? You carry risks even being a pedestrian... Nai...?

very much... I havent read the first issue... But gathering from the posts I have read over the last month since I became an active poster yes I guess a lot of us have benefitted...

Yes there is... As I said... Lets try and maximise it... I stilll don't promise 100% usage... I don't know if it is possible for anyone... But yes we should try our best to maximise the usage of gears... Not be lazy about it...

yes we should... maybe someday we should meet up and toast to it...

this ATGATT thing is getting serious.....

ok i want to share an experience and ask a question...

first the experience part....
As some of you may remember i had an accident way back in 2007. i was going to office on a wet road in monsoon season, had not slept well last night, getting late for office.....speeds above 90kmph ....BANG....a jeep from other direction on wrong side.......a head on collison......got 13 fractures all over....some said i won't survive...was in ICU for a month and on bed for 6 months although with god's grace i m back. u can see the attached pics of my bike and jeep's bumper. i survived coz i was wearing a helmet and gloves saved my palms....rest everything was fractured....if only i was wearing full protection......
from then on i never speed off unnecessarily.......
my earlier profile was washed away in those 6 months......it took me a total of 8 months to ride again.

now the question...
i had big fractures in thigh bone and knee cap and the bone from knee to ankle.......from last few months i am looking for good protection of thigh bone and from ankle to knee protection. the problem with knee and shin guards is that they don't cover fully from knee to ankle but end somewhere in between. do you guys know any knee/shin gaurd that covers completely from knee to ankle. i have made almost full use of internet but unable to find one.

man, that was one hell of an accident dude.. you are darn lucky to be riding again bro..
PS: I bet you didn't click those pics. Who did click them anyways ?

you are seriously very lucky... touchwood...

I don't think such guards are available... what you need to do is wear the shin guards and get the full riding bots... which cover you from the ankle upwards... They would meet somewhere in the middle...

Also I sometimes feel an abdomen guard is the first thing people should get... very delicate part exposed to harm... Goti guard is never mentioned anywhere... I had a very tiny fall once... at crawling speed and something hit me there... Was swollen for a week...!!

that is the main problem ......coz i want a one piece shin gaurd.

cramster knee gaurds are not very long.....they are just knee gaurds...

one option is to go for slightly bigger knee guards like the one in 1st picture

i have found a good option.....its there in 2nd picture .......full length shin gaurd with knee protection made by icon.....its called icon feild armour knee/shin guard....

Get a riding pant princesirohi. There're pads protecting butt & thighs too. All the more, the pants are abrassive resistance from waist to foot.

The second option looks good... But they might not give you the same coverage it gives the person in the pic... The reason being these are "one size fits all types... So for a short person they might be complete protection for a tall person not so complete... I noticed this on the g2g too... The axo guards which reach a little beyond half the shin for me were complete leg protection for someone else... he he