School is the last place you would like to go with gear.
I avoid jacket to school but keep my helm and gloves on
Gloves go in my bag but helm
damn i have to carry it to exams and i keep it beside me ,
All comments taunts its all f***** up
probiker gloves with knuckles and they call it damn show off,
I cant even imagine if someone gets a 20K Arai, or avg or KCB helm here, i use only a vega and get so many ill comments ......still have not purchased DSG maze coz of low funds.....

yup exactly how i was caught not while riding or anything but while waiting at a signal for the green light...a cop came from behind and switched off my bike and took the keys and asked me to push the bike to the side...the first question the m$%@^er asked was "what is this that you think..is this Japan??" and i said sir all this is to protect if i fall down...but i was chargd for negligent driving because i was wearing safety gear!!

This incident must be posted in the newspaper! Stupid traffic cop.

What city are you from???? and was that a retarded cop who fined u????

The other day, I was riding with my helmet and probiker gloves (which are in a bright blue colour as my size was not available in any other colour) and this guy on the signal was like, "kya stunt marne wala hai kya?"

I hear all the time, dekho rider aa gaya, and then they try to race me. I have learnt to just slow down, and let them go, their ego bloated at defeating a 'rider'...

But the good part is, my father appreciates the fact that I am worried about safety!

hmm, quite annoying! but trust me, most of us would have done smoething similar few years ago... coz it is human nature...

I feel good and confident riding my ride a RX135 (street port and exhaust chamb) wearing a Cramster Jack; motocross type helmet and gloves... and guys in bangalore look at me in a very weired way!! they must be thinking "wat this rider is upto, all this high funda stuff and riding a 135 thingy that looks much of a cycle"

I had my own share of humiliation - a cop in bangalore charged me for rash and negligent riding just bcoz i was looking alienated in those abnormal helmet, jack and gloves and the charges were pressed hard as the bike had a chamber.....

but cant help! as many of us have already told, it is NOT for showoff BUT for protection, i would not have survived to write this post here if i were not wearing all the listed items when i ended up off the road after a reckless cabbie snicked past ma ride one night......

as they say, shattered bones, torn skin and the PAIN is much better then a NUMB body ready to be buried or burned...

i am from cochin and there was not one but a whole bunch of them retarded ones in the jeep!!...i guess the problem is that the police might be thinking"hey we asked you to wear helmet so just do that" and if you wear more safety it can be seen as a sign of protecting yourself from ones rash driving or else to them why should anyone wear so much riding gear!!!...

People are dumb, "i just don't wanna get hurt if i fall" is all i keep telling and my friends think i wear such stuff coz i cant drive properly!!! I MEAN WHAT THE,......!!!!!! I drive HH Passion and sometimes my brothers R15 but both times i get snarly comments like "look there goes the poser" and those same ppl drive their bikes with nothing but those road side 99 Rs. glasses!!Pisses me off but i know ill be safe if i fall!

Dude trust me next time such a thing happens...ask them to take you license and give you a reciept stating the exact thing that you are being booked for....

Verify with the RTO website online and take a print of that and screw up their case by going to the court where you can collect you license, a friend of mine was charged 600 for talking over the phone...he submitted his license and then took a copy of the rules and got the stupid cops into trouble.

Trust me, know you rights and rules on the road, it helps a lot at such times...

Guess lets give these ppl a break. Safety is always relative.

Many of my relatives have ridden years together with not much incidents on road and they certainly do not see any justification for the gear as they have ridden for decades pretty safe. Plus for many ppl using two wheelers it plain not practical to use gears, just like my cousin who travels 60 kms a day and thats made of 20 visits. If you look at some well developed countries, the general perception is that riding two wheelers itself is dangerous, which our janatha can vouch against. The same *ignorant* ppl can argue that if dont ride above 30-40 may be i dont need such gear! in some sense they are right. Speed increases changes of mishaps. We may endup riding two to three times speed that they would. How many of us wear safety gear when riding cycle? but when some one does, we do give stares .

Am i completely safe wearing gear? no, cos i had one with full gear, took a knock on my head though wearing 2.5k helmet. Gave me Tinnitus (continuous ringing sound in ears) which is going to stay for good. Lost memory of entire evening. If luck runs out no gear can help. But the knee pad saved 2X2 inch skin though.

Now that i wear full length glove, Kneepads, jacket and helmet, what can i do more? invest in imported high quality gear. wear riding pant instead of just knee pad, wear riding boots instead of just normal boots. Wear spine protectors and the list goes on and all this for office commuting? may be not.

What i am trying to say is, Safety gear is like insurance policy, some insure less and some insure more and some dont. There is no substitute for Having presence of mind and some luck when on road.

And lets confess, part of biking is looking good Most of the derogatory comments are from envious onlookers, trying to put you down.

Let's do our bit..

Well, it has happened with all of us at some point or the other. Being treated like aliens is something most of us have gotten used to by now. What I feel, we could do is that, rather than letting them think we're a different species altogether, the next time someone questions you or tells you what a waste of money it is, explain to them what a waste of life it would be, if the gear hadn't been there. As OF sir says, we're the custodians of our own lives. Why not add more custodians to the pack? We look forward to a future where bikers are more sensible, and safe. Next time, try explaining to them, the importance of the gear. Getting pissed won't help. Getting understood will. *Just a thought.

@Ken da: U stole the show.

Once a similar thing happened with me. Commuting late one night, a cop stopped me at a check point. Before he could say anything, I asked him, "Bolo sir kyaa dikhaun? RC, Licence, Insurance, Pollution? Kyaa check karna hai?" He was taken aback, and just said, " koi baat nahi. Jao."
Try it..

do we really need a thread for this? if someone looks at me while I am driving/riding or even travelling, if nothing is interesting enough, I will ignore. Atleast I will not start a thread stating that he looked at me, she touched me or that person mumbled something while i was there...daiya re daiya

haha this made my day

Eggxactly...well said praveen...

One funny thing happened to me this morning while entering my office campus...some people said "lo aa gaya ek aur racer.pata nahi kaha race karta hai" (here comes another racer.dunno where he races )

This was behind my back & overheard by a colleague.Instead of being pissed off it felt quite funny coz 2 of the 3 people who said this had just appreciated thoroughly my jacket & gloves the previous day.

All in all ,take all this with a pinch of salt

+1,
even a good helmet with tinted visor can change the scene on the road.

i think the best thing is to reply with a little pinch...next time somebody asks you why you wear so much gear just tell him straigh on the face "if i fall i wont die god willing...but if you fall i will still be alive to see your dead body and your wife and children weeping over it" be a little harsh and tell things which might hurt them and make them think...i do that and it really works and i have seen the guy atleast startng to wear a helmet!!!...if he is not married then talk about his mom and his dads plight to light their sons funeral pyre!!!! i have even made some stunter boys start to wear helmets because of this!