You know what that means.....big gloves and big shoes.


I usually don't wear gloves when riding, unless my hands get cold. My coworkers wear gloves every time no matter what the temperature, for safety reasons. I guess if you wreck you're going to lose a lot of skin off your hands so they may be right, but my hands really get uncomfortably hot in gloves.

I got a pair of fingerless gloves but I haven't tried them yet. I'm still going bare knuckled. And I have taken a few shots from some pretty large bugs off said knuckles. Stings for a second.

Do you all wear gloves all the time or just on occasion?

They do the same with boots, we are lucky that our company buys us heavy duty boots for the type of work we do in the field, so free $150 motorcycle boots are always nice. But I wear all kinds of shoes on my scoot, Nike hightops, Doc Martin boots, even some Vans on occasion.

I'm not one of those people you see riding around in shorts and flip-flops, but I'm also not wearing full body armor every time I jump on.

What do you folks think?

As I always tell my friends and whoever wants to listen.
I have occaisionally ridden in short sleeves due to the hot weather we have here in summer.
I always wear my gloves. even a slow speed drop will cause skin to be removed from hands. if its the back of the hand the problem is compounded.

The problem is :1. for about 3 weeks it is difficult to sign your name when making Visa purchases or signing anything for that matter.

:2 It is very difficult to wipe certain parts of the body for about the same period.

When you close your hand to grab or hold smaller things, the stretching of the injured skin will keep opening up the gravel rash and prolong healing.
Get used to the gloves.

BTW In hot weather ,I wear the open weave motocross gloves with the reinforced backs, and have used golfing type leather gloves with the tiny holes on the back.

I am not a militant All The Gear All The Time (ATGATT) kind of person. I have and most likely will continue to ride on occasion without a crash jacket. It gets hot and comfort is preferrable. I have a mesh jacket and wear it, but I will ride without it.

I always wear gloves and boots. I have motorcycle boots and wear them. I have boots with a high shank, and low cut boots. I also have safety boots for work and I wear them in place of the motorcycle boots when I am going to work.

As for gloves - don't skimp. Get a good quality glove, go to a shop that specializes and try on the gloves they have in stock. Tarmac is really unforgiving and the hands are one area I need to have skin.

As a recovering wreckaholic.... I am going to speak.... if I had not had my helmet on, I would be dead. If I had not had my jacket on, I would have lost a bunch of skin. If I had had on my gloves, I would have saved a little skin. If I had been wearing proper boots, I would not have broken my ankle in three places. It has been almost 3 months since the incident and I am almost over it enough to get another scooter very soon. I will always wear the proper riding gear from now on. It gets vvvvveeerrrryyyy warm here, but to ride safely, the proper gear is just like having the insurance on your scooter. If you never need it, you think of it as wasted money. Riding without the gear in hot weather a few dozen times, without wrecking, gives the impression that you don't need it. Skin and bones and brains don't get replaced or repaired cheaply. You decide which is important to you.

I go to the surgeon today to hopefully get the okay to walk with no aircast. Will see....

What kind of shoes were you wearing?

Plain old low quarter diabetic loafers. The most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. Just not made to protect ankles rolling down highways. I have the right shoe on right now. Left foot is still about twice as big. May be up to another 3 months maybe before I can get the left one on. I have some high top boots that I chose not to put on, because they are too hot and I was just going to town and back... less that 4 miles round trip. Wound up being about 40 miles with the red lights and sirens. But the ambulance was air conditioned. Feet were cool.

I wear t-shirt and pants, sometimes shorts, and sneakers. No helmet unless I got caught in the rain. No crash jacket, unless I got cold. Same with gloves, if I got cold.

Have a hard time getting gloves and boots that fit same with jacket, they forget about big men when it comes to safety gear. Come to think about it big people all around I have a jacket on the way hoping it will fit size 60 is what I need for shoulders 46 for waist. wear a 15 1/2 ring that makes for a 4xxxx glove which are few and far between, but I have found them. 13 1/2 4e width shoes have one pair of boots that kill my feet but am still looking for something that will fit properly. The 2x helmets aren't too hard to find just go to any Harley shop if they don't have them they can tell you where to get them. I do wear helmet and gloves at all times boots are a different story, I know someones bound to sell them but have not even found riding boots on-line that would fit. hoping jacket fits when delivered today.
Craig

I'm willing to take the wasp risk.

Thanks Bill I'll have to check them out.
Craig

Most of you won't want to hear how I dress. I will wear gloves only when it's very cold ( 5C or less), or below 10C if I'm going out on the highway. I wear blue jeans 90% of the time, and cargo shorts when it's really warm (25C or more). I wear either New Balance walking shoes, or sports sandals if it's really warm. Getting the Swing up on the center stand is a bit more difficult with the sandals. Of course I wear a helmet 100% of the time. In nice weather it's a half helmet, in the cold it's a modular HJC Symax2.
I always drive with the assumption that no one sees me on the road, and those that do see me are trying to run me over. It's worked well for 44 years of 2 wheeling.

I want to hear.

I've always felt that riding was an expression of personal responsibility. I'm against helmet laws, even though I've always worn one, even when I lived in states that didn't require it, like Kansas and Oklahoma. It's a personal choice. Everyone has their own level of equipment that makes them feel safe.

I've seen guys flip their helmet off their head mid-bridge while crossing from Missouri into Kansas. I remember thinking, "that guy's crazy." But I'm sure people think the same thing about me because I don't wear gloves, or sometimes ride with tennis shoes.

There's a guy here at work that I went helmet shopping with who wouldn't buy a helmet because the parts that controlled the face shield were made of plastic. "Seriously?" I asked. He has a bike, but he's never actually ridden it except for the class he took to get his license. He's never had it on the street. He thinks I'm crazy because I only wear a denim jacket and just an open face helmet. I think he's crazy because he's too afraid to get on the road.

Like bigbird, my experience is that driving smart and defensively is better than any safety equipment you can own. It's not 100%, but nothing is. If you're looking for 100%, you're just like my coworker, on your couch.

I started the thread because I want to know what other peoples' comfort levels are. Every opinion is valued to me (except maybe the couch, that's a bit extreme.)

Please keep your stories coming. I think I am actually swayed on the glove thing, I can see where skin on your hands is valuable and difficult to recover from. I will ride the fingerless on the way home today and see how they do. It's only in the upper 80s today so it may be the perfect day to try them.

Gloves worked pretty good on the way home. I'll stick with them for a while.

Hello everyone, I just started wearing some Safty Green gloves....it seems to work great. J.R.

I feel naked if I don't wear gloves

I'm bad, but it has just been too damn hot lately.

I need to make it more convenient so I am more motivated.

They also produce weird tan lines.

DuggleBogey

You read my post today about braking and turning. I'm brandy new at this sport; however I've never been shy about safety. Here in FL, since 2008, you are required to take a MSF course to get your license. The course requires a helmet, gloves, shoes that cover the ankles, and long sleeves. I bought a pair of Power Trip gloves at the Honda dealer when I bought my helmet. I have since order a pair of Scorpion EXO gloves. They are mesh and very cool, it was those I was wearing when I feel. My hands are fine. I've purchased a pair of Icon Tarmac boots, these also are mesh and don't seem to be any warmer than my regular sneakers. These items I ordered from Motorcycle Superstore. I've purchased a Jacket and pants from Olympia Moto Sports. I did not have the pants on when I fell and today discovered I have a bruise on my hip, otherwise my shoulder is a little sore. If I weren't wearing these when I fell, my hands would be pretty scraped up, I'm sure my shoulder would be much more than just sore, and even my thick Irish skull would be giving me problems. (If I had the pants on, I most likely wouldn't have a bruised hip.) Temps here are running mid 90's with the heat index between 105 - 110. Some stuff is easily replaced, I'm not. (Besides, I'm a wimp and don't like pain.)

Tan Lines????

I've found a pair of fingerless gloves that I like and I've worn them almost every time I've ridden since I bought them. They match my Victory helmet.

I'm glad you're into AGATT Bill and that's great for you. It sounds like you've spent about as much on gear as you have on your scoot.

I do not follow AGATT. Sometimes I wear high top Nikes, sometimes even less. Usually I wear a denim jacket when riding, sometimes I don't. My favorite two helmets are half helmets.

It's a personal choice. On most forums people will try to ridicule you into wearing more gear by calling you stupid. I'm not sure how effective it is to ridicule someone into seeing things your way. Not very I'd imagine.

Others like to show pictures of people with injuries. Still doesn't work for me.

Why? Because if you really want to be safe, stay home. You're not even safe in your car. Better stay on the couch. There has to be a balance between safety and risk. You have your comfortable place, which believe me will change over time, and I have mine. I am willing to deal with the risk.

Fingerless glove? arn't they called Mittens?

Over here, mittens are gloves where all the fingers go together in one bit and the thumb in its own bit.

Fingerless gloves are a misnomer. The gloves do have fingers, they are just cut short so that your fingers project out of little glove finger stumps.

Very popular in the body builder / Harley Davidson / bicyclist crowd. Wow is that ever a diverse collection - hard to imagine what else they may have in common hobby wise.

I like them because I can work my MP3 player, GPS, Trip Odometer, etc. easier with my fingers. Plus the reflective orange mesh on the back matches my Victory helmet.

Yes however, they should be called finger-tip less gloves instead of fingerless. Alas, I didn't name them.

Mittens are really only good for making snowballs!

I wear gloves all year round. The type depends on the season.

Years ago my wife was walking back from work and tripped. As most people would she put her hand out to arrest her fall. The result was ugly and resulted in much loss of skin and a huge amount of pain. Later on she discovered she needed surgery to remedy a problem which was caused by the fall.

So my thinking is simply if that amount of damage occured as a result of walking pace, what would happen at 10, 20, 30 or higher speeds?

My summer gloves are armoured, as are my wet weather and dry winter gloves. I tend to ride with a spare pair under the seat all the time. Takes moments to change them and I get to keep the skin covering my bones and not adoring the tarmac.

ZZZZZzzzzzippppp Ziiirrrrrrrrrrr

I recognize that sound. Not sure what its got to do with the thread, I thought it was big hands and big feet. Big Fish are cool too.

Probably local humour.(OZ)
It means hook, line and sinker.

I knew there would be a chance at a dig when I posted about mittens, but at first I just couldn't put my finger on it.