South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

My workday commute is 27 miles, of which 10 or so are on Motorways, and on the other 17-odd I see a few bikes on my travels. I am constantly staggered by the numbers of riders that I see riding in bare hands. Near Chandlers Ford I've seen a glove-less guy on an R1 a few times, and one morning last week when it was still fairly fresh (single-digit temperature, about 8°) I saw him turning onto the M3, still without gloves!

Gloves are about the cheapest bit of motorcycle PPE to buy - you don't need to spend a couple of hundred quid on a pair of Held Titans (though they are awesome), and most big bike shops will have a bargain bin of cheap gloves so anyone can find something fit for less than £20.

The gloveless wonders aren't all young dumb kids on scooters, I regularly see riders of middleweight and big bikes with bare hands. The weird thing is, you'd expect these riders to be almost exclusively those who've never crashed and maybe have no concept of how fast you lose unprotected skin and flesh when it interfaces with tarmac at speed, but it isn't exclusively so...

I recently watched the third Ewen & Charley trip; Long Way Up, in which they ride Electric Harleys up from Ushuaia to LA (except for the Darien Gap, natch, and stowing the bikes on an old bus to be driven through Mexico as it was too risky to ride through). Kit-wise, they were sponsored by Belstaff, so they didn't go short of anything, and Charley Boorman, himself certainly no stranger to A&E facilities after bike stacks, was often filmed riding glove-free in the warmer countries along the route...

If there are any SWBs who prefer to ride bare-handed, let's hear from them; please enlighten the rest of us to the joys of feeling your hands in the breeze.

Utter madness IMO.

Totally agree complete madness

yup, i don't get it.

there's plenty of evidence to show what happens when skin meets tarmac (who didn't trip over as a kid and remove the top layer from their knee ?),

full kit and earplugs for me - everytime.


trouble is you can very easily be called a ger nazi when it comes to stuff like this.


i challenged a motorcycle clothhing company (based in Exeter)on instagram about the fact in their promotional videos none of the riders wore protective kits other than piss pot helmets. Their reply was this - dress for the ride, not the slide.

pregnant goldfishies.

Never mind kevlar hands, which you'll need should you fall off. How do these riders cope with bare hands and what I would term cold temperatures??

I know I'm an extreme case, but I need heated grips as a minimum below 15C, and ideally jeated gloves once it gets below 10C. But that's WITH gloves, I couldn't get past the end of my drive without any on! If it's down to cost, they're welcome to a pair I've got that are spare. Maybe I should carry them round with me and donate them to the first muppet I see who is gloveless

Also always have gloves the reason I don't just pop to the shop on my bike is that I were all my gear when riding and isn't worth the hassle for a milk run

Then there are the other muppets with all the right kit including the Dianese/Alpinestars superduper leathers and... trainers on their feet.
My ankle still gives me trouble after an off in 2010. I was the plonker wearing steel toecap work boots instead of proper bike boots.

billinom8s wrote: ↑Oct 19th, '21, 09:23 yup, i don't get it.

there's plenty of evidence to show what happens when skin meets tarmac (who didn't trip over as a kid and remove the top layer from their knee ?),

full kit and earplugs for me - everytime.


trouble is you can very easily be called a ger nazi when it comes to stuff like this.


i challenged a motorcycle clothhing company (based in Exeter)on instagram about the fact in their promotional videos none of the riders wore protective kits other than piss pot helmets. Their reply was this - dress for the ride, not the slide.

pregnant goldfishies.

I cannot believe they said that

billinom8s wrote: ↑Oct 19th, '21, 09:23 yup, i don't get it.

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i challenged a motorcycle clothhing company (based in Exeter)on instagram about the fact in their promotional videos none of the riders wore protective kits other than piss pot helmets. Their reply was this - dress for the ride, not the slide.

pregnant goldfishies.

I've got a good idea who that might be . . . . . . . .

Sorry but this is all utter madness if your moving your body about at speed then you are not going to do well should the worst happen. For me I always try and get the most protective gear possible within my budget. Great believer in prepare for the worst, expect the best

This is such an important topic for me even did a video about it on my YT channel as found out there is a difference in CE approvals and different levels of safety. If this is also of interest maybe give it a watch
https://youtu.be/1eMEtw1KXRc

Dress for the ride...... hence why i always have protective gear on, no matter how long or short the journey is.

So, to paraphrase, 'Dress for the ride - and any slide'.

Postscript: A week or so ago we saw some eejit riding a Triumph Rocket 3... without gloves Those things don't tend to be ragged around like a 125 or a SS600, but are as prone as any other bike to losing the front on wet leaves at this time of year... who'd fancy their bare hand to be trapped under the bar end as 300+kg of bike slides down the road at 50mph?

Robbo87 wrote: ↑Oct 28th, '21, 10:12 So, to paraphrase, 'Dress for the ride - and any slide'.

Sounds like a condom slogan