I had a hospital appointment yesterday and to carve through the early morning traffic I went on my motorbike in my shorts and T-shirt. The receptionist questioned my wisdom and my response was that the route through London was 20mph zones all the way and I was in no more danger than a cyclist.

So yes, I'm with @Homers GSA regarding AGATT.

When I started riding (tuned Lambretta GT225) in 1968 helmets were optional and typically worn just to keep one's hair tidy or when it was cold/rainy weather. Hence my actions in this video from 14 years ago (scroll to 1min 10 seconds). But of course I knew the road and was being ULTRA careful.



Nowadays my preference is for an 'airflow' type lightweight jacket and back protector such as this Rev'it jacket in sun-reflecting silver which I can insulate in cold weather with other clothes, and if it rains I put my waterproof walking jacket over the top.

As I do a lot of walking and exploring off the bike, my boots are the very comfortable Forma Low Adventure.

And my helmet is the wonderful Nolan N70 2X which can be used in six different configurations. My norm is to ride with the chin guard removed but keep the peak, but on a long fast 'liaison' ride I also take the peak off to reduce buffeting.



These items suit me well. After taking my advanced riding qualification about 15 years ago I found riding to the standard great increased my enjoyment and my style is generally 'bumbling along' at 65-80 kph—I ride to explore interesting places rather than for the thrills of high speed.

If on the other hand, the reader of this enjoys the thrills of fast riding then I strongly support ATGATT.

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To wear or not to wear protective gear is a personal choice, I've done both but if I'm miles from a trustworthy hospital I tend towards the former. You can be as careful and skilled as you like but if somebody T-bones you it's gonna sting, and most accidents happen at 'low' speeds in town.

However I think the answer above from othalan is closest to the mark. If you're going to rent, pack all your gear in a big duffel bag and ask the hire company to store it until you return. Or buy one of those big fabric laundry bags and cling film wrap it all over, cheap enough to throw away if you need to. You're presumably taking throwover panniers or something like that for your ride, so you're already paying the airline for luggage, what's a bit more?

When I went over to Thailand in 2014 for a months worth of riding I took, my own helmet, off road boots and off road gear with me, as well a some civvies to wear as I had a week in Bangkok with my daughter beforehand.
Riding gear went in the hold and I carried my helmet in my hand on the aircraft.
When on my biking trip I left all my extra stuff at the place I stayed in the night before I departed.
I can understand the choice to wear gear or not when riding, I don't ride in shorts, or flip-flops, minimum for me is jeans and a shirt with helmet and gloves.
I live in Thailand now and its easy to get lazy with the gear.

Wayne

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The older I get and the more riding I do, the MORE I want to wear better and more protective gear. My bones aren't as strong as they were in my youth and injuries take WAY longer to heal.

When I started Overlanding in my 20's, I took many risks. And test riding bikes at work I took silly risks too. But I mostly got away with it.

As you spend more time riding and meet more people on your life journey, you gain experience. You hurt yourself. Or you meet people who have been hurt. Those who have had their lives ruined or changed by preventative injuries. And that changes you.

Until you've been sliding down the road sideways, had your lower leg trapped under a bike or had a taxi T-bone you on a sandy road, you need to pipe down about "You don't need safety gear"

It's like the smokers who try to convince you to light up because their Granny lived to 100 and she smoked 50 a day.
I don't want to spend weeks or months held up in a shit hole town or having to fly home with a cast on my leg.

If you're travelling in countries where medical facilities are basic (especially emergecy services) , why the hell would you take these unneccessary risks ?

I don't want my ankle immobilised for life because I'm wearing walking boots instead of my Tech 7s. Nor do I want to be disabled because I didn't pack a back protector because I didn't want to carry a bigger bag.

It's true... Lots of people don't fully gear up and most generally survive the experience. But quite a lot don't. So yes, the risk is personal.
Is it worth the short term ease of travel vs the risk of life-long life-changing injuries that you could have prevented ???

For me... No ! Not now I'm older and wise. And had my fair share of crashes and accidents.

The fundermental basics have to be:

Excellent helmet
Armour for back, shoulders, elbows, knees
Gloves
Adventure/MX boots


For me, you're either riding or you're lightweight back packing. You need to chose which one. They don't mix well together unless you're able to rent gear (which is generally crap as you say).

My entire riding gear fits into a large hold all. It weighs 15kg. Then I have a cabin-size bag for my clothes and personal items. Which is easily enough for a month of backpacking.

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I am more some of the gear all of the time person, at least a lightweight bike jacket with some armour, gloves, knee pads, helmet and hiking boots so if I did not have a checked bag it could all go with me in the cabin when I fly.

I will use the rental company's helmet - because that's the one thing I know they will definitely provide. For everything else, it's a crapshoot. I am in the habit of always using buffs/tube scarves as helmet socks anyway, so that mitigates hygiene issues.

On longer-term rentals, like one or two week rentals in NZ, I picked a company that specifically advertised that they would rent me a full textile suit and boots. I brought my own gloves because they didn't really take up much space in my luggage.

I have really nice riding jeans (in my case Revit Philly) with aramid weave in the denim in addition to reinforcement panels, and Seesmart armor pads (very thin) - they work as slightly bulky regular jeans, I can easily wear them off the bike, so they are very reasonable to bring.

I've definitely brought a summer riding jacket on a trip before, on the principle that the jacket had served me for years by that point and was cheap to begin with, so if it was too bulky to lug all the way through my trip, I would not care too much to just leave it there. Turns out that you can fold mesh textile pretty small, especially if you take out the back protector!

Boots are the thing that I feel worst about compromising on - at home I always ride in tall boots, and on shorter trips I have brought them with me (you can find ones that can be worn off-bike easily, like my Dainese Fulcrums), but a lot of the time I will use hiking boots instead. It's not a great situation, but it is SOME ankle protection at least. I've done this more in low-speed environments, renting scooters or little 150cc bikes in Asia.

I'm just here to opine that we are ALWAYS making compromises--ALL of us. None of us opt for perfect, 100% certain safety, or we'd stay at home surrounded by pillows and memory foam.

That being the case, the only question is where to draw the line. Where Ted draws his line isn't where I draw mine, and mine may not correspond to yours. Mostly we all survive.

I attribute my own survival--no accidents ever on a bike--more to innate caution and learning to ride late in life--a deliberate choice, since a couple of days on enduros in the woods convinced me I was sure I'd die if I started in my twenties. My accident-free streak might end tomorrow....but I doubt it. If it does, it'll be interesting to learn whether I'll be bemoaning the hiking boots I wear around town in preference to my MX boots, or crowing about the armor I STILL insist on wearing even for quick trips to the grocery store.

My idea would be to try to come up with a reasonable compromise which I can live--or die--with. For me, that's meant flying with hiking boots, knee and shin armor, regular pants, a light riding jacket and gloves, and a pretty good helmet. I skip the neck brace, full MX boots, ballistic pants, and more like that. But on the trip I have coming up I'm forgoing riding gear altogether, and will be back to buses, trains, shared taxis, oxcarts, and lumbering around on foot. That's part of my personal compromise, too.

Mark (evading homicidal truckers, bus drivers, taxis and livestock on 5 continents for a few decades now)

@Tim Cullis,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I might just travel with my TCX Jupiter 4 which are low boots and definitely more comfortable.

London cyclists (the ones who mix it up with double-decker buses, not the Amsterdam or Copenhagen cyclists) are hardly a yardstick of good sense to begin with!