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I ’spose it was bound to happen sooner or later, momentary lapse in concentration/error in judgement and down I went.

Wednesday was a nice mild looking day, sunny skies with a little cloud cover and temps in mid 20’s, so decided to go for a mid week ride Dwellingup way, but I didn’t even get out of metro area. I was at a giveway sign cnr Lake and Armadale waiting to turn left; there was absolutely no approaching traffic to the right, and the car in front moved off to the left, so I moved forward at 3-4 km/h checking traffic to right (still none), but car in front decided to stop again … quick grab of brakes, but too little too late … bang ! (continue reading…)

As a rider of many years experience, wearing protective clothing has become virtually second nature. No-one wants, nor intends to come off their bike, but sometimes it just happens. If the unfortunate event does occur, then you want something to minimise skin loss, bruising and breakage as much as possible. And as a vegan, the search for suitable products has become quite exhaustive, if not demanding.

Helmets
A pretty straight forward search at several motorcycle accessory shops. Find some recognised brands, then try  several models and styles until you find one that is both snug fitting  and comfortable, and preferably one that offers good peripheral vision as well.

Jackets
I managed to source 2 suitable jackets; there is quite a large range of suitable ‘textile’ jackets offering varying degrees of protection from Kevlar linings to impact absorbing ‘body armour’, and varying considerably in price as well. At the moment Australia doesn’t have a ’star rating’ system to help identify those with good wear/abrasion resistance, so it’s still a bit of a hit & miss affair – costing more doesn’t mean better; some higher priced clothing, both textile and leather failed European CE  compliance while cheaper brands passed. (continue reading…)