Gear Up Right: A Rider’s Guide, One Category at a Time

Motorcycle Stuff

Most motorcycle gear advice comes in one of two flavors: “buy this” or “you will die without it.” Neither helps much. What I’d rather have, and what I’m trying to write here, is the nerdy-useful middle: what each piece of gear is meant to do, what the standards on the label actually test, how to check fit, and what the research says about whether it works.

This is the hub of a nine-part series called Gear Up Right. It goes one category at a time, from the helmet down to the tires, and then to how you store and look after it all. Every claim that matters is attributed to a named source I actually opened and read, and anything that is just my own suggestion is labeled as mine.

A dark blue leather jacket on a wooden floor with a white full-face helmet, a pair of gloves and a pair of black boots arranged beside it

Image: A leather jacket, helmet, gloves and boots laid out before a ride by サフィル, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

What ATGATT means

Riders have a handy shorthand for how they dress. Wikipedia’s article on motorcycle safety notes that riders sometimes use two acronyms when describing their personal gear preferences: ATGATT and MOTGMOTT, which stand for “All The Gear All The Time” and “Most Of The Gear Most Of The Time.”

The idea behind ATGATT is simple. You never know in advance which ride will be the one where something goes wrong, so you dress for the crash you are not planning on, every time, including the short trip to the shop. The same article quotes a Cycle World writer, David Edwards, who argues that a rider who has a license, attends riding schools, wears all the gear all the time and develops an accident-avoidance sixth sense can make motorcycling safe. I’d read that as one writer’s philosophy rather than a guarantee.

There is a practical catch, and it’s worth being honest about it now. Gear that is too hot to wear does not get worn. A guide for clothing makers from Deakin University and Motorcycle Minds says riders who own protective gear but don’t always wear it reported being three times less likely to wear it in hot conditions. So part of “gearing up right” is choosing things you will actually keep on, which is why this series talks about ventilation and fit as well as protection.

What gear can do, and what it can’t

Here is the evidence in plain terms, from studies of real crashes.

Helmets have the strongest evidence. A Cochrane review of 61 observational studies found that helmets reduced the risk of death by 42% and head injury by 69%. The helmets post goes through that and the standards in detail.

Clothing has a more modest but still useful record. In a French study of 951 riders from the Rhône road-accident registry, wearing a motorcycle jacket or gloves was linked to a lower risk of soft-tissue injury to the arms and hands, and wearing both was better still. Trousers plus boots lowered soft-tissue injury to the legs. The protection came mainly from fewer abrasions and lacerations, which is skin lost to the road.

An Australian study of 212 crashed riders found something similar. Riders were less likely to be admitted to hospital if they wore a motorcycle jacket, pants or gloves. Fitted body armor went with a lower risk of injury to the protected areas.

Now the limits, because they matter just as much:

So gear is not a force field. In plain language, it is much better at saving skin than at saving bones, and no piece of it makes a crash a good idea.

Gear is the last line, not the first

It would be a mistake to treat gear as the whole story. NHTSA’s 2024 fact sheet counts 6,228 motorcyclists killed, 16 percent of all traffic fatalities, and says the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (28.00) was almost 27 times the passenger car occupant rate (1.05). It also reports that 35 percent of riders in fatal crashes had no valid motorcycle license, and that 25 percent of motorcycle riders in fatal crashes were alcohol-impaired.

Seeing and being seen matters too. The Hurt Report, a large study from 1981 that Wikipedia summarizes, found that in two-thirds of motorcycle-car crashes the car driver failed to see the motorcycle. The eyewear post covers what the research says about hi-vis and conspicuity.

My own take, and it is only mine: skill training, sober riding, attention and gear all work together. NHTSA’s safety reminders list a helmet with a valid DOT label, a good fit, protective gear, high-visibility colors and retro-reflective materials, and not riding impaired, all in the same short list.

A line of helmeted motorcyclists riding one behind another along a paved training area

Image: Riders in a line during a basic riders’ course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota (May 2016) by Airman Sadie Colbert (U.S. Air Force), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How the series works

The nine posts roughly follow the order you would dress in, then cover the things people forget. This post is the hub, and the other eight are:

  • Helmets: types, what DOT, ECE and Snell mean, fit and replacement.
  • Jackets: abrasion, leather versus textile, armor and the EN 17092 classes.
  • Pants and jeans: the same angle for your legs.
  • Gloves: why hands matter and what to look for.
  • Boots: ankle protection, types and the standard.
  • Tires: your only contact with the road.
  • Eyewear and being seen: sunglasses, visors, hi-vis and conspicuity.
  • Storing and maintaining gear: care, what to check after a crash, and a pre-ride check for the bike.

A few ground rules I’m holding myself to. I name the source for each safety claim, and where only one source says something, I say so. I use Wikipedia for general background and primary sources, such as NHTSA, standards bodies, research papers and rider-safety groups, for the numbers that matter. Where standards or studies are old, I give the date. I don’t recommend brands, and there are no prices. The site does have a Shop page if you want to browse it, but nothing in this series is a recommendation to buy a particular product.

How to use the series

If you are new to riding, go in order. If you already ride, jump to the piece of gear you are about to replace. Each post ends with a short list of sources and links to the neighboring posts.

Here is a small checklist you can run against any piece of gear while you read. It is my own, not a standard:

  1. What is it for? Impact, abrasion, vision, grip or something else.
  2. What does the label claim? A standard number, a class or level, or nothing at all.
  3. Does it fit while you are on the bike? Sit in your riding position before you decide.
  4. Is it in good condition? Cracks, holes, a compressed liner or old age all count.
  5. Will you wear it every time? If the answer is no, find something you will.

Where to go next

  • Helmets are the best place to start, and the helmets post covers them: they have the most evidence behind them and the clearest standards.
  • Jackets come next in the jackets post, if you want to see how abrasion testing and armor ratings work.
  • If you would rather start with the bike than the gear, the tires post covers tires.

Sources