My good friend Paul Kolbo writes:
Certainly! However I made the point in the other glove thread that hand protection is underrated. Ground down knuckles and tendons have the potential of making a hand almost useless for the rest of your life. IMO, hand protection is not something to overlook. I place more priority on hand protection over leg protection anyday.
BTW John, I was wondering if you are concerned about those elkskin gloves falling off in a crash. I don't see any sort of wrist cinch to keep them on your hand if you have an arm whip.
Point taken, Paul. And I agree about protection priorities: hands first, legs second. However, I think my heavy-weight elkskin Ropers would resist
abrading all the way through quite well. Probably as well as most glove materials. But I concede that they are obviously less able to ameliorate knuckle
impacts than padded and/or armored knuckle gloves. I accept that compromise for the time being, but I respect your opinion and I will consider it when I next buy summer gloves. And yes, my Ropers have a cinch strap and won't come off if I 'get-off.'
BTW, my son sent me pics of his reconstructed left knee taken right after the
skilled surgeons saved his leg by patching the gaping hole on the outside of his knee with a muscle taken from his own back. You may remember Douglas passed out in the heat on I-90 near Hudson, WI, and ground off a whole bunch of flesh between the bike and the concrete when he fell over at 45mph in a construction zone. Helicopter ride to, and three weeks in, the burn ward at St. Paul Ramsey. No outside knee ligament now and looks like Frankenstein's handywork, but he can walk. I've thought about posting the pics to the forums to encourage wear of proper lower body protection, but they're pretty disturbing...
I've worn my Stich anytime I swing a leg over the GhOOST ever since, and use a hydroweave cooling vest and stay hydrated.
Sorry for the highjack folks...
John
