By Tom Mehren
Editors note: This article was recently provided to a large American motorsports industry magazine. The magazine published it online for several days and then fired back a contract asking that the writer relinquish ALL rights to the material for use any way they desired - without paying ANY compensation. And so folks, since we weren't dumb enough to sign a piece of paper like that, the article was pulled from the other party's site and we are running it in its entirety here. If you have friends that work at dealers, please pass the link along to them.
It wasn’t a pretty picture when Dayton Harley-Davidson’s owner/principal died after a motor home took a left turn into him while he was trying to pass it on the way to Sturgis. Unfortunately, his scant attire didn’t lend itself well to the incident and may have had a bearing on whether he lived another day.
In a recent study done in the Northwest, 90% of the riders weren’t dressed for the crash. Tennis shoes, blue jeans, half shell helmets and t-shirts do little to protect tattoos when they slide across the pavement at 60 mph. Dressing like a street pedestrian ups the chances of bodily injury, cerebral damage and possible death. But it continues to happen with all too much regularity and there’s no end in sight of the numbers lessening. Suffice it to say, leisure motorcycling is often a sport more focused on fashion than crashin’.
It won’t always have to be this way, but the evolution won’t go into motion unless dealer principals and their staffs take a stand and lead by example.
Wearing full gear isn’t a requirement in any state, and let’s hope it never is. But dealer principals owe it to their employees, associates, family and customers to wear the best protective clothing to ensure the least amount of damage to their being if they ever are in a crash. Voluntarily gearing up each time you ride to work, ride with customers and any other time you ride, will set an example your staff and customers can believe in.
Encouraging others on your staff, not just management, but all employees to dress for the crash will go a long way in encouraging your customers to dress more appropriately. Providing employee discounts to staff on riding gear will help them get into better gear more affordably.
Begin to evolve your customers by providing quarterly "Gear Up" seminars and talking about the benefits of wearing full gear in newsletters and advance ride notices before rides. By explaining the benefits to them, their families and loved ones, people start to get the point this isn’t such a bad idea after all. For the price of most riders' health insurance deductable, one can buy a full face helmet.
When done right, your customers will return a profit back to your store. While a set of aftermarket pipes might bring you a hundred dollar profit, imagine your profits if 50% of your customers purchased a new full face helmet, armored jacket and pants, full gloves and boots every three to five years. That’s handsome!
As an event promoter, we don't want anyone with less than a full face helmet and full gear to partake in our tours, regardless of state law. We’d rather lessen the chances of dealing with a bad situation and deal with a minor one instead. It’s always good to see a rider get up and walk away, instead of being taken away in a med car.
Lead by example and your staff and customers are sure to follow. The worst thing that could happen is that they’ll be around longer and so will you. That can’t be so bad.
Tom Mehren is the founder or Sound RIDER!, a Northwest online newsletter and AMA event promoter.