Carrying under less than ideal circumstances

[Shane]

I ride a motorcycle, and occasionally use it to commute to and from my office. Most of my rides will also usually include a stop at a coffee shop where I can do some writing. I'm trying to find the best way to carry a pen, and preferably in such a way as not to get stabbed with it if something bad happens. In the last week, I've been carrying my VP in an inside pocket of my riding jacket, clipped to the edge of the pocket for retention. Do you think this is safe? I have enough underseat storage to carry it, but there's a bit a of a problem with vibration down there. I usually use that space for tools and a small notebook.

 

Has anyone else run into this problem? My preferred way to ride is with no luggage on the bike. It was never too much of a problem to carry a couple of pilot gel writers, since they won't shake themselves to death no matter where they are. Any ideas?

[BillTheEditor]

In every motorcycle accident I've ever seen, getting stabbed by a fountain pen was the least of the rider's worries. Especially in Texas, where we don't have to wear helmets.

 

Keep putting the pen in your shirt pocket or inside your jacket where it won't get overheated or over-vibrated and don't worry about it.

 

And wear a helmet. If you commute on the Mo-Pac or down the 24th Street hill, body armor might not be a bad idea either.

Edited June 26, 2006 by BillTheEditor

[Shane]

I'll keep doing that then. I actually do ride now in helmet with full armor, heat-be-darned. I was in an accident back in April. I had my helmet, jacket and boots then, and walked away from the accident, but my knee got messed up pretty badly because of a lack of leg protection. I'm now wearing under the pants armor to go with everything, and I switched from a black jacket and helmet to screaming red to make me more visible. (The other driver didn't see me.)

 

It turns out that the ER doc that treated me was also a motorcyclist, and went over the damage on each piece of riding gear with me and told me what would have happened if I hadn't had it. At best, I'd have been looking at months of rehab, and probably years before I made a full recovery. Now, I'm back to hiking, biking, and doing all the other things I enjoy. Also, the downtime served as an inspiration to start writing again, so in the end, I came out very well, and was very lucky.

[BillTheEditor]

I wish more riders wore the right gear. The first motorcycle accident I ever saw was in Austin, 40 years ago. Guy on a big BMW speeding down Red River. Grad student in a Mustang turned left right in front of him (trying to make an illegal u-turn, for what it's worth). Bike hit door post of Mustang on the passenger side. Rider departed the bike, taking the handlebars with him (the post actually sheared), went over the top of the Mustang and stopped when his head hit the curb about 40 feet the other side of the car. This happened right in front of me as I was waiting to cross Red River (in front of the Tex. Memorial Museum). I thought he was dead. No helmet. No leather. He had a big dent in the side of his head and blood everywhere. Believe it or not, he lived. The doctors and all of us who saw it happen had no idea how he survived. Spent three weeks in a coma, don't remember how long in rehab, was out of school for a year. I've seen more accidents since then, but that one was a beaut. And, oh yeah, the grad student driving the Mustang "never saw the motorcycle."

[BMWRT]

I'm like you... nothing in my pockets that could injure me.

You can see by my avatar what I ride. I have the luxury of a glove box that I put most things in. Travelling longer they go in my tank bag. You do not say what you ride but your explanation of under seat leads me to a sport bike?

 

try these

 

http://www.aerostich.com/catalog/US/Aerost...gs-p-16396.html

 

I use them for my pens, camera, pda and the likes

 

hope this helps

[Shane]

Thanks guys. I'll give the Aerostitch pockets a try. Those look like they could be pretty useful.

 

I like the BMW. It' looks like a great way to tour the country. I'm currently riding a Honda 599, which is Honda's smaller naked sport bike. It 's a hoot to ride, both in town and in the country.

 

I do know about the traffic on Red River. It's mostly students, and everyone is either talking on a cel-phone, or suffering from road-rage.

[kissing]

The XXL size makes a great pillow when loosely filled with soft items. A warm camping hat, too. Assorted colors.

 

Now that's clever

[TimButterfield]

When needing to carry things on my K1200RS, I typically use either the tankbag or side cases. When the sidecases are off, an Aerostich Courier bag is used. I do wear an Aerostitch Roadcrafter suit and the closest I have come to putting hard things in the pockets is an eyeglass/sunglass case. Though much larger than the VP, there are no pointed edges to impale myself on. With the bars on the 599, another option may be to strap on a small fork bag. If you could find one, a round three-pen PenWorld case (like the one I received at the Ohio show last year when I subscribed) has a loop on both ends through which you can feed a small velcro strap. It's only 7-8 inches long and would take up minimal space on the fork. If you cannot find a prebuilt small zipper case the right size, you may be able to fashion one to do the job by taking a small zipper case, cutting a couple of slots on both ends and feeding the velcro straps through to strap it across the bar clamp.

[Wolverine1]

A friend here also is a motorcycle rider, riding an Aprilia motorcycle. he is a grad student at the Univ of Michigan, and he has one of the Timbuc2 bicycle messenger bags that he slings over his shoulder when he rides, and puts his books, pens, PDA etc in it.

About motorcycles, I have always wanted to ride, but, saw the aftermath of an accident about a month back, where the rider was killed, and I have since lost all interest in riding a motorcycle, or for that matter, even a bicycle.

-Sid

[meanwhile]

I used to do courier work on mountain bikes. Riding 40 hours a week with some of the most skilled and practiced athletes you can imagine at the peak of their reflexes (which really go down after 30) taught me that even the best people can't stay accident free. A two wheeler, powered or unpowered, is vulnerable to a multitude of things - doors thrown open without looking, diesel spills on tricky corners, idiots who make U turns, run lights, or roar out of underground parking like it's the beginning of a cop show...

 

I probably would ride a motorbike myself - but I don't think'll ever ride a bicycle in an urban area again now I've lost my courier grade skills. And I'm often completely horrified watching "civilians" ride - most of them obviously have no idea how to protect themselves.