I applaud your dedication to wearing gear, but I think you should do yourself a favor and make it an easy habit to keep!
I will echo what others have said: get vented easy to wear street gear that you will ALWAYS WEAR NO MATTER WHAT. The example of going out to get half and half or mail a check is the perfect one. Sadly, I’ve already crash tested my gear (new rider this season!). I had to get up early to make a meeting at work, and took a risk in a situation that had traffic patterns I wasn’t used to (8am traffic is very different than 10am traffic). I made it but ended up going too hot into a tight turn, dragged the pegs trying to make it and lowsided. In hindsight, a million things I would have done differently…lesson(s) learned!
I got lucky and there were no cars in the two oncoming lanes of traffic I skidded across. I was wearing:
cortech FSX II jacket
shift kevlar reinforced riding jeans
a-stars SMX-R boots
snell + dot HJC helmet
I can’t remember the model of my gloves
I was completely uninjured. $1000 damage to the bike as it got wedged under the guard rail on the opposite side of the road, tore some seams and holes in my jacket, sanded down the nice moulded armor pieces on the boots completely flat, the black painted metal studs on the palms of my gloves are now shiny and pock-marked, and the seams of the gloves show some slight wear although the stitching held. There were several large holes torn through the bottoms of the legs of the jeans (no reinforcement) at where my boots were, and the boots absorbed all the damage. (And are still completely wearable and look awesome still! A+++ for the smx-r!) The butt and theighs of the jeans show a few tiny spots of distress, but completely held up in the tough/reinforced spots where I must have slid. Another tiny miracle: I was wearing a big backpack at the time, and early on in the slide I happened to roll onto my back and slid backwards on the backpack for much of the distance (it is full of holes but still usable as well!).
The point is…I was late for work, rushing in for a meeting. I have gear that I always wear no matter what and I can put on in about one minute. It was more than enough to save my bacon, and if I *HAD* been hit by a car, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had on leathers or cortech…
Gear is like sunscreen. The difference between spf 45, 60, and 90 is really academic. The best stuff is the stuff you wear!
Look luck, and stay safe