I’m in your camp, Eon. Every year I end up upgrading my gear to be hotter, stuffier, more constricting…oops…errr…I mean safer gear! No, seriously though. I started out wearing a helmet, textile jacket, gloves, jeans, and work boots. Now I wear a minimum of a leather jacket, back protector, full gauntlets, leather pants, hip/coccyx armor, and fully-armored sport boots any time I’m going to be on the bike for more than 10 minutes. Sometimes I rock the full leather suit. It’s a lot of work getting in and out of all that gear, and damn it can be hot at a summer stop light, but the feeling I think Ben described of “feeling safe enough in your gear to sprint down a gravel road and launch yourself headfirst into the ground” is simply irreplaceable. Solid gear for the win!
There’s that one problem with really good gear though. It’s damn spendy.