Not much of this existed when I learned to ride. Simple helmets and simple leathers were all there was. Gloves and boots were nothing special. Motorcycles that did more than 100mph were not common. Helmets were worn (almost) all the time, and leathers were for cold weather. I learned to apply the tools to the job. The same way a pilot will wear certain gear for certain aircraft. You won't need a high altitude pressure suit to fly a cargo plane. Yet the risks aren't much different. The aircraft is different, and requires behavior and equipment choices that match. So if the pilot climbs out of the SR-71 and demands that the pilot of the biplane should be wearing a complete pressure suit, he'd not only be wrong, he'd be a bit weird. I'd much rather have riders concentrate on improving riding skills, and not focusing on bouncing down the road testing full gear. So life existed before the argument. There's something to say for that.