Protection

I'm not worried about you - I worry about less experienced players not considering the risk or evaluating them incorrectly because they see the choice you have made based on your ability, bike handling and risk tolerance.

I see this as an issue, not because they might not see the need to suit up properly, but because they are misinterpreting what's appropriate play with regards to appropriate mallet handling and appropriate bike handling.

A new player sees a stronger player swing big and get a sweet strong shot that blasts into the goal (even cooler when it goes THROUGH the wheel) and will want to emulate that, resulting in careless big swings WHEN players are around you, not when you're in empty space which is when most experienced players will take those wild swings.

And +1 or x2 or whatever re: Yorgo's statement about back swings.

And also +1 to what Mark said ^