protective gear don't leave home without it.

Hey Fellow Viffers,
What do you wear when you ride and does it change with the season? It is full into summer here in New Orleans, It is hot and Humid. I ride with full face helmet, gloves, boots, leather overpants, sometimes Draggin Jeans, Mesh Tex jacket. I also have a leather jacket. I see people riding wearing shorts and tees. they look cool but is it safe.

 

different stuff for different weather. I need the protection between the ankles and waist. I ride without pants, er protective pants.

My general observations over the last two months of commuting around DC:
Seems the harley guys where more protection clothes, but lack 'real' helmets,
Harleys are most likely to be ridden two-up, or by females - both groups wear helmets, jackets etc...
Junior race replica guys where full-face helmets with t-shirts.
Goldwing drivers are full-up or in casual business wear with open-face helmets.

 

Uh oh, I feel an ATGATT war coming on...

 

Dress for the fall, not for the ride!

 

+1 on that. I wear gloves good jeans, full face and a mesh jacket all the time.

 

Guys,

If you want to try something that is very cool and yet still protective enough to get AMA certified for racing, check out http://www.motoport.com/detail.asp?...nt_Company=Jackets Department&Category=Kevlar

I ride with shorts under it, and you don't even feel the suit because it is made of something like screening material. They make jackets too. Not cheap, but there's a reason they're the only AMA certified protective gear that is cool

Karsten.

 

I ride with gear up to about 95 degrees. That temp without a mesh jacket is too hot for me to concentrate.

I am actively looking for a mesh jacket and boots - especially after reading about "Roadrash Queen".
http://www.speedfreakinc.com/content/articles/riding/roadrashqueen.html

 

Year round it's a full face helmet, leather gloves and Sidi boots. For the colder months I'm in full leathers. Hot months I switch to perforated leather pants and an Icon TiMax mesh jacket.

I just now started trying out that UnderArmor gear for the really hot days and I give that stuff a big thumbs up. It does keep you noticiably cooler even if it does make you look like a big sausage. Big 5 and Sportsmart have the stuff on sale all the time. Highly recommended!

 

I ride with boots, jeans, full face helmet, armored gloves and:

75 degrees and cooler = Armored leather jacket
76 degrees and hotter = Armored Mesh Jacket by Vanson

To tell you the truth, the mesh armored jacket is super light and I dont like my chances if I went down at high speed, but it is better than a T-shirt!

I will say this, I love feeling armored and safe, but if wearing all that makes you so hot that you begin concentrating on the heat and not the cages or road, it is time to re-prioritize!
I do need to buy some sidi boots though....

SQUID CONFESSION: the other day after washing her I rode down to a local park and back just in jeans and my helmet and boots. It does feel great, I wont lie, but I would be too worried to ride like that a lot.

 

I ride with full gear. In the summer I wear my Grid MotoGp pants and a Mesh Jacket with CE Armour. I wear full gauntlet golves. As long as I am moving I am ok.

 

With a jacket you are less likely to get dehydrated. With a T shirt the sweat is instantly removed from your body by wind making you sweat more as apposed to your jacket which keeps the moisture near the skin. At least that is what my MSF course said.

 

I always wear heavy jeans at the least and riding jacket, i only have to look at the scar on my leg & arse to remind me what happened when i rode as a squid tank top and shorts.

 

I wear a nice text jacket in the cooler months (35-60F), mesh jacket (60-105F) and text pants all with body armour with boots that cover my calves. My gloves are dictated by the weather too, heavy armoured for the cooler periods and ligher mesh armoured for the warmer. I had an interesting week. Monday the 2nd the guy I was riding with thought he was on the track, went wide on a 90 degree left hander and ended up in the trees. His text jacket saved his upper body, but his jeans did nothing to protect his lower half which took cuts, abrasions and 2nd & 3rd degree burns to the calve.

I rode 532 miles a few days later by myself to clear my thoughts, I went from 70 to 104 degree weather in a few hours. I stopped for lunch and 3 dudes on metric crusiers showed up in jeans, tennis shoes and muscle shirts and they thought "I was nuts" for my selection of clothing. I told them I was OK being a little warm at times. Like posted earlier "Dress for the crash". The photos of lucky or unlucky woman above prove the point. I'd rather look to some like a uncool dork for a few minutes or hours, knowing I stand a better chance of keeping my body intact.

Oh ya, almost forgot the most important piece. Full Face helmet.

 

Always - Helmet, Teknic race gloves, Sidi boots or Asolo over ankle hikers.
Spring/Fall - Aerostitch jacket and pants
Summer - Aerostitch jacket and jeans in the hottest stuff.

No helmet laws here in Indiana. Squids and cruisers alike are all over the place waiting to make a brain donation to the tarmac. My favorite is the do-rag, to keep your shattered skull in one jellied mass instad of spread out on the street. Add a cigarette to the hard-ass equation and I get a real chukle as I keep my distance.

Last week I took some heat from a motorcycling workmate for gearing up. "It's 92F out there!" was the comment. Heading to a strip mall to return a DVD 5 minutes later, a senior citizen took a left out of a gas station in front of me. If I would have been 1 second earlier down that road, I would have been over that car. Keep your do-rag and wife-beater, I enjoy my skull and skin in its current condition.

 

i always where my gloves, full face helmet, and my joe rocket mesh honda jacket. in Cali doesnt get to cold, and in summer i can take of the sleeves to reveal for mesh so it has breathing room.

 

I was in my car last year at a red light. when the DOT dish helmet & mechanic shirt wearing Harley ahead of me got a cigarette out, then dropped his lighter. He looked and sat thinking for a sec. with the cig. in his mouth. He tried, but couldn't reach it with his foot, shaking his head in frustration... but he did not put his kickstand down to get off to get it.

I hit my horn to let him know it was o.k. to get his cigarette. He looks back, the light changes, he flips me the bird and zips off with an unlight cigarette. That was a real chuckle... :lol:

 

Wear what you want. Don't expect sympathy if you weren't dressed for the crash. *shrug*

 

I wear either my leather gear or my mesh textile gear on pretty much every long ride, along with my armored gloves and helmet. On shorter hops, I might skip the padded and armored pants for tough jeans, but I ride differently when I'm wearing Jeans. Much less agressive in the turns. When I wear Jeans, I never really get comfortable on the bike, so most of the time I'm in the protective stuff.

 

Depends on why I'm riding, 90% of the time I'm in full leather gear. On a trip say to the PO or the grocery store for example, Then it's jeans and my Cortech jacket. with 99% of the time I'm wearing my Sidi boots and gauntlets for gloves.