Leather Motorcycle Gear

Your motorcycling apparel choices should consider comfort and protection from not only crashes but the everyday challenges of riding a motorcycle.

The right gear makes motorcycling safer and more comfortable through a wide range of conditions. Yet apparel-buying decision may be based on little more than what the wearer sees while standing in front a mirror. Consider a riding jacket. Most riders buy on style, but a real riding jacket should do much more than look good. With a bit of augmentation (layering), it should actually increase your comfort throughout the range of temperatures you ride in, serve your needs on the road, prevent damage to your machine, ward of gravel and bugs, and on that day when something goes wrong, provide significant protection from abrasion and even impact. That’s the difference between a motorcycle jacket, and good-looking but functionally empty jacket.

Be Cool

You can actually be cooler in a solid crash-resistant motorcycle jacket than in a T-shirt in hot weather, but the jacket must have good venting in places where the moving air touches it. If you ride behind a large windshield, that means that it must have vents out on the sleeves, perhaps even on the outside of the sleeves. If you don’t have a windshield, then large vents in the upper chest, such as the tuck-away panels on some Vanson jackets, are a cool solution. What goes in must come out, so the jacket should have exit venting on the back too. If you are buying a jacket just for warm weather one of the mesh motorcycle jackets can actually keep you cooler while moving than riding in just a shirt.

Those vents can be a liability on cold rides, so if you plan to use a mesh or vented jacket in a wider range of temperatures, there should be some means of sealing them. An insulating liner increases a jacket’s cold-weather utility. A longer jacket, especially one with some sort or belt or elastic waist, will reduce the drafts that can blow up your back and chill your kidneys.

Various other design features can expand a jacket’s temperature range. If the front closure features a snap-down flap over the zipper, you might be able to get air flowing through by unzipping the jacket most of the way but using the snaps to keep yourself fully covered. Sleeves that close with a zipper plus a snap can provide a similar option to keep the closure intact but let some air flow through.

The Fine Points

Massive zippers, fancy snaps or big chrome buckles may look cool, but they can also scratch your bike’s paint, especially on the tank. Sleeve zippers and snaps will also come into contact with your bike more frequently than you might suppose. However, don’t abandon these kinds of closures in favor of a knit cuff. The problem with knit-style cuffs, often found on aviator-style jackets, is that they permit the sleeve to ride up your arm if you are sliding on it in a crash. The sleeve should close snugly enough that it can not pull up and expose your forearm. You probably want some adjustability in the cuff area though to accommodate additional layers of clothing, watches or gloves. A closure using hook-and-loop material (such as Velcro) can provide great flexibility. Our preference is for a system that uses hook-and-loop material or snaps to adjust the size combined with a zipper (independent of the adjusting system) for closure. The the least convenient cuff systems are those where you must zip and adjust each time you put the jacket on. This is also true of waist adjustments. The adjustments help you accommodate varying layers beneath, but I’d rather just zip the jacket and not have to mess with the belt each time I put it on.

Jacket length is also an issue. Short jackets tend to be the most popular from a styling standpoint, but I have noticed that few experienced riders use them as their primary jacket. Short jackets have a tendency to pull up in a slide, leaving you exposed between the bottom of the jacket and the top of your pants. I prefer a jacket that reaches my hips, since it is less likely to ride up that far in a slide. It also keeps breezes from blowing up my back on colder rides.

Remember that anything you want to reach while riding must be accessible to your left hand, so change pockets for tolls, map pockets, etc. should be on the right side. Zipper pulls should be large enough to grip with heavy gloves. If you are planning on mating the jacket to pants, it’s nice if it comes with a zipper for that purpose, though that can be sewed in later. One feature I find indispensable when I’m not using the jacket is a hanging loop.

Motorcycle jackets offer a wide variety of collar styles, including some that zip off. I prefer a tall collar that I can leave open when the weather is warm or closed snugly to fend off cold or bugs. If the collar uses a tab-type closure that fastens with hook-and-loop fastener, the hook portion should be on the tab with a loop patch that allows you to fold the tab inside the jacket when it’s not in use. This will prevent the hook section from snagging your helmet strap.

Article by Art Friedman excerpt from www.motorcyclecruiser.com

Disclaimer:  www.motorcycle-leather-gear.com and www.openroadcyclegear.com are wholly owned by RobyCo, Inc. of Reading Pennsylvania.  Excerpt articles do not represent the management opinions of RobyCo, Inc or its holdings.  Selected information is provided for discussion purposes.