Do you wear protection?
Road Captain
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 505
Likes: 1
From: Houston
If latex could stop God's will, we'd all be wearing latex motorcycle jackets.
Tourer
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 364
Likes: 8
From: Newberry SC
Winter: Either a Tourmaster Epic (coldest days), Tourmaster Transition II, FirstGear Kilimanjaro, or Alpinestars Barcelona non-vented leather jacket. All have CE-rated elbow/forearm, shoulder armor and a flimsy backpad that I replaced with a Dianese CE-rated back pad. Insulated Tourmaster Venture pants with CE-rated knee armor and foam hip padding. Sidi or Danner boots. Held Freezer gloves. I love riding in the winter in SC, NC, and GA!
Spring/Fall: Black Alpinestars perforated leather jacket with vest liner and same CE-rated body armor and A*'s new (more flexible and thinner) CE-rated backpad. Dianese Inferno gloves. Sidi or Danner boots. Draggin' liners under Levi's.
Summer (90F+ South Carolina heat!): Alpinestars mesh jacket with CE-rated armor. Sidi boots. Dianese Inferno gloves. Draggin' liners under Levi's. I bake in the summer at stoplights, no doubt about it. Need to get some summer/perforated boots and some summer gloves.
All the time: Arai Profile helmet
Whatever brand you get, get gear you that makes you want to wear it: it should fit you right, and there's nothing wrong with wanting gear that looks good on ya!
There are tons of choices out there, and a lot of good prices if you shop around, or buy used.
I noticed nearly all of HD's jackets now have pockets to add armor, so check out their gear as well.
Hope this helps,
'fooz
Spring/Fall: Black Alpinestars perforated leather jacket with vest liner and same CE-rated body armor and A*'s new (more flexible and thinner) CE-rated backpad. Dianese Inferno gloves. Sidi or Danner boots. Draggin' liners under Levi's.
Summer (90F+ South Carolina heat!): Alpinestars mesh jacket with CE-rated armor. Sidi boots. Dianese Inferno gloves. Draggin' liners under Levi's. I bake in the summer at stoplights, no doubt about it. Need to get some summer/perforated boots and some summer gloves.
All the time: Arai Profile helmet
Whatever brand you get, get gear you that makes you want to wear it: it should fit you right, and there's nothing wrong with wanting gear that looks good on ya!
There are tons of choices out there, and a lot of good prices if you shop around, or buy used. I noticed nearly all of HD's jackets now have pockets to add armor, so check out their gear as well.
Hope this helps,
'fooz
Road Captain
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 744
Likes: 8
From: Pluto
Take a look at Vanson's Ventmax 4 mesh jacket. I have the earlier ventmax 3 version. I went with this jacket because it is made of 1000 denier cordura nylon which has a high abrasion resistance factor and is not a coated nylon which would melt into your skin on a slide. The jacket is fully armored and when wearing it it feels like your wearing a t-shirt.
Advanced
Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
From: Texas
I bought this jacket from Leather Up, very happy with it, warm when I need it, cool when it's warmer, the armor is light weight and you don't really notice it. Happy with the purchase, and as stated before, order a size up than you usually wear.
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Mens-Moto...d-A/42543.html
http://www.leatherup.com/p/Mens-Moto...d-A/42543.html
Last edited by Fire1Tex; Mar 28, 2012 at 09:25 PM. Reason: edit url
6th Gear
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: London, OH
I have been wearing a Joe Rocket Phoenix mesh jacket. It has a zip in liner to make it waterproof and with fleece jacket under it I'm good down in the 30s in the winter. I have wore it in the high 90s and it's good as long as your moving. Size wise they seem to run about a size small.
Road Captain
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 621
Likes: 3
From: N CA
I wear 1st Gear jackets & pants - I have 2 sets - Mesh for summer & a solid for winter - If you really want to do it right also but LD riding under-wear - LD comes in short sleeve & long - bottoms also come in short & long - little expensive and well worth it - makes a bunch of difference summer & winter - took me a long time but finally I listened to my BMW friends - I used to think they were nuts wearing jackets all zipped up in the summer - there is a reason they do that - water down the under ware - every couple of hours so much cooler - tom
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5th Gear
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 9
Likes: 0
From: stthomas
Get something that you will wear. Took a major hit from the back a couple of years ago on an interstate. Heavy leather boots, FC leather overpants, FC jacket, FC gloves, HJC helment. Lots of broken bones, zero road rash. 5 months in 3 different hospitals. Invest in yourself. Get some gear and wear it.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,598
Likes: 3
From: 27°51' N, 082°17' W
Have a Joe Rocket mesh jacket that is just OK. Have a Poker Run II textile jacket with shoulder, elbow and backpad that also has a zip out liner. I love this jacket but that being said - here in Florida I find it hard to wear anything but jeans, t-Shirt and half helmet from April through October. This year March has been pretty tough to wear any kind of jacket. I usually wear a pair of leather driving gloves but they really wouldn't provide much protection.