No matter how hot it is, I always dress for the slide, not the ride.
Our bike is a 2019 Harley-Davidson FLHXSE Street Glide CVO in the colour Black Forest. It weighs 400kg and has a 1923cc engine. In addition, there are loads of idiots on the road, and you are so vulnerable on a motorbike.
So I always wear biker boots, leather trousers, a leather jacket, gloves, a buff and a helmet with the visor down. In colder weather I wear jeans under my trousers. In summer when it is very very hot, I change my full gloves to fingerless and my full jacket to a waistcoat. But never less than that. Laying a 400kg bike down at 120 km/h wearing shorts or leggings and a t-shirt is not going to end well.
We go on regular bike rallies and meets, and you never ever see people at rallies dressed as though they were going shopping or sunbathing. Our next rally is a 300km one on on 21 August, and I cannot wait.
I need a new helmet next year and I may go full-face and swap my leather trousers for Kevlar jeans, but we’ll see when it is time. My leather trousers are many years old and I have worn them in to be comfortable, no matter long the ride.
I have been trying new helmets recently and these two are my favourite so far. The one just below was really comfortable, and the bottom one is not a full face but offers better protection than an open-face helmet because the flip-up visor goes all the way down under your chin.
I absolutely agree with you as I was a biker for many years. Some people wondered why I still wore my proper gear in hot weather, but I’d heard some horrendous stories over the years of what gravel rash can do to you…
Who woulda thunk . . .
Well done, Janet. I totally agree, if you are on a bike, boots, gloves, helmet and protective clothing are essential. I hit a slew of unsigned gravel on a bend out in the country. The road had been recently relaid and the top dressing just thrown down and not rolled in or sealed. The law us it should have a warning sign, anyway I went down at only 40 mph and my full face, expensive helmet was very badly damaged and the Virago 1100 was a right off. I was badly bruised. If I’d not had the kit on my hands and face would have been totalled. So well done you. I love “dress for the slide, not the ride” !