Talk to me about gear

[kblahetka]

I live in Illinois where helmes are few and far beween. When I started ridng at 20 I never wore one. Eventually kids came along and I started wearing a half helmet. I've been thinking a lot about this lately and have decided I want to go full face, jacket, and gloves. Do any of you wear full leather pants all the time?

Anyway, those who ride in a summer jacket, how bad is it? Same question goes with a full face. also, anyone know anyplace that makes summer riding gloves in plus sized, my hands are the **** of giants.

 

[ksquared]

I wear this Arai RX-Q all year round - even in Florida's summer heat. My head's worth it.

I do not wear leather pants, but I do wear kevlar(c) lined jeans by Sliders - available at Competition Accessories.

For summer weight gloves I like Olympia's Air Force 760's

My jacket is Tourmaster's Intake:

but I have to admit - I occasionally leave the jacket behind on our warmest and most humid days.

 

[Wetrudgeon]

Prefer AGATT, but in the summer heat it is hard to wear. We wear a mesh jacket (Joe Rocket) in the summer heat, light color much preferred over black. Can't handle a full face helmet. Usually a half. Mesh gloves, jeans and boots. Too hot for much else down here, but this is our minimum. The heat coming off the Beast's big ole motor helps not at all...

We trudge on.

 

[HansO]

Flow thru Summer jacket are a good investment MotoDry (is another brand) make several jacket and are comfortable even on the hottest days, according to their blurb the mesh comes together and still offers abrasion protection

 

[cadconversions]

I have a Speed and Strength Jacket I wear all the time - even during summer. It flows air well and I find that it's cooler in the summer when I'm moving because I'm not exposed to the sun rays.

ALWAYS wear my Arai Signet-Q full face and with the vents opened up - it flows enough air to keep it cool (not behind a windshield). I also got some AWESOME gloves by Held... http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/held-steve-classic-gloves

 

[TURBO200R4]

i read info that one out of three accidents the rider lands on his chin. when i thought about it i figured that when your hands hit the pavement they would fold right back and you would land on your chin. i wear a full helmet it gets real hot at 110 degrees but its really nice in the winter.
in the summer i just wear the fingerless gloves. i know it will be hard on me if i fall.

ksquared is those kevar jeans much hotter than regular jeans,and what do they sell for.

 

[ksquared]

Forgot about my boots


Tourmaster Solution 2.0 for the rainy season:

For drier days, Icon Tarmacs:

 

[R3Tex]

I would love to say that I wear all my gear every time I get on the bike but that would be less than truthful...I wear a Cortech armored jacket that has a a zip out waterproof liner and a zip out insulated liner. It worked down to 29F on a recent trip to Florida and is reasonably comfortable in the summer until temps reach 100F and after that I don't think there is much on the market that will keep you from melting. I have a pretty bad habit of wearing a half helmet (DOT approved...not an HD imitation one) until temps are below about 60F, then I go to a Shark Evoline 3 Full face. I wear a variety of glove...leather fingerless in the summer, lightweight leather full finger when it gets a little cooler, and KLIM snowmobile gloves in the winter. I tend to wear heavy buffalo leather chaps in cooler and wet weather and nothing but jeans when it is hot. I always wear Redwing waterprof steel toed lace ups on my feet...regardless of weather

 

[Marky Mark]

I'm not an ATGATT nazi, but I'm a lot more cautious about gear than I used to be, realizing that injuries that would heal in a month or two at age 25 could be debilitating at 50.

I never ride without a full face (flip front), gloves, work or engineer boots, and frequently wear knee guards under my jeans. I wear an armored jacket except in the really brutal summer humidity. Im considering upgrading to more motorcycle-specific boots and some Kevlar jeans or some other type of armored riding pants. Every time I'm tempted to move away from a full-face helmet, I think of some of the studies that indicate about a quarter to a third of crashes result in face plants! There is some debate over boots as to whether motorcycle-specific boots offer statistically significant improvement over work boots.

 

[Greggry]

I wear a Shoei RF1100 because after trying on 20 helmets it was the only one that fit and felt great. You can get it new for around 400$ or less for a plain one. From a comfort perspective there is a huge difference between it and a 140$ average helmet. I knew if it wast comfortable I wouldn't wear it. I have rode in 100 degree weather and it has been good. It tends to fog up a bit in colder weather but I bought wipes to help that.