Motorcycle Culture II

The overall plan was to get safer with my motorcycle commute the work. After being in the U.K., I decided to pull out the old two piece leathers and start wearing them to work everyday that I rode. I figured if I used to go to the trouble to commute via bicycle and change in and out of bike clothes at either end of the commute, I should be able to do the same with leathers.

Well, my bike clothes - even in winter- were way easier to change in and out of then my old leathers. The zippers were a bit busted and the leather seemed to have shrunk considerably. I attribute that to wearing these only in the rain my last season of racing.

So there was a change of plans. The old leathers too much a P.I.T.A. to try and sell were donated to a local hyena looking for some safer attire, and I went back to the drawing board.

I have a couple of what Jen calls "James Dean leather jackets" (black with snaps and buckles) that I've been wearing for years. The obvious solution would be to get matching pants (without snaps and buckles of course) and be done with it. That works fine if you're riding some fat hog, but I'm riding a little 250 Ninja. Hell, the full race leathers were a stretch for that one.

The last alternative is textiles. There's a whole line of riding gear that's made from tough fabrics like cordura. It has hard plastic armor where you really need it, but otherwise the jackets and pants are fabric. It's cheaper then leather and comes with the philosophy that it only has to protect you once.

Yeah it looks like a giant rain suit and provides excellent weather protection, but does it really work? Who knows. Let's hope I never have to find out.

Truth is abrasion is the least of your concerns on the road. It's the most likely on the track, but on the road it's impact you have to worry about and leather isn't going to protect you from that.

Why the funny poses? Way back when I was looking for my first set of leathers, I would look through catalog after catalog of motorcycle gear. The models always did these silly poses to show off the gear. I'm not sure why, because it always looked stupid.

- b