What do you guys think of this riding gear?

[dannylightning]

i also have harley boots, they rock and the seem to set much more comfortably on my foot pegs than any other shoes or boots i have. they are comfortable also.

out of the jackets you have listed there i like the yellow one. i had that kind of style jacket before but it just did not suit me so i sold it and got something else a little less motorcycle racer, sport bike looking i might just go back to my old leather coat tho.

[sneakercat]

I have the FieldSheer Congo textile jacket (http://www.kneedraggers.com/details/Fie ... 52550.html)- a little different from the Air Mesh one that you're looking at (#2), but I imagine they're pretty comparable other than material. So far I love it, though being a n00b I have very limited experience. Mine is heavy and warm enough for me to wear in the current 40ish degree weather we're having right now, but has a zip out liner that I think will make it just right when we hit our summer temps in the low 80's. Not sure how *anyone* rides with protective gear once it gets into the 90's, but then again given the choice of sweat or become road pizza, well, that's not much of a choice, is it??

I've not yet decided on the footwear yet, so currently am wearing 6" steel toe work boots.

Best of luck to you-

[dannylightning]

Originally Posted by sneakercat

Not sure how *anyone* rides with protective gear once it gets into the 90's, but then again given the choice of sweat or become road pizza, well, that's not much of a choice, is it?? .

Memphis Tennessee, 107 degrees and humid as it gets where you feel 30 lbs heavier from all the humidity and your sweaty and sticky as you can get and these sport bike guys are wearing full heavy duty racing suits and full face helmets, all i could do is think how can they stand it.

i prefer barefoot and wearing nothing but speedo's when its that hot :lol: ok ok not really but i do go out in my harley boots jeans and a t shirt and nothing more and no i don't need you all to tell me how dangerous that is or any thing else along those lines.

when its not really hot outside i wear my icon strong arm jacket with armor when it's not too damn hot out. that armor is nice it can take a beating from what i can tell, had some one punch me in the shoulder pads a few times a little harder each time and i never felt any thing. http://www.revzilla.com/product/icon...garm-13-jacket mine does not have any patches on it, i kind of wish i would have got this one, it's rockabilly looking.

[burkbuilds]

SC, remember, you are in Vermont, as Danny pointed out, it get's a little warmer down south and there's always the risk of overheating to the point of passing out which also leads to crashing, so yeah, when I'm bundled up for Winter riding I am wearing a lot of protective gear because it keeps me warm not just because it would protect me better in a fall. Like Danny, I tend to drop the gear proportionally as the weather gets hot, and yes I've ridden in jeans and a T-Shirt when it's near 100 degrees around here. Like Danny, I always have on my boots and maybe unlike Danny, I don't ride in shorts (ever burned your leg on a motorcycle exhaust?) well, that's another story. Basically my personal belief is that the gear will keep you from getting scraped up in a fall, but it probably won't save your life in a collision if your wreck is bad enough to kill you without the gear. If you want safety, drive a dump truck, death rates per million miles driven in a dump truck are about 1/4 that of cars which are 36 times safer per million miles driven than motorcycles. I'm fully aware of the fact that I'm putting myself in harms way every time I ride my bike and no amount of safety gear is likely to save my life in a severe crash, might make the corpse less scraped up, but won't save me from dying. It will however keep most of my hide on me in the event of a non fatal crash and that is definitely worth considering, but don't be fooled into thinking it will keep you from dying in a severe crash. I guess what I'm saying is that it's a choice everyone should make with good information. Some riders will decide that it's to limiting and destroys the reason they ride in the first place to have on a lot of safety gear, others will decide that they'd rather have on everything available no matter how much it cost and how restrictive it feels, most of us fall somewhere in the middle, but it doesn't make us idiots, just people exercising their right to choose what risks they are willing to take in life. I mean lets face it, some people are such big risk takers that they will even ride in a Toyota! :retard:

[dannylightning]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

some people are such big risk takers that they will even ride in a Toyota! :retard:

hahahah, i always ride in my boots, they go half way up my leg, and they have more sole height witch is nice since i am short and when the ground is on a big crown (the street is curved a lot) i can stilll touch both feel flat on the ground with my boots, instead of one foot flat and one foot on my tippy toes when i wear tennis shoes, i intend to get a new seat that will lower the seating height too,

[mrlmd1]

FYI - denim isn't worth a shit when you're sliding down the road. It is cotton and has absolutely no abrasion resistance. Everyone wears jeans though, not usually riding pants, but for a jacket? The armor on the elbows and shoulders won't keep the skin from being rubbed off your back.

[zenbutcher]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

It will however keep most of my hide on me in the event of a non fatal crash and that is definitely worth considering, but don't be fooled into thinking it will keep you from dying in a severe crash.

I suppose this is what I wear gear for. It's not that I'm afraid of dying, for I have made peace with my maker in that event. No, I wear gear so that I'm not spending a week in bed picking gravel out of my butt cheeks, elbows, and palms. If there's one thing I've learned in my short 36 years, it's this: pain hurts.

[dannylightning]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

FYI - denim isn't worth a shit when you're sliding down the road. It is cotton and has absolutely no abrasion resistance. Everyone wears jeans though, not usually riding pants, but for a jacket? The armor on the elbows and shoulders won't keep the skin from being rubbed off your back.

it has a layer of armor in the back also.

[Water Warrior 2]

When I was in Tenn back in 07 it was very hot and humid. This is what I wore:
JR Alter Ego riding pants
Mesh jacket
Armored leather riding gloves with perferations for air flow
Full face helmet
Tall protective riding boots

That said, yes I was hot. Not as hot as I have been on other rides but not totally comfy either. The mesh gear allows air flow without direct sunshine on your body. Air flow naturally stops when you stop but that applies to any clothing. There is gear out there that will be comfy enough and still offer protection in case of an incident. Buy it, wear it, stay healthy.

[sneakercat]

Originally Posted by burkbuilds

SC, remember, you are in Vermont, as Danny pointed out, it get's a little warmer down south and there's always the risk of overheating to the point of passing out which also leads to crashing, so yeah, when I'm bundled up for Winter riding I am wearing a lot of protective gear because it keeps me warm not just because it would protect me better in a fall.

I grew up in southern Alabama and unfortunately remember all to well the feeling of walking out of an air conditioned building only to be jumped by Mother Nature who then proceeded to wrap a wet, microwaved wool blanket tight around my nostrils and mouth, strangling me- oh, wait- that was just the humidity hitting me! :neener: Seriously, though- I am very glad not to have to deal with the kind of temps that folks have mentioned in this thread. Not sure what I would do in those situations- and happy to only have a week or so in August here in VT that it may become an issue!

What I'm hoping for with protective gear is to keep my skin (or at least most of it) attached to my bones. Water Warrior asked in my "Introduce yourself" posting what it is that I do at my hospital- welp, I'm an ICU RN, which means that I've had many chances to examine up close and personal the ground beef on a stretcher that is a biker post-accident. I don't mind so much the dying risk of motorcycling- we're all gonna die someday, like it or not- but I'd prefer to keep all my outer layer intact until such time! Which, really, is why I'm on a 250 to start with, why I'm heeding the advice of my betters, why I'm actively taking steps to learn how to ride "Proficiently"- why, in effect, I'm ignoring 33 years of Testosterone influence on my brain. ;-)

I forgot to say in my OP, zenbutcher, that I'm a short fellow at 5'4" with a bit of a potbelly, and the Fieldsheer jacket fits just right. There's straps for adjusting sleeve and hip width that really work to individually fit it well.