Topic: Mesh jackects and protection

[stevenmgrr]

Okay,

I am in the process of accumulating my riding gear.  I already have my helmet, gloves and boots.  I'm looking at some riding pants (kevlar/jeans).  My question is about jackets. 

Originally I was going to purchase a leather jacket, after all, that is what motorcycle riders wear, right.  Well considering most, if not all of my riding will be in summer temperatures, and the recommendations of some very helpful salespeople, I have been looking at textiles and mesh jackets.  I know that obviously that leather is the best, well I should say good leather.  But do these modern textiles and mesh jackets perform well when it comes to protection? 

My riding will be mostly rural roads with some highway.

Thanks
Steve M

[eldar]

Well of course leather is the best, as you say, but textiles offer very good protection too. Many leather jackets do not have the armor and padding that a textile does. I say many as I know some do. You generally get thick elbow and shoulder pads and a back pad. Some are padded around the neck too.

Things to look for are strong stitching with a double stitch minimum. Zippers, metal is obviously better.
Material thickness, thinner will be lighter and generally cooler but also weaker.

There are jackets with both textile and leather. Leather is used on the areas generally associated with higher abrasion.

[Uncle Ernie]

I'd say around 75% of the "serious" riders around here have dumped theri Aerostich and got Olympia Moto Sports gear.  The 3 season thing is quite versatile.

My summer gear is a denim vest so my T-shirt won't blow up under my armpits.

[medic09]

I  honestly don't know what research, if any, establishes the effectiveness of mesh.  Aerostich claims that their textiles (not mesh) are comparable or better than leather.  I dunno if that's quite the case, I like to see research based evidence.

Note that professional racers still wear leather, AFAIK.

Having said all that, it gets hot as hell here in NM and the rest of the SW.  So, the wife and I have leather jackets (and I have Aerostich Roadcrafter pants) for much of the year; but in the summer we've switched to mesh.  Mesh jackets and mesh pants, with removable liners.  We really like our Cortech jackets so far.  I just got the GX Air, mesh with leather.  My flight partner at Med Flight wears a Roadcrafter suit much of the year, and a BMW mesh thing in summer.

I noticed you'll be wearing jeans with kevlar.  That's probably better than just jeans; but consider mesh overpants.  I believe, based only on personal observations-not scientific evidence, that the extra layer may be the difference between nasty road rash and skin grafts.  Sometimes I'm amazed by how not hurt my patients are; but some get really ugly wounds.    Once I got my wife to try the mesh overpants (she likes her Draggin Jeans), she agreed they weren't any hotter.

Glad to hear you'll be wearing helmet, gloves, and boots.

Ride safely!

[eldar]

Overpants are good. I am going to be getting some. You can get any pants you want. If they are not overpants, just get them a size larger to fit over your clothes.

[nickjtc]

Do you want to sweat or bleed? That is the choice that we make when we get our riding gear.

Remember that there are two 'components' to the typical oopsy: 1) the initial impact (with the road, tree, car or whatever) which is what the armour is for under whatever you wear, then 2) the slide along the road afterwards. Competition weight, motorcycle specific leather, is the best for this. Then heavy weight textile (Aerostich and others), then lightweight textile, mesh and denim in decreasing order of protection. And of course the whole body has to be protected.....kind of redundant to do a 'good' job or protecting your top half and then ride in jeans.

Bottom line: any motorcycle specific gear, covering your whole body, is better than non-motorcycle specific......but when it comes to summer time comfort, do you want to sweat or bleed?

[eldar]

I think some of the heat issue can be helped if people stop thinking they need black.
I got a silver helmet and for the most part, I stay pretty cool, even when it is 90+. Silver will always be cooler than black no matter the heat since it reflects the sunlight instead of absorbing it.
My jacket is mostly grey with just a little black. the black is on the armor areas so the heat does not penetrate much.
Pants however seem to be hard to find in anything other than black.