About Riding Apparel

The first jacket. I got this for just $20. Its very comfortable in both warm weather and cool. Very functional.

The next jacket looked better, but its not as warm in cold weather and is definitely hotter in warm weather.

The third iteration. I died the pink panels in the leather jacket and made them black. It looks better.

I'm realizing that the apparel one wears is really rather like the body on a car. If you want the car to look good, it has to have a nice paint job and be clean, etc. If you want your "motorcycle" to look good, you have to have decent looking apparel. I would estimate you should figure on spending $500 on clothes when you buy a new bike, just to look good.

When I got into motorcycling, I was after functional and cheap. I didn't worry too much about appearance.. I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on clothes if I wasn't going to stick with riding. As a consequence, I've had sort of an evolution of jackets, trying to get the right balance of appearance and function.

I first bought a leather jacket for $20. Its a very comfortable and functional jacket... heavy leather with elbow & shoulder pads. The problem was that the coloring was a little strange- White, pink and black. I wanted white to show up better.*

Now regarding pants. I bought a nice pair of riding pants by Sheer. They have padded knees, and are waterproof and they have zippers on the sides. They are very functional. Unfortunately, I got them just a little bit short. They're great while standing up, but sitting down, they soon have the tops of my boots exposed and the bottom of my jeans. After using them for about a year, the leg zipper on the right side stuck and when I was working on it to get it unstuck, it came apart. I tried everything I knew to fix it, but haven't been able to.

Maybe someone could sew a new zipper in. I hate to through them away because of a bum zipper. I guess its and excuse to get a new pair -longer this time..

I think I can start to build a temperature/dress table:

Temp	Pants	Shirts	Gloves
85+	Jeans	Long sleeve w/o jacket	Light leather
60-85	Jeans only	Long sleaeves w/ Jacket	leather gloves
55-60	Jeans only- take over pants along for insurance		Leather gloves
45-55	Over pants	Long sleeves with jacket. Take additional long sleeves for insurance	leather gloves
35-55	Long underwear, jeans, over pants	Long sleeve shirt, sweater, & jacket. Add neckercheif around neck	Insulated leather gloves with extended cuffs

* During the Motorcycle Rider class I took, they showed a video of two riders side by side. One in black, one in light colors. It highlighted how the light colors are so much easier for drivers to see. A big saftey factor.