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92 Posts
Be safe, be seen!
For those new to motorcycling you will soon come to the monumentally mind-numbing decisoin of what the **** should I buy, clothing wise...
Your friends will tell you one thing, forums and articles may tell you another. Even people on here may have their own views.
The first indisputable point is that proper motorcycle clothing saves lives. It absolutely saves you skin, muscles, and tendons. It will definitely mean that any nasty crash will leave you with less problems an less recovery time.
You see riders out in shorts and tshorts with Nike trainers - Ok, they wear a helmet (which is still the most important safety item of all) but the slightest slide along the road will effectively de-skin them at the contact points. I know people who have crashed and skidded in protective clothing which has then melted due to the heat built up by friction. Add in small stones, debris, sand and dirt and one can imagine the mess it would make of bare skin.
Normal jeans/jackets will shred away in about 1/5th of a second. It will do bugger all. Same with any normal clothing. You'd have to see it to believe it.
The following list covers both jackets and pants/trousers.
1. Leather is best for abrasion resistance. Safety usually comes down to thickness. You can get away with 1.2 to 1.3 mm but 1.4 is better.
2. High quality textile is next best. Look out for words such as Cordura, goretex, ballistic nylon, polyamide and triple stitched.
3. Normal textile is next best. Cheaper prices will skimp out on thickness or armour.
Armour/Armor
Some jackets and pants will have this as standard. You should be looking out for a protection certification called CE. This means that the armour has reached a certain level of protection.
Armour will almost certainly be in the knees on trousers, and in the elbows and shoulders on jackets.
However, this is another area where paying more may make a huge difference on potential injuries.
Get a jacket with CE armour in the elbows, shoulders AND back.
Get pants with CE armour in the knees AND hips.
Some iteams will have extra external padding in these areas.
Ideally, you should have Level 2 CE armour, budget permitting.
Level 1 is standard and fine.
Lastly, jackets and pants that have adjustment capability everywhere are better as yiou can influence the position of armour and also how well the garments fit you and dont move in the event of an accident.
Ok, lastly now...
You will also find other safety clothing such as under-armour which looks like a Terminator from the movies, or padded underpants.
Anything is better than nothing. Do your research and try the stuff on first, even if you end up buying it later, second hand on Ebay, etc.
This is especially true of pants.. I had a bloody nightmare trying to get the armour in the right places. I went in the store thinking I had normal length legs, normal sized thighs and perfect knees. I walked out depressed, not having found any pants and believing I actually had shorter legs than average, skinny legs and kneecaps that point outwards! :laugh:
Alrright, this is definitely the last point...
Bright yellow/orange or flourescent clothing....
Personally, I just cannot wear it as it grates on me when I see my reflection BUT is definitely helps drivers and other riders see you and that is the main thing.
Certainly, have reflective striping/patches here and there on your garments. Black stuff always seems to look the best. That is cool, just make sure that you have some reflective stuff somewhere.
For those new to motorcycling you will soon come to the monumentally mind-numbing decisoin of what the **** should I buy, clothing wise...
Your friends will tell you one thing, forums and articles may tell you another. Even people on here may have their own views.
The first indisputable point is that proper motorcycle clothing saves lives. It absolutely saves you skin, muscles, and tendons. It will definitely mean that any nasty crash will leave you with less problems an less recovery time.
You see riders out in shorts and tshorts with Nike trainers - Ok, they wear a helmet (which is still the most important safety item of all) but the slightest slide along the road will effectively de-skin them at the contact points. I know people who have crashed and skidded in protective clothing which has then melted due to the heat built up by friction. Add in small stones, debris, sand and dirt and one can imagine the mess it would make of bare skin.
Normal jeans/jackets will shred away in about 1/5th of a second. It will do bugger all. Same with any normal clothing. You'd have to see it to believe it.
The following list covers both jackets and pants/trousers.
1. Leather is best for abrasion resistance. Safety usually comes down to thickness. You can get away with 1.2 to 1.3 mm but 1.4 is better.
2. High quality textile is next best. Look out for words such as Cordura, goretex, ballistic nylon, polyamide and triple stitched.
3. Normal textile is next best. Cheaper prices will skimp out on thickness or armour.
Armour/Armor
Some jackets and pants will have this as standard. You should be looking out for a protection certification called CE. This means that the armour has reached a certain level of protection.
Armour will almost certainly be in the knees on trousers, and in the elbows and shoulders on jackets.
However, this is another area where paying more may make a huge difference on potential injuries.
Get a jacket with CE armour in the elbows, shoulders AND back.
Get pants with CE armour in the knees AND hips.
Some iteams will have extra external padding in these areas.
Ideally, you should have Level 2 CE armour, budget permitting.
Level 1 is standard and fine.
Lastly, jackets and pants that have adjustment capability everywhere are better as yiou can influence the position of armour and also how well the garments fit you and dont move in the event of an accident.
Ok, lastly now...
You will also find other safety clothing such as under-armour which looks like a Terminator from the movies, or padded underpants.
Anything is better than nothing. Do your research and try the stuff on first, even if you end up buying it later, second hand on Ebay, etc.
This is especially true of pants.. I had a bloody nightmare trying to get the armour in the right places. I went in the store thinking I had normal length legs, normal sized thighs and perfect knees. I walked out depressed, not having found any pants and believing I actually had shorter legs than average, skinny legs and kneecaps that point outwards! :laugh:
Alrright, this is definitely the last point...
Bright yellow/orange or flourescent clothing....
Personally, I just cannot wear it as it grates on me when I see my reflection BUT is definitely helps drivers and other riders see you and that is the main thing.
Certainly, have reflective striping/patches here and there on your garments. Black stuff always seems to look the best. That is cool, just make sure that you have some reflective stuff somewhere.
