| Motorcycle Protective Clothing |
13 Feb |
Everything that goes in the name of protective gear may not necessarily be as safe as the claims may be. In Europe, for example, apparel has to undergo a series of lengthy tests to qualify as safety clothing. These include abrasion, tearing and impact tests. If they are passed they are CR certified. In the US, where there are no such tests all riders should acquire a set of motorcycle protective clothing by keeping the following points in mind:
1. Wear a sturdy pair of high boots and protective pants. Your pants should be reinforced at the knees and hips and the boots should be made of thick leather with flexible sole.
2. Traditional motorcycle gear has been made of leather, but thick nylon and other synthetic material are good too. If you must wear jeans wear Kevlar ones; they are more abrasion resistant. The same goes for jackets too. If it is made of leather make sure the leather is thick and the jackets elbows and shoulders are reinforced. Some impact protection would be ideal.
3. Get yourself a decent pair of gloves with reinforced palm patches. This is absolutely essential because palms get terribly bruised during a fall. Knitted Kevlar is a very good choice; reinforced leather works well too.
4. Wear impact protection gear. They are available separately. You can also go for motorcycle clothing with a degree of impact protection built in. This way whenever you wear clothes you have at least a degree of protection.
5. Choose the right helmet. This is absolutely imperative. The helmet is the most important protective gear that you can have, never get on to the bike without it.
At the minimum, when you are on your bike you must have the following:
a. Helmet: Make sure it is DOT certified, and fits your head snugly.
b. Eye Protection: A full-face shield, three-quarter helmet, goggles, or close-fitting eyeglasses should be used to provide adequate protection to the eye.
c. Gloves: Since we reflexively put our hands out while falling, the palms are likely to get bruised unless there is protective covering on them. This is why gloves are so important.
d. Jacket: Jackets protect the bikers against the elements and also provide some impact absorption on falling.
e. Long trousers: Long trousers can protect your legs against insects, bugs and highway debris. They also provide some impact protection against falls.
f. Above-the-ankle footwear: These cushion your feet in case of a fall; they also protect your feet against stinging insects.
Tags: Abrasion Resistant, Adequate Protection, Decent Pair, Eye Protection, Eyeglasses, Face Shield, Helmet, High Boots, Impact Protection, Impact Tests, Kevlar, Motorcycle Clothing, Motorcycle Gear, Motorcycle Protective Clothing, Protective Gear, Protective Pants, Safety Clothing, Sturdy Pair, Synthetic Material, Thick LeatherRelated posts
read comments (0)| Finding Quality Motorcycle Jackets At A Reasonable Price |
13 Nov |
I can still remember the day I went and picked up my very first bike. I didn’t have a motorcycle jacket period so I used an old leather jacket that I had hanging in the closet. Little did I know that motorcycle jackets aren’t just made to look cool but that they have many life saving protective features built in to them. That is to say at least the ones that are made for sport bikes. Most of your traditional leather jackets like Fonzie used to wear don’t offer much real protection in the way of impact, however they do protect your skin from road rash if you actually buy a quality leather jacket that is made from thick leather.
Since that first day I have bought several motorcycle jackets. I bought my very first one made by Fieldsheer from an online site that sold used riding apparel. It cost me about $250. That seems like a lot but I have had that jacket for 8 years now and its still in great shape, besides that it offers re enforced panels and body armor in all the contact areas making it much safer for me if I do go down. For a quality motorcycle jacket that is made from a high grade leather and is properly stitched and re enforced $250 to $350 is a very reasonable price. You can find cheap generic no name jackets for much less, however the quality of those is really bad. I will tell you a story about buying one of those generic made in Pakistan type riding jackets in a sec. Anyhow I would go with a Quality name brand when it comes to motorcycle apparel. Icon motorcycle jackets and gear are probably the most popular these days and Icon doe make quality stuff that is always stylish to boot. The nice thing about Icon is that you will likely be able to find boots and gloves as well as a pair of riding pants to go with the jacket. Icon also makes some really nice jackets made from a Kevlar mesh that offer about the same protection as their leather counterparts but are great for riding in warm weather. If you live in a place like Houston like I do you know that most of the year its super hot so having a mesh jacket is a big plus. I have one of each myself. Ok back to the cheap jacket part. A few years back I bought a classic motorcycle jacket for one of my girlfriends. We were riding on my chopper a lot so it made sense to go that route. I went to a local place and found a jacket for about $100 and bought it. I thought I got a good deal. Well no I got a really cheap motorcycle jacket. The leather ended up tearing on the jacket within a month around the zippers. Then the zipper went south. That is the last time I bought a generic jacket.
When you start looking for a motorcycle jacket at a cheap price start looking on the web. You are much more likely to run in to a good deal then at your local dealer unless you have a friend at the dealership you are going to pay full nut there plus tax. Most online motorcycle shops will carry quality apparel by companies like, Joe Rocket, Alpinestars, Icon, AgvSport and Arlen Ness to name some of the more popular ones. Most online shops will offer the same jackets at a discount off somewhere around 10 to 15 percent off and unless they are in your state their is no tax to be paid. I know some people are still leery of buying stuff online, however rest assured that most online merchants are quite reputable. If you have any doubts some of the things to look for is that they give you a phone number to call, their is a contact us section that lets you email them, when you go thru the checkout process make sure the little lock appears at the top or at the bottom of your browser showing that the checkout section is encrypted. If you do run in to a place that is way cheaper then anyone else always ask yourself why. Most of the dealers online buy their products from the same source so if one guy is super cheap that may be an indication of something shady going on. Also on a side note if you don’t mind buying used stuff cheap you can try ebay. I have bought some really good stuff from there for next to nothing.
Tags: Body Armor, Fieldsheer, Grade Leather, Great Shape, Icon Motorcycle Jackets, Motorcycle Apparel, Motorcycle Jacket, Nice Thing, Old Leather, Protective Features, Quality Leather, Quality Motorcycle Jackets, Quality Name Brand, Riding Apparel, Riding Jackets, Road Rash, Sport Bikes, Thick Leather, Traditional Leather, Warm WeatherRelated posts
