The must have gear…
Wednesday, April 26th, 2006 at 10:33 pm by AngiPants
Here is what gear I must have and why. 
For starters:
*Leather Motorcycle Jacket - Leather protects your skin from road rash. Most motorcycle leather is cow hide. My jacket in the picture is lamb. There are a bunch of other hides on the market that are usable as protection from road-rash. Like I said, Cow is the most common. Lamb is not recommended as it is thinner than and not as durable as Cow against abrasion. (The zipper on my cow jacket broke, so this is my fallback jacket.) I have heard that the ideal leather to wear is Kangaroo as it is extremely abrasion resistant and lighter than Cow hide.
Since my lamb jacket doesn’t have any quilted lining, I wear a light knitted/quilted jacket underneath it when it gets chilly. My cow jacket has a removable quilted lining.
The best jacket to get is one with armor or padding in it along the spine and at the elbows. There are also many synthetic alternatives to leather, most which come with armor.
*Chaps – My chaps are cow hide with a light nylon lining. While chaps are very important for safety gear, I have to admit that the main reason I wear mine is the warmth factor. If you insist on riding in jeans, which you might as well ride bare legged if you do, there is a company called Draggin’ Jeans that puts removable armor in the jeans at the hips and knees.
*Boots – I bought my boots at Sketcher. They are leather with a rubber sole and very durable. With boots what you are mostly looking for is ankle protection, and good grip on the bottom. I tried on a few Harley boots, figuring they would be especially designed for cruisers, but found them very stiff and uncomfortable. Few even had padding in the inside. My boots were bought for $60.00 total and that was for a brown pair and a black pair. I prefer the brown to the black as the black have buckles and a tongue on the front and a zipper on the side. When it is very windy or rainy, they both manage to work their way in around the tongue of the boot. The brown pair just zip on the side and are more weather resilient.
*Gloves – I am a glove fanatic. I must have at least 5 pairs. I have a fingerless pair; a regular leather pair; a nylon pair; a thick, padded, gauntlet style pair; and a pair of snowboarding gloves.
The snowboarding gloves were purchased during the rainy season I was riding my bike and said they were water proof. To test this I put my hand in them and stuck it under a faucet. On that test they passed. However, about a week after wearing the gloves in the waterfall that was California during the winter of ’04, the gloves were not even water resistant. In fact they seemed to adsorb the water.
The fingerless pair I wear when it is hot, as well as the nylon pair. The leather pair I wear when I don’t want my fingers to get cold, and layer them with a pair of felt gloves I bought at Old Navy on those slightly chilly days. The gauntlet pair are nice and padded and fit perfect over my jacket sleeves. They are the best for cold riding. The snowboarding gloves have been kicked out on their thumbs and are never to be spoken of again.
*Helmet – I know it’s not pictured, but I still wear one. I have a ½ helmet (size XXS), a full face helmet (size child S/M) and a shortie helmet (size XS). The full face is my oldest and my most worn. It is the best for cold days and for a quick jaunt around the neighborhood. My ½ helmet hasn’t been used much since the purchase of my shortie. I look like a mushroom head in the ½ since they use the same helmet shell as the medium sized helmet and just put more padding in it to make it a XXS. My shortie is my favorite. It fits really well, and matched perfectly the burgundy color of my Vulcan. I had it pinstriped black and silver at the Easy Rider show by Hot Dog and LOVE IT! It is not the best helmet for cold weather riding, even with a face mask.
*Other – My additional accessories are a dickie, a face mask, and several pairs of assorted goggles and sunglasses. The dickie is basically a mock turtleneck that keeps my neck nice and toasty. The face mask is made of neoprene and fits under my full face helmet in a pinch. It is mostly used with my ½ and shortie helmets. The goggles are used with the open helmets and the sunglasses used under my full face visor. I have yet to find a tinted visor for my full face helmet.
So, that is it!! I should make myself into a paper doll so you can dress me in all of my gear! That would be funny.
Please leave any questions or comments, or reminders of any gear I may have left out, or any gear you CAN NOT live without.
Peace out.
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I wear everything you wear with one addition in the winter or cold weather. Under my motorcycle jacket I have recently added my REI Windless Jacket. It is great at cutting any wind that gets through and help to keep me warm. It’s thin and fits well under my jacket. I just love it.
I alway wear a helmet, but the one thing I love is a tinted shield to wear during the day. I don’t know about anybody else, but sunglasses kept shifting and I hated it. If I know I will be out after dark, I carry the clear shield. I know changing the shields is a pain, but to me it’s so worth it. Changing shields isn’t hard with my style of helmet.
Just a note about something I discovered. Like your tires, keep an eye on the bottom tread of your boots. We tend to forget this. My boots were well worn and it wasn’t till I got the new boots that I realized my traction wasn’t so great with the older boots. I now keep an eye on the boot tread.
Thanks for a very informative article.