Motorcycle rider gear has come a
VERY long way in the past few years. For my first cross country trips, “gear”
consisted primarily of a helmet, gloves, hiking boots, and a ski parka. What would have happened if a high speed
mishap occurred while wearing a ski parka?
Not pretty.
In 2014 riders enjoy a plethora
of choices. When I go out for a ride
today I’m wearing gear that cost more than my first motorcycle. In fact, more
than my first four motorcycles. Added together!
As with all quality gear, the assurance of comfort and greatly enhanced
safety brings peace of mind at the start of the ride, and after all, isn’t
peace of mind what many of us are looking for at the end of the ride? In short, the cost of quality gear is always
worth it.
Back in the day, a leather jacket
and pants were the Mt. Everest of gear to aspire to, and many old coots still
prefer them. As an old coot myself, I
still wear my custom fitted leather pants whenever the weather is not too
foul. For one thing, a custom fitted set
of leather pants is a strong motivation to not gain weight. For another, you
gosh darn look so cool, don’t you?
Maybe.
In recent years I’ve switched to
a textile jacket all the time and textile pants for most of the rest of my
rides. In fact, I own three textile
jackets. There’s a long story of how I came to own three, but we’ll leave that
for another time. They have so many advantages, but…and there always seems to
be a “but.” With textiles, there are
several such “buts,” and added together they make a compelling case for
carrying a Nelson-Rigg rain suit with you on every ride.
Most textile gear is advertised
as being “water resistant.” You’ll soon
learn the difference between “resistant” and “proof” on a ride of more than 20
minutes. Most textile pants and suits
have what is termed (insert brand name) “crotch,” which can make arrival at
your destination or office interesting, to put it mildly. Taking two minutes to pull on rain pants
before the ride can save you the agony of many mildly embarrassed stares. The
outright laughter as you explain yourself can be worse.
Of course, it does not rain all
the time. It just seems that way if you ride in the Seattle area. I’ve found that my leather pants will allow
me to “cheat” for an hour or two. The cost of not spending the two minutes for
the rain pants is the need for more frequent treatment of the leather with your
choice of spendy cleaning and “feeding” goos and ointments. Oddly enough, this
can vary with the motorcycle. I used to own a sport touring bike where, in a
downpour, water would run off the tank bag and drip right onto the expandable
panels at the knees. Soon I’d have rivers of refreshing chilled water running
down into my socks. A rain suit is a better idea.
All three of my textile jackets
shed most of the water, but not all of it. Over time, the jacket and pants
become sodden, and worse – heavy. I’ve
had my textile jacket get so heavy it actually began to affect my ability to
make rapid changes in the operation of the motorcycle. And then, when you take
them off, they take much longer to dry, as in in days, than they did to get
wet. Sometimes even hanging up overnight
in a motel room is not enough. My record for drying time is three days!
Worse, if the rain you’re riding
in stops, you have a completely different problem. In the great state of Georgia in the summer,
for instance, it rains for about 20 minutes every hour or so, and then stops.
When it stops you are riding in 20 pounds of sodden gear that is evaporating,
and suddenly you are cold. In some cases; extremely cold. To test this, wait for a windy day in your
area. Put on jeans and a sweatshirt and stand in the shower for 5 minutes. Now
go outside and stand in the wind. In
just a minute or two you will struggle to get out the words “D-d-d-damn, that’s
c-c-c-cold!
Another factor is cleanliness.
There are some who hold to the “I bought this bike to ride, not to wash”
philosophy (which I always thought was just plain silly – and I worked for a
BMW dealer!) and prefer to wash their bike and gear as seldom as possible, or
not at all. This evidently makes you look more like a “real” motorcyclist. That’s not how I was raised, and I like a
clean bike and a (relatively) clean me.
When you ride in the rain your textile jacket absorbs a lot of road
slop. This is not too noticeable on most
riding pants, which are usually black and don’t seem to show much crud. My
jackets, on the other hand, quickly turn toward the muddy gray band of the
color spectrum. In particular, the neon green high visibility one looks like it
was hit by a shotgun loaded with mud pellets.
All of these issues can be
resolved quickly and easily with a Nelson-Rigg rain suit, at a cost that makes
them possibly the most reasonably priced gear available. You can purchase a
two-piece rain suit for $40, which around here equals just a few daily visits
to a Starbucks. Even the best Nelson Rigg rain gear is under $100.
Even better, your rain suit can
be rolled up and stored in virtually no space at all. On many motorcycles
there’s enough room under the seat. For
a few bucks more you can add some Nelson-Rigg Waterproof Rain boot covers for
complete protection.
And last, there’s the issue of
cold. Whether on a short ride or a cross country jaunt, there will be times
when Mom Nature decides to throw some cold your way that your gear and liner
and shirt and sweater and whatever find more than challenging. Simple. As the rain gear is impervious to
water, it also makes a fantastic wind block, and you’ll be comfortable for much
longer at much lower temperatures.
Endurance sports car racing teams
spend a lot of time on something you might not think about – keeping the driver
comfortable. They’ve found that a driver in a comfortable seat with enough
heating or cooling, ample ventilation, and neck, back, and hip support, is much
faster for a much longer stint, which is the whole idea.
Very few things on a motorcycle
will make you as miserable as being wet and cold. Such conditions sap your
energy, and your brain spends a valuable percentage of its resources (your
results may vary) thinking about how cold and wet you are and thus, less on
what you’re doing and the rapidly changing scenario in front of you. Being
comfortable, warm, and dry can literally make all the difference. With the
price so reasonable, a quality Nelson-Rigg rain suit is a very cost-effective
investment in the quality of your ride.
For more of David’s writings,
please go to www.davidpreston.biz
