Summer riding: jacket or no jacket

[FiveG]

but really... who wears leather pants when riding? From MotoGP to Rockerbox I never see guys wearing these unless they're heading to a track day. I want to know honestly who wears Leather Pants when they ride?

I've seen folks (and I did when I crashed) but regardless, there's plenty of protective textile pants out there.

[wannabfast]

but really... who wears leather pants when riding? From MotoGP to Rockerbox I never see guys wearing these unless they're heading to a track day. I want to know honestly who wears Leather Pants when they ride?

i leather up when i know im going to be riding on the twisties, otherwise i wear my leather jacket and jeans

[SupraGuy74]

but really... who wears leather pants when riding? From MotoGP to Rockerbox I never see guys wearing these unless they're heading to a track day. I want to know honestly who wears Leather Pants when they ride?

Every time i step over that bike i have my rstaichi leather pants on EVERYTIME. Let me reiterate something that just happened to me and it will make you think twice about not wearing gear. Took a walmart pedal bike and threw a motor kit on it. Was riding it doing a test run, making sure everything was good with shorts, sandals, and no helmet. Rear sprocket locked at 20mph. Threw me 25 feet, split my head open 4 inches, concussion, road rash on my arms, legs, feet, both shoulder blades and where the laceration on my head was. THIS WAS FROM A PEDAL BIKE. Do me a favor, dont be stupid wear you freaking gear every time you get on your bike.

[The ModFather]

So this thread has had me re-evaluating my approach to gear which had historically been pretty conservative but has recently been getting a bit lax especially in this years summer heat. Leather pants are just not a realistic option for me when cruising around the city but Kevlar Jeans (Dainese D6 Kevlar are my next purchase) or Textile Pants (e.g. Dainese Drake pants) both worn with Dainese Knee Pads and Torque out boots (which are my standard riding gear) . The hot summer had me doing t-shirt and helmet + gloves and boots but I dont think I'll be making that mistake again. Yes.!! Jacket every time!! Cause I dont plan on learning that lesson the hard way. I wish they made something more comfortable that protected the hips and waist because the Dainese hard shorts I had were super uncomfortable so I sold them. The Dainese Knee/Shin pads are do-able. I'm going to buy a back protector to keep in my textile jacket so I dont have to swap the one back protector I have between my leather and textile cause I'm lazy and it's a pain. All the gear all the time! Why wait to learn this lesson the hard way. I like to think I'm smart and this seems like the smart thing to do.

[FiveG]

Glad to hear about your decision. There's actually some summer jackets that provide good protection but aren't too bad in the heat.  I've worn the RevIt AirWave jacket (and before that their lower end Air jacket) in 100+ temps with 90+% humidity, with Underarmour Heat Gear under and mesh armored pants, and it's really not bad even doing a day of parking lot drills in Total Control.  Once moving, it's fine.  In fact, the Transitions 2 in similar temps wasn't bad when I did Stayin Safe a few years ago. 

[Raux]

I have a summer 3-way mesh from this company
http://www.leatherup.com/c/Mens-Motorcycle-Mesh-Jackets/3/124.html

[Slide Panda]

but really... who wears leather pants when riding? From MotoGP to Rockerbox I never see guys wearing these unless they're heading to a track day. I want to know honestly who wears Leather Pants when they ride?

- This guy. Hell I've even seen a couple cruiser guys in sport leathers. Oddes look was a dude in a 1 pc sport suit on a cruiser... but I digress.

As noted, if I'm going out for a real road ride it's leather pants and jacket. When it's an off the pavement day, things dow switch out to a set of Klim Dakar pants over impact stuff and an ADV sort of jacket. Not leather... but those Klim pants use higher Dernier materials than my Dainese textile pants so presumably would hold up better during a slide.

Glad to see you're rethinking. While leathers as much as I do them might not be the option for you, there's plenty of *very* ventilated gear out there that will protect you a lot more than a t-shirt.

[shamoo]

This is an old thread, but I figure I'd chime in anyway...

I do ride now with leather all the time.  The more you do it, the more you get used to it.  Now, even if it's hot, it's just habit to me.  If I ride with anything less (even mesh), I feel "off".  As for the pants, I do have Rev'It leather riding pants that I use every day for commuting the 100 miles to work.

During the weekends (I rarely ride since I'm so bored of riding during the week), I'll usually just wear jeans.

I mean, it's a risk right?  If you want to take, it take it.  I'm getting older, and just jumping off a 3 foot ledge makes my body all achey.     I can't imagine taking a dump on a bike at speed wearing anything less than leather.