Third in a series…
My nurse friend wants to
ensure that her son on a new-to-him Honda 750 Shadow is properly outfitted for
safety. Posts one and two regarded
helmets and gloves.
As a guy who has ridden for the better
part of forty years, I cringe when I see riders in T-shirts – or riders in gear
with their girlfriends aft in tank tops or less – batting through suburban
traffic or racing between lanes on the freeway. Perhaps it is because I have daughters, both of whom are
married and well past that stage.
Or maybe I’ve just seen a bit too much.
Today I own five motorcycle jackets: three textile, two
leather. (Yikes! I have no idea
how I’ve acquired so many.) Each
jacket has a specific purpose and is worn on specific riding occasions,
although there is much overlap in their use.
Each of the jackets has some type of reinforcement at
probable impact points like shoulders and elbows. In some cases the reinforcement is thick foam padding, in
others a less pliant more armor-like material.
Each jacket has zippers that open vents allowing air to
course through and cool the rider.
Some of the jackets have an interior zipper in the lower
back area that matches the zipper at the top of riding pants. When connected, this lessens the
calamity of pants and jacket separating to expose bare back to chip-seal at 55
miles per hour.
Closures at the
neck and cuffs may be snaps or hook-n-loop like Velcro®.
Synthetic jackets come in a variety of colors. Black is a favorite but bright or “Hi-Viz”
colors are far more see-able by others on the road and, therefore, a good
safety choice. Many jackets come
with reflective piping making them more visible at night. Many come with removable liners making
the garment useful in both cooler and warmer riding conditions.
Jacket fit is incredibly important. The jacket should be snug enough to
protect you in a fall but not so uncomfortably tight that you are tempted to
leave it on a hanger at home. It
should shield the rider from such diverse elements as rain, cold, and
heat. It might help if it were
stylish, but trading safety for style, something I’ve admittedly done, is
always a bad bargain. It should be
kept clean and dry and inspected for signs of wear – a cause for replacement – before it is called upon to sacrifice
itself for you.
Textile jackets’ exterior material
is engineered out of synthetic fabric.
It is strong, light, breathable and will experience less abrasion when
sliding along the pavement.
On a steamy summer day in the Sacramento Valley, a t-shirt
covered by a textile jacket feels much like having only the t-shirt on in terms
of ventilation and coolness. The function of the jacket then is to provide a layer of
protection between the skin and the tarmac and to hold those impact pads in
place.
One of the textile jackets is a three-season coat. It is three-quarter length, belted,
padded, and brightly colored. It is my ultimate go-to on road trips. There is plenty of room for gloves,
maps, notebooks, telephones and small kitchen sinks in the various
pockets. Slipping a Gore-Tex rain
parka underneath this puppy, I find I have really good protection from rain and
even hail. Adding a layer or two
of turtleneck or sweatshirt or wool allows me to retain enough warmth to ride
nearly twelve months out of the year.
The leather jackets are
dissimilar. One cuts the winter
chill. The other is strictly a
late spring to early fall garment.
The heavier of the two has a shell of much thicker leather prompting me
to believe I would fare better in a crash if wearing it. The removable lightly quilted liner, I
have recently found, makes the unit extremely tight around my midsection – but
keeps me incredibly warm on short mid-winter trips. Interior pockets hold a checkbook or datebook; exterior
pockets accommodate light gloves or a small camera.
The other leather jacket, which I like a lot, I’m
embarrassed to say, I purchased because of its cool Guzzi logo. Styled and built in Europe, it was on
the sale rack, so I snared it. The
leather appears to be much thinner and the padding much more “foamy.” I’m not sure I’d like hitting the
pavement in this one although I’m sure it would spare me from abrasion. But it certainly looks groovy.
One of the great things about
adopting a hobby or a sport – be it woodworking or waterskiing – is the
plethora of tools and equipment one must acquire in order to fully enjoy the
endeavor. Motorcycling is no
different. Good equipment makes
the experience much safer and more satisfying.
o0o
As twelve and
ten-year-olds, my brother and I (with permission of our folks) launched the
family’s classic Old Town wood and canvas canoe in a rain swollen Chico Creek
one October Saturday. Chico Creek
bisects beautiful Bidwell Park, heading westerly toward the Sacramento
River. Our five acres lay west of
town. That would be our point of
disembarkation.
Sans life jackets and clad
in Army surplus fatigue jackets – the look of the day [mid-60s] for kids our
age – to insulate us from the foggy 40 degree cold, we put in. The swift autumn current would carry
us the six miles home. The first
five-and-a-half miles were trouble free.
However, only a few hundred yards upstream from the house, an ancient
sycamore tree had collapsed the night before, much of it landing across Chico
Creek. The venerable Old Town,
speeding downstream, rounded a swirling bend and immediately lodged its bow in
the windfall. The boat lifted, cracked,
twisted and pitched us into the drink.
Our fatigue jackets filled with heavy frigid water as the current
dragged us away from the canoe.
Somehow we clambered out, hiked home and spent about forty-five minutes
in a hot shower thawing.
A few years later, that
Army fatigue jacket – I’d now almost grown into it – served as my insulator
from scrapes and bruises as I puttered around town and into the woods on my
first motorcycle. It was the wrong
tool for that application as
well.
How we survive our youth
is one of life’s great mysteries.
© 2012
Church of the Open Road Press
