Looking for a protective hot weather jacket


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MichaelInVenice

Lot of Class, Mostly Low
Elite Member
Currently wearing the RevIt Airwave.

My impression from riding in an ambulance for a long time is that people around here (when they wear gear at all) are overdressed for the slide that never happens, but underdressed for the crash that almost always happens.

Most accidents I see are low to moderate speed and the person hits something long before they can slide very far. Leather may be more abrasion resistant, but that makes no difference if you slam into a curb shortly after going down. City streets are not a track and long-sliding leather may not matter very much.

So my advice (around here) is always dress for the CRASH, not the slide: CE armor at all joints and improved back protector. I've upgraded my RevIt with the Forcefield back protector. Shoulders and elbows were good right out of the box.

If I were riding a lot of high speed on relatively flat roads with few obstacles around them, I'd consider perforated leather. But I find it's really pretty poor for stop and go traffic. It needs good speed to ventilate well.

To some degree your choice will depend on your needs. I use the bike to commute. Arriving at my destination covered in sweat or wet from a cooling vest is not an option. On the other hand, I'm not worried about a high-speed crash because I don't even see a freeway most of the time. Your needs may be different.

Finally, I'll state what I do see hurt all the time: hands and feet. I know this goes against a lot of what many people think, but I'd say that jackets are over-emphasized while good gloves and boots are under-emphasized by far too many people. For my needs (which again, may differ from yours), I'd put the big bucks into the best boots and gloves I can get and go with a cheaper jacket so long as it had the proper protective elements.

And yeah, most textile jackets are only good for one crash. But then again, my motorcycle insurance will cover replacement, so I can live with that.
 
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Blue-Sun

Elite Member
MistahT said:
Seen these, thinking about getting one.... or maybe at least the neck wrap (stay cool and stop getting sunburn on the back of my neck). Does it work well? Does the water from it have you showing up places soggy?
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Cooling Vests work best in low humidity areas. It acts like a "Swamp or Evaporative Cooler" I don't know that it would be all that effective in the humidity of Maryland.

Personally, I use the cooling vest for the ride home, when it is much hotter than my morning ride to work. I wet an old T-shirt, in the men's room (take off my dress shirt and put the old T-shirt on), wet the cooling vest put that on, put on my mesh jacket and hit the road. It is quite effective at cooling your core. Most of the time everything is quite dry when I get home and the water has done it's job through evaporative cooling. If I go on a long ride on the weekend, I can stop and re-wet the vest and T-shirt if I need to.

I can't say that I've ever arrived anyplace dripping wet from the cooling vest. Depending on how much water I soak it with, I get 45-60 minutes of nice cooling in the Arizona (dry) heat.

Hope I've answered your questions....

All the best.
 
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Motomama

New Member
Motomama said:
Out of all my gears which include Rev'IT, Dianise, Aerostich and BMW, I feel that the BMW Airflow 3 jacket & pants are the best. They are very well constructed with top quality armors in them. I've actually crashed in my Airflow pants and they held up great with a few scuff on my left knee.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
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Btw, i should of mention the jacket I was wearing, which was Rev'It Tornado mesh jackets, with the BMW Airflow pants and how it hold up in my crashed.

I was riding my BMW F650 GS that day and the handle bars on that bike extended out pretty long. Well when I finally landed on my left side, the handle bar & beek of the GS took all the impact and the left side of my body didn't made contact with the asphalt until it was done. The left knee did get scuffed up a little bit. Because I m petite... I was protected by the wide handle bars so the jacket didn't get touch until I landed. The jacket still look pristine. I felt very blessed that day to walk away with no injuries.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
 

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