Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Drifty drifty

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTmDlFlJ07/?igshid=15rfehh1c0aya

Gibson were highly regarded back in the day for LC / YPVS stuff. The luxury version of Nikons, which worked well with tuned motors, but were peaky and made out of cheese. Cool to see they're still going strong!

Good work! I love sand - the really deep soft stuff takes some getting used to.

Yes, it was the owner that came for the bike. Really nice, had a good chat about all sorts. Typical bikers, his wife was stuck looking after the van outside.

We talked about the good old days and the future of electric power and where the markets at with those, he has a couple of electric bikes and has been looking for a product worth distributing.

Wrote a long ass kit breakdown, but it was way too TL:DR.

Short version:

Anyone use aramid motorcycle jeans? Any alternative for ‘casual’ gear with maximum abrasion protection? For social journeys.

How much road protection do MX pants give? Need compromise for road riding to reach green lanes. For ‘riding’.

Will be wearing (bulky) external armour like pressure suits and knee guards, internal armour is just too easy to move out the way.

All the good gear is very expensive. I can recommend Rokker for casual m/c gear that provides decent protection. I like the Knox armour because it seems less likely to move and fits really well. Rukka is the best gear I've had and the one serious accident I had wearing Rukka it kept me safe and protected, unfortunately I wasn't wearing Rukka trousers.

Any m/c clothing should be planned in layers. So a 1 piece waterproof from someone like Tucano can cover any number of jackets with Knox armour underneath.

I always liked the look of Knox under stuff for town journeys. Yes you'll shred your clothes if you come off but not your skin. That way you can chuck on some jeans and a lighter jacket.
Anything out of town deserves full gear though.

Worth bearing in mind the damage that can happen to joints. We all think of the sliding down the road and likely problems but even a relatively small puncture wound around your knees or elbows can cause a lot of problems.

I think the Knox understuff is still a decent replacement for armour in 3mm leather jackets if you take out the existing armour. Especially if you like a looser fit.

Another piece of kit that gets overlooked but is brilliant for any time of year is a kidney belt. I have one from the Rukka range. It's brilliant on a summer evening when it can get quite cold at speed.

Rokker looks great, but megabucks. But yes, £ vs flesh, spend the £.

I have been layering, for sure.

Tall ankle/shin protection Forma road boots or RST Tractechs, and long knee pads. Going to grab Adv style asap for maximum ankle and shin support.

Currently wearing semi-hard 661 pressure suit under the thick motorcycle leather jacket (or else RST/Alpinestars textile jackets) and Oxford/RST textile motorcycle pants. Waiting on the Acerbis soft-armoured pressure suit and bulky knee guards to arrive. Plus hip armour.

Just trying to get the trousers right. Upper body I have a few layers, but I’m close to just buying aramid/kevlar material by the meter and making a set of long johns.

Someone on here recommenced Hood Jeans to me, got a pair with D30 (?) armour to the knees and hips, very good fit and very comfortable so far. They are fully lined and the reviews are all very supportive.

For sure. I feel a lot more confident wearing the semi-hard 661 pressure suit, which wraps around the kidney/belly. Also have a Uvex kidney belt which is surplus when I have the pressure suit on.

Hood look very affordable, do they fit well on cyclist-shaped (fat) thighs?

motorcycle jeans?

My 2p. Incredibly compromised concept.

IME they have an incredibly niche use case:

Temps needs to be cold enough not to sweat off the bike but warm enough not to be cold on the bike.

Then you need a situation where you want to look good on the bike, but a gimp off.

If you put armour in, then they look odd, but if you don't they're not as safe.

Currently I’m sat in a RST branded pair I got cheap off ebay to suss out, and not sure if I wanna risk riding in them. They only have limited aramid lining, not a full liner. May relegate them to wearing as work jeans not riding jeans.

So far biggest issue has been the lower leg doesn’t fit comfortably inside the road boots (and looks weird as material bunches), and when over the top of the boot is incredibly jeans-n-schuh.

Was hoping for casual, abrasion resistant, external knee armour I can remove when meeting friends to hang out. Suffer incredibly compromising temperature control on short rides for the sake of comfort off the bike.

@pdlouche yes totally fine, straight leg and true to waist size. #thighgainz

Tempting

They are great but as @hugo7 says there is a small optimum window for their use. I’m typically in textile fully armoured trousers sweating my balls off most of the year...

The best part of green lanes has been the thigh workout. I’m stood up 80% of the time, and the breeze is luxury. Cos fuck me, on the road 5 minutes sitting down and the armoured textiles are drenched.

do they fit well

Cut a bit like jeans from Super U.

But they're very tough and UK made.

I'm hoping mine improve with age, but I don't wear them enough.

There are some pretty slick ones now with mesh linings to wick sweat and hidden external zips to remove knee armour once off the bike. I'm sure you can find them with a bit of searching on Urban Rider.

Reading up on the Hood website they have moved actual production to China, but the R&D and whatever happens in the UK.

For jeans that fit exactly like a casual pair of jeans, the best I've ever come across (during some years running marketing at a hipster moto gear retailer) were the Pando Moto Steels. V expensive but I was tempted just to wear all the time. I doubt they'd ever wear out. In a crash, they wouldn't shred (single-layer Dyneema).

For the same thing at a lower price, Richa Original Slim (or non slim, for a 501 fit). Single layer Cordura, won't hold up as well in an off undoubtedly but fits like normal jeans and lasts x4 longer than normal denim sliding down the road. Quality from Richa can be questionable, rivets go sometimes. Decent after-sales care though.

The Rokker gear probably uses the best fabrics, but you have to put up with some of the most 90s looking branding ever, and they like to splash it over the arse of jeans.

Kevlar-lined jeans will be pretty warm, and will need to go in the bin after a crash. I have the Knox Richmonds as they were cheap as fuck and AA rated. They don't look like normal jeans, but I'd rather wear those than textile or leathers (yes I'm a poser, I don't care).

Another option is buying kevlar leggings to wear under high street jeans. Bowtex, or Merlin. I have Merlin ones, cheaper for full kevlar coverage. Personally I use Revit armour in everything, slimmest design.

I wrote this at my old work when the new rules about PPE came in, don't think it's been updated/altered since I left.

That's a shame. But understandable.

Thanks for that insight, and the article link.

Definitely leaning toward kevlar leggings if I can find them at the right price/fit. At least then I can put them under most other clothing. Tempted to try on the Richa at Mega Moto.

Blast out today deep into the Bedfordshire countryside, windy and grey but the bike seems to like it a little cooler. A few months ago I did a dyno run and the power is great, more than when new, but very lumpy low in the revs. Stalled a couple of times when idling at junctions today, which isn't abnormal so think the bike deserves a power commander and remap as it's so grin inducing.

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MX pants offer no protection at all - it's all about the hard armor underneath. For green laning and most casual off roading, I'd go with basic shin / knee pads, not the fancy knee braces as they're uncomfortable and unnecessary. For boots, I still prefer full MX boots, but they're bastard uncomfortable until they break in and difficult to walk in. Trials boots are a compromise but don't offer anything like the ankle protection. Ankles are extremely vulnerable off road. For upper body, I wear a fairly basic vest, with back, chest, shoulder and elbow hard armour.

I'd go with some trials gear over hard armor that you can layer. As you've noticed, off road is more physical so it's good to be able to strip down a bit! Also, can't recommend highly enough getting trousers with a grippy material on the inside of the knees and thighs. Gripping the tank / frame is how you stay in contact with the bike through the rough stuff / jumps. Loose shoulders and arms, grip with the knees.

The problem I found with Kevlar is it seems to grip tarmac rather than slide, so you end up with friction burns and more tumbling. Unless you're going really fast, most discomforts are impact related rather than abrasion - hard armour is great for minimising those.

@Jambon - damn that bike looks fab. Aging magnificently.