The European Safer Urban Motorcycling group put out a booklet recently entitled “Protective Equipment for Riders” (get the English language version here) which attempts to educate scooter and motorcyclists on the benefits of wearing protective gear.

There’s an accepted acronym among serious riders — ATGATT — which stands for “All The Gear, All The Time.” This phrase means wearing gloves, jacket, pants, boots, and a helmet specially made for motorcycling or scooters.

The real debate for us ATGATT folk isn’t “should I wear a jacket,” but “what’s the relative protection of textile versus mesh?” or “is nylon mesh more or less dangerous than wearing polyester mesh,” or “how long can one reasonably expect to slide in 1.5mm goatskin leather without wearing through to the skin?”

And boy would I love for an independent lab to test my old buddy Wayne’s MotoPort kevlar gear.

I hoped that the booklet by eSUM would address some of these questions. You might think buying “all the gear” to wear “all the time” would be the end of it, but in reality it’s just the beginning. There is a shitload of materials, types of armor, brand name materials, rebranded materials, and exotic stuff out there. My Rev’It Cayenne Pro has ceramic-plated textile in high skid areas. That sounds bad ass, but has anyone independently tested this?

Unfortunately, the “Protective Equipment for Riders” pamphlet only states the obvious: you should wear protective motorcycle gear. I hate to say this, but motorcyclists are in one of two camps. They either wear all the gear, or they don’t. No one really needs convincing, and motorcyclists are do-it-my-own-way as a bunch, and you can’t tell us what to do. We have to make up our own minds to do something. The decision to wear enough gear to be called a Power Ranger may be the result of research, or it might be because someone went down at 25MPH and had to deal with road rash for months.

The eSUM book is basically worthless. It either speaks on deaf ears to those who won’t wear gear no matter what facts are put in front of them, or preaches to the choir who has more detailed questions.

I’d hoped to put together an independent testing lab for motorcycle gear, and maybe someday I’ll do just that. In the meantime, motorcyclists only have anecdotal evidence from those of us unfortunate riders who “live tested” their gear.

Riding in the rain on a motorcycle happens to just about every rider. The difference is that some of us ride in the rain on purpose, while other motorcyclists get caught in a downpour by accident. If you’re the former, here are some tips for keeping your pants dry during foul-weather commuting.

• Gear up. The most important thing, obviously, is wearing waterproof motorcycle gear. You’re going to need:
  • Textile pants with a waterproof liner
  • Waterproof motorcycling boots — regular waterproof boots aren’t a good option because they are usually not tall enough to prevent upspray (more on that in a minute). Furthermore, they may not hold up in a crash as well as boots built specifically for motorcycling. Also make sure your boots have a gaiter on the inside to help keep water out of the openings along the side of the boot. I personally prefer buckles to zippers, but if your boot has a zipper make sure there is a gaiter behind the zipper, too. I wear Sidi On Roads (available at NewEnough).
  • If you are really concerned about staying dry — or you motorcycle during the colder months — you should buy a separate set of waterproof overpants. I own a jacket and pants set of Frogg Toggs Elite Highway (Amazon.com). It makes a huge difference when riding in torrential rain. It is also important for keeping me safe and warm when it’s cold out. You may stay dry when your waterproof textile jacket gets waterlogged, but the wind of riding at highway speeds plus a low ambient air temperature will make you cold in a hurry. It’s uncomfortable at best, and dangerous at worst.
• Tuck your clothes in when going out in public. Fold your pant hem flat against your leg. Put your pant leg inside your boot. If you don’t do this, water upspray from the road my find its way past the various hem contraptions of your motorcycling pants and soak your “real” pants. This is particularly irksome if you are wearing jeans. Demin will rapidly transfer any water absorbed at the hem up your pants. I figured out “the tuck” the hard way after wondering why my knees were wet — it was from my jeans absorbing water on a three-hour ride in the rain.

One of the problems with motorcycle boots — particularly if you ride year ’round and have waterproof boots like my Sidi OnRoads — is that your feet get hot in a hurry. Even if it is cold while riding, walking around generates a lot of heat. And then you hop back on the bike and your feet get supercooled thanks to your foot perspiration. Summertime is a bit of the opposite problem: I don’t have to worry about getting cold, but regulating my foot temperature goes a long way in my overall comfort. I don’t even need to mention what a drag sopping wet cotton socks are when you’re caught in the rain.

My sock research pushed me to wool socks. They regulate heat and moisture better than cotton socks, but I was concerned about itching. When you’re riding mid-distance like I do, little things like an itch deep in a boot can really wear on you. I found a pair of midweight, calf-height socks by SmartWool, which features a blend of soft merino wool and other synthetic fibers. I wound up buying six of their snowboard socks at $6.95 each from Sierra Trading Post, and love them to pieces. Almost literally.
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The first half of my ride home from Georgia was great. I was moving along at a good clip, and the sun was bright and shining.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina.

Fayetteville seems to be the tipping point for bad motorcycle weather. On my trip down, my route south of Fayetteville was completely covered by rain. I guess the northern part of my return trip got jealous and wanted to get in on the “fun.”

It rained non-stop, and hard, all the way home. It wasn’t as bad as my trip down, but it was a soaking rain. Paranoid (and hopefully wiser) from my gear problems on the way down, I adjusted my waterproofing strategy slightly.
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As mentioned earlier, I spent four days on a motorcycle trip to see two of my friends outside of Savannah, Georgia. It’s almost five hundred highway miles, which winds up being between eight to nine hours depending on traffic, weather conditions, and the bike I’m on. My best time was on my first trip on my FZ6 because I had great weather and a very comfortable saddle.

This time I took Raider, my BMW R1150R. In theory, it should have been the best of both of my trips: the comfort of my old K1200LTE touring bike, and the mobility of Cylon. Thanks to the weather and an extremely hard seat, it was really the worst of both worlds.

But I still had a kick ass time. ;)
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The first half of my trip down to Georgia was fantastic. It was cool enough that I wasn’t hot in my Rev’It Cayenne Pro jacket, but not so cold my hands were freezing. It was overcast enough that I didn’t have to squint behind my Native sunglasses, but not so overcast that I had to worry about rain.

That is, until I got to Fayetteville, North Carolina. Then the sky opened up. It didn’t stop until I reached Savannah, some 280 miles later.

What followed was a near total failure of every piece of waterproof motorcycling gear that I owned. Am I being too harsh?
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I was in the market for waterproof motorcycle boots after almost drowning on the return leg of my trip in September. It took almost a week for my boots to dry out, and even then they were still damp when I wore them for the first time.

As usual, I turned to NewEnough for motorcycle gear. They have a great return policy, and very good pricing. Their customer service is also outstanding — I’ve spent a fair amount of cash with them and are always my first choice when I need something.

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