Jackets and Jeans

I ride with people who go out of their way to buy $500 jacket with armor, thick cordura, heavy duty zippers, and then wear Levis 501 jeans while riding, makes no sense to me.

Your thoughts?

I tangled with a Honda Accord wearing a $300 leather jacket, $500 helmet, $200 gloves, $350 boots and a $50 pair of Levi jeans.

Guess which part of my body got the road rash?

At the time, my job allowed me to wear jeans so I did. The accident happened on my lunch break as I was out putting around town. Trust me, I wear armored overpants to work now. I do wear kevlar lined jeans with knee armor worn on my body occasionally though.


You better believe I got that $50 line item for jeans on my insurance claim though!

As someone who does exactly that — Klim Badlands jackets and.... khakis or jeans — I have no good reason for not wearing pants with high-denier fabric and armor every time I ride. No excuses. It's pure laziness, because I don't want the hassle of putting on the pants before I go to work.

I know I should be ATGATT, but I'm not. I'm ATGWIFLI — "All The Gear Whenever I Feel Like It."

In my defense, I do have a pair of Kevlar/jeans on order from Dianese, with their armor for the knees.

I'[ve fallen while wearing jeans. At 25 mph (I know . . . . living on the edge!)

Might as well have wound toilet paper around my person.

I used to do the same thing, but I bought a motoport jacket and overpants and once you get used to it, putting the overpants on takes all of 10 seconds. I have my jeans underneath and change shoes once I get to the office. I am guilty of not putting them on to go on my lunch break (Shhh).

I don't worry about what other people wear, I just enjoy my ride. That's probably why I'm happier than most people.

I wear riding pants 99 percent of the time, I got taken out by a deer a few years back, and my aerostitch pants never even touched the ground, I slid on my head and shoulder, but I still wear some type of riding pants most of the time, but hey, harley guys like to wear big boots to protect their feet, but refuse to wear a helmet,so go figure.

That's because they don't want to get their painted toenails messed up if the have to "lay 'er down."

Well said.

(Proudly riding in jeans since 1977.)

My jacket costs more but my jeans cost less. The money I saved on my Wranglers helped pay for my Badlands.

I guess you can add me to the "jeans and a jacket" roster. $700 helmet, $170 jacket, $35 jeans, $45 low hiking boots.

Alright, and I'm not kidding here. Comfort. My balls are never in the right place in jeans. Plus, after wearing proper riding pants, I feel naked in jeans, but at the end of the day, I'm more comfortable in real pants than I am in jeans. Not sure why, but it is what it is.

i always wear jeans, leather ones

501's suck if you have real calves, they won't fit over my $500 SIDI boots. That's why I wear Levi 550's.

I use Bohn pants under my jeans or Draggin Jeans-one or the other. With armor. Proper riding pants while on tour.

Stupid is the word you're looking for. Jeans are made of cotton, denim cotton but cotton nonetheless. And cotton shreds like, well, like cotton on pavement. What's needed is impact protection (padding) over the palms, knees, elbows and shoulders. Anything less, even heavy leather is just for road rash protection. Remember when you fell down as a kid? What got hurt? Your palms, knees, elbows and shoulders. And how fast were you traveling when you fell as a kid, nowhere near the speed you'll be going on a motorcycle. You do the math, unless of course, you're too stupid.

I must be. Jeans since 1962.

You have gloves with padded palms?

It's all good until it isn't You'll know when you see what happens. Cover up.

To each his own. "Stupid" to one, is freedom to choose and risk management to another. If you're so wrapped up in safety, maybe you should retire the motorbike in favor of a "safer" form of transportation.