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Motorcycle Jackets


Onion

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I did some research and have an idea of what I want for a motorcycle jacket, but I don't really know what's good and what's not. I know I can't do leather unless its perforated because it's way too hot during the summer. This limits me to textile, mesh, and those armor deals. How well it breathes is important because I don't really get on the highway, it's mostly low speed city riding and a lot of sitting at red lights. I feel like mesh or textile jackets should only be considered if they have the armor stuff inside of them because I value my skin and don't want the emergency room people to be picking bits of road off my skin before treating an injury. How do they stack up to plain armor ones? Here's a couple that I'm looking at.

 

Armor types:

POC Spine

Fox Titan

 

Mesh/Textile types:

Joe Rocket Atomic 4.0

Joe Rocket Phoenix 5.0

 

 

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Well if all you do is low-speed in city driving, you can always sell the motorcycle and get a moped which seems much more suited to what you use it for. :ph34r:

 

Road rash cares not what you wear!

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Well if all you do is low-speed in city driving, you can always sell the motorcycle and get a moped which seems much more suited to what you use it for. :ph34r:

 

Road rash cares not what you wear!

 

Well, my city riding is like 50-60 mph, sooo... Also, its a 250, so it's pretty good for the city. 

 

It sort of cares. Mesh won't do as well as leather, for example. 

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Get a real jacket, not those gimmicky armor plate things held together by string. Those are made for MotoX and dirt, where you don't have the terrible abrasion of sliding on concrete. The plastic plates won't do much to help in a crash if the material around them gets torn and burned through and they go flying off on their own in the first 3 feet of sliding, leaving you sliding across the pavement in an Emo/Goth black net tank top LOL. There is a reason that professionals wear leather with padding on a race track and not those armor - and there is a reason that they state that they are to be worn "Under Jersey", since they are made for dirt riders who wear jerseys instead of race suits.

 

I have the Joe Rocket Phoenix mesh jacket, a Shift Avenger Textile, and a Joe Rocket Speedmaster Leather so have experience with all three materials. I also live in FL so know the pain of getting stuck in traffic and baking on a hot motorcycle in 90* weather :lol:. Keep in mind that in direct sunlight having a jacket (especially a mesh one that breathes well) is actually more comfortable then just a Tee shirt. It's still hot and uncomfortable of course, but y0ou don't feel your skin prickling and baking in the sun if its covered :).

 

- The Phoenix mesh is the most comfortable - light and breathes great - but is the least protection of the three. Still infinitely better then no jacket, since it still has the CE armor and is stronger then plain old clothing.

- The Textile avenger is actually HOTTER then the leather since the textile doesn't breathe at all, but it offers more protection and I used to wear it during the winter.

- The leather jacket is by far the best though. It breathes better then the textile Avenger since it has perforated portions and has mesh inserts inside the arm and zippered vents. Protection is top level as well - titanium crash pads on shoulders, thick leather on all the contact areas, and the same CE armor on the inside. It is about twice as much as a mesh or textile, but will last forever.

 

If you don't mind starting out for now with a used jacket and wanna save some cash, I would sell you my Phoenix mesh jacket for like 50 bucks since its just sitting in my closet. It's red/black though, not blue, and needs replacement CE armor for the elbows and shoulders($22 for both at solomotoparts) . Still will ya about $100. Never dropped, they just get old and brittle after a while and start cracking at the joints.

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Mine is similar to this but probably a discontinued model (red and black): http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/joe-rocket-ballistic-revolution-jacket

 

It's pretty good in all weather, with the liner in it's good down to 30F (probably more but that's as low as I'm "happy" going) and I've found it relatively comfortable at 85F+ with liner out.

 

Naturally mesh would do better than mine in super hot and especially sitting traffic but I lucked out with my jacket (the guy gave me it to me free with my Ninja 250!)

 

Do they allow filtering/lane splitting legally in FL?? That may help keep you moving with enough breeze to stay cool

Edited by IVIYTH0S

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Nope, no filtering or lane splitting. If no cops are around, I'll filter, but I won't lane split. 

 

From what I've been reading, a good textile will breathe better than a good (and perforated) leather. Also, the cost is much lower, and it requires pretty much no care. I'm trying to find a nice textile jacket that also has chest armor. Most of the stuff I've seen (Joe Rocket) has no chest armor. 

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Nope, no filtering or lane splitting. If no cops are around, I'll filter, but I won't lane split. 

 

From what I've been reading, a good textile will breathe better than a good (and perforated) leather. Also, the cost is much lower, and it requires pretty much no care. I'm trying to find a nice textile jacket that also has chest armor. Most of the stuff I've seen (Joe Rocket) has no chest armor. 

Yeah mine has elbow, shoulder and back armor but no chest that I can tell.

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My old leather jacket was the bomb. Dead cow protects well from abrasion but not impact. I got bruised up pretty badly in the one real wreck I had, but no road rash.

 

I would only buy leather. Look for forward facing arms, zippered arm pits and big pulls on the zippers so you can work them in gloves. You also want the zipper to be off-set, so there is the other side of the jacket underneath the zipper, offering more wind protection. A tight collar or adjustable collar is useful.

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My old leather jacket was the bomb. Dead cow protects well from abrasion but not impact. I got bruised up pretty badly in the one real wreck I had, but no road rash.

 

I would only buy leather. Look for forward facing arms, zippered arm pits and big pulls on the zippers so you can work them in gloves. You also want the zipper to be off-set, so there is the other side of the jacket underneath the zipper, offering more wind protection. A tight collar or adjustable collar is useful.

 

Most of the leather ones that I'm looking at actually also have armor in them. I'm gonna go try out perforated leather tomorrow and see how it is. 

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I must be either manly, or stupid. I feel very safe with just a helmet and Castle jacket for 90% of my riding. I have a extremely thick pair of canvas pants that I wear too, most people will say they aren't enough but they are comfy and better than jeans. My jacket was cheap and I kind of hate it honestly. The pads don't fit me right but but it was all I could afford at the time. 

My city is a lot slower and my routes are a lot more rural. If I ever plan to really straighten out some corners I dress a bit heavier. 

 

I would worry a lot more about spine protection than chest personally.

 

I do really like to cruise with no gear too. Because I am dumb. Don't remind me that I am dumb, I know. 

 

Edit: Honestly, go find the best jacket that really fits you in a store than see if you can find it cheaper online. Or buy it there and help a small business. I agree with the others though, leather is better if you can afford it. 

Edited by GabrielTessin

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