Motorcycle Riders?

[JettaKnight]

My beard is trimmed shorter than yours and far more Grey hair too. Mine offers less impact protection so I stick with full face helmets.

Lots of these images out on the inter webs. All data seems to track back to a German study of motorcycle head impacts. Based on these, your beard offers more protection than your skull pot.

FF FTW, because eating through a straw sucks.

 

[melensdad]

FF FTW, because eating through a straw sucks.

I clearly am an advocate for protective gear. But I also believe that others can ride their own ride.

Yesterday I was not wearing moto-gloves. I tossed the gloves into a case after the first ride. For an ATG ATT guy like me, that ended up being very distracting. I was noticing the wind on my hands and paying more attention to that than to riding. It got to the point that I was looking for somewhere to pull over safely to put my gloves on.

Once you get used to wearing proper gear you feel naked without it and it is a mental distraction when you don't have it on.

One thing I get asked about all the time is "ARE YOU HOT WEARING ALL THAT GEAR" and to that I'll admit that I do get hot when I am not moving. MESH flows air. I have mesh gloves with reinforced palm sliders. Mesh jacket. Pants are either mesh or have large vents, depending upon what I need to wear. Helmet has 5 active vents on the front, plus active and passive vents on the back; I feel a breeze inside my helmet when moving.

 

[tv1217]

One of my leather jackets is perforated and it's only hot when I stop and even then it's not terrible

 

[melensdad]

One of my leather jackets is perforated and it's only hot when I stop and even then it's not terrible

YUP, mesh (or perforated) is your friend.


Planning to go for a shake down ride tomorrow. Most of my local rides are about 100-120 mile loops. Mapped it out on Furkot, downloaded the GPX files to SCENIC navigation app, right at 260 miles, basically a big oval route. Been making some adjustments to the bike, playing with different tire pressures, nothing major but I want to give it a good ride.

If all goes as planned in the morning I will be looking to ride down thru Rensaeler, Lafayette and into Crawfordsville tomorrow morning, then west into Illinois, then back north on Route 1. 1 fuel stop will be needed. Going to be some food stops in there too. I like food.

 

[JettaKnight]

I rode around the big block near work with no gear - I was uncomfortable.

 

[tv1217]

YUP, mesh (or perforated) is your friend.


Planning to go for a shake down ride tomorrow. Most of my rides are about 100 mile loops. Mapped it out on Furkot, downloaded the GPX files to SCENIC navigation app, right at 260 miles, basically a big oval route.

Looking to ride down thru Rensaeler, Lafayette and into Crawfordsville tomorrow morning, then west into Illinois, then back north on Route 1. 1 fuel stop will be needed. Going to be some food stops in there too. I like food.

Even the non-perforated one I have isn't bad when I'm moving.

 

[melensdad]

 

[Bill2905]

I clearly am an advocate for protective gear. But I also believe that others can ride their own ride.

Yesterday I was not wearing moto-gloves. I tossed the gloves into a case after the first ride. For an ATG ATT guy like me, that ended up being very distracting. I was noticing the wind on my hands and paying more attention to that than to riding. It got to the point that I was looking for somewhere to pull over safely to put my gloves on.

Once you get used to wearing proper gear you feel naked without it and it is a mental distraction when you don't have it on.

One thing I get asked about all the time is "ARE YOU HOT WEARING ALL THAT GEAR" and to that I'll admit that I do get hot when I am not moving. MESH flows air. I have mesh gloves with reinforced palm sliders. Mesh jacket. Pants are either mesh or have large vents, depending upon what I need to wear. Helmet has 5 active vents on the front, plus active and passive vents on the back; I feel a breeze inside my helmet when moving.

I need to upgrade the safety level of my riding gear. Can you recommend one or two warm weather jackets that meet your expectations for crash protection and ventilation? I will do some research on this but it would help to have some examples to get me started in the right direction.

I also have a Cortech vented heavy leather jacket with armor pockets. I ditched the cheap soft armor years ago but maybe I should look at replacing it with some rated pieces. Any suggestions on brand or rating?

Thanks

 

[cbhausen]

I just ordered a Rokform mount for my iPhone 12 Pro Max so I can get the thing out of my pocket when riding. Note I gotta pony up for that Cardo headset. Anyone got any advice for comm equipment?

Also, how about a meet up for INGO motorcyclists?

 

[melensdad]

Bill2905 - Look at the FirstGear line of clothing for good design and fairly high quality at a modest/middle price. Most of my stuff is KLIM, Rev'it or Dianese but between my wife and I we have 4 jackets from FirstGear and they are pretty good.

The FirstGear Kilimanjaro jacket is excellent, but it is not insulated. It is a shell. Waterproof. Breathable. Reasonable venting. It is good for all riding except 90+ and humid on a naked bike. If your bike has serious wind protection then its good for any temperature below 75 degrees + humid. With an heated liner I've worn mine down to 40 degrees and been totally comfortable and I have only a modest windscreen.

2 of my jackets are KLIM brand and they are simply astounding. But damn expensive. I also own various moto-clothing from Dianese and Rev'it. Both brands are, like the KLIM, premium priced, premium materials, premium protection and also premium priced. I have some moto-pants from Bull-it, which I believe is a division of Oxford, and I hate them. Compared to any of the other brands I mentioned, they are junk. I'd happily buy anything from Rev'it, KLIM or Dianese. I'd buy any of the upper end stuff from FirstGear.

As for ARMOR, any of the D30 stuff is good. I'd take any of the Seesoft stuff. I'd take any of the Knox stuff too. Most of my armor is CE Level 2 armor, a couple of my pads are CE Level 1.

CE certifies clothing and also rates armor. CE certified street jackets will either be A or AA rated. The tag will clearly show that rating. My KLIM Induction Pro is my only AA certified jacket. Dianese and Rev'it have A and AA certified clothing. AAA rated is race track stuff. A is street acceptable. That said, MOST of the clothing sold in the USA is not CE certified at all. Most of it has CE rated armor stuffed inside an unrated piece of clothing that can tear apart or shred in an unexpected slide or fall. I don't believe the FirstGear jacket I mentioned was not CE certified at the time I bought it, not sure if it is now. AeroStitch, which makes $1200+ riding suits does not get their stuff CE rated but I would trust them. On the lower end of the price spectrum I would not trust anything. But that is just me. Honestly a low priced pair of pants or jacket that has armor is going to be a lot better than just wearing street clothes. So buy what you can afford.



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cbhausen I have some of the dynamic mesh CARDO PalkTalk headsets and love them. Voice control actually works. Other than turning the unit on/off, I never have to touch the controls. Seriously never. The CARDO voice control is so good that you never have to think about the headset. Once you learn to memorize a few simple phrases like "Hey Cardo, volume up" or "Hey Cardo, music on" then the thing is simply magic. In actual use I've been a half mile away from my wife, on the other side of a curve with a mountain between us and 2 Moose crossing the road in front of me and we still had intercom contact.

Sena units don't have that level of voice control. They have similar range. They have similar sound quality. But the functionality via voice control is not as good. You actually have to reach up and touch the unit, spin the dial, etc while you are riding. Given that the prices are similar to CARDO, there is no reason I'd ever buy the Sena.

 

[melensdad]

267 mile loop for me today. 8:15am to 3:05pm. Stopped for lunch at Wabash College, enjoyed seeing the campus again. I don’t go back often, they built a few new buildings since my last visit

Caught a little rain on the way home, about 5 minutes worth of fairly light rain and 1 minute of moderate/heavy rain but then it abruptly stopped. Roads were wet the rest of the way home but I had almost all sunny riding.

 

[OurDee]

I need to upgrade the safety level of my riding gear. Can you recommend one or two warm weather jackets that meet your expectations for crash protection and ventilation? I will do some research on this but it would help to have some examples to get me started in the right direction.

I also have a Cortech vented heavy leather jacket with armor pockets. I ditched the cheap soft armor years ago but maybe I should look at replacing it with some rated pieces. Any suggestions on brand or rating?

Thanks

I like Joe Rocket's mesh jackets.

 

[melensdad]

I like Joe Rocket's mesh jackets.

I don't believe Joe Rocket make any CE certified or approved street garment. They are one of the brands on the bottom end that makes a piece of clothing, then inserts CE armor. Their advertising tends to tout the CE armor. Also, they typically use NON-CE pads in the spine, which may give a bit of false security but don't provide impact protection. They don't state what type of abrasion resistant fabric they are using, so the question is does the mesh take a slide on asphalt?

I'm not saying it is not well made or not protective, I'm saying they simply show no evidence that it can or will actually stand up to a slide.

ICON makes a popular mesh jacket called the Mesh AF and there is a great video on the internet that shows a low speed slide in a curve, the guy rolled once or twice and the jacket was shredded. Just like Joe Rocket, ICON often focuses their advertising on the fact that the insert CE rated armor into their products, but fail to get their products rated, certified or tested. And those are 3 different standards.

 

[OurDee]

I don't believe Joe Rocket make any CE certified or approved street garment. They are one of the brands on the bottom end that makes a piece of clothing, then inserts CE armor. Their advertising tends to tout the CE armor. Also, they typically use NON-CE pads in the spine, which may give a bit of false security but don't provide impact protection. They don't state what type of abrasion resistant fabric they are using, so the question is does the mesh take a slide on asphalt?

I'm not saying it is not well made or not protective, I'm saying they simply show no evidence that it can or will actually stand up to a slide.

ICON makes a popular mesh jacket called the Mesh AF and there is a great video on the internet that shows a low speed slide in a curve, the guy rolled once or twice and the jacket was shredded. Just like Joe Rocket, ICON often focuses their advertising on the fact that the insert CE rated armor into their products, but fail to get their products rated, certified or tested. And those are 3 different standards.

Fair enough. I do still like them. Great bug, rain and, sun protection. If I were a rich man, I'd be wearing a Klim suit.

 

[JCSR]

I have a Joe Rocket full leather jacket for cooler weather because I'm poor.

 

[bwframe]

I bought a Snapjack from Amazon a few weeks ago.



Luckily, I remembered to try it out before the return window expired. Found that it would not work for my setup anyway, sliding the bike around on the smooth garage floor.

I'm returning this and will be looking for an alternative device to simply lift the rear wheel enough to spin for chain lubing. I have stands, but would like something simpler for the garage and could be taken with on the bike. Any suggestions?

 

[semperfi211]

Clymer manuals any good? My 2013 Ultra Classic didn't have a owners manual. I found this. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these or should I go with official HD owners manual.
Amazon product ASIN 1620922177

 

[JCSR]

Clymer manuals any good? My 2013 Ultra Classic didn't have a owners manual. I found this. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with these or should I go with official HD owners manual.
Amazon product ASIN 1620922177

Back when I worked in a motorcycle shop as a wee lad we found them to be maybe 90% accurate. If you do some Googling you can usually find a PDF of the HD service manual. I have found one for the last 2 bikes I've owned although they weren't HD's

 

[JCSR]

Not sure if you bike is here but it's a good start

https://harley.manuals.cc/p/free-harley-davidson-service-manual.html

 

[melensdad]

I bought a Snapjack from Amazon a few weeks ago.

View attachment 149871

Luckily, I remembered to try it out before the return window expired. Found that it would not work for my setup anyway, sliding the bike around on the smooth garage floor.

I'm returning this and will be looking for an alternative device to simply lift the rear wheel enough to spin for chain lubing. I have stands, but would like something simpler for the garage and could be taken with on the bike. Any suggestions?

Just add a NEMO 2 chain oiler. I have them on 2 bikes. They work great. Never have to clean or oil your chain again.

There are various versions of this product. I have the GIDIBI brand. The Cobrra brand is reviewed here, costs more, is identical:

Cobrra Nemo 2 Chain Oiler Review - webBikeWorld

Cobrra Nemo 2 motorcycle chain oiler review.

www.webbikeworld.com