How has your riding gear evolved

[dern]

Akito boots and gloves a generic black leather jacket made by Euro style and a Novak lid all from Carnells.

In the early days most of my stuff was Akito, it was the cheapest stuff you could get.

My first leathers were akito.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Akito boots and gloves a generic black leather jacket made by Euro style and a Novak lid all from Carnells.

In the early days most of my stuff was Akito, it was the cheapest stuff you could get.

My first leathers were akito.

My first set were Suzuki Sheene replica TT Leathers bought 2nd hand, I'm sure I looked great in them on a 250LC wazzing round West Raynham and Snetterton.
Didn't have another set until I had a second hand set of Akitos some time in the 90s, but they were soon replaced with a brand spangly new set of Frank Thomas leathers, which were retired for a set of Swift leathers in 2000, these actually fitted me well, cost £320 from the Ally Pally show, reduced from something like £900.

[Horse]

Visors.

My first helmet was a s/hand Stadium, came with the bike. Visor had two press-studs for pivots and two more to keep it closed. Stunning design - when opened it went 180° over the top of the helmet shell, scratching all the way. A new visor was ruined the first time it was used.

Of course, no 'anti-scratch' coatings then either.

Now, decent coatings and Pinlock mean that visors - if looked after - last for ages. Also there's moulded 'slightly open' detent positions to keep airflow without full wind blast.

[asmethurst99]

In 1995
Rayven jacket that might have had some armour .
Nolan helmet from JS
Dynamic gloves
Bottom half just jeans.
Stated Commuting across London so had Dynamic Jacket and cheapo leather trousers and Decent warm gloves with no protection-
Then Dainese jacket and Heine Gericke leathers

Eventually migrated to Rukka Jacket and RST Textile jeans - I have a Furygan summer jacket which I really like and have 2 x Arai and an ancient Roof Boxster which makes me ride like a twit whenever I wear it (so i tend not to).
Helmets both have Pinlocks - I bought some winter gloves this year but I might get some heated ones instead.

[Bigyin]

The pic below kinda shows the gear of the day. Mrs.Skub in her best duffel coat.

Did the kid on the pushbike actually crash into you and Mrs Skub

As Spin mentioned the original Rukka waterproof jackets that couriers loved ........ i still have my one from 1988

[Skub]

Did the kid on the pushbike actually crash into you and Mrs Skub

He nailed me on the brakes,but we don't talk about that.

Edit...I had a Barry Sheene signed full Rukka suit. It was a kind of pink colour. You'd have liked it lots.

[Supermofo]

My starter kit was my Dad's Lewis Leathers jacket which was actually pretty decent and really heavy duty, normal jeans, para boots and I can't remember what lid. Right near the start though I bought a £200 AGV Gobert rep lid as a decent lid seemed like a good idea and bearing in mind this would have been the late 90's £200 was a reasonable wedge for a lid. Rain meant either Pizza Hut or Army over trousers. I've always valued decent gloves as hands are always gonna go down in a crash and even falling over takes the skin off.

Over time that become leather jeans, jacket and race boots which I wore for a fair time when I was Mr Sportsbike. Then I moved completely the other way and moved to skate jeans and trainers of invincibility.

Now typically I wear a Furygan leather or Oxford textile (colder weather or really hot as it has loadsa vents) jacket, Bullit jeans, Furygan or Richa gloves and TCX vented touring boots. Oh and a Shark lid.

[Taipan]

I bought a less bikey looking bike jacket today...


Frank Thomas City Casual Waterproof Motorcycle/Scooter Jacket CE Armour

[Rockburner]

I bought a less bikey looking bike jacket today...


Frank Thomas City Casual Waterproof Motorcycle/Scooter Jacket CE Armour

Needs a furry hood

[Taipan]

Lol. I'm trying to move away from the bulky 4 pocket fronted style jackets. Now I have a scoot again, I'll use it a lot for popping to town or to the supermarket. I dislike getting off a bike and walking round like a soldier in BD, so have been looking at smarter looking gear. Tucano Urbano does some nice gear. CE approved armour in this for instance.

[v8-powered]

Lol. I'm trying to move away from the bulky 4 pocket fronted style jackets. Now I have a scoot again, I'll use it a lot for popping to town or to the supermarket. I dislike getting off a bike and walking round like a soldier in BD, so have been looking at smarter looking gear. Tucano Urbano does some nice gear. CE approved armour in this for instance.

Needs a North Face logo, pair of grey joggers and a pair of white Nike AF1's

[Bustaspoke]

Age 16,I started off in denim jacket & jeans & desert boots with a donated open face helmet..
When I was 17 I was riding in,bought for me wax cotton Barbour jacket & trousers,plus for Christmas I was bought a pair of gauntlet gloves.I bought a AGV Daytona polycarb full face lid.Still wearing desert boots.
At some stage I got a pair of bike boots,but I prefered the Desert boots,by this stage I had taken to putting my feet in plastic bags inside the Desert boots to keep my feet dry..
The barbour wax cotton gear served me well but was getting worn out as a result of my various crashes as a teenager so it was mainly used for commuting.Steel toe boots were required for the building sites where I was working.
By this stage one's social attire for riding consisted of a Bell FF helmet,leather jacket,denim jeans & still wearing desert boots.
The first time I noticed something different to the usual leather jacket & denim jeans combo was at Assen in 1988,on the 'Disco' boat from Harwich to the Hook I ended up on the beer with a bunch from south Cheshire & when we got off the boat two of them were wearing what looked like one piece RAF flying suits,never seen that before,they reckoned that they were really warm,not sure about the crash protection though .
By the early 90's I had progressed to leather trousers from J & S with some matching boots & gloves,the boots & gloves had a weird pattern on them,you could also get a suit in the same pattern.
By the mid 90's I had bought a Dainese textile jacket,this was the first piece of clothing that I owned that was fitted with proper armour.
My main jacket for the last decade has been a Weisse leather jacket,it's fitted with armour & back protector.I have a bulky Weisse textile jacket for winter.I finally retired the J&S leather jeans the other year as I bought a pair of Richa textile trousers & just this week I bought a Revitt Tornado textile jacket for those 'heatwave' rides .
Ive had a pair of TCX Infinity boots for about 15 years & they've been great but are now starting to get worn out,not sure what to replace them with.
I've been wearing Arai lids for years,Shoei before that,I still dread changing visors on the Arai.
My winter gloves are a pair of Spada Enforcer's,they're a bit bulky for summer so then I use a pair of Nishima GP gloves.
Looking back over those 40 odd years of kit it's evolved a long way from Denim & Desert boots!

[DefTrap]

I found some terrible pictures of my early-years riding kit.

'Brando'' jacket (not even a proper one, pretty sure I got it in Carnaby street FFS).
Keffiyeh-type scarf
German para boots from the surplus stall, with seaboot socks
Drainpipe jeans
Some crappy Nolan helmet

I was young and gorgeous but literally doing my damndest to repulse the girls apparently.

Obviously now I've learnt from that and I'm still wearing the leather twopiece I bought 20 years ago.

[Rockburner]

If I was shopping for gear today the only thing on the list would be a BMW Atlantis jacket and pants and damn the expense. They are (or certainly were) superb.

I've always been tempted by those, but the expense and the 'not-quite-completely-waterproof' reputation has put me off several times.



I started out with jeans, trainers, and a long Barbour waxed jacket (at 16 on the scooter), then progressed to Jeans, Derriboots, and a (IIRC) Frank Thomas double-breasted black leather jacket (not the Brando style, the '70s style). Then, once I started commuting regularly it was more 'all-weather' textiles than anything else (albeit with a knock off Trialmaster-clone for riding the old bikes).

After I fucked my knee I won't wear gear without armour, and for commuting it has to be waterproof, so it tends to be textiles. Weiss, quite a few HG suit/trouser combos, a few BMW jackets....

I did have a pair of HG Oxan leather trousers which were superb (but obviously disappeared off the shelves the instant I bought them, so replacements were non-existant), actually, I may still have them.

Now I've not had to commute regularly for the past 3 years I've come almost full circle and my main riding kit is now jeans (armoured), and a double-breasted leather jacket, and leather unlined boots (Rokker). I still have some textile stuff, (and the pair of Altbergs that I bought from Foxy) but I rarely ride in inclement weather now.

As for helmets, IIRC my first helmet was a Bell Aerostar! I currently have a Shoei, but prefer Arai. I'd like to buy one of the Shark flip-lids that integrates the chinbar into the back of the helmet, but they don't fit me.
I 'may' be getting an open-face next year because it'll be a bit more suitable for riding the JAPton.


Oh - and ever since DirtyBill introduced me to the wonders of a heated waistcoat I've always had at least 1 of them available for cold rides. Beats the hell out of attempting not to shiver so hard the bike vibrates while being unable to move your arms under 10 different layers of material.

[Dickyboy]

Started with a Griffin? helmet, brothers hand me down belstaff jacket (not waxed cotton), jeans & ankle boots, graduated to AGV open face with peek & goggles, crap leather jacket, castelli cycling leggings (I kid yee not) & 12 hole DMs with yellow laces - max wall would have been proud
Now mostly hjc helmet, dainese textiles, decent gloves & boots, but still happy to ride in leather jacket, jeans & ankle boots when I don't want to walk around in all the clobber.

[Taipan]

Lol. I'm trying to move away from the bulky 4 pocket fronted style jackets. Now I have a scoot again, I'll use it a lot for popping to town or to the supermarket. I dislike getting off a bike and walking round like a soldier in BD, so have been looking at smarter looking gear. Tucano Urbano does some nice gear. CE approved armour in this for instance.

Needs a North Face logo, pair of grey joggers and a pair of white Nike AF1's

Already got them!

[Bigjawa]

Like every DR ever, I had the blue/silver Rukka jacket before I got something better.

About 1997 I bought a grey Morgan Jacket and a Red Akito jacket, one of my Ex's still wears the Akito and when she was clearing her loft out she found the grey Morgan one so I'm wearing it now.

My son wears my original leather jacket from the early 90s. It's older than he is.

[Noggin]

I think my kit DEvolved for a lot of years! I started with decent two piece leathers. And tried so many combinations/types of leathers and textiles but none worked for comfort/movement on the bike. I found that any jacket that did up and a pair of comfy (usually Tesco or Sainsbury) jeans meant I was comfortable on the bike.

Then I started track days and had the same rigmarole again, - various 2 piece and one piece 'outfits' were tried. I kept one of the one pieces suits for track and went back to a textile jacket and normal jeans for road. Always had a decent helmet and boots - lucky on the boots as my right foot took a whack in the shoulder incident! But gloves are something else that I have always had trouble buying. I have ended up with shorty gloves - not ideal (for me the most important bits of kit are helmet, gloves and boots) but they fit. Every other pair of gloves I've had have had fingers too long

When I rode this summer it was very old 'normal' jeans, a 'roadproof' hoody or a textile jacket, decent gloves/boots/helmet.

Looking forward to a time I can invest in some MTM leathers - but also that I can fit into some of the 'roadproof' jeans I have

[Taipan]

I bought a less bikey looking bike jacket today...


Frank Thomas City Casual Waterproof Motorcycle/Scooter Jacket CE Armour

It arrived yesterday and I'm really pleased with it. Could easily ride into town leaving helmet and gloves in topbox and walk round town not looking like Greebo! Wierd material looks like it'd get wet rather than repel, iyswim? I'll find out next week though and how warm it is/isn't.

[Noggin]

@Taipan That looks really good!

I have had this Held 'jacket' show up at me often (FB feed) and I do really fancy it! Sadly I don't think they do a size that will do up to the top and it's probably not particularly protective.

But if they did and it was, I'd definitely have one for next summer!! LOL

https://www.fc-moto.de/epages/fcm.sf/en ... ile-Jacket