Leather Louts?

[Skub]

Has anyone gone back to a leather jacket from using textiles?

I'm considering doing this because leather is easier to keep clean. I wash my Held jacket and a couple of rides later it's once again a fly covered mass of busted custard yuck. May as well not bother with the whole laborious process in the first place.

I don't deliberately ride in the rain,so waterproofing is moot.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Yes, I prefer a textile jacket in winter and a leather jacket in summer, I found the textile jacket flaps with the thermal liner removed.
But really it's just my personal preference.

[mangocrazy]

I tend to use ventilated textiles in summer and leather or non-vented textiles in spring and autumn. The only time I ride in winter is a) when the roads are washed free of salt and b) the temps are comfortably into double figures C.

But I take the point about bugs making an unholy mess of textiles (especially vented ones). Until fairly recently this wasn't too much of an issue as all my bikes were either full or three-quarters faired, which kept most of the bugs off. But since buying the the Duke 690 and restoring the LC I have become re-acquainted with the problem...

[Supermofo]

I've never stopped wearing a leather jacket as prefer wearing it. But a bit like LFG I wear a textile in cold/wet or very hot weather, leather for the majority of the time.

Cold and very hot, which seems odd to say, as my textile is warmer than the leather but also cooler as being laminated with loads of vents means when it's boiling I remove the lining, open all the vents up and get a nice cool breeze.

With bugs I take the same approach to both jackets. Wet cloth or wet wipes at the end of a ride before they are stuck. Same with my lid, at the end of every ride I stick a wet kitchen towel over the visor/front and leave for 10 mins then wipe off.

[Skub]

I tend to use ventilated textiles in summer and leather or non-vented textiles in spring and autumn. The only time I ride in winter is a) when the roads are washed free of salt and b) the temps are comfortably into double figures C.

But I take the point about bugs making an unholy mess of textiles (especially vented ones). Until fairly recently this wasn't too much of an issue as all my bikes were either full or three-quarters faired, which kept most of the bugs off. But since buying the the Duke 690 and restoring the LC I have become re-acquainted with the problem...

Yeah,it's the naked bike thing,everything is out in the breeze.

[Jody]

I've never stopped wearing a leather jacket as prefer wearing it. But a bit like LFG I wear a textile in cold/wet or very hot weather, leather for the majority of the time.

Cold and very hot, which seems odd to say, as my textile is warmer than the leather but also cooler as being laminated with loads of vents means when it's boiling I remove the lining, open all the vents up and get a nice cool breeze.

With bugs I take the same approach to both jackets. Wet cloth or wet wipes at the end of a ride before they are stuck. Same with my lid, at the end of every ride I stick a wet kitchen towel over the visor/front and leave for 10 mins then wipe off.

Used this trick a lot myself. I recall having my mates wife so well trained that when I turned up at their house, the sound of my exhaust would send her scurrying into the kitchen to wet some kitchen towel for me

[Druid]

Leathers have always been my default bike wear, textiles are for cold and/or wet weater use. I don't ride in the wet these days, and rarely ride in the cold.

I do rather abuse my leathers too, they get cleaned when my wife tells me the amount of dead bugs is too great for them to be allowed in the house...

I do the trick with a wet kitchen towel too

[Rockburner]

Yes been wearing textiles for about 20 years, but due to circumstances changing completely fairly recently I've bought a couple of leather jackets in the past 2 years, and I'm pretty happy with them.

Actually, let me expand on that.

The first one, an oxblood Merlin Lichfield i bloody love, apart from the fact it's a size too small, so it's been relegated to a casual jacket.

The DXR i recently bought is pretty nice, but the cuffs are idiotic.

Both are 70s-80s style double-breasted, which are relatively rare to find at the moment so i didn't have a huge amount of choice when buying .

[Taipan]

Never got on with leather. Tried a few jackets over the years, but find them too heavy and restrictive. So textiles for me. Mesh in these temps and normal textiles in less hot weather.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Never got on with leather. Tried a few jackets over the years, but find them too heavy and restrictive. So textiles for me. Mesh in these temps and normal textiles in less hot weather.

I'm surprised you don't wear a fish tailed parker

[Tricky]

Never got on with leather. Tried a few jackets over the years, but find them too heavy and restrictive. So textiles for me. Mesh in these temps and normal textiles in less hot weather.

I'm surprised you don't wear a fish tailed parker

Nah, it'll be a Harrington in the summer I would have thought

[weeksy]

I'd like to, but i struggle to justify the cost... i may consider an Ebay worn one though. I do find some of my textiles a bit flappy and i think the leather would help there.

[Skub]

I'd like to, but i struggle to justify the cost... i may consider an Ebay worn one though.

That's my plan,if I win!

I'm bloody stoopid,I didn't know if you placed a bid on an item,then the 'buy it now' option disappeared. On reflection,the BIN price was decent,but now I have to wait out the auction.

Dick.

[ChrisW]

I'd like to, but i struggle to justify the cost... i may consider an Ebay worn one though.

That's my plan,if I win!

I'm bloody stoopid,I didn't know if you placed a bid on an item,then the 'buy it now' option disappeared. On reflection,the BIN price was decent,but now I have to wait out the auction.

Dick.

I'm fairly sure you that if you message the seller and say you'd planned on using Buy it Now they're able to reply with an offer to do so. Worth a go.

[Supermofo]

This tread reminds me I need to sell the Triumph leather jacket I have as I never wear it!

[Bigyin]

I'd like to, but i struggle to justify the cost... i may consider an Ebay worn one though. I do find some of my textiles a bit flappy and i think the leather would help there.

The complete Alpinestars 2 piece leathers I wore last 2 years at Pembrey cost me 150 quid second hand off local FB market place and they looked in pretty much new condition when I got them. Retail for the suit was 750 quid



And in response to the OP I generally wear leathers in the summer unless forecast says wet and textiles the rest of the time as you can never trust the good old British weather