Leather/Textile full suit or two piece...?

Gohot229

Gohot229

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Lets have some of your takes on either style, one piece suits or coat/jacket and pants combos. Leather has its place as far as abrasion in the event of going down, also in warmth, but the current crop of textile's have offered alot of armor protection too. I live in the South East, and as we all know, the humidity can wreak havoc on leather items if you don't take precautions and store them in a humidity controled environment or with something which will remove damp/humid conditions. Oddly enough, and this sounds nuts, I have installed weatherstriping in my closet to make it somewhat air-tight and have put two sandbags filled with silica sand in the closet, one on the floor in a open cardboard box and one on the shelf, though less filled for the weight difference to give the shelf a break. The theory is sound and simmilar to the moisture removers in electronics or medecines. Leather, as I say, here in the south, can be a real sauna in the dead of summer and thats when textiles shine. For long distance, mabe the one-piece is the ticket, I don't know, but for comfort, I prefer the seperate coat/jacket and pants configuration. As the title says........lets hear your prefferences and as of why you choose this configuration, or if you wear both acording to .....what?
 
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Gohot229 said:
Lets have some of your takes on either style, one piece suits or coat/jacket and pants combos. Leather has its place as far as abrasion in the event of going down, also in warmth, but the current crop of textile's have offered alot of armor protection too. I live in the South East, and as we all know, the humidity can wreak havoc on leather items if you don't take precautions and store them in a humidity controled environment or with something which will remove damp/humid conditions. Oddly enough, and this sounds nuts, I have installed weatherstriping in my closet to make it somewhat air-tight and have put two sandbags filled with silica sand in the closet, one on the floor in a open cardboard box and one on the shelf, though less filled for the weight difference to give the shelf a break. The theory is sound and simmilar to the moisture removers in electronics or medecines. Leather, as I say, here in the south, can be a real sauna in the dead of summer and thats when textiles shine. For long distance, mabe the one-piece is the ticket, I don't know, but for comfort, I prefer the seperate coat/jacket and pants configuration. As the title says........lets hear your prefferences and as of why you choose this configuration, or if you wear both acording to .....what?
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I'm going with the Robin Hood 2 Piece Set. Could you send me a link to their website.:eek5:
 
I have a 2 piece leather suit, and a 2 piece textile suit. Depending on weather conditions and the type of riding I'll be doing I'll choose which one to wear. If I'm out riding by myself on any dry day, I'm in my leather, because I know the type of riding I'll be doing. If I have my wife on the back, it the textile suit, as I know I won't be out there riding knee down into the corners. If the weather conditions are questionable, or cold, I'll wear the textile suit because it's waterproof and has a nice thick quilted liner top and bottom.

That said, if I could only have 1 suit, it would be the 2 piece textile suit. As I said above, it's waterproof, warm when it needs to be... when it doesn't need to keep me warm, I can ditch the liner and open the arm and back vents, and it still provides protection with CE armor in the knees, elbows, back, and hips. The leather is great for when I want to go out and raise a little hell... but in wet weather, it's like a sponge. In cold weather... well it's perforated leather.. so it doesn't do much for the cold....

Gloves are the same as well... I have my pair of Held Akira gloves for when I'm riding hard, and Joe Rocket for when it's cold, and a textile set for when it's warm and dry but I'm with the wife.

Whichever you get... if it's a 2 piece, make sure it has the 360 degree zipper instead of just the 8" zipper... using the 8" zipper is like saying you only want that portion of your midsection protected... in the event of a crash, the area not covered by the 8" zipper will ride up and you'll get rashed up rather nicely...
 
I have to agree with VA_rider. I typically wear textiles for most types of riding, just for comfort. I have good protection and (I feel) unless I am in a high-speed slide (not likely during a commute) I would not get much more protection from leather. However, I have been riding for a couple of days and I am well practiced in emergency stops and know the limits of my motorcycles. I have done a track school in textiles because I knew I would not be pushing the limits. Typically, if I am pushing it, I want all leathers and my best gloves. But, I am a ATGATT kinda guy!
 
Two-piece textile (TourMeister) - couple of liners that handle all-weather... without them, it's mesh so good ventilation. I would get the leather when I go for the track day - probably 1-piece.. but I'm not sure.
 
I use a 2 piece textile suit.

I communte daily so i want to be visible that is why i have a yellow band on my jacket. It is fully armored (back, shoulders and elbows) made from Dynatec.
The pants i have is also fully armored (knies and hips) Matherial is Cordura.
And IXS winter gloves

Here is a picture of the jacket

image020x.jpg
 
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I have a 1 piece and a 2 piece Leather suit. I have also talked my wife into getting her self a two piece leather that she wears when she rides with me. I think the leathers are better fits and dont flap around like the textile jackets that I have. The protection that leather offers time and time again is amazing. From what i know textile suits dont tend to last very long after you have a tumble in them. They protect you then but after that you have to invariably replace them. I have seen people riding in the leathers on tracks and you can see that they have gone done multiple times just by the state of their suits.
 
I myself have Leather outer-pants and a leather jacket. Oddly, I found the leather jacket at a Burlington Coat Factory near Charolette here. I went in intending to get an arctic-like coat with the fur collar-hood and ended up with this leather jacket instead, It is I'm sure, inferior to some of the better name brands, but still is a substantial jacket with a price of $140 when it was new. You know, Burlington is worth a brouse if your looking at motorcycle clothing as there were also some textile two-pieces there as I remember (three years ago) Seems an unlikely place to find motorcycle gear, but you will be suprised. I believe my next purchase will be some 'Tourmaster' or the like in a two piece.
 
I just raise the question of have approved CE armour in a leather jacket that is meant for fashion as opposed being motorcycle specific.....unless you ride with armour underneath??
 
BroHay said:
I just raise the question of have approved CE armour in a leather jacket that is meant for fashion as opposed being motorcycle specific.....unless you ride with armour underneath??
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That and the stitching. Stitching on motorcycle gear is sewn to reduce the chance of it falling apart as you fall.
 
I upgraded all of my gear last/this year. Mostly unintentionally. During the spring, I kept reading threads on motorcycle forums about leather vs. textile. I had a Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket I bought in 2003. After reading all that I realized I probably needed more updated mesh jacket and found a Fieldsheer Flex leather perf jacket at motorcycle closeouts for $199. The other mesh jackets I was thinking of upgrading to were in that price range so I bought it and my first pair of motorcycle specific pants. They were also at motorcycle closeouts for nearly $90 off their regular price which put them in my price range.

For the winter, I believed my old Fieldsheer Cabrio jacket was just fine. Sure, the front vent zipper needed to be repaired but other than that it worked fine and was well broken in. A couple of weeks ago I was looking at riding boot, the only thing that has been keeping me from being truly ATGATT (I currently ride in steel toe work boots) and found a steal on last year's model of the First Gear Monarch jacket. I am no fool, I snapped it up as soon as I could, saving over 80% off of other sites, at $69 from motorcycle-superstore. Now I can retire my Cabrio.

I have never considered a riding suit (seriously, but motorcycle closeouts has/d some great deals on some) to be necessary for my style of riding. The Pref leather jacket, while heavy as hell, offers tons of protection and I feel nearly invincible when wearing it. I wore it all summer--through the GA heat and humidity--and was very comfortable, especially after I stopped wearing cotton shirts and went to the Danskin line of workout tops they sell at Wal-Mart. I eventually got used to the racer hump in the back and now I really like it. The quality of that jacket makes me believe it'll last forever. My only complaint is the blue looks purple (I actually like purple). I would have perferred the yellow jacket but they didn't have any and the places that did wanted as little as $50 more for the jacket which priced it outside my budget.

That said, in summer I wear a combo of leather and textile, in winter all textile. Soon I hope to add new boots and replace my Icon helmet with a yellow HJC CL-SP or 15 (I've found them for as low as $79 for solids and $59 for designs). I'm just glad I can get quality gear with a budget that lately has me choosing between food and gear. BTW, I'm tired of tuna and chicken.
 
I wear a lotta stuff, as I came from a dirt background.

First, I wore leather in the dirt, but can't wrap my mind around leather in the street. Just me. Don't know why.

Here's my list: two long sleeve bicycle shirts; kevlar shirt; air cage; bicycle shorts; bicycle knee/shin guards; kevlar jeans; tourmaster jacket/pants; boots; shark; good gloves.

Total weight of gear: about 30 pounds; my total weight with gear: 205.

Nothing restricts my movement on the bike. Take out jacket lining in summer and reduce shirt number, as needed, to keep cool.

Heat not a problem here last summer: cold all the time. (sf bay area)
 
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