[Spec]

Another textile jacket is nearing the end of it's life and I'm seriously considering leather this one actually.

My beefs with textile:

1. Velcro, hate it. Hard to open small vents when new and won't hold when old. I had to install snaps on my cuffs and neck flaps. Velcro, hate it!

2. Most textile jackets aren't sized to fit. You can buy a leather jacket in your actual chest size! I'm a skinny guy but wear a size large so the elbow armor just kinda floats. I don't think it would stay in place if I actually needed it.

3. My current jacket (Olympia AST) is 3/4 length which I guess looks adventurey and all but bunches up when sitting on the bike. Kinda gives the Dolly Parton effect!

4. The jacket also has pockets all over it. I use 2.

5. 3-5 year lifespan for me anyway.

So tell me about leather those of you who ride or used to ride in it. I know it's not waterproof. I llve in the desert so not that concerned I'll throw a rain jacket over it in the event. My AST leaks in prolonged wet anyway.

I believe in Hi-Viz so I'll wear a vest over it. My AST is not near as bright now as when new.

Black leather is going to be hotter yea know that. I'm mostly impervious to heat though, desert rat!

So leather?

 

[planalp]

I don't see how you could go wrong with this jacket. Are you going to get the armor? While I've never tested the theory, I still think a good leather would be much more abrasion-resistant (i.e. sliding contact with pavement) than a textile jacket. I concur with all your beefs about the standard features of textile jackets.

 

[flash]

I got fed up with the textiles after melting a sleeve on the exhaust. I was ready to drop around $600 on a leather jacket and went shopping for it. None of the shops had one my size and was I ready to order until my wife pointed one out on a consignment rack. This was a Hein-Gericke, had all the features I was looking for, almost new condition, AND fit like it was made just for me. Unbelievable luck. $200.

That was three years ago and I've never looked back, winter or summer. For what you will eventually spend on textiles go for leather as your "keeper".

 

[Spec]

I don't see how you could go wrong with this jacket. Are you going to get the armor? While I've never tested the theory, I still think a good leather would be much more abrasion-resistant (i.e. sliding contact with pavement) than a textile jacket. I concur with all your beefs about the standard features of textile jackets.

I would take the armor out of my AST intially may upgrade in the future.

You're right about abrasion, can't find the source for this data but I've seen it muliple times:

"For the Drag Test, samples were stitched to a bag that held a 75-pound
sandbag inside a milk crate, then dragged behind a pickup truck..."

New, 100% Cotton Denim Jeans ----------------------- 3' 10"
Senior Balistic Nylon ----------------------------------- 3' 10"
Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz/sq. ft. --- 4' 3"
Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz/sq ft. ------------- 4' 4"
Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans ------------ 4' 5"
Cordura Nylon Type 440 ----------------------------- 18' 3"
Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713 ------------------ 22' 1"
Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz/sq. ft. -------- 86' 0"


Taber Test

"For the Taber Test, the specimen was mounted on a rotating platform and
scuffed by two rubber-emery grinding wheels." The numbers represent the
number of revolutions until the fabric totally fails. A vacuum clears
debris.

Two-year-old 100% Cotton Denim Jeans 168
New 100% Cotton Denim Jeans 225
Kevlar 29 Aramid Fiber, Style 713 506
Cordura Nylon, Type 440 559
Leather, Lightweight, Nude Finish, 2.25 oz./sq. ft. 564
Leather, Fashion Weight, 1.75 oz./sq. ft. 750
Senior Ballistic Nylon 817
Leather, Competition Weight, 3 oz./sq. ft. 2600

 

[Snakeboy66]

Gentlemen,

I like the idea of a high quality leather jacket but have always worried about the rain. Arent leather jackets horrendous in the rain?

Snakeboy66

 

[Scrapper]

i bought an old used pakistani leather jacket that fits great in a harley shop in gatlinburg for 100 bucks, thats all i use. took my spill in it last spring, you can't even tell it was in a 40 mph crash into a mountain. i love the heavy duty zippers on it. the only velcro on it is little clasps on the cuffs that cover the zippers that expand the cuffs. i think i made out alright for 100 bucks.

 

[Lockjaw]

For years I've worm a 'Joe Rocket' leather jacket I got from newenough for $100 or so. AWESOME jacket. Treated for rain. I love it. I wear kevlar pants, but leather up top unless it is too hot (rarely) or going offroad...leather wins.

 

[planalp]

Typical "Big And Tall" guy like me trying to find a leather motorcycle jacket:

 

[n8tureboy]

I have a Schott leather jacket that I've had since 1984 and I still wear it exclusively. The jacket was $200+ back then and today it sells for $500+ on the Schott USA website. High quality and stylish jacket. It's hot in the Summer though, but it has a zip-out liner that helps. Ride on!

 

[n8tureboy]

I can't get the hyperlink to work, but here's the URL link for my sweetheart. She's been with me since the mid 80's....we're inseperable.

http://www.schottnyc.com/products/other/made-in-usa/classic-racer-leather-motorcycle-jacket.htm

 

[650Stew]

I'll dare to be different here, I wore leather jacket's since I started riding street at 16. I really liked them except when it rained (I treated them, but it seemed to wear off fast... And I didn't notice until it rained!). They didn't have any vents to speak of either, so they got quite sweaty in the warm weather. Seemed kind of cool when it was cold out too, so I always had to layer to stay warm.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago when I bought my first textile Tourmaster jacket... Wow! Toasty warm with the liner in it, and cool on the hot days with liner removed and the vents open. Got caught in a couple of downpours and stayed warm and dry. I'm not a huge fan of velcro but it gets the job done. I'm sticking with textile :Happy:

 

[flash]

I'm sticking with textile

I'll have to disagree here. For me it's about abrasion resistance as Spec cited in an earlier post. The textiles can't even come close in a get off on the pavement compared to good leathers. Road rash is a terrible thing I have personally experienced. Young and dumb, wearing jeans and a tee shirt during only around a 30 mph fall the jeans went to my flesh in about a nano second it seemed and my upper body had no chance. Never again.

I have read, but never experienced, textiles actually melting onto the skin due to the friction of sliding on pavement. Just something to think about. A good leather jacket will have ample venting to be comfortable in all but the hottest weather. Here in Texas when it reaches close to, or over 100 degrees I can't wear my Hein-Gericke and have my eye on the same jacket Spec is looking at here.

Looking back I thought that jacket was perforated leather, it is not. Anyone have a perf leather jacket they can recommend?

 

[650Stew]

Truthfully there are good and bad points to both materials, ideally a person could have one of each and switch out depending on weather and riding conditions. My leather jackets were fairly old school and didn't really have any venting even though they were "real" motorcycle jackets... I think the one had some zippers under the armpits and some in the side but I never really noticed a huge difference with them open. I'm guessing the modern leather offerings are much better.

Anything is better than nothing though, I went down on pavement myself last August at about 50kmh. Stupid spill, no gear and I've got the scars to show for it! Wish I could say young and dumb, but in my case it was old and stupid... Just going around the block, what could happen? Those are the ones that bite you. T-shirt and polyester track pants, it wasn't pretty... The track pants didn't melt into my skin but they also offered zero abrasion protection, I might as well have been wearing shorts! Leather or textile would have provided 100 percent protection on that spill I'm sure, would have made the difference between picking the bike up and laughing, to hobbling into the house bleeding and being off work for a month and sore for months after that. I know better now. ATGATT even around the block! amn:

Edit: Holy crap, I just ran across some pics of guys that had get off's at higher speeds with textiles... Made my spill's damage look like a hangnail! Y'all have convinced me, next time around I'm getting leather and I'll just wear a high viz vest over it. Yikes!

 

[Lockjaw]

Yeah, I wear textile if I'm gonna be offroad and real hot, but leather is tough to beat. Literally. And yeah, I feel weird on my bike without gear and usually do something stupid as a result. :t1202: