I would eventually like to get a leather jacket, preferably with armor, but a couple of the ones I like don't have it (some do). I guess it would be nice to wear off the bike w/o armor.

But my question is actually, which is most likely the safer option: leather W/O armor, or a textile WITH armor? This is assuming I am not getting leather with.

I would eventually like to get a leather jacket, preferably with armor, but a couple of the ones I like don't have it (some do). I guess it would be nice to wear off the bike w/o armor.

But my question is actually, which is most likely the safer option: leather W/O armor, or a textile WITH armor? This is assuming I am not getting leather with.

Leather w/o armor > textile w/armor ... meaning a proper leather riding jacket, not a "dress up" leather jacket. I would still suggest you go with what might not be your most liked and get a jacket with armor.. some have removable armor too!

upon impact if your textile cracks open the armor will slide around making you vulberable until you stopped draging on the ground..thats where leather is better.

i'd go with a quality textile with armor over a leather jacket without.

the armor is what keeps you from breaking bones. the biggest difference between the textile and leather garments is that the textile is usually only good for one crash, and has a slightly higher chance of failing.

there are some textile garments that are very good though. aerostitch is a prime example. you could even wear that on the track if you wanted, but again its only good for one crash before it needs repair. a good leather garment will be good for multiple crashes.

either way: do your research and don't buy cheap gear becuase its going to fail. buying good gear at a cheap price is always a plus though. you just can't always be as picky about what it looks like. and make sure it fits snug so that the armor doesn't move around too much. ;)

Leather = good abrasion protection in a slide.
Textile = mediocre abrasion protection in a slide.
Armour = good impact protection in a collision.
No armour = well, no armour.

IMHO..

For slow speeds in the city, textile with armour is better. You are more likely to hit something (other vehicle, curb, etc) at low speed than you are to slide down the pavement.

On the highway, you are going faster and are more likely to slide along the pavement in a spill, so leather seems to be the way to go.

my question is, who sells a leather sport motorcycle jacket w/o armor these days? :confused:

if they do, is it really a motorcycle jacket?

my question is, who sells a leather sport motorcycle jacket w/o armor these days? :confused:

if they do, is it really a motorcycle jacket?

Good point. I was looking at a couple of River Road jackets. The Twin Iron does have armor though, which makes it my first choice (also inexpensive). The Hoodlum would be my first choice for looks, but I would prefer having armor.

my question is, who sells a leather sport motorcycle jacket w/o armor these days? :confused:

if they do, is it really a motorcycle jacket?

Don't some of the retro-fashion jackets like the Ducati and Triumph branded jackets made to look like they are vintage '60's wear sell without armor?

I own a Highway One McGuire Striped Motorcycle Jacket without armor, and a SHIFT Airborne mesh jacket with armor. I'm going to wear the leather when it gets a little cooler. After feeling how thick the leather is on the highway one, im sure i could slide a hundred feet and the jacket wont rip apart.

I bought this jacket

shift jacket (http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/dir/large_img.php?id=44524)

I also bought a spine protector from a local shop to stick into the back. It is a bitching jacket but kinda hot 85 + (but then again what isnt). The only qualm is the padded vs hard elbows, but it is pretty solid and looks great. I got it from motorcyclecloseouts.com from 165.99 and the back protector was roughly 30.00 bucks. I hop that helps, plus there are 3 colors blue/white black/red and black/orange

kkim the jacket I bought did not have back protection, but had the slot for it, and the shoulder armor comes out so it can be used w/o armor

Boought one of these. http://www.olympiamotosports.com/airglide/airglide.htm

It feels very sturdy. Armor included. It doesn't show well in the pictures but the strips running down the sleeves and the border on the stripe are reflective 3M material.

I bought this jacket

shift jacket (http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/dir/large_img.php?id=44524)

I also bought a spine protector from a local shop to stick into the back. It is a bitching jacket but kinda hot 85 + (but then again what isnt). The only qualm is the padded vs hard elbows, but it is pretty solid and looks great. I got it from motorcyclecloseouts.com from 165.99 and the back protector was roughly 30.00 bucks. I hop that helps, plus there are 3 colors blue/white black/red and black/orange

kkim the jacket I bought did not have back protection, but had the slot for it, and the shoulder armor comes out so it can be used w/o armor

Wow, that looks great... I like this better than anything I have seen so far! I almost just bought it on impulse, but the site is down for maintance. While I "sleep on it," give us a review on the jacket. How is the construction, etc?

I'd rather have armor with a textile jacket then leather without armor. That few feet you will slide with torn textile is way better than a broken bone. Textile isn't even that bad if you buy good textile.

Get armor in your jacket, its not really uncomfortable. Otherwise we don't want to hear about your broken bone when you crash :P

It is a great jacket but I must warn you kinda warm in 85+ degree weather. I say that loosely as a mesh jacket is just as warm when stopped. When riding as long as you leave the top unsnapped air flows down pretty well. It isnt heavy and is a styling jacket. I would suggest motorcyclecloseout.com as it is 150 dollars cheaper than the other sights. Other than that every thing is zippered and there are 2 inside pockets that are zippered.

The only "problem" is the padded elbows vs hard armor. It def looks weird, but it is not too noticable on the black (the padded stitiching of course) I hope that helps and like I said I still wear it here and I love it.

What do you mean by "padded elbows vs hard armor?" Are the elbows not actually armored? Are they padded, like a bra? The stitching you refer to, is it through the outer shell?

If you felt moved to post pics, I would be much obliged.


EDIT: I must say that the execution of google add words sucks.... the add on this page at the moment is for some fashion designer! I am pretty confident that no one who has ever been on this board, or ever will, would actually be interested.

I'd rather have armor with a textile jacket then leather without armor. That few feet you will slide with torn textile is way better than a broken bone. Textile isn't even that bad if you buy good textile.

Get armor in your jacket, its not really uncomfortable. Otherwise we don't want to hear about your broken bone when you crash :P

For me, I'm seriously more concerned about road rash and losing skin than broken bones, and that's why I go with leather. Everybody who crashes said that broken bokes just don't match the pain of the skin rash. To each his own :p

Forgive me, i am a complete newb, and only own 1 armored mesh jacket, but my thinking is that the armour is not there to prevent broken bones. It is there to prevent protruding bones from road rash, because more pressure is applied to them in a slide, vs non-protruding body parts. I dont think the armour in my jacket is padded enough to take a "blow" and preventing bone breakage. Then again i only know my jacket, im not sure what else is out there.

Thats why i'm looking forward to wearing the leather over the mesh with armour, because the armor plates can slide around in the mesh jacket, but the leather is thick all around.

The armor is definitely in there to help lower the force of your body smacking the pavement, and in some cases will be able to limit or prevent breaking some bones. The latest CE armor is cant be surprisingly effective, if it is snug enough to be held in place when you are hitting the ground. But it's certainly not foolproof. :)

my question is, who sells a leather sport motorcycle jacket w/o armor these days? :confused:

if they do, is it really a motorcycle jacket?

I was also wondering this

Forgive me, i am a complete newb, and only own 1 armored mesh jacket, but my thinking is that the armour is not there to prevent broken bones. It is there to prevent protruding bones from road rash, because more pressure is applied to them in a slide, vs non-protruding body parts. I dont think the armour in my jacket is padded enough to take a "blow" and preventing bone breakage. Then again i only know my jacket, im not sure what else is out there.

Thats why i'm looking forward to wearing the leather over the mesh with armour, because the armor plates can slide around in the mesh jacket, but the leather is thick all around.

I'd argue with that first part, an example for you would be the amount of people (who don't wear proper gear) that get road rash on their ass, sides etc. I don't think I've ever seen ass-armor =D you think the foam padding would be abrasion resistant? :confused:

find a protruding bone on your arm/wrist and whack it on the table. its taking a direct hit from the table and a lot of pressure is going directly into that bone. no wrap a towel around that bone and hit it on the table again. the force is distributed out and not all going to the bone... thus less chance of it breaking.

as for abrasion, sure... the padding/armor can help with that too. it'll create less pressure points where your body has hard spots and distribute the rash a bit.

Leather is the best defense against that cheese grater we call a road. Armour lessons the force of the impact. Leather with Armour is the safest and the least comfortable from my experience. But the Armour does make you look buff.

Yea I do not mind posting pics when I get home from work today at 12-100 Hawaii time (bout 5-6 PM CST) It is a short day in celebration of Aloha Friday. ;)

istreet i have 2 shift jackets and for the love of god i can not find back armour built specifically for their jacket. i want something that fits in the pocket snug and doesnt slide around, which armour did u buy?

That few feet you will slide with torn textile is way better than a broken bone.
It's not unusual to slide 150-200 feet if you crash at highway speed and nothing solid gets in your way.

Use the right tools for the job. When riding at low speeds in the city, put the emphasis on armour for impact protection. When riding at high speed on the open road, wear gear that can take a high-velocity slide.

Yea I do not mind posting pics when I get home from work today at 12-100 Hawaii time (bout 5-6 PM CST) It is a short day in celebration of Aloha Friday. ;)

Thanks! I should be getting home around 5:30-6pm PST, and can hold back until then ;)

Question about fit.... how does the Shift compare in size to other jackets (run big/small)? I'm 5'8", 135lbs, slender build. I currently have a Joe Rocket mesh (size small), & a Tour Master winter jacket (size small/40). The smallest size they have left is a medium, which their size chart says is a chest size of 36"-38." My wife just measured me at 36." The longest measurement we get for sleeves is 26", but the size chart says even the Xsmall is at 31".... so we probably don't know how to do that measurement accurately (I'm not freakish size). Does it sound like the medium is likely to fit?

^bump for pics^

Ok so here are the pictures you have been waiting for. This is the jacket as you see it
3237

Ohh yea forgive the other clothes on the bed, we jsut moved in and are doing laundry (lots of it) with the clothes that were packed away in boxes and shipped over here

Here are the padded elbows vs hard armor:
3236

And here is the inside as you can see there are 2 pockets inside for uses then my spine protector pocket. and to answer your question I do not know what brand I bought for the spine protector, i just took the jacket to a cycle shop and bought one (I have long since thrown away the packaging). It was similar to this

armor (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Motorcycle-BACK-PROTECTOR-Body-SPINE-Armor-Sport-Bike-M_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQhashZitem5d25affbdaQQitemZ40006424 8794QQptZApparelQ5fMerchandise)

only without straps.

It is a great jacket and the pics really make it look like there is more color than really is. The red and white especially are more faded and "vintage" looking. Hope this helped everyone. If needed I can go to the store and find out the brand of the insert.

as for abrasion, sure... the padding/armor can help with that too. it'll create less pressure points where your body has hard spots and distribute the rash a bit.

Basically... The padding helps distribute and absorb some of the force to help prevent stresses/abrasions/breaks.

Armor may be effective at abrasion resistance to protrusions, but most protrusions don't occur where the padding is ;) You break a bone enough to protrude, it's going to be in the middle third of the bone. Exceptions to shoulders are the ball joint itself can sometimes break off... Good stuff. Bone breaks are happy stuff and surprisingly, abrasions at the protrusion can usually heal over time. If you have a protrusion I wouldn't expect a quick recovery time regardless ;) They have to stretch your muscles out and brace it up so that the bone can even be in the proper placement to begin with.

Basically... The padding helps distribute and absorb some of the force to help prevent stresses/abrasions/breaks.

Armor may be effective at abrasion resistance to protrusions, but most protrusions don't occur where the padding is ;) You break a bone enough to protrude, it's going to be in the middle third of the bone. Exceptions to shoulders are the ball joint itself can sometimes break off... Good stuff. Bone breaks are happy stuff and surprisingly, abrasions at the protrusion can usually heal over time. If you have a protrusion I wouldn't expect a quick recovery time regardless ;) They have to stretch your muscles out and brace it up so that the bone can even be in the proper placement to begin with.

I think I'm going to be sick, and then sell my bike.... no j/k. Scary and sobering though.

Thanks for the pics, istreefitty!

Mine arrived today... unfortunately it is still way to hot to use it yet.
I don't know why that picture of the gun is on the inside.... must be the spot the manufacturer suggests is the best place to carry with their jacket :happy110:

Thanks for the lead.

NP I know you will like it. I wear mine in 85 degree weather and it isnt too bad