Going Cross Coutry, Leathers or Textile

[SteveM]

I'm headed from San Diego to Boston in July. The basic route is north to the CA border, east through Yellowstone and mt. Rushmore, eventually heading south to the Dragon, then BRP to DC and home.

I expect all kinds of temperature and have the rain covered with a good set of rain gear.

My two choice are:

Vanson jacket, front venting and perforated sport rider pants. Best protection in the event of a get off. Less comfortable. Likely hotter on hot days AND colder on cold mornings, but some layering can help that.

Olympia Air Glide 3 jacket and pants. The pants have a removable liner and the jacket has a 2 stage liner system. With a one piece thin fleece suit underneath, it is comfortable at 40 degrees and much better in the hot stuff. It is also much easier to get comfortable on the bike.

As usual, the choice comes down to comfort vs. protection and I'm looking at 2 weeks straight of 300-400 miles days.

Which would you take?

[burnham]

TEXTILE! I rode to WY an back in leathers, it fucking sucked. I'll never ride distance in leather again. On my first night I was riding in Ohio, and could see some lightning was off in the distance. I didn't think much of it, but I quickly rode into a wall of water. In the time it took to pull over and get my rain gear on, I got soaked. It was cool and rainy the next day, I rode with my rain gear on over my wet leathers, freezing my tits off.
The day I left Jackson Hole it was in the low 30's in the morning, later in the day it was in the high 90's in Denver. I was comfortable for about 10 minutes that day.

[ctbandit]

Wirelessly posted

This isn't even a questtion, textile all the way

[OreoGaborio]

Dude... fuckin textile. Textile will protect you just fine and will be 100 times more versatile.

As much as I love leather, how often do you see leather touring jackets? There's a reason for that.

[Paul_E_D]

text...ile

[Rossco]

Textile. Because of basically what burnham and Oreo said.

[Rambunctous]

Nobody rides from San Diego to Boston.

[oVTo]

San Diego to Boston? Definitely textile.
Boston to San Diego, leather.

[Rambunctous]

Chaps are the style in San Fancisco

[R7]

Last summer I rode 4,000km (2500 miles) in 6 days while I was in Europe, on a sportbike. Because I was planning on riding on and offroad while I was there, and limited baggage space for the plane ride, I had to mix up the gear a bit. I did that road trip in full leather, with MX boots and an Arai XD helmet. Suprisingly, I was very comfortable for most of those 4,000Km's. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'd go with leather

[clutch]

Textile

[SprintPoser]

Assless Chaps are the style in San Francisco

Fixed it for you.

I'd go textile mainly because you're bound to hit rain at some point. If it hits, you don't stop to don the rain gear. Also, if the textile somehow gets wet, it dries out fairly quickly. Wet leather, not so much.

While not cross country I did some 3-day trips in leather and was fine in the rain just using a good rain suit.

[xsiliconkid]

waterproof textile with lots of vents like an aerostich ..

[Manny]

Wirelessly posted

Leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing.

[SprintPoser]

Wirelessly posted

Leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing.

I could not disagree more. While it is not always practical, it offers so much more abrasion protection on the street and as a result, can keep protective armor in place better. I much prefer leather on a day like today.

Getting on the bike in a few minutes....dressed in leather and despite my username here, I'll be riding not posing.

[OreoGaborio]

Leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing.

Ever see someone get hit by a minivan or jammed under a guardrail on the track?

[Garandman]

Funny, there's a nearly identical thread on Advrider.

I wear the AirGlide pants and jacket three seasons here. Pretty nice stuff.

[Manny]

Wirelessly posted

Leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing.

Ever see someone get hit by a minivan or jammed under a guardrail on the track?

Exactly my point. How is the impact of a minivan goIng to be reduced by leather vs a textile with Kevlar? The only thing I can think of is puncture resistance or physically being dragged by a car.

Leather is argualbly better on track because it i highly likely one may slide an exceedingly long distance but not on the street unless you are actually getting dragged.

Textile has come a long way and those brands that use technologically advanced materials to enhance abrasion resistance I believe have a product that serves equally well for the street.

[OreoGaborio]

Whatever, I'm not gonna argue stupid friggin semantics with you especially when I agree with most (but certainly not all) of what you're saying.

THE POINT I was getting at, is that your statement "leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing" is... well... fuckin ridiculous... and you know it (or at least I hope you do).

On the street, given the choice between the two and given that long distance and weather comfort isn't a concern, I'll choose leather all day long. Go ahead, call me a ridiculous street poser. You already eluded to it once.


For a long distance trip where many different weather conditions may present itself? Yeah... textile. It protects close enough but with a little more versatility.

[csmutty]

Whatever, I'm not gonna argue stupid friggin semantics with you especially when I agree with most of what you're saying.

MY POINT is your statement that "leather is ridiculous for anything besides track riding or posing" is... well... fuckin ridiculous... and you know it
(or at least I hope you do)

I agree with him. Leather is not versatile, is heavy, restricts airflow, is bulky, etc. Only time I wear it on the street is when I am trying to restrict airflow when it's cold.

[SprintPoser]

I went out riding for several hours today in my PERFORATED leather gear, and was quite comfortable. I have plenty of good textile riding gear as well, but believe it or not I find the perf'd leather to be cooler.

[Rambunctous]

THE SMELL OF BURNING LEATHER

[Manny]

Wirelessly posted

You are not going to argue over semantics? That's all I got, man!

[mrezra]

In this case: fancy fabric > cow. And more importantly, your going the wrong way.

[Garandman]

I went out riding for several hours today in my PERFORATED leather gear, and was quite comfortable. I have plenty of good textile riding gear as well, but believe it or not I find the perf'd leather to be cooler.

There are a lot of guys in YB [old BMW owners] who ride in leather all the time. Some of the new leather products are waterproofed, have perforations and vents, and even use split Kangaroo skin (stronger than split cowhide) to keep the weight down.

Textile suit pioneer Aerostich now sells a waterproof, breathable two piece leather suit. Of course, it's $1,600, making a $900 RoadCrafter suit look budget-priced.