In the beginning, there was gravity, two wheels and an engine. Motorcycling was born and motorcyclists wore whatever was on hand-long coats, dusters, work gloves and boots. A multimillion-dollar industry specializing in motogarments was still a hundred years away, though it wouldn't take long for the leather jacket-adopted by pilots who braved the enemy and the elements in open-cockpit aircraft-to filter into motorcycling. By World War II, the so-called bomber jacket morphed into an icon, becoming a symbol of rugged individualism and freedom. That it may not have been the ideal piece of motorcycling gear didn't much matter.
Today's motorcyclists are likely to have one foot in the past and the other treading toward tomorrow (which can hurt if you're not limber). What's more, their choices are nearly mind-numbingly broad. Leather here, goatskin there, even kangaroo, all competing with a swath of new and remarkably inexpensive textile gear for your moto-clothing buck. Like all longstanding disagreements, you'll find plenty of bodies lined up between the velvet ropes-leather lovers on one side, friends of fabric on the other.
To be honest, we'd love to answer this question definitively: Which material is best? Unfortunately, there are simply too many variables involved-your kind of riding, sense of style, body type, climate, hygiene, phases of the moon-to point to one material and say, unflinchingly, "There, that's the one!" We know some of our loyal readers will sniff and say, "But I like my unpadded, $99 quasi-leather jacket," or, "You'll pry me out of my Aerostich when I'm cold and dead."
This much we know for sure: Modern, high-tech motorcycle gear is nothing short of amazing. "What's available today is dramatically better than the gear we had 20, 30 years ago," says Andy Goldfine, inventor of the Aerostich Roadcrafter suit, which deserves the lion's share of credit for kicking off the textile boom. What's more, the motorcycle-apparel market has expanded-there are more manufacturers from more countries than ever. For the consumer, the question comes down thus: What do you want? Is it important to look good, or feel safe? (At one time, these were mutually exclusive concepts.) Think carefully and follow along.
A Nod To Armor
If anything has changed the motoclothing landscape, it's the infusion of hard armor drizzling down from race gear. Two decades ago, a street jacket-worn with jeans, natch-might have had an extra layer of leather at the shoulders and elbows, and if you got a really expensive one, it may have had a thin slice of cotton batting between those layers. In essence, this construction created a second line of protection against abrasion but essentially nothing for impact protection. Today, thankfully, it's a different story. When shopping, look for CE-approved armor in, at least, the shoulders and elbows. What's CE? This is a standard devised in the European Union intended to level the playing field for claims that a certain garment has impact-resistance. There are two standards, one for shoulders, elbows and knees, and yet another for spine protection, that determine the size and placement of the pads as well as their ability to cushion shock and, to a much lesser extent, resist penetration.
Many high-end garments boast CE-approved armor, and this mark assures you the garment meets a decent standard of crashworthiness, at least where the pads are concerned. There are also several kinds of protection that do not meet with CE approval, but that doesn't mean a whole lot-companies such as Aerostich and Vanson build armor that is not CE-approved but is just as effective.