Hot weather riding gear

[kidtwist]

Ok Guys ! I need to see a motoport now closely... do they only sale online ?

Any dealer in Los Angeles area ?

They sell online or you can make an appointment at their offices/factory in San Marcos, CA (North San Diego County).

http://www.motoport.com

[NeilS]

I believe they only sell direct these days. I bought mine at the big New York motorcycle show. But I think they're in Southern California, somewhere between LA and San Diego. Look them up, maybe they'll let you ride down and give you a tour of the place.

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Thanks Neils...

I have to visit Salk Institute in La jolla soon near San Diego...
So ! this will be the opportunity to check the famous Motoport Jackets if they have a show room.

Salk Institute
1966 designed by Louis Khan


"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage
of those who dare to make dreams into reality."
Dr. Jonas Salk

[Bill Stevenson]

On Saturday I went to ye old bike shop and bought a BMW airflow something or other jacket. It is all mesh, has pads in elbows, shoulders, and back. It was comfortable riding home, but it was only mid eighties. Time will tell if I can tolerate it when it gets hot. Thanks for all the advice.

Bill

[Bheckel169]

This month's issue of Rider has a review of hot weather mesh jackets.
Bruce

[thepeacebullgrunt]

Yesterday I stopped by San Marcos California were Motoport factory is based...
I saw almost all the products and talk with Wayne Boyer (old French name by the way) for a generous hour, he show me everything from the raw materials, the assembling factory to the final products.

Wayne know what is talking about ! this is obvious...well...if I could find a guy like him to install my electrical farckles, I'll be happy.

He talks very well and precisely about his armors and the stitching processes of his jackets. Indeed I still think that the end work look very very bulky but meantimes it is logical if you consider the sturdiness of the material and assembling processes.

Beside the safety of the sturdiness on their products, the big advantage of motoport is that it seem possible to customize your order...add, remove pocket or re-design pockets... select materials and color patching....submit unusual patterns etc etc etc

Conclusion ! I really didn't loose my time riding 2 hrs to Motoport factory !

So ! I may order first a customized padded pant from motoport based on a "No Potato Bag" sizings then I may propose him to work on re-actualizing a 60 or 70 years old vintage military jacket pattern.

Well ! I think I like Motoport a lot now



Here is a Post-coital melancholic rest of a Potato Bag...


And here is an elegant potato bag
wearing a very affordable unsafe unpadded
Made in China Mesh motorcycle jacket.

[ka5ysy]

Well ! I think I like Motoport a lot now

"When" you crash and hit the ground you will LOVE Motoport.

Did you get the Street Jean?:

http://www.motoport.com/_product_35442/ ... treet_Jean

[parkec]

A couple more ideas.

Last couple of days the paper here have been runing headlines "feels Like 110" (must be slow news days) Typical temp per my hand-i-dandy BMW on board computer 91-94....humidity is dripping.

I've been alternating between Boots, perf Re'it jacket, perf gloves, and a helmet. For a shirt - short sleeve button down cotton, and for pants either jeans or shorts. A few local trips have been without the jacket.

Results.Sweating a buckets, and a couple out breaks of heat rash


Yesterday eight of us took off on a 200+ mile ride to the middle of the state looking for rain.

I wore boots, shorts, sunscreen, light shirts, jacket, perf gloves, full face heemet.
Ride Leader wore boots, shorts, tee shirt, no gloves, shorty helmet.
His wife wore boots, tee shirt, gloves, no gloves, full face helmet,
Road Warrior wore boots, jeans, mesh jacket, gloves, full face helment
Road Warrior Wife wore boots, BMW riding suit, gloves, full face helmet.
Rider Guy wore boots, jeans, tee shirt, mesh jacket, no gloves, full face helmet
Road Warrior 2 wore boots, jeans, tee shirt, gloves, full face helmet.
Road Warrior Wifw 2 wore boots, jeans, tee shirt, light jacket (non riding), gloves, full face helmet.

As you can see our attire was all over the board. No rain, but humidty, a whole lot of sweat, temps from 91-95 (indicated), and a great time.

[ka5ysy]

T-shirt riders on Harleys by any chance ?

[Bill Stevenson]

Update. We have record breaking heat here in South Florida. Hotter than I ever remember it. My all mesh BMW jacket is tolerable, maybe even cooler than a short sleeve shirt. The mesh seems to accelerate the air flowing through the holes enhancing the cooling effect when moving. At stop lights, for short periods of time the jacket shades the skin from the radiant energy from the sun. I am really glad I bought it.

Bill

[parkec]

T-shirt riders on Harleys by any chance ?

Nope..An 09 GS Adventure, a C1200, and an 1150 RT..It was an all BMW ride.

[ka5ysy]

We have been having really hot weather in south Louisiana the past 3 weeks. On recommendation of a Harley rider who happened to catch my attention for being in the full Motoport Airmesh II Hi-Vis outfit (unusual huh?) I ordered a cooling vest from Silver Eagle Outfitters out of curiousity to see if it could help keep me cool during the Riders Edge class I was teaching this past weekend.

The interesting thing about this order is that I sent an email late in the day after the closing time for Silver Eagle. I had some questions about which vest to try, and left my cellphone number also. About 45 minutes later, to my amazement, I received a call from a nice lady who answered my questions and suggested that I try the khaki Hydrous cooling vest. She did mention that due to our humidity, it might not work too well. That, folks, is customer service!

Anyway, this is what I purchased:
http://www.coolingapparel.com/shop/vest ... svest.html

I received the vest on Thursday afternoon, and since Friday was a light day, I took a ride with the vest to check out a new road someone had found near Baton Rouge. The temperature was about 98 at the start of the ride, and the vest worked "ok" behind the tall Cal Sci screen I normally use. I did discover that standing up and getting air on the vest made it work really, really well, even under the quad armor of my Motoport Airmesh II Jacket. I returned home and swapped out the screen to the BMW tall one, and used it for the Saturday morning ride over to Hammond Harley Davidson for my class.

On the range at about noon, I put on the vest over my range shirt and it worked pretty well with the heat in the 110 range on the asphault. It did dry out quickly and get warm after about 30 minutes, but until that time, subjectively, I did feel a bit cooler even without any wind to assist the cooling effect.

After class was the big test, as it was now about 2:15 PM and the heat was really bad. I was seeing 102 and 103 on the RR computer, so it was really a hot ride to test the vest. I had recharged it with about 4 cups of cold water from my cooler, and did the 45 minute run to the house down LA-22, one of our best twisty rides.

Result was that I was very comfortable with the airflow allowing the vest to work as advertised. I was very comfortable during the ride, and the air was hot enough that I fully closed the faceplate on my helmet because it was roasting my face and drying out my contact lenses.

This is a very good product for hot weather riding, and I can highly recommend it. Those of you in areas that do not have the very high humidity of the deep south will really see the benefit of the vest as the evaporative cooling will really work properly.

[Bill Stevenson]

On Saturday while my bike was being serviced the dealer loaned me a R1200RT. Holy hotness! Even with the screen as low as it would go there was not enough airflow to allow my venting jacket to work. Terribly uncomfortable. My bike has the BMW "Tall" windscreen, which allows a lot of wind to reach me. Maybe I should remove it for the summer, though.

Bill

[Caroanbill]

Update. We have record breaking heat here in South Florida. Hotter than I ever remember it. My all mesh BMW jacket is tolerable, maybe even cooler than a short sleeve shirt. The mesh seems to accelerate the air flowing through the holes enhancing the cooling effect when moving. At stop lights, for short periods of time the jacket shades the skin from the radiant energy from the sun. I am really glad I bought it.

Bill, I've had my Airflow Jacket (silver grey and blue) and pants for a few years - fantastic in our Aussie summers and, as you point out, also keeps of radiant heat.

I haven't yet found a cooling vest designed for mesh jackets - and I worry it would be possible to "overcool". If ambient temp is over 40C - at which point even asphalt becomes soft - my extra cooling for now is to soak my kerchief at each stop and allow water to run fown the cotton T I wear underneath (Airflow 2 is a bit scratchy).

Airflow 2 has worn very well, too: still looks brand new, if a tad dated.