Are you kidding... we never started a topic on this here? I can't find one outside of Susan's one on chaps.... Although I could have missed it I suppose.... so I guess we go at it then?


Ok, I normaly wear a Joe Rocket Pheonix 3.0 jacket. Around here the mesh is the way to go with the normaly hot weather we ride in. And even if its a tad cool, when you put the liner in it becomes a decent cool weather jacket with the addition of a thick shirt under it. And can be had for 100 bucks. Nice padding, removable and comes with water proof liner thats fairly wind proor too and decent quality. If you get it in black its not too sports bike looking. If anyone is looking for one of these and wants a link of how to get one for 99 bucks plus shipping I got that. Just ask. Comes in around 114 shipped.  I wear this one most of the year with the liner in if around like 45 or so.

Now that being said for the few months of dead cold I just scored a Harley Davidson FXRG leather jacket. Considered Medium weight but actually is heavy weight for here. I don't know much about these at this point because this one is still on the way to me. It was slightly used. I like this particular model because it does not have a lot of Harley markings on it. Its almost subtle in its name brand. Hard to see it. Only marked by one small logo on there. Very nicely made from what I saw. I have seen them at shops and drooled over them but never would have spent almost $600 for a jacket. I scored this one for $200 which I felt was reasonable. In perfect condition with the liner. The guy only wore it twice. I think they are over priced otherwise... but I will pay that much for one. Never $500-600... I expect this one to go on when its going to be 45 or less and not get above 60 all day. Or some night riding in cool to cold weather. So this will be about three months off and on a year here in SC.  If anyone has any comments on this jacket I would appreciate them.

I normaly just wear jeans and steel toed 6" boots otherwise. Outside of my helmet.

I wear a HCI full face flip up most of the time. I find the flip ups preferable because I do not have to take my glasses off to put them on. I realize they cannot be SNELL rated because SNELL does not have a procedure to rate flip ups as of yet and so does not. But I feel fairly confident in them. I do also have a Brain Bucket I sometimes wear around town and on my scooters. A Bell.

I have a set of First Gear cold weather gloves and a pair of Olympia perforated gloves for hot weather. Like both of these. The Cold weather ones are kind of stiff. So I wear them only when its just to cold not too. But they may just need more wearing in and might soften up.

For summer riding I've been using a FirstGear nylon mesh jacket with soft pads over a Tee shirt. Bought the jacket at Newenough.com on sale. It's nice to have pockets for gloves and my wallet while out and about. I usually wear jeans but have a set of AVG ballistic nylon pants which I'll put on if I'm planning to challenge some twisties, already burned a hole in them with the muffler so I guess they are broken in. For colder weather I've been wearing one of those cheap leather motorcycle jackets bought off of E-Bay. Already had to have the zipper replaced which cost as much as the jacket did in the first place. I would of been better off just buying a good leather but it protected me last year when I took a spill so I'll keep it around. Cheap gear is better than no gear!!! Other cold weather gear includes long johns and a heavy wool sweater, wool socks and winter gloves. My brain bucket is a full faced ZRF-1, the first one did a real nice job of keeping the side of my head off of the pavement so I bought a replacement after that spill that I had. For my feet I have a pair of black leather laceup boots with no lining. That way the boots stay kind of cool in the summer and with heavy socks on they are warm in the winter. I haven't ridden in the rain yet so I'm not sure how water proof the boots will be. Most of my gear I bought piecemeal as I needed it instead of just going out and getting an outfit. Looking back it would of been easier and cheaper just to get a good leather jacket and chaps combo instead of piecing an outfit together. What is everybody else wearing out there?  Ride Safe

We have Nolan full face helmets with the flip-up chin guards.  A must if you wear glasses.

I have Alpinstars Waterproof Web boots.  Very waterproof, comfy with a toe reinforcement for the shifter, and built in shin and ankle splints.

We also have a set of Chatter Boxes for talking between bikes....we have to use the Push to Talk buttons because with louder pipes the VOX feature is useless  Nothing like listening to the other rider's pipe all the time.  Sort of dueling pipes in stereo  

The rest is just leather, leather, leather.

Yep, shields flip up too.  We normally use smoked shields since most of our riding is daytime...have to flip them up in tunnels, but they do prevent that sunburned nose issue  

I have two helmets a Nolan X-lite, with flip front for local trips and an Akito DTC 03 full face for longer trips.

Clive W  

Guys and gals... I just recieved this Harley Davidson FXRG jacket.... and let me just tell you.... its stunningly well built. I mean HEAVY soft leather. Liner is a darn nice jacket in itself. This thing is well put together and very strong. I mean yea.. over priced at MSRP of 600 bucks.. but well worth WELL over the 200 bucks I paid for it.

The seller had only worn it a couple times and it shows. Its absolutely mint condition. Very nice padding, removable, hardly any outward sign of Harley name on it... Kidney belt. Lots of zippers and those are stout as I have ever seen. Fits like a glove on me just like the sizing charts say. I was lucky to find this one an win the bid. It somehow got lost in the description and all the other ones I have seen have gone for well over $300. Most $350 or more used. $450 plus for new ones. Finding one in my size that the Seller did not use the FXRG in thier description and so it did not draw attention and I got it at $200 was most definately a big score. This is some Jacket.... I can tell already.

This is a really nice winter riding jacket for around here for certain. And a nice piece of work overall. Its no wonder it lists for so much money. It might be worth it!


Did I mention I really love this jacket?  

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It's because we expand with age, not that clothes shrink!  

Wear what you would need to go on the coldest day you would ride - then you don't have to worry about it being too small.  Then take off the outer layers and see how it fits without that sweatshirt (or whatever).  Usually a jacket will be in-between enough to get by.

sunny, in my experience leather does not shrink. I have had a leather jacket for 20 years that has not shrunk.

Regarding sizing, I've heard that you should buy a size or two up but I'd be cautious about that. You want the jacket to fit in all the right places - snug around your waist, armpits not hanging down too low (often an issue for me given my small size).

I would strongly recommend trying a few on with all the layers you might ride with to see what is comfortable. Once you know what will fit, you can then typically save money by buying the same jacket online.

Just my two cents.