Summer Riding Gear Motorcycle Clothing Discuss Summer Riding Gear in the Harley Products & Services forums; We had a couple of brutally hot warm spells in Michigan this sumer, plus I toured TN, NC, and VA in the heat. My motto for protective gear has always ...

We had a couple of brutally hot warm spells in Michigan this sumer, plus I toured TN, NC, and VA in the heat. My motto for protective gear has always been "more is better", but in the heat it just is not practical. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with some of the perforated leather jackets or textile jackets for sumer riding. Are they worth the $$, or do they end up in the tour pak during the day's heat?

Rick

[Majicbringer]

Worth every penny. I don't much care for HD's (and other makers) mesh jackets. It's a bit like wearing one of those plastic netting dish scrubbers, and only gets more annoying at speeds where things start flapping around and you have T shirt on underneath. And I wouldn't trust fabric jackets with a lot of ventilation holes in a slide.
The perforated leather jackets from HD and Vanson are really nice. Don't know much about other makers' products, but they're probably decent, too.

I wear an ICON leather jacket made for bikers and it has very small perforations in the leather and also zippered openings that let air circulate and even on the hottest day it is comfortable as long as you are riding. Fueling up and other stop and go type things make it uncomfortable for sure. OF all the jackets I have owned over the years, this one is by far the best for all types of weather.

Thanks for your responses. I was thinking of a Roadgear XJK jacket for hot weather...perforated leather with body armor.

I have an old Hein Gericke jacket with great ventilation (front, rear and sleeve vents) but on 90+ days it is just too hot.

Rick