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mesh trousers?

samuelh

New member
Friend of mine's husband went down on his harley, wearing denim. Pictures of the road rash are not pretty. I think he'll be fine.

I always with a jacket. In the summer, that's a rev'it air mesh jacket. I guess you could call my 1/2 atgatt.

Looking at getting a pair of mesh trousers, either as overpants over jeans, or I guess I could change every day at the end of the day. Wondering if something like the revit air wave are any better than wearing denim?

What do ppl here wear on the bottom during the summer?

Also I'm 5'10" 240, so if something comes in a short version that would be good.

Thx
SH
 
I have Joe Rocket mesh jacket and trousers.A local rider was wearing a tatterd set,and said he'd losided at about fifty mph.He was sore but no roadrash. That convinced me,plus they're cooler than jeans.
 
like revit

last year I bought Revit Tornado jacket and pants. because they're white...or something like it. The pants are armored where you'd expect and have vents out the kazoo...almost literally. When it's 103 nothing really helps, and in fact, you could be better off in leather with a soaked t-shirt, hair and under-drillies. But I thought the revit pants worked about as well as could be expected and still have protection in the case of a surprise get-off.
 
I'm about the same dimensions and found that FirstGear was the only one that makes mesh pants in large waist sizes but a short.
 
I have the BMW venting machine pants, but they are black. They ventilate really well, though.

Just ordered the Rev'it airwave pants because I love the jacket. Great for Florida!
 
If you really want protection its Motoport Kevlar... including their mesh... or leather... anything else and you're just kidding yourself...
 
Well you can buy Draggin Jeans and others with Kevlar. Just make sure Kevlar is in butt, hips and knees. Some just do the knees. I have Revit Tornado pants and BMW Summer Pants.
 
Hey Samuel H,

I've worn a number of mesh and denim riding pants: Mesh = Joe Rocket and Olympia; Riding Jeans = BMW, Brothers Brand, Hein Gericke, and Vanson.

MESH work really well, and sometimes, they come with a liner, so that you can ride them even if you're going to be in various climates - like riding in the southwest for instance, where you can be in valleys and go to mountains. The Joe Rocket and Olympia both work very well, but I like the Olympia's better because they have women's and that fit me better, although the Joe Rocket has more armor in them. Olympia even has a men's mesh pant that will zip off at the legs so they turn into shorts if you're stopped somewhere and want to walk around. Olympia is generally more expensive than Joe Rocket. http://olympiamotosports.com/catalog/air-essentials/recon-3-mesh-tech-transformer-pant/

Jeans are jeans and so don't vent well, so for summer riding, I'd stick with mesh.

I've got some men's, large, Joe Rockets mesh pants for sale if you're interested. They're too bulky and large for me. I'm 5'6" and have about a 32" inseam, so not sure if they'd be too long or too short for you, given your statement.

Joyce
 
Jeans are jeans and so don't vent well, so for summer riding, I'd stick with mesh.

My experience is a bit difference. I find that mesh pants tend to build up heat worse than motorcycle jeans in the seat and crotch area where there's little or no direct air flow.
 
I've been riding in the Olympia airglides for years. I wear them as over pants over a pair of jeans or shorts. When the weather is really warm, I just wear them as pants. When cold, I put the liners in and they are toasty. In my opinion, they are a good 4-season pant. Another nice feature is that they can easily be hemmed to fit your length.

I have a pair of Draggin' Jeans and I rarely wear them. I find the kevlar to be very uncomfortable and itchy, not to mention hot.

Whatever you decide, avoide black or any other dark color. Lighter colors will really make a difference in the ride.
 
Wondering if something like the revit air wave are any better than wearing denim?SH

Oh, yeah! Denim provides about 0.6 seconds of protection from asphalt. The EU requires at least 1 second of abrasion resistance

What do ppl here wear on the bottom during the summer?

I have FirstGear mesh overpants with a removable liner that can be worn over a range of pants, short or long. I also have a pair of FirstGear mesh pants for when flexibility isn't required.
 
+1 on the FirstGear. I have the HT Air 2 pants that I've been wearing for about 6 years. Still in great shape, all zippers etc still working well. They have a rain liner that I carry but seldom use - it's a pain to put in at the side of the road in a downpour. It IS good if it's already in place in cool weather though. I had been wearing shorts/bicycle shorts under them, but switched to LD Comfort long pants a couple of summers ago. The actually help keep me cooler, and the stop the over pants from sticking to my legs in the heat.
 
Ps

here's one Voni G reminded me of last year when I was asking similar Q's: Moisture, both perspiration and whatever t-shirt soaking you might engage in will evap much more quickly under mesh clothing. If you're OTR for any extended period, stay hydrated.
 
Above 30 mph, washed cotton (denim jeans) 'vaporizes' in about 4-6 seconds of road surface contact, due to friction. Watched it happen during a training event. Not pretty.

Go with Cordura riding pants or at least, Slider 4.0 riding jeans (Kevlar reinforced!).

Ride Safe. :thumb
 
Love my mesh pants but for my kind of riding the mesh jacket flows too much air and could dehydrate me on a long ride.

On our four month wander, my First Gear mesh pants do the trick. In cold I have four layers:

LD Comfort tights
a quilted liner
the mesh pants
and rain pants over the top.

When it's really hot, LD Comforts and the mesh pants alone do the trick. I've been amazed at how well those pants work to cool me!

Voni
sMiling

 
I wear my Roadcrafter year round. Temps from 20F to about 100F - and I've never passed out from the heat, and with Gerbing electrics, I've never frozen. I think the mesh stuff is good for some things, but crashing with them is going to be higher risk then a good ballistics nylon (or leather) suit.

It also greatly simplified my closet (and I don't have to think about what I'm gonna wear when I go out for a ride or a trip.. it's the same thing no matter what.)
 
I like the FirstGear HT Air overpants for warm weather. Comfortable and fit pretty well. The only thing I don't care all that much for is the color... black. I guess "fashion" dictates that black looks good but physics demands that it will be hot. I'm sticking with them this summer but might look at silver colored alternatives next year. Olympia Airglides look good though appear to flow a bit less air than the FG item. I wear nylon "zip-off" pants under the HT Air overpants most of the time which gives me the option of shorts if needed. Jeans under the mesh are way hotter than the nylon zipoffs.
 
I think the first determinant of what works, is whether you ride an open or a fully-faired bike. I have the latter (R1100RT). The second determinant is where you live and ride. I live in south central Alabama, where heat and humidity are both high in the summer.

I have a two-piece Roadcrafter. Around April, the pants go into the closet until late September/October. The jacket soon follows. What I've found is that there's not enough air flow around the fairing to let Codrura-type mesh products work. Not without risking heat prostration. DAMHIKT.

My warm-weather solution is a pair of Diamond Gusset Defender jeans with kevlar in the knees. hips, and butt. I wear a Draggin' Keans kevlar mesh shirt over a t-shirt. Yes, it's marginal (no armor pads), but the cotton jeans wick away perspiration; Cordura doesn't. Even in that light outfit, it still can get uncomfortable behind that fairing.

I tried some First Gear mesh pants. Wore them exactly twice. With my full fairing, there is no breeze over my legs. They didn't breathe, and I felt like I was wearing black plastic garbage bags. Hot and sweaty (and no really useful pockets). They might work on a open bike.

I read that some riders say they can wear their their Roadcrafter suits above 100 degrees. I have no idea how they survive, quite frankly, unless they ride an open bike. Maybe I'm just getting old (61 now), and becoming less tolerant of high heat.
 
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