Is motorcycling allowed?

[Hairy]

So the first jacket I bought when I got the HD was a Spirit something or other. It ticked the boxes of fitting well enough, had protection and the dealership gave it to me at a great price.

Negatives on this jacket

• At two different zip areas the flaps over the zips saw the stitching pulling loose
• Not knowing much when I first bought the jacket I assumed the padding to the back of the jacket was also rated .... turns out it was just a bit of black foam.
• The only size that fitted my shoulders was the 2XL, the waist and arms were a bit loos, but with the straps on the jacket you could firm this up a little, though I could only pull the waist in so far before running out of Velcro to secure the straps. They extended this for me when the jacket had the stitching repaired, and it helped the jacket sit a little better and flap around less in the wind.
• Once the jacket wore in, inners keeping the padding in place at the elbow seems to have stretched. 
• The black also started fading, which with a fabric jacket makes it look really tatty.
• When you ride at higher speeds without a windscreen, and especially into the South Easter, the jacket really puffs up, with end result being some serious buffeting on the upper body.

So a few months down the line and I started looking at potential alternatives. I could go fabric again, or I could go leather.

Took my time looking around and weighing up the various options, trying on different jackets, etc.

All the fabric jackets seem to come standard with armour/padding/whatever you want to call it, but a good many leather jackets did not. The other interesting observation with the leather jackets was that the majority of leather jackets with armour were more orientated to the sports bike crowd, and therefore sported some really garish graphics. The fabric jackets again seemed to be a mix between sports bikes and adventure touring, so again the sports crowd had jackets louder than their bikes, and the adventure looked like you were going on a safari. Neither of these really work for me. Many of the more "normal" or cruiser jackets did not have any armour, or were adorned with more Harley graphics than any grown person should feel comfortable wearing.

A couple of weeks back I noticed a simple clean cut leather jacket, with armour at Tracmac. Fitted it on and it felt good. Decided to give it some thought as the price would have Mrs Hairy a little irritable. 

Long story short. I trekked out to Tracmac this morning to buy the jacket. The sales guy was friendly and helpful and I fooled around wearing it a bit, going outside to sit on the bike and make sure that it fitted right when seated on the bike ..... I did not want to make an expensive mistake.
 

Start chatting to the sales guy again and he says something along the lines of let me see what I can do for you on the price, he comes back with a really healthy 20% discount and then makes it clear that the back protection in the jacket is just a strip of foam again (Remainder of jacket is CE Level 2) and advises I look at their CE 2 back pads .... it fit in well and did not impact the fit much. This also got a liberal discount attached to it.

At the time of paying he picks up on my name and then he proceeds to tell me we were in the same class in std 5, he came to the school around mid-year. News to me, and I am pathetic with names, but he did note persons who I was friends with .... so he must be telling the truth

Walked out the store with a new jacket and upgraded armour for less than the sticker price on the shelf (Tracmac Belleville had the same jacket for a little more and the flap behind the zip in CY land was fabric vs the one I bought that had a nice thick leather strip).

Overall comfort on the bike is great, NO MORE BUFFETTING IS AWESOME, and the one factor that did concern me before purchasing, being heat, did not seem to be a problem. My cellphone tells me it was 32deg at the time of purchase, so the jacket should be fine for just about any ride.

Most importantly though, I think the jacket looks good too!

And the wife is not miffed at the purchase

  

[WaynejG]

Amazes me how some people can remember names of past classmates and even teachers. Me, I suffer from CRAFT. (Can't Remember A Fu#$ing Thing) 😂

[IceCreamMan]

Nothing beats leather. I have a black lummie that I have had for years. When zip failed I had a new one put in. Has all the armour. I think in jacket ones can only get to ce1 level. You need stand alone jobbies for higher rating. (Could be wrong)

Last week I bought Halvarssons leather riding pants. ( my old leather pants are rubbish being more for sports bikes with knee sliders etc ) I now look like jim morrison man. Comfortable on the bike. Made from goat hide. 
Being old school leather for me please. Easily repairable and wears well. 
 

lekker buy. No textile rubbish on a Harley please. Only black sons of anarchy black. 

[Hairy]

14 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

Nothing beats leather. I have a black lummie that I have had for years. When zip failed I had a new one put in. Has all the armour. I think in jacket ones can only get to ce1 level. You need stand alone jobbies for higher rating. (Could be wrong)

Last week I bought Halvarssons leather riding pants. ( my old leather pants are rubbish being more for sports bikes with knee sliders etc ) I now look like jim morrison man. Comfortable on the bike. Made from goat hide. 
Being old school leather for me please. Easily repairable and wears well. 
 

lekker buy. No textile rubbish on a Harley please. Only black sons of anarchy black. 

The marketing splurb on the jacket promises CE 2 ... so I am hoping it is.

My wife had a confused look on her face when I showed her the back protection and how thing a material it is, wanting to know how the soft "foam" would protect me.

So I laid it over the top of my left hand and moered my right fist into it a couple of times ... fortunately it works, and works well.

[Hairy]

34 minutes ago, IceCreamMan said:

Nothing beats leather. I have a black lummie that I have had for years. When zip failed I had a new one put in. Has all the armour. I think in jacket ones can only get to ce1 level. You need stand alone jobbies for higher rating. (Could be wrong)

Last week I bought Halvarssons leather riding pants. ( my old leather pants are rubbish being more for sports bikes with knee sliders etc ) I now look like jim morrison man. Comfortable on the bike. Made from goat hide. 
Being old school leather for me please. Easily repairable and wears well. 
 

lekker buy. No textile rubbish on a Harley please. Only black sons of anarchy black. 

I should add, I am trying to avoid this look though!

 

[IceCreamMan]

17 minutes ago, Hairy said:

I should add, I am trying to avoid this look though!

 

Ja nee. Me too. Jim Morrison is cool. Village ppl not so much 

[Eddy Gordo]

I have dealt with tracmac in the past, and this is many years ago and always had good service from them back then. Awesome it is still the same

[Hairy]

Did my first ride (Other than Arrggguuuss) along Chappies this afternoon.

Had a meeting out in Noordhoek, took the M3 and Ou Kaapse Weg to get there, and came back via Chappies and Campsbay to Table View.

A really nice loop, and the views long the Chappies section are really amazing. Unfortunately there was a bit of traffic, and with a bit of fog in places, this slowed the traffic down even more.

The leather jacket was great at highway speeds, before at 120km without the windscreen on you could really feel the wind pushing you on the bike, even worse if riding in strong winds, with the leather jacket it feels like you are more slicing through the wind, so a far more comfortable ride.

Quick pics snapped along the way ..... and the sissy bar is great for strapping bags to and not needing to carry a back pack on your back.

[WaynejG]

We had a incident this morning. 5 of us went for a breakfast ride. On the way home, my son and two others went ahead. I was on the Rocket chilling at the back with our neighbour on his Harley . Come round a bend and see cars and bikes stopped on the side of the road. I see only 2 bikes and with a sickening feeling realise my son's bike is not there.

The emotions as I parked the bike and walked across the road not knowing what I was going to see is something I never want to experience again. Bike is pretty bent and son is alright. Bit stiff and bruised. Helmet and jacket moertoe.

Total freak accident. There was a blind 90 degree turn to the right. Slow row of cars and he overtook. Fortuner in the middle of the row of cars then turned off the the road into the turn off and sideswiped him and he went flying. Fortunately did not see it happen as my wife would of totally lost it.

[RoddieJ]

2 minutes ago, WaynejG said:

We had a incident this morning. 5 of us went for a breakfast ride. On the way home, my son and two others went ahead. I was on the Rocket chilling at the back with our neighbour on his Harley . Come round a bend and see cars and bikes stopped on the side of the road. I see only 2 bikes and with a sickening feeling realise my son's bike is not there.

The emotions as I parked the bike and walked across the road not knowing what I was going to see is something I never want to experience again. Bike is pretty bent and son is alright. Bit stiff and bruised. Helmet and jacket moertoe.

Total freak accident. There was a blind 90 degree turn to the right. Slow row of cars and he overtook. Fortuner in the middle of the row of cars then turned off the the road into the turn off and sideswiped him and he went flying. Fortunately did not see it happen as my wife would of totally lost it.

Wow! 😳 

Sorry to hear of your incident and hopefully all turn out well in the end.

Please keep us posted as to your son’s recovery and progress 🙏🏽
I ride mostly with my son so I can only imagine what you felt... 

Strngs to you all 💪🏽

[WaynejG]

2 minutes ago, RoddieJ said:

Wow! 😳 

Sorry to hear of your incident and hopefully all turn out well in the end.

Please keep us posted as to your son’s recovery and progress 🙏🏽
I ride mostly with my son so I can only imagine what you felt... 

Strngs to you all 💪🏽

Thank you.

[IceCreamMan]

39 minutes ago, WaynejG said:

Thank you.

Good to hear lad is ok. 
 

unfortuantely bikes are dangerous.. 

[Hairy]

9 hours ago, WaynejG said:

We had a incident this morning. 5 of us went for a breakfast ride. On the way home, my son and two others went ahead. I was on the Rocket chilling at the back with our neighbour on his Harley . Come round a bend and see cars and bikes stopped on the side of the road. I see only 2 bikes and with a sickening feeling realise my son's bike is not there.

The emotions as I parked the bike and walked across the road not knowing what I was going to see is something I never want to experience again. Bike is pretty bent and son is alright. Bit stiff and bruised. Helmet and jacket moertoe.

Total freak accident. There was a blind 90 degree turn to the right. Slow row of cars and he overtook. Fortuner in the middle of the row of cars then turned off the the road into the turn off and sideswiped him and he went flying. Fortunately did not see it happen as my wife would of totally lost it.

Really happy to hear that WaynejG jnr is ok!
A bike an be fixed or replaced.

[sawystertrance]

Hairy, no pitchas?

[Thug]

Glad to hear that WaynejG junior is ok and that no serious damage was done.

Edited February 7, 2022 by Thug

[sawystertrance]

Yes, WaynejG , I'm also relieved all is well with the youngster and you. Must have been a trauma to go through that and let's hope it doesn't happen again.