I do a bit of hiking and backpacking and so do a bit of shopping at REI.

A few weeks ago I bought an REI House Brand light weight Fleece Windbreaker. (RN 37249 is on the collar label) The sign in the store said it was windproof to 50 MPH. I said to myself; Self? this is a bunch of BS. No Light weight Fleece jacket is going to be windproof at 5 MPH let alone 50. But I bought it anyway for lite Day Hiking not Winter in the Alps. However, I had occasion to wear it while riding the other day. In fact it is actually more windproof than my First Gear Kilimanjaro and seems to be completely windproof at speeds approaching 80 MPH. While it certainly does not have the road rash protection of leather or the aforementioned First gear jacket it is darn convenient and at $40 a heck of a jacket IMHO. At 50 F I can wear just this jacket, single layer thin leather gloves, and a long sleeve shirt and I'm every bit as comfortable as with a leather jacket combined with my Harley Fleece jacket underneath.

 

Horse hide is naturally waterproof. Maybe that is why the early motorcycle jackets were made from HH.

 

Been wearing fabric for years (FXRG jacket and BMW pants) Had a bad spill (hit a deer) a couple years ago in fabric/armour and was riding again 48hrs later...leather works OK, but I think it's popularity has more to do with tradition...chaps in heavy rain? No thanks...

 

exactly

 

It is kind of fun to laugh at the differences between sub-cultures of riding.

Whatever those BMW guys are wearing, it must work. They ride and ride and ride in all kinds of weather. 600 miles in the rain is not a big deal to them.

 

I know there is better weather gear out there,but it just doesnt look right when riding a Harley.

 

I love this kind of stuff , seriously . Sorry guys there was a time when you wore whatever your little heart desired because nobody in their right mind was going to say anything to that guy riding a motorcycle .

I ran around 2 winters in the midwest wearing an old WWII sheepskin bombers crew get up , was the warmest thing I could find then ( mid 70's ) and nobody ever said a word about it .

 

I wear textile gear on my BMW and leather on my HD.

 

Must be those BMW pipes are as cold as they are quiet.

 

I wear FXRG pants and jacket their warm, dry and provide fall proctection. Well they say they provide the fall protection there are pads and stuff in them. I have not tested this set out in the falling department and hope not to.