Comments on: Five Tips on Keeping Cool

By: Leo

Leo — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:47:44 +0000

Thanks for chiming in everyone! And did you notice the two bloggers here (Bolty and Life) both ride SV650s?

LifeOn2Whls, if you mean that an unzipped jacket offers less protection than a zipped up jacket, then I agree with you!!

But if you mean an open jacket is the same thing as no jacket at all, or close, then I’d disagree with that… The arms and shoulders hit the ground first so you really need to have some kind of armor there, and even an open jacket will do the trick.

Having said that, the more gear the better – but in NY 85 degrees with humidity feels like 100 in CA. And for people around the city (around NY), you don’t get to move fast enough to make full leathers comfortable. The down side is no one wears full leathers around town. The up side, you’re really not going so fast that you need to…

So we try to make a case for CityBikers with a reasonable level of protection… Need boots (if you fall with the bike on top of your ankle, you’ll thank me), need gloves (fingers are nice to have), and need a jacket w. armor… and a full face helmet. Not ATGATT, but CityGAT

By: LifeOn2Whls

LifeOn2Whls — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 05:28:52 +0000

I like the UA idea but I’ve found that any clothing under your leathers will help keep you cool. The hottest part of my body tends to the the part that is exposed to my jacket/pants and start sweating profusely. I ride in LA and it gets well over 100 here…so it makes a difference to have jeans and a long sleeve shirt on underneath rather than a t-shirt and shorts.

That said, I think your suggestion of wearing your jacket unzipped is a bad one. A jacket is a second layer of skin and it does you no good if you go down, a side catches the pavement and rips it right off your body…easy to do. Not safe.

By: Stacy

Stacy — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:37:53 +0000

Great tips!

Re: tip #2, especially for the ladies: if UA heat gear doesn’t work for you, pretty much any “wicking/breathable” underlayers will do. REI makes some nice long sleeve and long underwear layers, as does Patagucci (ahem, I mean Patagonia.) Buy the lightest weight fabric, and you’ll stay cooler and keep that sweaty feeling away.

By: s0meguy

s0meguy — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:55:54 +0000

I live in Georgia and I wear an Aerostich suit for my longer trips. I find the best thing to do is wet my under armor down every fifty miles or so. I am sure this would be equally effective with perforated gear.

It’s really only effective when moving, but it is so effective that the occasional stop light isn’t that big a deal.

By: robotribe

robotribe — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:33:06 +0000

#5 is my solution for hot SoCal summers (and similar conditions for most of fall). Since I commute by bike, I avoid the hottest times of the day even though it can be in the 90s on the way home on the hottest of days. Still, perf, leather, top to bottom (check out Kushitani perf. leather jeans) is the best solution I’ve found for riding in the hot; even better than textile mesh. I find that polyester based textiles tend to absorb and retain hear more than leather. That’s not based on science as much as it is on anecdotal/personal experience. You’re correct about baking at a stop or at slow speeds, but then again, I’d rather sweat some of the time than potentially bleed or worse. Thank gods we can filter through traffic around here.