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Posts Tagged ‘Aerostich’

What color is your motorcycle, car or truck? Your paint is likely a color that is pleasing to the eye. Perhaps it is even your favorite color. Ugly paint jobs don’t sell automobiles.

What color is your riding gear? Perhaps your gear is black from head to toe. Looks cool, right?

Aerostich encourages the use of high-viz colors. This graphic from their site explains the benefits.

Riders need to stand out among the river of pleasing colors used to paint the SUVs, pickups and cars that flood the road everyday. As a motorcyclist, pleasing colors could also be explained as colors that don’t stand out in traffic. Personally, I prefer riding gear that will burn a hole in the eye’s of drivers all around me. Fluorescent colors such as blaze-orange, lime-green or high-viz yellow won’t be splashed on the wall of my house anytime soon. At least that is what my wife tells me. Fluorescent colors aren’t found in nature and really stand out in traffic. That’s exactly why they are perfect for motorcycle riding gear.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nearly 55 percent of fatal motorcycle crashes involve more than one vehicle. The overwhelming majority of those crashes involved a motorcycle and a passenger vehicle, i.e. car or truck. In the battle between motorcycle and car, the riders lose. Yes, there’s a stat to back that up. Approximately, 98 percent of fatal motorcycle versus car crashes results in the death of either the rider or passenger, and not the passenger-vehicle occupants.

A side-by-side comparison of the black and day-glo fluorescent colors for the Firstgear Kilimanjaro jacket.

If you have been involved in a motorcycle crash or heard stories, then you likely heard that the driver “didn’t even see ‘em.” The very characteristics of motorcycles that make them fun and economical lead to them being hard to see. That is exactly where good protective riding gear can come to the rescue.

Riding gear helps to protect you in a crash. For me, the most important part about the gear is its ability to help prevent a crash in the first place. A high-viz yellow jacket or riding suit may be just the ticket to having a driver say, “Phew, that was close, I’m glad that I saw them.”

Patrick Hahn from the Minnesota Motorcycle Safety Center stated in a June 2010 interview on the SideStandUp podcast that a New Zealand study shows that simply wearing a white helmet instead of a black helmet reduces your chance of a crash by 24 percent. That stunned me when I first heard it. What a simple way to save your life!

If changing the color of your helmet helps that much, just imagine what more real estate could do. The New Zealand study also showed that riders wearing a fluorescent reflective vest were 37 percent less likely to be involved in a multiple-vehicle crash than riders without one. That’s almost the same risk reduction as not drinking and riding. A $25 fluorescent reflective vest isn’t going to get you a date, but it is a very cost-effective way to avoid a crash.

Even hi-viz patches on my Roadcrafter improves visibility.

Of course, there are ways to add conspicuity and remain somewhat fashionable. My Aerostich Roadcrafter riding suit has high-viz patches at the shoulders, elbows, knees and shins. It is an option to have the entire suit in high-viz. At the request of my pillion, I went with the patches because it was easier on her eyes while staring at me lovingly for hours on rides. She can’t get enough! The downside of this is that there are fewer square inches of bright fabric to catch drivers’ eyes.

The main thing is to find a balance. As you’ll hear in MSF courses, manage your personal level of comfort and risk. You may be comfortable in all black or all fluorescent colors. I am comfortable with some retina-burning color on my suit.

The end goal is to avoid being laid out on a stretcher hearing someone in the distance saying, “I didn’t even see ‘em.”

What is your gear comprised of? Do you wear a helmet and jacket? What colors are they? Post your responses in the comments section. I’d love to have a full-blown discussion on this topic and perhaps learn a thing or two from you.

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As a kid growing up in Northern Minnesota, I remember snowmobiling in temperatures far below zero degrees Fahrenheit. We never thought about how cold it was. We were too busy enjoying the ride.

The winter months in the Pacific Northwest offer a completely different winter motoring experience. Snowmobiles have been replaced with year-round motorcycling.

Windchill factors can drop ambient temperatures quickly, making hypothermia a real issue for winter motorcycling.

Hypothermia is a real risk when riding motorcycles in the winter. Even with temperatures hovering around freezing, windchill and its friend hypothermia quickly become an issue with winter riding. The Mayo Clinic defines hypothermia as a medical emergency that occurs when your body loses heat faster than it can produce it. Hypothermia occurs as your body temperature drops below 95 F (35 C). The Mayo Clinic also says  that when your body temperature drops, your heart, nervous system and other organs are affected.

It is the nervous system that we are most concerned about as motorcyclists. Hypothermia has similar effects on the brain as a night on the town with too much to drink. The first thing that is impaired is your judgment. The brain is the key organ that we use to process information and keep the bike rubber side down.

Riding motorcycles in the winter requires layers of clothing to fight hypothermia and keep us warm. These layers can build up under a riding suit and inhibit movement. It can get to the point that they make you feel like the kid from A Christmas Story and have you complaining that you can’t put your arms down.

Just like little Randy Parker couldn’t move, layers can impede life-saving movements on a motorcycle. For me, this is the impetus to buy and use electrically heated gear while riding motorcycles in the cold of winter.

The Aerostich Warmbib is a small package with big warmth.

The layer affect is what led me to get the new Aerostich Warmbib. Many companies offer heated vests or jackets, but I want something that packs small for easy storage and doesn’t add bulk under my riding suit. The Warmbib is tiny when folded into its self-contained storage pocket. Since it doesn’t take up much storage room, I just keep it in the topcase of my bike and pull it out when the temperature dips. The lack of fabric on the back and arms allows full body movement.

A concern with electrically heated gear is the draw that it has on often weak motorcycle electical systems. The electronic gadgets that riders enjoy can add up and begin pulling more wattage than the alternator on the bike provides. This results in drained batteries and ticked off riders. A big advantage of the Warmbib for me is that it doesn’t have as much surface to heat and thus only pulls 30 watts — about half that of many jackets. The low draw on power will actually allow me to run two bibs on my Suzuki V-Strom. That allows my #1 pillion to extend her riding season with me. SHaring the winter riding experience with her is a huge bonus — even if it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like.

An obvious question is, does less heated surface lead to non-sufficient warmth for the rider? I haven’t found this to be the case with the Warmbib. It heats the core of the body and the circulatory system spreads that warmth to the extremities. At least that is the best non-scientific answer I can offer.

The Warmbib folds neatly away into its front pocket for easy storage.

With the limited heating surface, it is important that the Warmbib stays put to maximize the transfer of heat to the body. Aerostich says that the Windstopper outer surface is slippery and the inner fleece layer is “grabby” keeping the bib in place under your riding suit. I have found this to be true. The bib doesn’t bunch up under my Roadcrafter suit. It is comfortable, stays put and keeps me toasty warm.

The fused cord attaches to the bike with a standard SAE plug. The lighted switch is handy for reaching down to turn the bib on and off. The coiled cord is nice for when I forget that I’m plugged into the bike and inadvertently get off without unplugging (i.e. it stretches to allow me to complete my bird-brained dismount before unplugging).

The warmbib is a unique, simple product that keeps motorcyclists warm. It  sells for $67.00 on Aerostich’s Website. It is truly an affordable means of extending the riding season.

Sidenote: There are several companies offering heated gear including, Gerbings, Aerostich, Tourmaster and others. I’ve heard good things about Gerbings and their new micro-wire technology. I decided on the Aerostich Warmbib because I have bought from them many times before and trust them. They have a good reputation for solid products and great customer service.