Even the most basic jacket can prevent a lot of critical injuries
In the event of a crash, how do you protect yourself? With riding gear! When on motorcycles, the rider is exposed to the elements and the environment, unlike in cars where you sit in a protective capsule. One of the most essential riding gear, apart from the helmet, is a riding jacket. A riding jacket’s main purpose is to protect the critical and exposed parts of your body like your torso (Chest, Stomach and other crucial organs), elbows, shoulders and spine.
When looking for a riding jacket, you will come across a wide range of products. But, don’t get confused, here’s a detailed guide to find the perfect one:
What Type Of Protection Should It Have?
The first and foremost thing you should look for when buying a riding jacket, is the protection it offers. As a baseline, you should at least get a jacket with CE level 1 armour, that offers enough protection if you are going to ride around in the city or commuting. If you ride more aggressively or out on the highway, you should definitely get CE level 2 armour for better protection.
A good jacket should offer adequate protection to crucial parts of the body to take impact in the event of a crash. You should ideally look for a jacket with at least the elbow. shoulder and back protectors but some brands offer chest protectors for additional safety too.
If planning to ride offroad, always get a jacket with chest protectors as the chest is the one likely to get impacted, say if you land a jump wrong and get tossed over the handlebars..
Now, you may be wondering what ‘CE’ rating is? The ‘CE’ represents ‘Conformite Europeenne’ or ‘European Conformity’, a safety standard for all the protective gear sold in Europe. It is not mandatory to have CE rating in India, but has become the norm when buying protective riding gear around the world due to its strict testing and regulations for utmost safety.
How To Choose The Right Material?
The impact part of a crash is taken care by the armour inserts in a riding jacket, but the material that holds the armour inserts and protects your skin is of the utmost importance too. Riding jackets are offered in various materials from leather, mesh, textile and synthetic materials . You will have to choose what fits your needs right.
A lightweight, breathable jacket, made of mesh-textile material is the best for our Indian environment, and will offer the necessary comfort and ventilation but will offer slightly less abrasion resistance (i.e. resistance to wearing out if you end up scraping the road in a crash) than other materials.
If looking to tour, you should get a jacket made of textile materials. They are durable and practical with lots of pockets, and will offer the necessary protection from environmental elements with the changing landscape you will travel. These are also available in waterproof materials, which is great if you’re riding in wet or cold conditions, but tend to get really hot in Indian summer conditions.
A leather jacket has excellent abrasion resistance, but is heavy and lacks breathability, generally used in motorsports that have very high risk factors.
Fit Of The Jacket
One of the most important aspects you need to check while buying a riding jacket is its fit. The armour inserts that go inside the jacket should align with all the necessary body parts it’s protecting. We suggest you should try out the jackets before buying as different manufacturers have different fittings in terms of the shape and size of the jacket.
An ideal fitting jacket should snugly fit the rider’s frame, with enough adjustability built into it for collar, sleeves and also the waist, to fit the rider perfectly. A good jacket should also have adjustors around the biceps and forearms as well, as these will ensure that the elbow armour fits snugly around elbow and forearm. We suggest, always try out the jacket while sitting on your bike, if possible. It gives an idea about how it feels when actually riding, and if it interferes with your inputs to the bike without compromising your riding abilities. Also, you should always see if the jacket is long enough to cover your wrists and also long enough to cover your lower back when riding committedly.
When talking about the fit, a good riding jacket will always feel comfortable and won’t distract you while riding with its unnecessary quirks.
(Note: Always check how the jacket feels against your skin, and doesn’t make your skin itchy and uncomfortable. To prevent this you can always use a base layer.)
BikeDekho Says:
Choosing the right jacket is a crucial task and with so many options on the market, might be confusing too. Whatever jacket you choose, always make sure it is comfortable, provides adequate protection for your use case and also fits your pockets. A good jacket is not just a fashion statement. It can be the difference between life and death (or at least serious injury) in case of a crash. We hope this article helps you find your perfect riding jacket and keeps you safe every time you hit the road.
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