How to stay cool in hot weather

On the face of it, the sort of crash and abrasion protection needed while riding in warmer weather suggests you’ll have to compromise on comfort. This has meant many riders throwing caution to the wind in the warmer months and foregoing protective gear in the name of comfort and convenience.

Once upon a time, there was little choice. You wore leather or a bulky wax jacket. Nowadays there is a wide range of gear available that will keep you safe and relatively cool. Lets take a look at some of the different materials used and types of gear that will help you beat the heat.

PERFORATED LEATHER

Leather offers the best protection in the event of an accident, but there’s no getting around the fact that it can become very steamy in warmer weather. Manufacturers are keenly aware of this and have come up with designs that allow heat to be dissipated.

Perforated leather is a good option for warm weather riding with tiny holes punched through the leather construction allowing air to pass through, cooling the rider. A good example will feature things like full-grain leather, removable CE certified protection around the shoulders and elbows, and a back protector compartment or decent padding over the spine area. These will often come with the option of matching perforated leather pants that can be zipped to the jacket. Once again, look for CE certified protection at the knees (you’ll find plenty of information on the tags in regard to this).

Pros: First class accident protection, with lessened heat retention.

Cons: Good leather gear is expensive. You also need to be moving for the cooling action to work. It’s also not very user-friendly when you are off the bike.

Price: Jackets ranging from $250-$1000, pants ranging from $200-$800

MESH AND TEXTILE

Gear that uses mesh construction is exactly as the name implies. The mesh is designed for warm or hot weather and allows for greater air flow, and is usually constructed of a combination of synthetic products with myriad ‘brand’ fabrics. You’ll come across things like ‘Keprotec’, ‘Dynax’ and a whole bunch of others. The fact is good old polyester and nylon often feature in the construction of mesh jackets as well. A good mesh jacket can feature CE certified elbow, back and shield armour (although some will not in the interests of weight and price). It provides a comfortable and breathable fit to keep the rider cool.

Good textile jackets and pants provide strong protection and work in both warm and cooler weather. Unlike the mesh variety, the textile gear is usually waterproof (with a liner in place), windproof and should be complete with CE certified armour. Textile jackets generally offer better accident protection than mesh.

Removing the liner offers a cooler running temperature, making this type of jacket a bit of an all-seasons bit of kit. It will never be as cool as a mesh type, but there is a cost saving in the fact you may only need to buy one set.

Pros: Mesh – Upside is that is just about the best way to keep cool and protected in warm going. Textile – One jacket does everything.

Cons: Mesh – If it rains, you’ll usually get wet. Simple as that. Textile: It can be bulky.

Price: Mesh jacket ranging from $200-$600, textile jacket ranging from $200-$900, textile pants ranging from $200-$900.

GLOVES

Textile gloves are a relatively recent innovation designed to offer the wearer leather-like protection, warmth and to remove some of the leather disadvantages as well. In some cases, man-made materials offer much greater abrasion resistance, with less weight, and typically will last longer than leather.

Perforated lightweight leather gloves offer good protection, often beefed-up using carbon fibre and Kevlar inserts. They are very hard to beat in warm weather for heat dissipation and feel at the controls, but they tend to hold sweat and you can easily end up with what feels like a wet chamois in your hands.

Avoid conventional fabric gloves, especially if they are not specifically designed for motorcycle use. Any organic fabric that is highly breathable won't offer much abrasion resistance.

Some riders make use of off-road lightweight gloves. We don’t recommend this. They really don’t offer the type of abrasion resistance required in a road riding environment.

Pros: Textile – tough and they breath. Lightweight leather – if it’s good enough for Valentino…

Cons: Textile – not much. Traditionalists will not like you. Lightweight leather – can get a little squirmy.

Price: Textile ranging from $75-$250, leather ranging from $100-$400.

HELMETS

For a helmet to be legal for use on Australian roads, it must have either AS1698 (Australian) or ECE 22-05 (European) standards. AS1698 will have a visible sticker on the outside of the helmet, while helmets with ECE standards helmet will have a label sewn into the chinstrap. This means the helmet has undergone and passed testing for strength of the retention system (chin strap), resistance to penetration, impact absorption, and it offers sufficient peripheral vision.

There are a whole bunch of great choices on the Australian market that offer good ventilation. Most riders only want to outlay for one lid. With this in mind, Australian importers opt to bring helmets in their ranges that offer good airflow. It’s all about ventilation.

Look for helmets that have many vents. A good one will have an opening on the chin-piece, a couple of openings at the forehead and a good vent at the rear to allow air to escape. The vent should click into place and should be of a design that allows you to open easily in your gloves. You don’t want to have to stop to adjust the vent arrangements. Colour is important. White helmets have been shown to be significantly cooler than dark ones in direct sunlight.

Open face helmets are great for cooling and there’s no very strong reason not to use one made by a reputable outfit. Once again, we’ve said this before but, if you choose to go the open face route, it is imperative you wear eye protection. Many will suggest a good pair of sunnies will do the job, but that’s a load of old cobblers. Many sunglass brands come with glass lenses and the result of a stone-strike is not worth thinking about. Buy good quality, purpose made goggles.

Pros: You have to wear one and a well-ventilated lid relieves heat discomfort on the move.

Cons: You have to wear one. What happened to freedom of choice?

Price: Depends on construction and feature. A thermoplastic can be had from as little as $100, while a top-end composite helmet can set you back $1000. As always, it’s a case of ‘you get what you pay for’.

BOOTS

Many manufacturers now make boots of varying man-made materials (as well as leather) with ventilation openings built-in. The principal is similar to the vent systems incorporated in helmet design. Air enters, flows past the foot and exits at the rear of the boot.

Lorica is one such man-made material (there are others) of composite micro fibre that behaves like leather, but is stronger, softer, lighter and offers better moisture protection. Lorica is also highly resistant to abrasion – yet it still breathes, which allows moisture generated by perspiration to escape.

Good old leather is also hard to beat when it comes to warm weather bike boots. While this may sound a little counter-intuitive, the fact is a good quality, breathable and waterproof motorcycle boot (i.e. Gore-Tex or other quality breathable liner) allows the humidity generated by your feet to transfer through the Gore-Tex liner and out through the leather.

The heat generated by your foot actually helps evaporate the moisture. This is a form of evaporative cooling that encompasses both the foot and the boot.

There is also a good range of shorter than normal boots (of both Lorica and leather) that allow the lower leg to stay cool. While there is an inherent lessened protection factor for the calf, they offer a good compromise and are very user-friendly when worn off the bike.

Pros: Lorica – great breathability, lightweight. Leather – Greater range with the cheaper end of the spectrum better served.

Cons: Lorica – it’s an expensive material and that cost is passed on. Leather – Much heavier.

Price: Lorica – $350-$1000. Leather - $100-$1000.

10 TOP TIPS FOR HOT WEATHER RIDING
1. The outer layers of clothing should be designed to reflect rather than absorb infra-red heat from the road surface. The colour of your clothing can make a difference. Light colours will reflect, whereas dark colours will absorb heat.

2. ‘But I’m wearing jeans’. You may as well be nude. Denim tears readily, offering very little protection. There are many brands of Kevlar reinforced jeans that look as good and offer strong abrasion resistance. The downside is that they are heavier and therefore than normal jeans. But road rash is way heavier.

3. Drink. You can lose a whole bunch of liquid on a long ride. Water is good, sports drinks are better. Evidence shows that people hydrating with plain water don't replace electrolytes, such as sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride.

4. Just because it’s hot, doesn’t mean you don’t need protective gear. ‘I was only going down the street’ is an oft-heard line by the nurse at the emergency department. Develop a routine that insists you wear good protective clothing, summer or winter. Oh, and that goes for your pillion. A skinned partner is a crook look.

5. Check the weather forecast. You need to know what you are facing in regard to weather at all times.

6. Setting off earlier in warm weather and taking a break in the hottest part of the day can significantly reduce your exposure to extreme heat.

7. Don’t be a hero. If you are too hot, stop. Staying overnight at a motel or similar is not the worst thing of all time. Most of them have a pool!

8. Resist the urge to strip down.

9. Take extra care about checking your motorcycle’s fluids and do it daily. Extreme heat places a great deal of pressure on cooling systems.

10. Know your limitations. ‘Let’s ride across the Simpson!’ Sounds like fun huh? There’s nothing wrong with taking on the elements, but make sure you can deal with things that take you out of your comfort zone. Like extreme heat. Get prepared, or say ‘no’.