Womens riding gear...Need some feedback

[TheAxeman]

We are just in the process of picking out some new riding gear for Michelle and while she leans towards style, I am insisting on practicality and safety. We were wondering whether any of the females (or males for that matter) on the board can give us some recommendations of what you or your SO use for gear. We are specifically looking at textile gear. Ideally it would be warm, waterproof, and have some armour and, in a perfect world, will be flattering to her figure. Any help at all would be appreciated.

 

[Shane Stump]

AxeMan,

If you don't mind me asking, what size? My daugher rides a lot with me and it was difficult at first to find proper fitting clothes because my daugher is small (5'3" and ~110 pounds).

Cassie wears Joe Rocket pants (she has a pair of the mesh pants for when it gets hot and a pair of the overpants for cold weather).

For jackets, she wears the Firstgear Timbuktu Air-Mesh jacket. It has a liner for cold/wet weather and it easily converts to an "air-flow" style jacket in warmer weather. Please keep in mind that the air-flow is NOT as good as the all mesh jackets. If your wife will be riding in *ANY* extremely hot areas, she will also need an all-mesh jacket.

Best Regards,

Shane

www.StumpWare.com

Latest DL: www.StumpWare.com/DriversLogSetup.exe

 

[ionbeam]

she leans towards style, I am insisting on practicality and safety

Donning on the ol’ Nomex fire suit – stop by a BMW dealer. Like Harley, you will pay for branding and then pay again for the item but a lot of BMW stuff is good as well as stylish. Gotta look good on your Bimmer don’tcha know. If at all possible get your wife to err on the side of safety over style.

Women’s riding apparel is tricky to size correctly. My wife would go to motorcycle shops with a good assortment of clothing and try items for fit and comfort, then order them from a place with best prices. These days many places will meet online prices if you ask them. She bought her First Gear and Joe Rocket stuff from New England Motorcycle Emporium where she tried it on and paid the same as New Enough.

Women’s coats are actually jackets which are above the hips as opposed to coats that hang on or over the hips. This makes the rise of the pants very important if the two items zip together. For some women it can be a hard find to get a coat that fits at the shoulders and hips.

There is some reading you can do here here on materials.

 

[MCRIDER007]

I think FirstGear makes very good jackets and many come in women's sizes although they really are not shaped for women. The women's jackets are generally shorter in length and sleeves and are cut one size smaller than the men's (man's XL would be the same cut as a women's XXL).

 

[SpeedyR]

depending upon where you live there's a great womens shop in north GA called She Rides. I think their website is www.she-rides.com

My wife rides with a leahter jacket we got there. we still ended up having the arm length altered to fit better. she had a set of Sidi boots (they have nice vertebra boots in womens sizes) but now she's got a set of Daytona goretex boots that we got at a shop in San Fran.

gloves are always hard. she's got a pair of womens gloves that fit ok, but she recently tried on a pair of Held gloves (a size 7 in pretty small) and they fit her great. I think it was the "steve" model. I have a pair of helds that I love.

also Alpinestars has a big line of womens gear (the stella line?). i've got a alpinestar fabric jakcet and pants that I wear all the time and the quality is excellent.

hope it helps.

 

[TejasFJR]

My wife uses both Fieldsheer and Olympia gear. She prefers the fit of the Fieldsheer Jackets and the Olympia pants.

https://www.fieldsheerstore.com/default.asp?Sel=Ladies_Gear

https://www.olympiamotosports.com/index.html

 

[TheAxeman]

Thanks for all the advise. The problem we have in this area is that there are really no motorcycle shops that carry lines of clothing to try on first so we are kind of forced into internet shopping which doesn't always work out as far as fitment is concerned. She is looking at the Fieldsheer "Josie" jacket and is still up in the air about pants ("do I really need to wear those ugly things")....She usually wears a size 8 but I understand that most of clothing runs small so she has been advised to try a size 10 instead. She is 5'5 and weighs about 135.

Ionbeam, your link to MC clothing choices was very helpful, thanks for that.

 

[sparky3008]

I ordered my Oxtar boots online didn't fit, returned just for shipping.

My riding pants were too short, returned just for shipping.

My MX shorts to small (I am no 32 anymore ) returned for shipping.

It can get expensive and frustrating but if you have no choice it works...

 

[sparky3008]

I don't know if you were asking if you need to wear pants in general or a specific kind but believe me jeans aren't going to last a few feet if you go down and the material will just be all in the wound.

Riding pants will pay for themselves if you go down even once. It doesn't take a bad wreck to have road rash and it keep you in pain for weeks...

 

[Ironman]

We just bought the Airglide jacket and pants for myself and my wife from Olympia. I was able to try on jackets at a dealer but not pants. We went by the sizing chart in the catalog for everything else. The charts were right on. All the gear fit great on arrival.

Olympia has styles made for a woman's shape. Waterproof and protection included in most cases.

I give Olympia a thumbs up for their quality, fit and price.

 

[Mark G]

Rukka suits, available from two or three dealers in the U.S., do everything you're asking for, except perhaps not make her butt look big...the solution to that is to have her try on a snowmobile suit right before trying on the Rukka...she'll love the Rukka.

The ones we have are mesh, have CE armor all around, come with goretex liners for the pants and jackets, the goretex jacket INFLATES to keep you really, really warm. We haven't found a weather situation yet that required additional layers.

You can see that the girl in the photos does NOT look like her butt is too big.

https://www.rukka.com/lfashion/rukka/rukkaf...06_airpower.pdf

 

[Yambone]

Thanks for starting this thread, as my wife unit also needs a gear upgrade, and thanks to TejasFJR for pointing out the Olympia products. That Rukka stuff looks interesting, too, but it sure is nice to try something on first, especially if fashion comes into the decision.

The Olympia line looks pretty dang good, especially the Airglide overpants.

Women's Airglide II

They have an 'easy-hem' feature at the bottom of the leg which is particularly good for shorter women. This allows for a 6-inch adjustment to the inseam, if needed. Note the zipper stops short and the velcro portion at the bottom can be cut and hemmed, as needed. The position of the knee pads can be adjusted to compensate.

Also the composite protective pads are a notch better than the 1st Gear stock foam pads in my overpants.

One final note, the local dealer gal told me the only difference between this year's Airglide II pants vs. last years Airglide is that the inner liner is sealed better. Very versatile system for hot or cold weather.

 

[TheAxeman]

Ironman, I think you might be right about the Olympia stuff...it looks like pretty good stuff and the price is in line. I have always bought Olympia gel gloves for riding and have always been happy with their products but I didn't even think of them for clothing. Now its just a matter of finding a local dealer to try some of the clothing on. While textile is the way we want to go, you still can't beat the look of a woman in a pair of well fit black leather riding gear. Michelle said I have a better chance of getting my 06' tomorrow than seeing her in black leather.... <_<

 

[fjr]

My wife likes this in blue...Jacket

 

[MsLilly]

It's a shame that there isn't a lot out there for women. I've tried on every jacket out there and my daughter and I both agree that Joe Rocket has the best fit for a womans body and they are comfortable. I wear the Ballistic...I like a jacket to go below my waist. I've been riding for more years than I want to admit and it was always a bitch trying to fit into men's apparel. Finally...I stumbled across this Joe Rocket jacket and bought it immediately .... I lvoe it and have no regrets. When my daughter started riding she tried on all the brands but ended up with a leather Joe Rocket. Her riding pants are Fieldshear and she loves them. For summer riding we both have the Joe Rocket Cleo mesh jacket. Has a waterproof liner if needed. I have a fair complexion and sunburn easily so this jacket was a Godsend. Now I can ride safe AND not get a sun/wind burn. Also, the companies are starting to make gloves to fit women!!! Thank you!!!! I found some TourMaster heavy gloves for cold weather and they are warm and comfortable. Anyway, good luck with your purchases.

Jo

 

[huchieglide]

Bought Tourmaster Transition jacket for wife a few weeks ago. She likes and seems to be made well. First Gear Kilimenjaro and Tecknic Sequioa were also in the hunt. All 3 looked real nice. Know some guys that have the male version of the Kilimenjaro. They are popular. She prefers the 3/4 style. Purchased from MotorcycleUSA. Didn't do a heavy price check. Advantage is their showroom is couple miles down the road.