All motorcycle protective gear is, by definition, a compromise. The accommodation in question is simple, and the trade-off is always some form of balance between protection and comfort. No one (sane at least) gets dressed up in a Dainese one-piece to ride three blocks to 7/11 for a pack of smokes. Likewise, it’s been a long time since a bathing suit was considered adequate protection — stand up and take a bow, Rollie Free — during a land speed record run on the Bonneville salt flats. Proponents of ATGATT — All The Gear, All The Time — may claim that safety should be the only criteria that counts when it comes to protective riding gear but, in fact, the number of motorcyclists still riding around in obviously inadequate riding gear — not to mention shorts and sandals! — is all the proof you need that there’s more to convincing bikers to don armour than just life and limb.
Nowhere is that balance between comfort and protection more obvious than in riding jeans. After all, the entire raison d’etre for the riding jean — the market for which has exploded in the last five years — is to add a little comfort, not to mention fashion, to an otherwise uncomfortable motorcycle riding pant. Leather sweats and textiles itch, which is why the Holy Grail for motorcycle riding garment in recent years has been some variant of the decades-old denim.
A number of solutions have been proposed, including different materials — everything from Kevlar to something called ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) — in different arrangements. The good news is that all, to obviously varying degrees, have proven more protective than jeans of old. A modern riding jean, again to various degrees, can be a fairly protective garment,
