Jacket or No Jacket in Hot Weather - Which is Cooler?

[Deanna777]

I wear a short sleeve cotton t-shirt , Jeans, boots over ankles, no jacket, a full face helmet/VOX with built in eye glasses / face shield that I can pull down if needed. I bring a container of flavored water we me, so when I pull over/or get gas I take a drink.

I wear a jacket is when I am riding to work( @ 4:30 am) or in the fall ( cooler weather).
Deanna

 

[fratzba]

Mesh jacket, no liner, and shortie mesh gloves so that air can get in the sleeves.

-Fratz

 

[clinard]

Denim Jacket with an extra layer of patches on the front, back and left sleeve. Wear it from when it gets warm enough in the spring til it gets too cool in the fall. Agree with others on the cooling by slowing of evaporation rate and protection from the sun. An added plus for me is that even though its thin its tougher than skin on asphalt...voice of experience.

 

[robertl]

Mesh jacket with sports tshirt or polo or heat out top, mesh gloves, and full helmet.
I wore a heat out beanie in old helmet but new one is not broke in enough yet.

I wear sunblock often here in FL but i find it often makes me hotter. Guess it blocks some of the sweating.
Mesh jacket, gloves, helmet help block the sun. Not sure if it is medicine i take but i can burn in 10 or 15 minutes.

I like the heat out gear but i do find it too hot to walk around off the bike. I even wore the top on a car road trip because it kept my back cooler during the 13 hr drive.

It isn't uncommon that i buy and extra bottle of water for pouring down my back because with the mesh jacket it will dry quickly once on the road.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

I wear a mesh jacket around town and if I'm traveling a distance I wear a textile jacket with a cool vest underneath. I never ride with exposed skin as I would fry in the hot desert sun.

 

[Set&Drift]

keep a cool head

Northern Wisconsin summers do get hot - if only for a short time. I wear Olympia AirGuide without liners over a t-shirt and it keeps me at the right temp at speed. I wear a full wicking helmet liner under my modular helmet. I will soak in in cool water and wring it out before putting it on. It keeps me comfortable and I am a professional sweater.

 

[Motorcycledave]

First Gear Mesh jacket the only way to fly...
I also use First Gear Mesh pants

 

[Fat Baxter]

I live in south central Alabama, where high humidity is a big factor. I wear a Draggin' Jeans kevlar mesh shirt over a cotton t-shirt, and Diamond Gusset Defender jeans with kevlar cloth in key places.

After years of riding fully faired bikes (now on an RT-S), I haven't found a jacket that is comfortable in the summer, due to the fairings working too well at keeping the air flow off me. Maybe on naked (unfaired) bikes they work OK, where there's plenty of airflow around the rider, but not that I've found on a BMT RT or my current RT-S.

 

[ingramwc]

I wear a Field Sheer mesh jacket with armor in for elbows, shoulders and back. Not the coolest ride, and I also lower my windshield to get extra airflow ('13 ST-S SE5).
I also wear jeans and 8" high boots. No shorts or flip flops!!!!!!!! Dress for the wreck, not the ride... Someone famous said that, don't remember who, but I remember the statement.
Y'all ride safe out there!!!!:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

 

[daveinva]

But it is a rare person who will listen to this wisdom. And a lot of people suffer needlessly for it. The reason is, As you put all of this on and are standing still in the blazing sun it IS hotter with the right gear on and people give up right there. Plus physiologically, you THINK you'll be cooler wearing as little as possible. But it just isn't the case.

Ron, if you think that it's tough to convince people to wear a mesh jacket instead of just a t-shirt, imagine how tough it is to convince people that a NON-perforated jacket is cooler than a mesh jacket above ~95 degrees.

Mesh is great before then, and after then for short periods. The problem is, once it gets too hot, even mesh loses its cooling ability-- the sweat just evaporates off of you too fast to cool you off. You "feel" cool, until you don't... helllllooo, heat stroke.

It's brutal being on a bike all buttoned up in a leather or textile jacket in 100 degree weather, but if you don't have access to a cooling vest, it's paradoxically the safest way to keep you from heat stroke.

That said-- cooling vests are cheap (ditto chill towels for the neck), pack a couple for use under your mesh and you will be comfy as a clam. :thumbup:

 

[Gray Ghost]

Mesh jacket with evaporative vest and a cooling towel (http://www.lowes.com/pd_563708-49433-108007___?productId=50159263&pl=1&Ntt=cooling). The towel is a tube that you can wear around your neck or pull just over your head like a cap letting the excess hang down over your neck. Rewet the towel and cooling vest every gas stop, or in really high heat carry some water and wet down as necessary.

 

[Pirate looks at --]

Some one finally got ot

Ron, if you think that it's tough to convince people to wear a mesh jacket instead of just a t-shirt, imagine how tough it is to convince people that a NON-perforated jacket is cooler than a mesh jacket above ~95 degrees.

Mesh is great before then, and after then for short periods. The problem is, once it gets too hot, even mesh loses its cooling ability-- the sweat just evaporates off of you too fast to cool you off. You "feel" cool, until you don't... helllllooo, heat stroke.

It's brutal being on a bike all buttoned up in a leather or textile jacket in 100 degree weather, but if you don't have access to a cooling vest, it's paradoxically the safest way to keep you from heat stroke.

That said-- cooling vests are cheap (ditto chill towels for the neck), pack a couple for use under your mesh and you will be comfy as a clam. :thumbup:

I am a bit surprised that the original poster, whom I assume is an MD doesn't understand the science behind this. The environment attempts to achieve "equilibrium as it relates to heat. Heat moves from the warmer place to the cooler place, and your body is 98.6 degrees. So that means that as long as you are riding at below that temperature the ambient temperature is lower than your body heat. At this point a mesh jacket works very well. But any time you are Ryding in temperatures that are higher than that, you want to be covered and sealed, as your body starts to soak up the heat from the higher outside temps. That means that when it is 106 outside, your body will continue to soak up that heat until your body reaches 106, and that my friends is inconsistent with life as we know it. Same with a helmet. If it is 100 out side you want to be closed up inside that thing as at 98.6 it is cooler inside that helmet and you want to keep the heat out. 106 for too long and the brain stops functioning. So below 98.6 I wear mesh, above that textile with a few vents and a cooling vest, which lasts much longer without the Mesh at those temperature. This is why those of you that mentioned that you keep covered in the heat, are much less exhausted than your friends in flip flops.

 

[Bob Denman]

I am a bit surprised that the original poster, whom I assume is an MD doesn't understand the science behind this.

Maybe he's not the Doctor that you think he is...

 

[Gator37]

Hair

Hair

Pam

That's not nice Pam, some of us can't say that very well.
Ken

 

[Belrix]

The last time I was dropping south from Yellowstone in July (August?) I was crossing the wastlands that are central Wyoming. It was probably 100 degrees air temp plus sun and reflection from the asphalt.

Those days I was riding with my denim jacket and I took it off because I thought it was too hot for it. I did about 10 miles and just put it back on. The hot air at 75 mph was flaying the skin from my arms. At least the jacket was shade and protection from the hot wind.

My vote? Lightweight, long sleeves in extreme heat and sun.

 

[Pampurrs]

That's not nice Pam, some of us can't say that very well.
Ken

Well at least you don't have to deal with helmet hair [emoji2]

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

 

[Bob Denman]

Well at least you don't have to deal with helmet hair

:shocked: But we also don't get to wear the Tee-Shirt... :shocked:

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Joan Bryden posted this great article about riding in the heat on Facebook this morning and I thought I would share it here. http://www.kratzmc.com/2012/07/18/riding-in-the-heat/

 

[Bob Denman]

Ann,
Thanks for posting the article; it's VERY well-written, and does a nice job of explaining how things work!

And "Thanks" to Joan also! :clap:

 

[DrJohn]

I am a bit surprised that the original poster, whom I assume is an MD doesn't understand the science behind this. The environment attempts to achieve "equilibrium as it relates to heat. Heat moves from the warmer place to the cooler place, and your body is 98.6 degrees. So that means that as long as you are riding at below that temperature the ambient temperature is lower than your body heat. At this point a mesh jacket works very well. But any time you are Ryding in temperatures that are higher than that, you want to be covered and sealed, as your body starts to soak up the heat from the higher outside temps. That means that when it is 106 outside, your body will continue to soak up that heat until your body reaches 106, and that my friends is inconsistent with life as we know it. Same with a helmet. If it is 100 out side you want to be closed up inside that thing as at 98.6 it is cooler inside that helmet and you want to keep the heat out. 106 for too long and the brain stops functioning. So below 98.6 I wear mesh, above that textile with a few vents and a cooling vest, which lasts much longer without the Mesh at those temperature. This is why those of you that mentioned that you keep covered in the heat, are much less exhausted than your friends in flip flops.

One factor you didn't mention is the effects of a jacket or no jacket when not moving. This is why I asked...

John