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Riding Jeans

I can't say anything about riding jeans. When it comes to armor, and especially knee armor, once you've had Dianese's armor it's hard to go back. It's a hard shell piece that extends far down enough to overlap the shin plate on my boots by a good few inches. The shape of the hard shell makes it cup around your leg. Coupled with a snug fit, that armor locks in place pretty well.

My main pair of Dainese riding pants are about 10 yrs old. Bought them used for around $100. I've got probably 50k miles on them myself. Still good as new and the their house brand waterproofing ( non gore tex) is still flawless.

My current mesh pants aren't Dianese because I wanted to save some money. My new pair of mesh pants will be Dainese.
 
I just got in the mail a new Joe Rocket mesh jacket and pants . I've never mesh armor before , rained all day so I haven't tried it yet. I think I'm gonna like it.

Also just ordered a pair of kevlar lined draggin jeans ,used , look new , for $50 ( I'm Cheap ) :-)

I have worn an armored jacket for the last 10 yrs (a cheap one) but almost never wore the pants because they were so hot.
 
Looks like they are $300 new from a few sources. I was lucky enough to grab a like new pair from a user on the other forum for less than one Benjamin.
that's awesome. love scoring deals like that. I think my first set of gear was new. after that, everything was used. My current Joe Rockets I just got paid $40 for.
 
I just got in the mail a new Joe Rocket mesh jacket and pants . I've never mesh armor before , rained all day so I haven't tried it yet. I think I'm gonna like it.

Also just ordered a pair of kevlar lined draggin jeans ,used , look new , for $50 ( I'm Cheap ) :-)

I have worn an armored jacket for the last 10 yrs (a cheap one) but almost never wore the pants because they were so hot.
I think you will find the mesh pants much more comfortable than jeans in hot weather. I have had good luck with Joe Rocket gear over the years. I still have my first Joe Rocket Jacket which I bought in the late 90s.
 
I have a pair of these, pretty happy with them (as noted above they aren't as good as mesh for hot weather). I haven't tested them yet, but I think a decent compromise when I'm "just popping out".

 
I think you will find the mesh pants much more comfortable than jeans in hot weather. I have had good luck with Joe Rocket gear over the years. I still have my first Joe Rocket Jacket which I bought in the late 90s.
Are you using the mesh pants as over pants, or wearing shorts with them ,,,,,or ,,, just drawers:dirtdog:wings:happay


I'm hoping to get my son to wear the draggin jeans. All the protection he'll wear is boots, gloves, and helmet.
 
Are you using the mesh pants as over pants, or wearing shorts with them ,,,,,or ,,, just drawers:dirtdog:wings:happay


I'm hoping to get my son to wear the draggin jeans. All the protection he'll wear is boots, gloves, and helmet.
I wear shorts underneath but if it's really hot they will be very lightweight shorts.
 
I just got in the mail a new Joe Rocket mesh jacket and pants . I've never mesh armor before , rained all day so I haven't tried it yet. I think I'm gonna like it.

Also just ordered a pair of kevlar lined draggin jeans ,used , look new , for $50 ( I'm Cheap ) :-)

I have worn an armored jacket for the last 10 yrs (a cheap one) but almost never wore the pants because they were so hot.
I occasionally will be mowing the yard or something and have to make a quick trip to fill a gas can. Shorts and sandals, away we go.


Every time I do it I'm surprised how hot the engine on my bike feels vs when I'm in my riding pants which apparently insulate me from the heat pretty well. Apparently I squeeze the bike with my lower legs when I'm stopped. Never paid attention to it with pants, but feel like I'm constantly trying to burn my inner calf area on the cases when I'm in shorts. 😁

Even a trip to the mailbox ( it's a 1 mile trip) in jeans has me holding my leg out away from the high pipe on my dirt bike. I've found that decent pants can actually keep me cooler.

I'll take my solid textile pants over mesh when I'm running errands in town. Everytime the rad fan kicks on I feel a blast of heat through my mesh pants. It's much cooler for me to be in my solid pants. All day backroad cruising? Mesh is great for that. It's funny. Sometimes things aren't what you expect. I was definitely disappointed when I realized mesh pants can kinda suck in hot conditions.
 
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I picked up some Icon field armor. I figured if I ever go on a trip I'm not going to load up on multiple sets of $300 jeans and this allows me to buy whatever pants I want but still have some protection. The only thing I still haven't gotten used to is the lack of feeling of what's in my pockets, on more than one occasion I've forgotten my phone because I can't feel it in my pocket but that's a small price to pay.
 
I occasionally will be mowing the yard or something and have to make a quick trip to fill a gas can. Shorts and sandals, away we go.


Every time I do it I'm surprised how hot the engine on my bike feels vs when I'm in my riding pants which apparently insulate me from the heat pretty well. Apparently I squeeze the bike with my lower legs when I'm stopped. Never paid attention to it with pants, but feel like I'm constantly trying to burn my inner calf area on the cases when I'm in shorts. 😁

Even a trip to the mailbox ( it's a 1 mile trip) in jeans has me holding my leg out away from the high pipe on my dirt bike. I've found that decent pants can actually keep me cooler.

I'll take my solid textile pants over mesh when I'm running errands in town. Everytime the rad fan kicks on I feel a blast of heat through my mesh pants. It's much cooler for me to be in my solid pants. All day backroad cruising? Mesh is great for that. It's funny. Sometimes things aren't what you expect. I was definitely disappointed when I realized mesh pants can kinda suck in hot conditions.
I have read that in really hot and dry conditions mesh is not the way to go. If it's over 100 degrees out then the air will feel like a blast of hot air. I've been out in 115 degrees temps and when the wind blew it just felt hotter. Here in the South where 80s - 90s and humid are common in the summer months mesh works great. I don't have any bike that gives off a lot of heat to my legs so that's not an issue for me.

Another thing that makes a difference is color. While black is the "in" color, it does heat up more in the sun. White or light gray is the way to go.
 
Color for sure helps. My light gray solid jacket is cooler than my black mesh one. I don't think it's all about the color, but it certainly matters. The mesh holes allow sun to hit your shin directly. Solid jacket is like carrying your own shade.
 
Color for sure helps. My light gray solid jacket is cooler than my black mesh one. I don't think it's all about the color, but it certainly matters. The mesh holes allow sun to hit your shin directly. Solid jacket is like carrying your own shade.

Yeah, 10 years ago or so, I did a test. I had been using mesh gear for a long time and I just got a new jacket that had big vents. On a 90+ degree sunny afternoon, I did a 5 mile loop. One with the mesh, one with the vented jacket and one in just a T-shirt. The mesh was the warmest, followed by the T-shirt and the jacket was the coolest.
 
Color for sure helps. My light gray solid jacket is cooler than my black mesh one. I don't think it's all about the color, but it certainly matters. The mesh holes allow sun to hit your shin directly. Solid jacket is like carrying your own shade.
Mesh does mostly shade your skin. I have ridden all day in bright sunlight in mesh gear and never had any sunburn. I have some jackets with vents and mesh jackets. For me the mesh is cooler. The coolest combination is a mesh jacket with a cooling vest underneath.

As for mesh pants. Not that much skin is actually exposed. I wear shorts underneath. The knee area is covered by the knee pads and solid textile material and boots cover the bottom part of the leg.
 
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