Just got my first street bike, now I have questions!

[TFOGGER]

I have been riding for 28 years, and operating a motorcycle shop for 18. The kevlar reinforced jeans are definitely better than regular jeans. Next up the list would be textile riding pants with padding and hard armor, provided they fit properly and the armor stays put. Best would be leather with hard armor that fits, but most guys won't wear leather pants when the weather really gets warm.

My gear most of the time is as follows:

Helmet: I rode in Shoei for years, but my most recent one is an HJC. It fits well, and is comfortable, but I'll probably replace it after 2 years rather than my usual 3 because the cheaper materials in the interior are proving to be not as durable.

Gloves: Tourmaster, Alpinestars, FirstGear. Depends a lot on the expected weather conditions. All my gloves are at least leather palm, the winter gloves(heated) are leather throughout, as are the Alpinstars. I have a pair of mesh backed waterproof (goretex) gloves for hot weather.

Jacket: Tourmaster Transition 3 in Gawdawful™ HiViz Yellow. Longer cut, removable liner, hard armor in the shoulders and elbows, LOTS of venting for summer comfort, and relatively inexpensive.

Boots: I don't wear a motorcycle specific boot. My current boots are a pair of 9" high Tactical Innovations duty boots, which are thinsulate insulated, reasonably waterproof, and comfortable from about 15 to 95 degrees. Hard toes and shank for protection.

Pants: Firstgear Kathmandu. Removable quilted liner, waterproof/breathable, hard armor in the knees, soft armor at the hips. Comfortable from 15 to about 80 degrees, can live with it over that provided I'm moving.

Be aware that this is (yet another) equipment intensive sport, and over time, what works for you will evolve. Much like firearms in that respect.

[VolksDragon]

For what it's worth, I crashed hard on my ZX10R a few years ago, rag-dolled across the road into a ditch. I was wearing an armored Icon leather jacket, full gauntlet leather gloves and Carhartt heavy-duty work pants. The leather saved my hide for sure, and the Carhartt's held up admirably well, but I still had some rash. Since then, I never ride with anything but leather jacket, gloves and boots, no matter how hot it is.

Also, TFOGGER knows his shit. Been to his shop quite a few times.

[ruthabagah]

Just want to add my 10 cents to this discussion: Tfogger and Volksdragon are spot on.

I did crash hard too, a little over a year ago, and even if i had 12 broken bones, I did not suffer any road rash or drop a drop of blood (Externally at least, internal bleeding was something else....). My helmet was xrayed for a survey, and 2 of the blow would have been fatal.
Get a good leather (I can sell you one: bought new, wore it once, crashed once), glove, boots, I personally liked to wear an overpant which offered good protection in all weather, and get a good full face or hybrid helmet.

When I crashed, there were 4 guys who crashed the same week end at littleton hospital: 2 were released with 48 h, I stayed 11 days, the other guy.... His face and nose were gone (no helmet) he had tubes instead to breathe.... his right foot receive a perforation when he fell, and his ankle exploded (wearing sneakers).

[drift_g35]

Sounds like I will be planning a trip to Golden soon to see Tfogger. Think $1000 will be enough?

[TFOGGER]

Sounds like I will be planning a trip to Golden soon to see Tfogger. Think $1000 will be enough?

Easily. If you are a lot bigger or smaller than the average rider, there may be closeout stuff from last year's catalogs available at VERY attractive prices.

[Martinjmpr]

I'm going to disagree with the group here WRT leather. Back in "the day" leather was indeed better but there has been a huge level of innovation in textile gear over the past 15 years or so. I sold my leather jacket last year and don't miss it. As a matter of fact a lot of the "leather" gear I see in the MC shops has no armor whatsoever and therefore would actually be worse in a crash than a decent textile jacket and pants since textiles generally have decent CE armor in the shoulders, elbows, back and knees.

Biggest advantage of textile IMO is that you can get it waterproof and that means that when you're riding into a storm you don't have to stop by the side of the road to put on a rain jacket, just zip up your vents and continue to ride.

I actually used to have an XJ-750. Decent bike, not super powerful and I found that on twisty mountain roads I was doing a lot of shifting down to keep my RPMs up. But it's nice and smooth and the shaft drive is low maintenance, which is good.

I have a couple of jackets, a waist-length mesh jacket for Summer (with a waterproof liner) and a 3/4 length nylon jacket for general wear. If you want to ride year 'round in CO (I do) then a heated vest is highly recommended. Another thing you might want to consider is a battery tender. Nice thing about the battery tender is you can hook up the SAE connector for the battery tender and then use it to power your heated gear, GPS, phone charger, etc. MC batteries are expensive and a battery tender is cheap insurance.

As for boots, I've been wearing my Army issued combat boots (the black leather kind, not the current, suede kind) since I started riding and they work great. Good support and good protection.

[sportbikeco]

Arai makes the best lids, no question about it.

[TFOGGER]

Arai makes the best lids, no question about it.

Assuming that their headform suits you, yes, they make one of the best helmets around. If their helmet doesn't kit your head shape, not only are they uncomfortable, they won't provide the safety of a properly fitting lid. The key here is to have someone that knows what they are doing properly fit your helmet. Most riders, left to their own devices, will choose a helmet that is 1-2 sizes too big, based on how it "feels" when they try it on for 30 seconds in a dealership. Then, when the comfort padding begins to break in, it slides around on their head, causing chafing, and doesn't provide adequate energy absorption in an impact because their head rattles around inside like a BB in a garbage can.

[drift_g35]

Assuming that their headform suits you, yes, they make one of the best helmets around. If their helmet doesn't kit your head shape, not only are they uncomfortable, they won't provide the safety of a properly fitting lid. The key here is to have someone that knows what they are doing properly fit your helmet. Most riders, left to their own devices, will choose a helmet that is 1-2 sizes too big, based on how it "feels" when they try it on for 30 seconds in a dealership. Then, when the comfort padding begins to break in, ti slides around on their head, causing chafing, and doesn't provide adequate energy absorption in an impact because their head rattles around inside like a BB in a garbage can.

I'm assuming its the same concept as dirt bike helmets.

[TFOGGER]

I'm assuming its the same concept as dirt bike helmets.

Pretty much. You want it to fit as snugly as possible without any tight spots or pressure points. Sometimes you have to take the cheek pads out to assess the proper fit around the top of the head, as the cheek pads will break in considerably.