Indy horse as a riders jacket?

[Alathea_Squared]

I just managed to score a gorgeous 2002 Triumph Bonneville, and while pondering the gear question, I thought of my LC Horsehide. Would this be a suitable riding jacket? I had it customed a bit with heavier thread and box stitching when I had it made, so would it be okay, or should I look into a separate jacket?

[Hollowpond]

My main concern would be that the collars would beat you senseless.

[RaidersBash]

If the sleeves are long enough when you're reaching out to your handlebars then by all means. I have a Wested HH with custom length sleeves just for that.

I've ridden for many years and never felt the collar slapping (or not to the point to draw any attention). Maybe because I rarely ride with my jacket zipped all the way to the top...? IDK, just never noticed it as an issue.

[WConly]

I must be overly tired tonight, or just plain 'giddy (nice way of saying -- stupid)'! When I saw the title of this thread with the word 'rider,' cycles were the last thing on my mind. For some reason (beyond my control) the way it's worded -- I thought the question was about wearing your Indy horsehide as a jacket for the purpose of 'riding horses.' Why? I don't know. Perhaps the words horse & rider just kind of filled in the blanks (which weren't there, after all). I was ready to jump in and respond: Sure, why not, but you might want to ask the horse how he/she feels about it? Darn! I hate it when I do this -- blow my own fun through miss-reading things ! W>

[Ridgerunner58]

It depends.

Horsehide has great abrasion resistance. Most of Vanson's serious jackets are horsehide for that reason.

For dry weather riding when it's not too cold the jacket will probably be fine. There is the collar issue, but if you fit some kind of windshield it won't be an issue at all, and even without I've never found it to be really annoying.

The main issues aside from the lack of any body armor will be the length of the back, the fact the sleeves don't zip down (think cold air and insects), and whether you can layer underneath it. The back and sleeve issues will be the most annoying when it's cooler and really miserable in the rain.

That said, I ride between 12,000 and 18,000 miles a year and frequently wear less jacket than what you propose, like lightweight canvas, but often a lot more. I probably have 7 leather and 10 fabric jackets that I wear for riding, including a Raiders jacket that Tony Nowak made for me with a longer back and extra room across the shoulders. It depends on what you need at the moment.

If you get into any serious riding, you will inevitably by other jackets. Your urrent jacket will certainly fit in with what will probably be a small wardrobe of different jackets.


P.S. Nice bike. My first ride was on the back of a Bonneville when I was 9.

[HandsomeDynamite]

I use my Wested goatskin as a riding jacket, a horse hide jacket shouldn't be a problem. Like other's said horse hide holds up well, but try not to put it to the test, a Triumph is to nice to subject that too. And dumping a bike really puts a damper on the day.

[Indiana Bugs]

Personally, I only wear the leather motorcycle jackets when riding, but an Indy jacket could suffice on short trips in non-clement weather.

The one accessory I would add when riding in an Indy jacket is long gauntleted gloves. Because the sleeves don't forcibly taper down, without these gloves, the 'cuffs' would ride up and turn your jacket into a balloon at speed.

[Kittlemeier]

You'd be fine putting around town, but the jacket isn't suited for more than a few miles at low to medium speeds. I've never had a problem with the collar, but the sleeves ride up a lot and with the barrel cuffs it just doesn't work.

Nice choice of bike. Mine is a 2000 Triumph Thunderbird.

[Alathea_Squared]

Thank you all. I am really valuing these replies. Im a first time rider, at 35, and my class is next week. My Dad had an Indian, and a 60's Sportster. He died 2 months ago, but left we kids some money, and wanted us to do something fun with it. I was looking at bikes, but most of the used ones here in Lincoln, NE were hooligan machines and not my style. Than this one popped up. 2 owners, both older gents, 30,000 miles and less than 4000. I jumped, hard.

Okay, I digress, back to the subject. Back length would be an issue on my current one-it is short, at 28", though sleeves on mine would probably be fine. I will be commuting in town, so 5-6 miles a day one way, part highway, part neighborhood. I have a pair of kangaroo roper gloves and a pair of kevlar/nomex/leather forced entry gloves left over from my Army days that should do me, there. I also have boots by the scad. No armour bugs me a bit, so feel free to PM me any opinions on Perfecto's, Fox Creek, etc if you wish. I may order from Peter and just let him know what I need.

Say, Horse, length 30", sleeve 26", snaps for the collars, reinforced stitching, and buckles? My problem is that I have a 54 inch Jacket size, but a 57 inch stomach. Is Peter still allowing us to make minor modifications? If so, I may put my current HH in the classifides if I can order another to do what I want.

[CM]

You can wear almost any leather jacket as a riding jacket. But the one you really want is the falling-off-your-bike-at-speed jacket. Abrasion resistance, stitching quality and the pattern can only be appraised once you go down. Unfortunately.

[Alathea_Squared]

"....but we are willing to learn!" "Yeah, is there, like, a special school for that......? "

CAS

[Adirondack Jones]

the horse is probably pretty abrasion resistant, but I have to agree an Indy style collar is not conducive to motorcycle riding

[Baldwyn]

Thank you all. I am really valuing these replies. Im a first time rider, at 35, and my class is next week. My Dad had an Indian, and a 60's Sportster. He died 2 months ago, but left we kids some money, and wanted us to do something fun with it. I was looking at bikes, but most of the used ones here in Lincoln, NE were hooligan machines and not my style. Than this one popped up. 2 owners, both older gents, 30,000 miles and less than 4000. I jumped, hard.

Okay, I digress, back to the subject. Back length would be an issue on my current one-it is short, at 28", though sleeves on mine would probably be fine. I will be commuting in town, so 5-6 miles a day one way, part highway, part neighborhood. I have a pair of kangaroo roper gloves and a pair of kevlar/nomex/leather forced entry gloves left over from my Army days that should do me, there. I also have boots by the scad. No armour bugs me a bit, so feel free to PM me any opinions on Perfecto's, Fox Creek, etc if you wish. I may order from Peter and just let him know what I need.

Say, Horse, length 30", sleeve 26", snaps for the collars, reinforced stitching, and buckles? My problem is that I have a 54 inch Jacket size, but a 57 inch stomach. Is Peter still allowing us to make minor modifications? If so, I may put my current HH in the classifides if I can order another to do what I want.

Congratulations on the new bike! I've had a 2001 Triumph Bonnie, and now ride a Triumph Thruxton. I've written before that I've tried really really hard to turn an Indy jacket into a motorcycle jacket, but the design isn't very conducive to it safety-wise. The issues include the collar slapping you silly, or at least making a racket against a helmet; the back with the side vents flies up and exposes your lower back; sleeves would probably ride up in a slide; no armour.

Even so, I sometimes use my Nowak Goat with an armoured back plate...until I got a Wolverine X-O jacket! I have more riding jackets in any case (2 Belstaff textile jackets, a First Gear jacket, a Triumph leather jacket, to a lesser extent the Wolvie jacket, and I should be getting a World of the Wars jacket...today!) than "wearin'" jackets, so it's all good!

[ron521]

I've ridden my Sportster a few miles wearing my U.S. Wings Signature Series....didn't really like the collar flapping or the wind going right up the sleeves and inflating the whole jacket. I enjoy riding much more with my FirstGear Mesh-Tex (warm weather) or Schott 141 (cooler weather). Both are made specifically for motorcycling, although the Schott is a little old-school in that it doesn't have armor or reflective material...it is still light years ahead of my Indy jacket for motorcycling.

[twistedotter]

Ditto on the congratulations! I recently bought a 2012 Bonnie T-100 and love it. I've been riding sportsbikes for 20+ years and it's a very nice change. Bonnies are singularly beautiful bikes.

So, I don't want to be preachy, but I've learned over the years that good advice ignored is always better than advice not given. I would be very wary of wearing anything other than a jacket designed for bike riding. You really, really do need the armor. The number one injury sustained by exiting a bike while in motion is impacts. Shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, back, and -- of course -- head. Second to that is abrasion. While I'm absolutely in love with Indy jackets (obviously), I just can't recommend it for biking. At 50+ mph, asphalt will eat through an Indy jacket in about 10 feet. I'll let you do the math on how much more sliding you'll be doing after that, but it's a lot. OK, fine, purpose built riding jackets are HH, too, but they help you survive the initial impact and they are tapered and tight fitting in all the right places to make sure the jacket isn't immediately stripped away from what is is supposed to be protecting. And, honestly, I recommend something with Kevlar weave. There are plenty of options that still look good on a non-sports bike.

I haven't taken a hard fall (yet), but a few friends have. It only takes one time seeing your friend with their jacket (not a motorcycle safety jacket) bunched up around their head, their tennis shoes laying about 50 feet away, and their hands almost ground off to immediately go look for a jacket, boots, and gloves designed to keep my bones and skin where they were when I got on the bike. I'll stop here before I start ranting about helmets. Anyway, don't become a fashion victim.

That being said, I haven't had much luck with my Indy jackets on bikes. I agree with those talking about flapping collars and ballooning sleeves (and flapping sleeves for that matter). I wish they were safe, because they look so darned good, but....

Ride safe! And welcome to the club. You are going to absolutely love it.

[Michaelson]

My youngest daughter, D.E.M. here, was involved in an accident several years ago where a kid turned in front of their motorcycle, an old school 'Harley', and they had to lay it down. The driver of the bike bailed, but she couldn't get clear and rode it in a slide into the side of the car, smashing her leg and cracking her pelvis.

Want to know what saved her leg from being crushed? A rolled up Wested cowhide 'Aliens' jacket she had in the saddle bag on the bike that was between the car and the bike. It somewhat lessened the impact that her leg would have taken had it not been there. It would have been a crushing fracture if it hadn't.

Ironic. Not the best use of a jacket, to be sure....but it actually did the job in a completely unplanned way.

Regards! Michaelson