What Are Motorcycle Leathers?
Motorcycle Leathers are PPE – Personal Protective Equipment designed to protect the rider in case of accidents. This includes items such as gloves, trousers and jackets as well as helmets.
Motorcycle Leathers are typically made from leather but are also made from other very durable materials like Kevlar and Cordura.
Most Motorcycle Leathers are a one-piece suit or are available as a two-piece suit with separate jacket and trousers.
One Piece Bike Leathers
The majority of Motorcycle Leathers are made from cow hide due to its durability and protection that it offers; some bikers prefer that made of Kangaroo hide as it’s lighter and more resistant to scuffing than cow hide.
Motorcycle Leathers are a pigmented painted finish, which can have names and badges sewn on to give it character. Being pigmented leather also helps to keep them waterproof. Water can penetrate the leather hide, if this is not protected against such conditions.
Motorcycle Leather Jacket from a one-piece suit
With any two-piece suit you have the jacket as above and the separate motorcycle trousers. These can be two-piece suits that can be joined by a small zip at the waist area, connecting the motorcycle jacket to the motorcycle leather trousers.
Bikers Leather trousers
Two piece motorcycle leathers can be joined together at the waist with a zip to make them a one piece suit, this can either be a very short 6 inch zip, approximately, or a full waist zip.
Bikers Leathers waist zip for connecting the trousers to the jacket.
Bikers Leathers waist zip for connecting the trousers to the jacket.
Cleaning and care for your motorcycle leathers is as easy as cleaning a leather car interior. Cleaning and protection are essential to extend the life span on the motorcycle leather to make sure that it doesn’t start to break down from road dirt, grime and bug splatter. Using either a spray or natural leather cleaner or a gel type cleaner is best to deep clean your leathers. Make sure the cleaners do not contain any ammonia or alcohol-based chemicals as this will result in damage to your motorcycle leathers.
Colours such as metallics, reflective and fluorescents have to be treated with care when cleaning these, so you don’t remove the coatings on the surface. So, these areas are best cleaned as above but with not as much pressure used with a cleaning brush, it’s best to use a gentle cleaning action on these areas.
Protection can come in many forms, from simple protection creams to liquid stain protectors and softeners with ceramic based materials to keep the leathers soft and supple but also providing a ceramic coating to them as well, giving you fantastic waterproof properties and protection.