Short? Stocky? Hard to fit?

Discussion in 'New Riders' started by TampaDave, Dec 10, 2014.

  1. TampaDave

    TampaDave New Member

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    Hi yall. Here to share experience.

    I'm short, fat (well, big-boned) and my feet look like Fred Flinstone. I've been riding for about seven years now, and getting outfitted was a pain in my butt. I've got some miles under my big fat belt now, have done a lot of touring, a bunch of track days, and even had a vintage "racing team" for a while (in quotes, because our bike only made it around the track twice before the engine blew. But, it's all good!) Here's what I've learned about protective gear for us "hard to fit" types.

    First of all, don't go blow all your money on a helmet and a jacket and then go riding around in jeans and hiking boots. You can get yourself well protected even on a budget.

    Since motorcycle injuries most commonly affect the lower limbs, I'll start at the bottom and work my way up.

    Boots

    You probably have wide feet and big calves, so it's going to be hard to find boots that fit. Foot injuries are painful and often gruesome; good news is, any boot will help a great deal in preventing these injuries. Motorcycle specific boots are better but certain "civilian" boots will help more than you might think.

    First, look at motorcycle specific touring or racing boots. Most of these are designed for narrow feet, but Alpinestars often work if you go up half a size. TCX also. Sidi Megas come in wide sizes, although they are pricey. The only problem with moto-specific boots is they have a thin sole, and if you're bike is tall, you might not be able to touch the ground very well. If you go with moto-specific boots, make sure you can touch the ground.

    If you want a taller boot, look at logger style boots. I have a pair of insulated, steel toe Carolina loggers with thick soles and heels. They have served me well in both winter and summer. If the laces ever came undone, that would be a problem. So if you go this route, double-knot. Not as good as moto-specific boots, but you aren't giving up much. Go for thick leather and heavy construction. Chippewa makes nice boots. Their Rally boot is designed for bikers. No armor but it comes in wide sizes. Their loggers look good also.

    I'm not a big fan of slip on boots (engineer boots, harness boots) because they don't protect the ankle very well.

    Pants

    This is where it gets really difficult.

    It is critically important to have good knee and hip armor. However, we don't do well with armored pants. We need "relaxed fit" garments. Armor in a loose garment won't stay where it's supposed to be. Plus, you will find that with most of the pants you try on, the armor will be hanging somewhere around your ankle.

    So the first thing to consider is strap-on armor or armored base layers. Icon makes some good strap-on knee pads, and really nice armored shorts. Bohn and Forcefield make armored base layers. If you start here, the rest gets easier.

    The only problem with strap on knee armor is that we have legs shaped like a bottle of fine champagne. The pads tend to slip down a bit leaving the knee partially uncovered. If your boots go high enough, they will hold your Icon knee pads in place. But it's so much easier to go with the Bohn armored pants. Yes, I love my Bohns. I love them so much, they are like a transitional object for me. Hint: buy for your height, not your weight. Lycra stretches. A lot.

    The next thing to consider is abrasion resistance. You will see a lot of testimonials suggesting that Bohn armor prevents injuries even when worn under jeans. That's probably true in low speed accidents where there isn't much of a slide. Above 30mph or so, you need an abrasion resistant pant to prevent skin injuries.

    It's hard to find info on abrasion resistance, however it appears that leather is best, kevlar varies from pretty good to excellent depending on the manufacturer. Actual brand-name Cordura is good to excellent, depending on how heavy the fabric is. Even mid-weight 500d Cordura is an order of magnitude better than cotton canvas (Carhartt, Firehose).

    The generic nylon twills found in inexpensive Chinese-made motorcycle overpants make for a big unknown. It is possible to find these in short inseam lengths, and this is one option for you, but it is not clear to me that Chicom overpants are any better than Bohns under Carhartts. There are plenty of crash reports on the internet in which this type of pant shreds in a getoff. To be fair, at this price point, protective gear is "sacrificial," meaning it's only good for one crash. Even if the garment shreds, if it protected you from injury, it did its job I guess. So I wouldn't rule it out. If you do go this route, don't ditch the Bohn garment. Better to wear your armor than to stuff it in baggy pants.

    Good news is, with strap-on armor, you get a lot of wiggle room with inseam. Normally I wear a 29 length pant, but I can take the armor out of a 32-inch-inseam overpant and ride around all day. Looks goofy when I'm walking around but works fine on the bike. Since overpants typically run 2 inches bigger than stated size, you might could get away with getting a size smaller, long as you aren't trying to layer it over jeans. If going down a size gets the inseam within three inches of what you're looking for, you could be golden. I've heard of people squeezing into really nice gear (eg Klim) this way.

    If you have the money, custom pants (or even a custom one-piece suit) will offer the best protection. A custom leather suit is your best option if you ride aggressively in good weather. Check out the Vanson leather website for a well-regarded example. A semi-custom Aerostich cordura suit fits the bill for long distance touring. Motoport will make you a Kevlar suit (check their website, very interesting.) In each case, expect to drop more than a grand.

    If you don't have that kind of money, consider the following.
    a. Touring leather pants. Fox Creek leather has a gorgeous leather overpant that would work with strap-on armor underneath. River Road also makes a leather pant for a reasonable price. Buy em big enough to fit over your butt, and trim the hem with scissors or a knife.
    b. 1000d cordura jeans. Both Motoport and Vanson can get you into a quality pair of cordura jeans for less than $300.

    Motoport probably has the best deal going. Check out their custom armored Cordura pants. If you start there -- and you think the armor might work for you -- that is probably your optimal solution.

    As for Kevlar jeans, I'm not sure what to think. There's little doubt in my mind that the butt padding works, but I've seen a few reports of the knee padding failing. I rode around for a while with chaps over Draggin Jeans (US) and laugh if you will, but there's something to be said for redundant systems. Draggin Australia got their jeans through CE certification, which is impressive. Hood makes a very nice Kevlar jean. If you go with Bohn armor under Kevlar jeans, I would not fault you for that. Jury is still out over whether this is really an adequate protection scheme. But, it's better than nothing, a lot better. Remember, you gotta get the armor.

    The other question mark in my mind is the custom leather garments you see on ebay from Pakistani shops. I think there's some promise here. I had one vendor make me a one-piece leather race suit. They advertised and delivered competition weight leather, CE armor, and safety stitching (which reduces the likelihood of a seam blowing out). I think it might have been good for one get-off at the speeds we were going (~45mph). Vanson and the like are better, but I wasn't ready to spend that kind of money at that time. A study done by a German motorcycling magazine suggested that cheap leather garments are better than cheap textile garments (I can dig the link up for you if you speak German). Might be worth a look if you're on a budget.

    Google is your friend. So is Searchtempest (for Craigslist). It's hard, but if you're diligent you can find used garments that can fit. I just scored a very lightly-used Aerostich from some guy who must be my doppelganger. People put their race leathers up for sale also. Keep it in mind.

    Gloves

    Cmon, your hands aren't hard to fit. Get some decent gloves. Your jacket sleeves will probably be a bit long, which is fine (better too long than too short) but that might make it hard to fit gauntlet style gloves. Just make sure the glove covers your wrist completely, and tuck it in.

    Jacket

    I would submit that this is a place where you can save some money. There's nothing wrong with getting a decent brand name textile jacket on sale. Look for jackets with CE armor, and a way of cinching the sleeve down to hold the armor in place. It's probably safer to wear a jacket with a good deal of overlap; however, 3/4 length jackets don't work if you have a short torso, they bunch up around your neck and interfere with head movement. You can unzip the jacket a bit from the bottom, but this defeats the purpose somewhat. I look for short jackets with a lot of overlap in the back. Skinny people will say you need to have a way of attaching the jacket to the pants. Maybe, maybe not. Your jacket will probably fit pretty snug around your gut, and it's a lot less likely to ride up on you than your skinny friends might think. So to me, the ideal jacket is standard length, with a belt or velcro tabs that allow you to snug it around your waist. That, along with high-rise pants (no hip-huggers for me!) and you're probably doing fine.

    So, for example, I found a First Gear Kenya jacket on sale at motorcyclegear dot com, which is a short-person-friendly web site. Sleeves are a bit long but I can cinch them down tight so the armor isn't going anywhere. It's standard length but cut low in the back for good overlap. There are velcro belts that adjust tight enough around my waist so there's no way that thing is riding up past my big fat belly. Very decent jacket, and they are practically giving it away.

    Helmet

    Don't blow all your money on a helmet. If you go with a DOT or CE certified full face racing-style helmet, your noggin is probably well protected. Maybe Arai or Shoei is better than HJC or Scorpion, I don't know. I sincerely doubt they are so much better that you should risk riding around in jeans and hiking boots because you ran out of money for gear.

    ----------

    I get so tired of seeing people riding around in a $500 Arai helmet with cutoffs and flip-flops. It's not all about the helmet. It's also about the boots and pants. And boots and pants and boots and pants and.... oooo the lights are so pretty! But I digress.

    This is all my 2cents worth. Don't listen to me. Read, and be mindful.
     
    Last edited: Dec 11, 2014
  2. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Good stuff! Be prepared for a couple of dudes here making it sound like posting pix is SOP. If they ask for pix sans any of the gear you mention, be suspect.

    A couple of places to get boots for the hard to fit crowd are Danner in Portland and custom fitted hand made boots by Dehner's in Omaha.
     
  3. TampaDave

    TampaDave New Member

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    ^If someone wants a picture of my stinky old boots, that's fine. But I'm not posting a pic of me in my new Smurf suit. When Aerostich comes out with a suit in nomex green, I'll think about it. :cool:
     
  4. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    Andy Goldfine might be the guy to talk to aboot that. Never had much call for using Nomex garb on a bike. The stuff is pretty much single purpose and not very abrasion resistant.

    Aerostitch being a USA owned and operated outfit has more latitude than say the outfits where almost every component including fabrication is offshore.

    The boots I can speak to. I have a pair of Danners and three pair of Dehner's. Danners are off the shelf wear. Dehner's are custom and take usually a couple of months to make and deliver.
     
  5. Scubalong

    Scubalong Official Greeter?

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    Thaks for sharing TamponDave
    Will not benefit me but I am sure will benefit other....! :thumb:
     
  6. TampaDave

    TampaDave New Member

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    No not actual nomex. I just want them to get the shade right, so I'll look like a bad-ass F-16 pilot rather than... well, a smurf. Seriously, I think it would be a hit.
     
  7. BWeiss

    BWeiss Johnny Partseed

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    Long...I think you got auto corrected. Thats damn funny though...
     
  8. TampaDave

    TampaDave New Member

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    Found another bargain... Aerostich utility pants. They will alter them for you and you should still come in less than $400. Goretex. Choice of 500 or 200d Cordura.
     
  9. Pliskin

    Pliskin New Member

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    Well, you do know the old saying about "what do they call someone from Tampa?"
     
  10. TampaDave

    TampaDave New Member

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    We are used to it. "So... you're a Tampan?" "Yes, and a bloody good one"
     
  11. Badbilly

    Badbilly Official VFRWorld Troll Of The Year!

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    What do they call someone from Llanfair*pwllgwyngyll*gogery*chwyrn*drobwll*llan*tysilio*gogo*goch?
     
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