Joined
·
3,724 Posts
It’s that time of year again when we see all the questions about which jacket provides maximum airflow, or how to stay cool in hot weather. Please note these ae two entirely different questions!!
If your question is “What is the maximum air-flow mesh jacket?” I can’t help because I gave away my mesh jackets years ago. If your question is “What jacket will help me beat the heat?” then I’ll beat this dead horse one more time. I live in hot and humid Southeast Texas and don’t want to let the thermometer get in my way of riding. I ride year round and have learned to dress for success in hot weather.
We used to have a forum member (Ken Hatch from Arizona) called Bubba1 who eventually became the evangelist of textile gear and wicking underwear. Ken told us that if the air was hotter than our skin temperature of about 93º F that the heat was going INTO our bodies, not out. He reminded us about the principles of evaporative body cooling and why we need to have just enough air flow to allow our perspiration to cool us.
I was wearing mesh jackets, tighty whities, and Levis at the time. I tried several mesh jackets, phase-change jackets, and Baker wings for more air flow. I’d hydrate till it hurt. I still got hot! I eventually decided to give Bubba1’s ideas a try, for deep down inside I knew he was right. I had made a decent living back in the early days understanding the principles of thermodynamics on my job, and what he was saying made sense once I realized that the laws of thermodynamics apply to motorcycles as well as refineries.
In order to protect yourself from the hot air blast you should wear a full textile jacket that blocks most of the air flow. Your body has its’ own perspiration and evaporative cooling mechanism which will protect you if you will let it work. Block off almost all the air flow, but let just a little in at the sleeves and open the back vents a little to allow the air to exit. As your body gets hot and starts to sweat the air will evaporate the drops of moisture on your skin and cool you. If you have too much air flow, the wind will blow the drops of water right off, not evaporate them, and there will be no evaporative cooling! Keep just a little, not too much air flow! Basically the only time that mesh jackets are comfortable are in a narrow range of about 70º F to about 85º when one doesn't need a jacket at all except for protection against road rash.
Bubba1 was a proponent of the LD Comfort t-shirts and underwear. I too wear LD Comfort when I want to wet the sleeves or even the whole shirt under my textile jacket for real cooling. However, I’ll go against the grain and say that unless I plan to wet the shirt, the LD Comfort is hotter than my Underarmour t-shirts. Most of the time even in 95º F weather I just wear dry Underarmour, and am mostly comfortable.
Cotton jeans, t-shirts, and underwear are a rider’s worst enemy. Look at the gear worn by the IBA riders who ride 11,000 miles in 11 days all over the country in July. The IBA published a very good article that gave a scientific explanation of why one should cover up to stay cool. This article gets tossed around here pretty often, and is required reading for the warm-weather traveler.
Bubba1, where are you? I’m gonna need help here!
Disclaimer- all the above is IMHO! This is what works for me in the humid oven of Southeast Texas, and YMMV!
Glen
If your question is “What is the maximum air-flow mesh jacket?” I can’t help because I gave away my mesh jackets years ago. If your question is “What jacket will help me beat the heat?” then I’ll beat this dead horse one more time. I live in hot and humid Southeast Texas and don’t want to let the thermometer get in my way of riding. I ride year round and have learned to dress for success in hot weather.
We used to have a forum member (Ken Hatch from Arizona) called Bubba1 who eventually became the evangelist of textile gear and wicking underwear. Ken told us that if the air was hotter than our skin temperature of about 93º F that the heat was going INTO our bodies, not out. He reminded us about the principles of evaporative body cooling and why we need to have just enough air flow to allow our perspiration to cool us.
I was wearing mesh jackets, tighty whities, and Levis at the time. I tried several mesh jackets, phase-change jackets, and Baker wings for more air flow. I’d hydrate till it hurt. I still got hot! I eventually decided to give Bubba1’s ideas a try, for deep down inside I knew he was right. I had made a decent living back in the early days understanding the principles of thermodynamics on my job, and what he was saying made sense once I realized that the laws of thermodynamics apply to motorcycles as well as refineries.
In order to protect yourself from the hot air blast you should wear a full textile jacket that blocks most of the air flow. Your body has its’ own perspiration and evaporative cooling mechanism which will protect you if you will let it work. Block off almost all the air flow, but let just a little in at the sleeves and open the back vents a little to allow the air to exit. As your body gets hot and starts to sweat the air will evaporate the drops of moisture on your skin and cool you. If you have too much air flow, the wind will blow the drops of water right off, not evaporate them, and there will be no evaporative cooling! Keep just a little, not too much air flow! Basically the only time that mesh jackets are comfortable are in a narrow range of about 70º F to about 85º when one doesn't need a jacket at all except for protection against road rash.
Bubba1 was a proponent of the LD Comfort t-shirts and underwear. I too wear LD Comfort when I want to wet the sleeves or even the whole shirt under my textile jacket for real cooling. However, I’ll go against the grain and say that unless I plan to wet the shirt, the LD Comfort is hotter than my Underarmour t-shirts. Most of the time even in 95º F weather I just wear dry Underarmour, and am mostly comfortable.
Cotton jeans, t-shirts, and underwear are a rider’s worst enemy. Look at the gear worn by the IBA riders who ride 11,000 miles in 11 days all over the country in July. The IBA published a very good article that gave a scientific explanation of why one should cover up to stay cool. This article gets tossed around here pretty often, and is required reading for the warm-weather traveler.
Bubba1, where are you? I’m gonna need help here!
Disclaimer- all the above is IMHO! This is what works for me in the humid oven of Southeast Texas, and YMMV!
Glen
