listicle-heat
It Was 106 Degrees, So I Rode In Jeans. That One Ride Cost Me My Whole Summer.
Let me save you the skin I lost and the two months I spent healing indoors.
Over 40 years of Arizona summers I tried it all. $400 leather pants that turned into a rolling oven, $90 kevlar lined jeans that were just two layers of hot denim, bulky mesh overpants that looked like a costume, and finally the thing half of you are doing right now: plain jeans and a t shirt, because it was 106 out.
Three failures. One ER visit. Then one winner. Here is what happened.
I welded for 38 years. I know heat. And the Arizona summer on a motorcycle in full leather beat me anyway.
Two summers ago, riding to Payson to escape the valley heat, my head went light and I could not feel my hands at 65 miles an hour. Heat exhaustion, on the shoulder, on my own bike. That day the heat talked me out of my gear for good.
→ See what I should have worn instead
Nobody decides to ride unprotected. It is a slow surrender. First the chaps stay home, then the jacket on short rides, then it is August and you are riding in a t shirt.
It feels like you are avoiding the danger. You are just trading one way of getting hurt for a much worse one. I know because I made that exact trade.
→ See the better trade
106 degrees, two miles from my house, maybe 35 miles an hour. We were out of milk. That is the whole reason I was on the bike.
Loose gravel in a turn lane took the skin off my arm and my hip. Denim lasts about half a second on asphalt. I spent the rest of that summer indoors, healing, in the exact heat I was trying to avoid.
→ See what survives the slideI was done choosing between cooking in leather and riding bare. With free CE Level 2 armor, a free belt, and 60 days to send them back, there was nothing to lose.
Try Them Risk Free →Sell Out Risk: High | FREE Shipping Over $200
RoadArmor is a ventilated ripstop shell with zip vents that actually move air, about two pounds lighter than my old leather.
I wore them through a 104 degree afternoon. I was not as cool as the guy next to me in a t shirt. But I was close, and I was covered. Gear only protects you if the heat cannot talk you out of it.
→ See the vented shell
The ER doctor who spent an hour cleaning gravel out of my arm told me something I cannot forget. He has never once cut a pair of armored pants off a patient.
These have CE Level 2 armor built into the knee and hip pockets, right where the asphalt aims. It stays put every ride, and you forget it is even there.
→ See the hidden armor
This was my last excuse. Every summer riding pant I tried looked like a costume, so it stayed in the closet with the leather.
These look like normal pants, in black, olive green, or camo. Nobody at the diner looks twice. They go on every ride now, milk runs included.
→ See them up close| Jeans | Kevlar Jeans | Leather | RoadArmor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comfort in summer heat | ✓ | ~ | ✗Unbearable | ✓Ventilated |
| Full leg slide protection | ✗Gone in 0.5s | ~Patches only | ✓But cooks you | ✓Full leg shell |
| Knee and hip impact armor | ✗ | ✗ | ✗Rarely | ✓CE Level 2 |
| Looks like normal pants | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| All day flexibility | ✓ | ~ | ✗Stiff | ✓4 way stretch |
Sell Out Risk: High | FREE Shipping Over $200
Try them today with a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee.
Hot State Riders Made The Switch First
"Jeans are too hot in Florida and I wanted better protection for my legs. I have already suffered leg damage so I know the importance of protection."
"Hot leather chaps. Hot leather jacket. As I have gotten older I get too hot with leather. Needed something cooler but also protective. This is the first pair that does both."
"95 degrees with nasty humidity here. These are the only pants I have found that I will actually keep on all day."
"Now living in Arizona I need cooler pants to ride in. Leather stays home from April on. These breathe at a stoplight and the armor sits right where it should."
60 Day Money Back Guarantee
Wear them through the hottest week on your forecast. The Sunday loop, the long trip, the 106 degree errand. If they are not right for any reason, email us. Full refund. Free size swaps. No questions.
P.S. The map stays red until October. You can spend that time negotiating with a leather jacket, or riding bare and hoping, like I did. One patch of gravel ended my summer, and it was the cheapest, slowest crash there is. Start with the pair that finally worked, and you have 60 days to decide for yourself.