Smart riders recognise the fact that ordinary pants don’t cut it when it comes to protection on the bike. Motorcycle pants have a lot to deal with. We rely on them for protection from dirt, debris and weather. Pants must stand up to life near the road and near the bike, where abrasion and engine heat can be factors. Motorcycle pants should offer both impact and abrasion protection in the event of a crash. And of course, riders expect that pants will be practical and comfortable as well.
TYPES OF MOTORCYCLE PANTS
From full protection with a racing aesthetic to low profile denim styles that look just like casual wear, motorcycle pants today take many forms. The information set out below will help you choose the right pair of pants for your ride.
Leather Pants
Leather riding pants come in several styles. Traditional leather motorcycle pants can look much like a leather version of casual trousers. Some have some stretch panels and perhaps some reinforcing at the hips and knees. These styles are ideal when comfort is the priority, along with abrasion protection. At the other end of the spectrum are race inspired pants. These can feature a cut and curvature that favours the ‘race tuck’ posture of sports bike riders. You can also expect these pants to feature stretch panels, knee armour and hip padding or armour. The lower legs of race style pants often feature zippers that enable close fitting around the leg or over the boot. Race style leather pants are usually form-fitting for maximum streamlining and to prevent flapping and movement in the wind at speed. Race style pants often also incorporate knee sliders. These are replaceable plastic pucks that attach to the outer knee area, usually with hook and loop fastening. Their purpose is to prevent the knees of the pants gripping and wearing through when making contact with the track at extreme angles of lean.
Race style leather motorcycle pants have design focused on protection and ease of rider movement while in a race posture. They have few concessions to practicality. They are seldom very weatherproof and sometimes have no pockets at all. Designed to work best in a crouch, they can also be awkward to walk any distance in. By comparison, more traditional leather trousers are often better suited to an upright riding stance and are more comfortable for walking. Many include conveniences found on normal casual pants, such as pockets.
Virtually all leather motorcycle pants are fabric lined in order to make them easier to fit and remove. All styles of leather pants call for proper care and treatment with specialist products in order to provide long life and suppleness, especially if exposed to wet weather or extreme heat.
Best suited for:
- Riders who value the abrasion protection offered by leather;
- Sports and track riders seeking ultimate agility and protection;
- Touring and commuter riders who prefer leather to nylon and synthetic textiles;
Our top Leather Motorcycle Pants picks:
Textile Pants
Textile motorcycle pants are hugely popular and available in a number of styles. They offer excellent protection as well as practicality and versatility.
The textiles that motorcycle pants are created from can include nylon and polyester. Textile pants are often created using varying thicknesses and layers of fabric. This can help enhance flexibility and comfort in some areas, while providing extreme abrasion resistance in others - usually the knees, hips and seat. Most textile pants include knee armour positioned in internal pockets.
Textile fabrics are generally more breathable than leather in summer. For wet weather protection, they can be treated to offer water resistance. Textile motorcycle pants can incorporate a waterproof shell or lining as well as insulated linings. Many also feature ventilation systems. Removable liners can help to make textile pants an all-season riding solution, warm in winter and cool in summer.
The versatility of textile construction means that pants can be designed with a variety of pockets as well as zippered ventilation slots. For precise fitment most have a strap-adjustable waist, often secured with a combination of snap fastening and hook and loop tabs. Many options are available at the lower leg to help adjust the fit inside or over the boot. While sporty styles of textile pants are available, the core offering in textile designs tends to be styled towards a more upright stance - commuters, touring and casual riders. This design also tends to make textile pants relatively comfortable off the bike, and comfortable enough for short walks. Textile pants require no special care products.
Best suited for:
- Commuting, touring and casual riding;
- Riders who need a combination of protection, comfort and practicality;
- Those seeking one pair of pants to wear through all seasons;
Our top Textile Motorcycle Pants choices:
Riding Jeans
Riding jeans often look exactly like normal streetwear jeans. They combine abrasion protection with a casual style that doesn’t look out of place in a pub or cafe. This popular concept is achieved through the use of a denim outer ‘shell’ with the look of normal jeans, lined with tough composite fabrics such as Kevlar or Dyneema. Fabrics such as these offer enormous abrasion resistance. Where ordinary denim jeans hole within a second or two of touching down on tarmac at speed, composites have been tested to survive even extended slides.
Riding jeans can be as comfortable to wear as normal jeans. They are an excellent choice for those who don’t want to wear pants that look like motorcycle gear. They are also popular with riders who like to arrive at their destination and carry on with their day without the need to change clothes.
Riding jeans offer varying levels of protection. Some carry protective composite lining only in the seat, hips and knees, while others are fully lined. Full lining is a significant advantage, as even if the jeans move about in a crash, there is no risk that the movement will expose an unprotected area. Some jeans accept soft knee armour, fitted to interior pockets and providing basic impact protection. There are also riding jeans lined with water resistant fabrics to give a level of protection on wet days.
Riding jeans offer convenient, lightweight abrasion protection. They are comfortable and practical, although often do not offer the same level of abrasion and impact protection that dedicated textile or leather motorcycle pants can. It’s also worth noting that riding jeans often call for more care than ordinary jeans do in order to maintain the integrity of the lining. Many manufacturers call for lower washing temperatures, mild non-bleach detergents as well as air drying rather than ironing.
Best suited for:
- Riders seeking comfort and a casual, streetwear look;
- Those who don’t wish to change clothes when arriving at their destination;
- Motorcyclists who do not seek maximum levels of impact protection;
Our top Riding Jeans picks:
Women’s Riding Pants
Manufacturers of motorcycle pants today offer the safest possible options for women through dedicated ranges of gear created with female riders in mind. Designs focused on women ensure the best possible fit. Proper fit helps enhance both comfort and protection. The right fit means that riding pants are less likely to flap about in the wind. They are also less likely to move about on impact, ensuring that protection such as armour stays in the right place to do its job.
Women’s riding pants are available in the same styles and materials as men’s designs, and include the same options, from armour to ventilation. Styles range from track-focused leather pants complete with knee sliders, to textile adventure pants, to denim riding jeans.
Best suited for:
- Women who seek best fit for comfort and protection;
- Women who ride and appreciate the advantages of dedicated motorcycle clothing;
- Those who wish to enjoy feminine style into their riding outfit;
Our top Women’s Riding Pants picks:
KEY FEATURES OF MOTORCYCLE PANTS
Riding pants should serve as part of a whole system of gear designed to offer comfort and protection. They may also be called to meet special rider needs, from ultimate track safety to weather protection. Listed below are some of the features to consider when selecting riding pants for how you ride.
Protection and Armour
Some riders see protection as number one priority when selecting a pair of riding pants. For these riders, leather or textile pants with a full complement of armour is a good choice. Leather and textiles offer excellent abrasion resistance. Many designs incorporate hard composite or plastic armour built into the knees. Some feature soft, removable armour placed in pockets at the knees, inside the lining. Other designs also have permanent or removable armour at the hips. The safest choice is a pair of pants with quality armour at every likely impact point.
Riding jeans can offer excellent abrasion resistance, but often have little or no included armour for impact protection. Some designs do include soft knee armour.
Ventilation
The amount of available ventilation can vary significantly depending on the riding pants you choose. Ventilation can be divided into two categories - the airflow naturally afforded by the material the pants are made from, and ventilation features ‘designed in’ to the pants.
Unperforated leather pants offer very little passive airflow, while riding jeans can offer excellent flow through ventilation.
The category offering the greatest choice of designed ventilation features is textile pants. Summer pants in textile can have large ventilation panels made from high flow materials built into various areas. These are excellent in hot weather but not ideal when the seasons cool. There are also ‘all seasons’ designs that offer ventilation inlets that can be opened and closed using snaps, zippers or hook and loop fastening. When considering a pair of pants with ventilation features, it pays to check that the opening and closing of vents can be easily done with one gloved hand, for adjustment on the move.
Attachments for Jackets
Impact and sliding on tarmac can pull riding pants down, resulting in serious injury. While belts and waist fastening can help prevent this, the ultimate in security is a heavy duty zipper attaching riding pants to a riding jacket.
Some riding pants have an attachment zipper located at the waist. There are two main types available. Many pants come with an ‘eight inch’ zip located at the rear of the waist. Others feature a full-circle zipper for attaching to jackets that also have an all-round zipper. The all-round zipper is the most secure of these two choices.
If attaching your pants your jacket is important to you, take a good look at any design you are considering. Be sure to locate the zipper, understand its use and be certain that it will fit the jacket you own or plan to purchase.
Weather Protection and Comfort
Some pants designs offer ‘all season’ weather protection and comfort using a multi-layer approach. This is a particular strength of textile pants, using specialised materials to achieve various outcomes:
- Waterproofing can be achieved either with a treated, waterproof outer layer, or a removable waterproof inner layer;
- Warmth can be augmented by a removable, often quilted, insulating layer;
- Summer comfort can be achieved by removing all inner layers and making use of ventilation features built into the outer pants ‘shell’;
If you are considering one pair of pants to wear all year round, take the time to understand the fit and functionality of the various layers. Also be aware that the layered approach can potentially result in a significant weight penalty.
MATERIALS USED IN MOTORCYCLE PANTS
From traditional leather to high-tech textiles and even streetwear denim, there is a wide range of materials used in riding pants. Which you choose will be dictated by an equally wide range of priorities and preferences. Let’s dive in and look at the materials most commonly used in motorcycle pants today.
Leather
Decades ago there simply wasn’t another material that could match the durability and abrasion resistance of cowhide. Today leather is still an enormously popular material in motorcycle pants. Nothing about its performance in the face of abrasion has changed. Cowhide is no longer the only choice, however. Options such as kangaroo leather are sometimes preferred because they’ve proven lighter and even tougher than leather sourced from cows.
Leather is the go-to choice of racers, track riders and sports road riders. This is because of the protection it offers during sliding crashes that could quickly wear through lesser materials. You’ll still find leather used in pants designed for commuting and touring, yet textiles have mostly taken over these roles today.
Leather has its disadvantages. Unless perforated, leather riding pants flow air poorly and are not a great hot weather choice. Leather pants also tend to be heavier than textile equivalents. Finally, for maximum durability and to offer any level of water resistance, leather pants call for regular care with proprietary leather treatments.
Cordura and other Synthetic Textiles
Cordura is a well established range of synthetic fibre fabrics. It has been used for decades in many clothing applications that call for a very tough fabric that is resistant to tearing and abrasion. Yet Cordura also ‘breathes’, which can make it a comfortable choice in warm weather.
Cordura can be created in various ‘deniers’ or fibre thicknesses. Several different thicknesses of Cordura can be combined in the design of a pair of pants. Look at many pants designs and you’ll see thinner material used where flexibility is preferred, with thicker material reinforcing areas likely to see contact with tarmac in a crash. Cordura also lends itself very well to the construction of pockets, ventilation features, straps and other details. The material can be treated to offer a high degree of water resistance. In comparable thicknesses, Cordura is both lighter and more flexible than leather. It requires no special care and can be manufactured in virtually any colour. Today other synthetic fabrics that perform similarly to Cordura include Dyneema, Ballistic Nylon, Maxtex and proprietary fabrics such as Dainese D-Synth.
Denim and Kevlar
Denim, as used in riding pants, is exactly the same cotton fabric used in jeans. As such, it has almost no abrasion resistance when meeting tarmac at speed. The game-changing material that can save your skin in a crash is a material called Kevlar.
Kevlar is a heat-resistant, high strength synthetic fabric with a strength-to-weight ratio five times higher than steel. Incredibly tough, it is used in racing tyres, bulletproof vests, and as lining in riding jeans. Used this way, it gives the pants a high degree of abrasion resistance in a slide.
For maximum protection, consider riding jeans fully lined with Kevlar. Where Kevlar is used only as panels in impact areas, any movement of the pants while in contact with the tarmac can pull non-lined areas around in contact with the road.
Kevlar requires special care when washing. Manufacturer’s recommendations often include low temperature water, mild detergents containing no bleach, and air drying in shade rather than tumble drying.
