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Leathers vs. Textiles Leathers vs. Textiles
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Photo by Lois Pryce, schoolkids in Algeria

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Photo of Lois Pryce, UK
and schoolkids in Algeria



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  #1  
Old 27 Nov 2012
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Wear whatever you will be most comfortable riding at normal temperatures in, it is always going to be a compromise and there is no perfect solution. I prefer a leather jacket, armoured jeans and an oversuit but most others seem to prefer cordura or something similar, as with your choice of bike, it is what suits you best.
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Old 27 Nov 2012
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Had a 2-piece leather suit, when I rode from home to Australia, about 60 north latitude to 40 south, so it's inevitable there will be every imaginable kind of weather along the way. And there was, from nearly wintry to the very hot and humid tropics.

A good quality Gore-Tex suit with adjustability for hot climate would probably have been the best choice, but I took 2nd best, cause I simply like leather more. Think I would go with leather again, although this time I'd take more care of it (the suit was not in a good shape after getting soaking wet a few times, and not all of it was coming from the outside !!)

Remember leathers can be made for colder climate, or warmer (with lots of small holes for ventilation) so on a trip like this, I'd take the latter one, and just deal with the cold with extra layers, rain suit etc. Leather made for colder climate will get you a heatstroke in hot environment!

But yeah, for lots of climatic variations a modern textile-suit of GOOD QUALITY will probably be the 'best' choice all things considered. The cheapest ones aren't up to much regardless of material.

Choose the one you like better.
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Old 27 Nov 2012
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@pecha72 - you've hit the nail on the head exactly! The brain is saying cordura, but the heart is saying leather! It's quite saying something that you would go for leather again - sounds encouraging to my heart

Can you expand on "looking after it" and "the suit was not in a good shape"? Is it because come what may you just couldn't keep it dry for that distance? And what goes wrong with leather - is it just having to travel wet for days on end or does it gets worse?
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Old 27 Nov 2012
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Leather needs that 'grease' stuff put into it regularly, especially in case it has gotten really wet, after drying it is really important to do it. I had it with me, and I did that greasing a few times, but apparently not frequently enough, because around the end of the trip, the leather became very hard, even got 'wrinkles' on it, and basically the suit was wasted. Totally my own fault, though.

Interestingly my missus, who sat on the back the whole time, also wore leather, but hers were in much better shape afterwards. But she always put on her rain jacket, while many times I did not bother. And maybe she didn't get the same soaking on the back.

Most of the trip was very dry, though - we did not have one drop of rain between eastern Turkey and South India, almost 10 thousand kms in between!

Actually you can now get leather suits with Gore-Tex, on those the leather is probably made to last even on rainy conditions. Could be a good choice - only thing I wonder is, how they would be in very hot and humid environments.
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