As Autumn starts to take hold here in the UK, I've been enjoying my time back on the bike.
My commute isn't the longest, but has enough variety to keep it interesting, which is handy.
The early week sunshine gave way to clouds and rain towards the end of the week, so for the first time, in a long time, I suited up in my Rukka textiles.
As is good practice, over the summer I'd stripped out the armour, gave them a wash and a Nitwax treatment to boost the water repellent qualities of the garments. Nitwax is a fairly common product and is a 'wash in', meaning you pour the right quantity into a clean washing machine and wash your jacket, or trousers on the required spin. I know, super exciting stuff right here!
The water repelling works well enough, but the biggest issue, especially on those first few rides, is just how little physical grip I get on the bike through my legs. Both of my bikes have Stomp grips stuck on the side of the tank and they work amazingly well with my leathers, but not so much with my textiles. It's not the end of the world, but what this does mean is I have to alter my riding style a fraction, especially if on fast sweeping bends to stop my backside sliding around too much.
The second biggest issue is something I've mentioned before. Turbulence. Leathers are great on the bike as the air simply slides across your back when riding, not so much with textiles, especially on a sportsbike. Its perfectly fine at lower speeds, but when the road and speeds open up, the vibration from the air rushing past the jacket starts to actually blur my vision.
It's not that the jacket is too big either, so to counter this effect, what I tend to do, is either use my Kriega rucksack or a hi viz jacket to in effect keep the fabric strapped down depending on what I have to carry. I guess it's one way to help keep the speeds down, so there is that I guess.
My commute isn't the longest, but has enough variety to keep it interesting, which is handy.
The early week sunshine gave way to clouds and rain towards the end of the week, so for the first time, in a long time, I suited up in my Rukka textiles.
As is good practice, over the summer I'd stripped out the armour, gave them a wash and a Nitwax treatment to boost the water repellent qualities of the garments. Nitwax is a fairly common product and is a 'wash in', meaning you pour the right quantity into a clean washing machine and wash your jacket, or trousers on the required spin. I know, super exciting stuff right here!
The water repelling works well enough, but the biggest issue, especially on those first few rides, is just how little physical grip I get on the bike through my legs. Both of my bikes have Stomp grips stuck on the side of the tank and they work amazingly well with my leathers, but not so much with my textiles. It's not the end of the world, but what this does mean is I have to alter my riding style a fraction, especially if on fast sweeping bends to stop my backside sliding around too much.
The second biggest issue is something I've mentioned before. Turbulence. Leathers are great on the bike as the air simply slides across your back when riding, not so much with textiles, especially on a sportsbike. Its perfectly fine at lower speeds, but when the road and speeds open up, the vibration from the air rushing past the jacket starts to actually blur my vision.
It's not that the jacket is too big either, so to counter this effect, what I tend to do, is either use my Kriega rucksack or a hi viz jacket to in effect keep the fabric strapped down depending on what I have to carry. I guess it's one way to help keep the speeds down, so there is that I guess.
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