Wax Cotton Riding Jacket any Protection?

[LoneRanger]

Found a place in Britain that you send in your measurements and they'll custom make you a tailored riding jacket in a variety of color choices. Except they use wax cotton or something called ventile. I suspect neither would be any good against abrasion like you could experience in a low side crash?

http://claymorejackets.co.uk/mojave.htm

Only considering this because of being hard to fit mainly in arm length and then to get the right chest size it's like a circus tent at the waist, catches air, etc.

 

[AVB]

I don't remember the name of the place, but about 10 years ago I ordered a leather jacket this way. It was somewhere in India and very reasonably priced, I am pretty sure it was about $250. I need to get the zipper repaired. It is probably an easy diy fix. I was at the drag strip and at about 90mph the wind blew the zipper open from the bottom. Other than that the jacket has been great.

 

[Stevie]

Not only no, but helll no!

cotton mc jacket? Only if you are wearing a dew rag for a helmet as many Harley riders do.

 

[Johnny2Bad]

The waxed cotton coats first popularized in Australia and then elsewhere are like cotton duck or cotton canvas. It's a good wearing fabric, but it's a fabric. They also need maintenance (re-waxing from time to time).

Although better than what I see some people wearing, it's not leather, and if you are properly protected, you're wearing leather, nothing else is the equal.

 

[Oro_O]

Those are some interesting, classic looking jackets.

I used a Barbour Beaufort as a riding jacket a few winters in Seattle when I was in grad school; I commuted with it everyday. So waxed cotton can be a very effective material - in wet weather it's a really good alternative to leather if you hate synthetics. I had a full Hondaline suit for foul weather, but it was just such a hassle to wear and the material would never break in to be comfortable. The waxed cotton is what sailors used before synthetics, of course. Barbour makes some riding-specific models more like those. Someday I want to get a Barbour Submariner as a riding jacket - very functional for that, though originally designed for use on the bridge of RN submarines in the '30s.

If you use it a lot, you will need to re-proof (wax) it every year, which is a little bit of a chore but not horrible. I went through enough of the stuff I found a recipe for "Greenland" wax on the web and brewed up my own wax affordably vs. the very pricey imported English stuff. It worked well.

If you need a custom fit, that place has some really interesting looking things, nicely tailored for riding. Go for it! Would also be a nice styling match with the Guzzi. (I had an MG V50 Mk.III as my first street bike back in the day...)

 

[spackard]

I have a wax cotton Barbour I use outside of the leather jacket, in rain.
The thing's great, best rain gear I've owned.
(Doesn't get much use in So Cal, but I had a good use for it when I bought it.)
I remember using it to ride home once in a downpour that had the cagers jaw-dropped.
(I have a full-faired bike though, so wind isn't much of a problem.)

There's subtleties to it - when hands are cold and wet, the liner is made of a fabric that keeps you warm but doesn't soak up the water on your hands, nor grip them when you're trying to wiggle a wallet into a pocket. The game pouch is a good place to stash things that need a dry space, without having to look for another place on the motorcycle. Every pocket has a snap and a double flap, for keeping water out.

 

[Silk]

We call it oilskin here. I've got a Burke & Wills motorcycle jacket, made in Australia and a copy of the Belstaff. Very high quality, fits perfect, and is sometimes waterproof. I haven't crashed in this jacket, but 40 years ago did go for a fairly big slide down the road in oilskin...I was sliding on my back for so long I thought I'd stopped, so stood up - got flung into a forward roll and continued sliding for a bit longer. Not a mark on the oilskin coat I was wearing.

I've been through custom made leathers, to synthetic gear, and now waxed cotton is my prefered riding gear. I've got oilskin over trou, a wide brim hat for outside wear and an oilskin vest I wear outside, and on the scooter for the commute to work.

 

[LoneRanger]

Originally Posted By: Stevie
Not only no, but helll no!

cotton mc jacket? Only if you are wearing a dew rag for a helmet as many Harley riders do.


I think it is more of a hardened or armored cotton that maybe slides slickly and doesn't grab the asphalt?

 

[LoneRanger]

Originally Posted By: Silk
We call it oilskin here. I've got a Burke & Wills motorcycle jacket, made in Australia and a copy of the Belstaff. Very high quality, fits perfect, and is sometimes waterproof. I haven't crashed in this jacket, but 40 years ago did go for a fairly big slide down the road in oilskin...I was sliding on my back for so long I thought I'd stopped, so stood up - got flung into a forward roll and continued sliding for a bit longer. Not a mark on the oilskin coat I was wearing.

I've been through custom made leathers, to synthetic gear, and now waxed cotton is my prefered riding gear. I've got oilskin over trou, a wide brim hat for outside wear and an oilskin vest I wear outside, and on the scooter for the commute to work.


Hey this is good news to me. I might be inclined to have one made up, if you look on their ordering page there are 11 measurements they require. Has to yield a glove-like fit, one would think.

How would you rate wax cotton as far as warm weather jacketing goes? Probably completely depends upon the venting designed into the jacket?

 

[Silk]

We don't get that hot here, 30c is a stinking hot day. That's a T shirt under the jacket weather, hot when you stop, just right moving...same as leather. Waxed cotton is soft when it's hot, stiffer when cold. Some say it smells when warm, I say it's a nice smell. Colder than my previous synthetic in winter, specially the lower back which is not a good place to get cold. It has no armour, so wear a back protector which keeps my back warm. I used to commute down to minus 3 C, and my hands were always the concern, not my body. My Burke & Wills has a couple of eyelets under the arms for venting, that's it...my leather jacket has no venting at all. Venting under the arms, in the rain, in a waterproof jacket ?...?

 

[DB_Cooper]

Wax cotton jackets are just fine. I still use my Belstaff jacket from time to time.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I bought a waxed cotton jacket some time ago and thought it was horribly stuffy and uncomfortable, far worse than leather...but, it was from some clearance website and I suspect it was not of the quality they claimed.

 

[dparm]

A waxed cotton jacket is nowhere near as strong as a leather one. I have a Barbour and it's very functional as far as insulating and keeping you dry, but they are primarily for hunting and other outdoors activities -- if you lose it on a motorcycle, it's just cotton and will be no better than denim or other fabric.

 

[LoneRanger]

Originally Posted By: dparm
A waxed cotton jacket is nowhere near as strong as a leather one. I have a Barbour and it's very functional as far as insulating and keeping you dry, but they are primarily for hunting and other outdoors activities -- if you lose it on a motorcycle, it's just cotton and will be no better than denim or other fabric.


I'm not sure that's the case, considering it's use as mentioned above by actual riders with experience wearing it, and in Silk's case, in a body slide during a come off. Perhaps the deeply impregnated wax prevents the cotton from hooking up with the asphalt?

It does, however, sound quite hot in warm weather. We regularly see 90- 95 F (31 - 35 C) here with high humidity from about July - early Sept.

 

[Oro_O]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger


It does, however, sound quite hot in warm weather. We regularly see 90- 95 F (31 - 35 C) here with high humidity from about July - early Sept.


Yes, they don't breathe at all. The wax prevents that. They get stinking hot in humid weather, but they are hard to beat for water protection (even against some very good synthetics). It would not be a summer jacket in the Midwest (or most of the rest of the country!).

Totally cool pics of the inimitable Steve and his Belstaff and Triumph Scrambler above!

 

[Silk]

They do breath, it's one of the selling points if you do the research. They are hot in summer mainly because they are normally black...again, same as my leather jacket. After many years staggering around in leathers in summer kickstarting British bikes, I don't really see a problem. It's hot when you stop, when you are moving it's just right. But then, I'm only doing that in 30c, I have no idea what it's like to ride in 40c. I have friends in Aussie who say they don't ride in summer because it's too hot.

 

[Silverado12]

FWIW I use a high-vis green armored mesh jacket in the summer.Works well and is cheap.

 

[mr_blackstock]

G'day,

I would always prefer either leather or bike specific fabric like cordura. However, I reckon there would be very thick and strong cottons in use by manufacturers, and padding would help with initial impacts.
As an aside, I ride in summer when it often gets over 38 celcius, and while I do suffer from the heat in my fabric jacket, and a modern leather jacket full of "breathing holes", the one jacket that insulates the best is an old Mars leather jacket. The leather used is very much noticeably thicker than current leather jackets. So I reckon leather can be good in the heat, the thicker it is, however, as always, the longer you're stopped the sooner you cook.

I have never seen a flouro jacket on the road. Myself, I would not wear one, mostly for idiotic reasons like aesthetics. I do remember riding in the country years ago, pulling up to a T intersection, and looking down each road for around 3 kms, I noticed a guy riding towards me around 1km away, and he was wearing an orange flouro vest, well I was amazed at how much he stuck out! It works, if you're looking for it. Like most car drivers, if they're not looking for bikes, all the headlights and flouro won't save you. Just my opinion.

cheers, Gareth

 

[gman2304]

Armored textiles. Protection in the vital areas, cool, high visibility, etc. Mine has zip in liners for cooler days. And textiles don't cost a fortune.

 

[Silk]

Waxed cotton normally has no armour, although some do have it. It's just that riders these days are used to armour being in everything, even leather. I have an armour under shirt, but just wear the back armour and kidney belt part with my oilskin jacket. My Spidi textile jacket is 17 years old now, cost a fortune at the time, and is still in perfect physical condition...but is no longer waterproof or windproof. At the time I was commuting 400km a week year round, and using an extra layer just for rain was a pain. so went with the waxed cotton as my everday jacket. The Spidi is still a very good dry and warm weather jacket...but like a lot of people who get a waxed cotton jacket, you just want to wear it all the time.