Kilts vs motorcycle

[Dusty]

Bike on the right is my new ride (Yamaha 950 V Star) and the one on the left is old ride (Honda VLX 600 Shadow). Had lots of fun on old ride but time to move on. I am planning to retire in four years and buy me a new bike then, but could not pass up the deal I got on the Yamaha. It belonged to a great friend of mine and he gave me a great deal. Only had 1,300 miles on it. I have not ridden either with a kilt. Was tempted today because it was so hot (95 degrees with heat index of 107) here in the south but thought better of it. Any of the rabble been brave enough?

[Taskr]

I know people do ride kilted, but as an instructor and one who has seen the effects of a cage spoiling someone's day, a kilted ride will not be for me. Do plan a 'still' photo on the bike whilst kilted, though, just for the heck of it.

[Steve Ashton]

My last ride was a Kawasaki Voyager 1300. Never rode kilted. Would never ride kilted. Sorry, I like my skin too much.

The old adage is true - It is not if you ever go down, it is when you go down. And you can never plan what the other guy is going to do.

[tpa]

My last ride was a Kawasaki Voyager 1300. Never rode kilted. Would never ride kilted. Sorry, I like my skin too much.

The old adage is true - It is not if you ever go down, it is when you go down. And you can never plan what the other guy is going to do.

Too true, I never fell off my motorbike, a BSA A10, but I did fall off scooter at very low speed on a roundabout, and despite trousers, the effect was sufficiently bad that I have never wanted to ride a scooter again. Never did find out why it fell over. May have been an oil patch, but I was too busy trying to get out of the way of the other traffic to find out.

[ratspike]

Moto in a kilt is a fun idea and I get it, but it's not something I'd ever do. I'd never ride in shorts and a t shirt either. I'll make short trips on surface streets less than fully geared up, down the street to the gym or up the street to the grocery store, but otherwise I'm ATGATT.

Potential for injury completely aside, I bet a kilt might come right off if you were to take a tumble at any real speed.

[JohntheBiker]

Nice rides Dusty! Never could figure out how one might ride a cruiser with a kilt on (sport bike possibly). However, I'm with everyone else here - I like my hide and don't like the odds. Always fully covered, even in the heat.

[Dusty]

It was just a passing thought! I'm like the rest of you and ride geared up. As luck would have it have never laid a bike down. I did roll over once when I stopped at a stop sign and my ankle rolled because I was wearing running shoes and not boots.

[Father Bill]

Uh uh. ATG ATT - All The Gear All The Time. Road rash is not for this kilty!

[CDNSushi]

I have, and at some point I probably will. (The libertarian in me comes out at times . I'm not an ATGATT advocate by any stretch, and it's best not to get too deeply into it on this (or any) forum, as I've learned that people who ARE, tend to have VERY strong opinions about it ).

But that said, I've found that all safety considerations aside, two-wheeled transportation of ANY kind (E.g. motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, etc) do not tend to play nicely with unbifurcated garments of any kind (kilts, skirts, robes, etc). And if you try to combine any item from Column 'A' with any item from Column 'B', from my own personal experience, there's always some necessary level of adaptation, preparation, or modification required so you're not getting loose bits entangled into moving bits, and/or exposing yourself to the whole, wide world.

Otherwise, and more simply put... I find it's often more of a pain in the *** to adapt my kilt-wearing to the motorcycle, then it is just to throw on a pair of pants. And if I'm going to throw on pants, then I may as well throw on my leathers/kevlar/riding gear while I'm at it, as it takes no extra time/prep to do. So from a purely utilitarian standpoint, I haven't combined kilt-wearing with motorbike riding for several years now.

When I was riding a scooter in Japan, it was really simple to just tuck the pleats underneath me, close my knees, and go. And the speed at which I was going, for the most part, was often not much faster than a bicycle, meaning that I was not nearly as likely as the kilt flying up and causing a Marilyn Monroe-style show as I rode by... But I can't see myself being able to be so successful at it while straddled atop my VStar 650, which I tend to ride at a faster clip.

Whatever you choose to do or not do, try and stay safe, and be warned that riding while kilted is not a recommended practice (even if there are those of us here who sometimes do).

[O'Callaghan]

Never worn a kilt on a motorcycle and have no plans to do so. Right now I don't have a bike, but might get another in the near future. I never had the finances for leather trousers or kevlar anything. Also, I have never seen a pair of leather trousers that didn't go baggy at the knees very quickly, despite the high price tag.

For me, riding gear consists of leather jacket and jeans, helmet, gloves and either boots or at least a pair of leather shoes. Alternatively, I have worn a waterproof suit over a lounge suit, when I had to wear the latter for work, not so much to keep off the rain, although that was part of it, but to protect my clothes, not only from the external environment, but from the bike itself. When the latter arrangement was too hot for the weather, I wore a pilot's flight suit instead of the waterproof one.

I have ripped several pairs of jeans to shreds while sliding gracefully down the tarmac. I have come across people who said they would never wear jeans to ride, because they offer too little protection. I don't agree with the latter, because they very definitely offer some protection. Riding with bare arms or legs makes no sense atall. I have worn a leather jacket with no shirt before I would think of skipping the jacket, and I am sure that a pair of jeans is infinitely better than bare legs when you go sliding on your behind down the road.