Wearing a Kilt while riding a motorcycle, What do I do?

[Wolfgore]

I have ridden my Goldwing kilted a few times.
My avatar picture was taken after riding over to my moms house.
It is only about 3 miles from where I live, but that is what I wore when I rode over.

Don't make a regular habit of it, but I have done it.

[O'Callaghan]

Well,

I ride my bike all the time with my kilt(s). Why? Same reason why every one rides in shorts: cause I'm stupid. The difference between the road and nothing and the road and 8 - 10 oz denim is lets say....NADA, zip, nothing. The only thing that is going to save you from road rash is a full set of leathers, pads, grieves, gloves and a full face helmet, when (not if) but when you drop your bike.

That may be somewhat true at, say, 130 mph, but it isn't true at speeds up to, say, 80 mph, IME. At normal speeds, denim does provide a heck of a lot more protection than nothing. I've slid down the asphalt at 70 mph on my a*** in a pair of jeans, so I KNOW!!!! I won't say the jeans didn't get torn, but I didn't tear the a*** out of them.

It was raining, which may have helped me slide a bit better! The slow lane of the M1 was closed and marked off only by an upturned 'Keep Left' sign on a dark and rainy night, and I had to ride another 100 miles with bent handlebars and the forks twisted in their yokes to get home. The bike hit the sign after we parted company. (ETA: The sparks as the bike slid down the road in front of me were like a firework show) With hindsight I would have done better to have ridden into the roadsign, but for all I knew it could have marked a deep hole! That was a long time ago. I hope the road workers would not be so bl**dy irresponsible today.

I switched to a full face helmet after I got a choke lever stuck through my lip!

Ok, so the road rash thing behind us, what else? I use a tuck and go approach. Tucking the front apron under my self and ride on. A nice heavy sporran also works well. The pleated back part, I can not control nor do I care.

I do recommend that you really do not ride at freeway speeds, as the wind gets really problematic. But around town at speeds less than say 50, it really is not much of a problem.

There is nothing ill-legal about riding kilted, although some of the looks I have gotten from police are priceless. If you do choose to ride kilted, beware of the looks, honks and stares you will get. Also, I've found that regimental is very problematic....hot seats, I say no more.

I've never ridden in a kilt, but it's a long time since I've ridden a motorcycle. If I was to do so, I would only do it over short distances, away from traffic, and at very low speeds. Rather like the time I brought home a full length mirror on the pillion, LOL! The (bike) cop who stopped me accepted it was OK when I told him I was keeping to 20 mph!

Chaps seem like a good idea in theory, but if you come off you may well slide along on the seat of your underwear (if you are wearing any). Unless your underwear is at least as strong as denim (!) I couldn't recommend that. I don't know, maybe you wear leather underwear? If you ride a motorcycle in a kilt with leather chaps and leather underwear you might risk arrest for soliciting, LOL!

I've met gazillions of motorcyclists who say that nothing less than full leathers is any use, but I've no time for that PoV, because IMHO it's Bull! If you cover all your exposed skin with SOMETHING it will help you to a large extent at normal (including somewhat illegal) highway speeds. Trust me.

[BroosterB1]

Hey I said it was not the brightest thing in the world to do, but it is fun. I used to have a couple of nurses as tenants in a condo I owned, who worked in the head trauma unit, both rode bikes...no helmets of course...and they smoked like fiends. The whole point is we tend to do what we want to do dispite the considerable drawbacks.

So, ride a bike in a kilt? Don't..................but it is fun.

[CDNSushi]

Well, this is what confuses me. For all those people who talk about the lack of protection for when you ride kilted, how is that any different from the thousands of people who ride bicycles in shorts every day? Why don't they wear head-to-toe covering? Coming from someone who has crashed many a bike, road rash from a bicycle accident or a motorbike accident pretty much sucks either way.



Here's a family (found using GIS) where everyone's wearing shorts.

Now, I know what you're going to say. And before you do, I realize that a motorbike goes faster than a bicycle... So then if speed's an issue, then how about this guy? Racers get up to some pretty solid speeds too... Especially on hills.

[csbdr]

yeah, I'd say speed is the difference, as you noted. That happy family has nothing to worry about. That bike racer will get road rash if he goes down, no doubt, but he's still not doing the kind of speed which you attain on a motorbike. That kind of road rash very well may land you in a burn unit for treatment. We're talking apples and oranges CDNSushi.

In case there haven't been enough dissenting opinions, I'll add mine. don't do it. Risk doesn't outweigh the benefits in my opinion. And yes, I ride, and it's ATGATT for me thanks (All The Gear, All The Time!)

[Cynthia]

Speaking as someone who has gone down on a 10 speed bike (gear chain came off bike and locked the front wheel up and I wasn't wearing a helmet), I can only imagine what a much heavier machine with hot pipes would do as well as the higher speeds and force of impact on the ground. 10 speed damage was NOT fun (what little I remember of it since I blacked out a few times). I had road rash from my left forehead, down my face, down my neck, on my collar bone and shoulder, and on my hands and wrists, one wrist took the impact weird and I had to have chiropractic treatment to get it working smoothly again. I don't know how long I skidded on my face/head -- I pretty much instantly hit like that and slid for a while. I was going slightly down hill and trying to speed up to catch up with someone -- no idea how fast. I no longer ride a bicycle without a helmet due to that scare -- I was very lucky I didn't mess myself up worse.

If I rode a motorcycle (I have considered it off and on over the years), I would definitely be wearing full safety equipment all over as csbdr said.

I think most people aren't replying with helpful replies because they simply won't do it and don't want to encourage it. Plus, there is the issue of how to keep clothing down and keep modesty, not to mention safety hazards of anything hanging, flapping, getting in the way or distracting the rider. I definitely would not recommend regimental, you might find yourself getting into more trouble than just road rash if you get my drift.

[Raphael]

As much as i love my klit, but this is how I ride:



Kilts are great but I am not going to risk hurting myself over fashion. You can be a careful rider, but it will only take a careless driver to take you out. Trust me, there are lots of them out there.

[csbdr]

AMEN to that!! I know my skills pretty well, but you never know when some hapless driver in an SUV might decide to, you know, reach for that latte he just spilled on the floor while texting...or he might just "not see you". Not worth it...did I say that twice?

[twinkletowz]

of course there is always the issue of all that material under your butt getting loose and spooling into the chain or rear wheel, getting burnt on the tail pipe etc. I would think that care of your kilt would dictate not wearing it. It bugs the snot out of me when my kilt gets caught in the car door sometimes.

[CDNSushi]

Well, my intent is not to push this issue, and I won't. Like I mentioned before, I do a completely different kind of driving here in Japan, where my scooter (see pg. 2 of the thread) won't exceed speeds of 60km/h at best and most of the time is spent puttering around local, city streets, dodging heavy traffic. You'd probably have to experience it to know what I'm talking about -- it's nothing like back in Canada or the U.S.

The last time I T-boned someone who ran a red light, bystanders were pulling the scooter from atop of me and I definitely had road rash and bruises. Had I been wearing a kilt I would have had a few more, but not so much. Probably would've damaged the kilt though. During the summer I wear only a t-shirt, shorts. As far as protective clothing goes, it's minimal: skullcap-style helmet and protective eyewear (you don't want a bumblebee hitting your eye even if you're going 40km/h) -- those I won't leave the house without. Heck, even getting a large insect like a cicada smack you in the forehead hurts bad enough... Anyway, I digress.

If I were riding a bike like what Raphael is sitting on, I would probably be wearing head to toe armour too. Especially considering how fast those things can go and how quickly they can accelerate to get there.