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I reached a new biker accomplishment! I wore the same jeans everyday for a four day trip! This is a skill one needs in order to pack light. The jeans I talk about are the Kevlar Reinforced Lodown Street Jean made by Shift Racing. Part# 70137

These jeans are comfortable as long as the temperatures are mild to cool. In warmer weather I would get a little monkey butt syndrome after a long day in the saddle. These jeans feel very sturdy and protective. They feature three layers. They are made of durable 14 oz denim. They have Kevlar reinforced panels in the saddle, knee, hip and shin. The Kevlar is covered by a layer of cotton poplin for comfort. Needless to say although I feel protected in these pants, they are not my first choice on a hot humid summer day like the ones we had this year. Here is an inside out picture of the jeans so you can see the protective kevlar panels.

These jeans are sturdy but I think their claim to fame is style! Most Kevlar reinforced riding pants look like something from the generic aisle at K-Mart. Not these jeans! These are way styl’n and are probably aimed at the younger sport bike crowd. I feel younger wearing them! The pockets are positioned and cut differently. The stitching is strong and attractive. There is even gratuitous decorative stitching. The texture of the denim itself is more like a designer jean than a riding jean. There is some designer fraying of the material on the edges of the pockets. If you want a Kevlar reinforced riding jean that doesn’t look like a pair of Wally World specials than you need to check these out.

The pants retail for $79.95 which is pretty good in comparision to other Kevlar reinforced pants. They only come in different waist sizes. You have to shorten them to your liking. At first I shortened them too much by mistake because they have the new younger Gen X loose baggy fit. When I sat on my motorcycle it hiked the pants up; so we had to let out the hem and make them longer. I purchased mine from Riders Discount and I like them a lot. Try em, I think you’ll like em.

Oz at Just an Ordinary Biker also purchased these jeans at Riders Discount and wrote a review at his blog. Click here to check it out.

Click here to see my review on Sliders Kevlar Reinforced Cargo Pants from Competition Accessories.

Click here for Diana’s review of Brosh Kevlar Reinforced Cargo Pants for women.

I just received a pair of Defender Gusset Jeans from Diamond Gussett to test out. I’ll start wearing them and let you know what I think.

I came across this site while surfing You Tube: http://www.sartsoshop.com/index.php

Tags: Product Reviews by Jay Green
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Diana and I just got back from Road Trip #6 for the year. The first trip was a 4 day trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway in the spring by ourselves averaging 350 miles a day. That was followed by a chapter overnighter to Cheriton, VA to commemorate Karen Fortner. We took another chapter overnighter to Williamsport, MD and used CB communication for the first time. That was followed by a trip to Gettysburg, PA with just the two of us using the CB radio again. Diana and I took another trip to Cheriton, VA for Cheriton Day without the CB’s. Most recently we returned to the Blue Ridge Parkway to visit Fox Creek Leather traveling further south and averaging over 300 miles per day. We used the CB radios again. We crossed through 6 states in 4 days including Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Spring Break to Blue Ridge Parkway: we learned we can plan and travel epic sized adventures on our own and that 350 miles is about our physical limit. This many miles per day for several days in a row is more like work than vacation. But if you want to see what the world has to offer in a limited amount of vacation time then you have to put some serious miles on the road.

Karen Fortner Memorial Ride: we learned to be patient. Under the threat of foul weather we didn’t rush. Somehow we didn’t get wet. Those who rushed did.

Williamsport HOG Poker Run: we learned that using CB radio communication from lead bike to sweep bike is extremely valuable in group riding. At one point our group got split in half at a traffic light just before the on ramp to the Interstate. I told Diana to keep going with her group and that I would take the second group and meet her at the next rest stop. No need for her to pull her bikes over on the shoulder of an on ramp.

Gettysburg Bike Week: we learned we can travel through a rain front if we know the weather on the other side is sunny.

Cheriton Day: we learned we can survive a tsunami. We left for a four hour trip after I got out of work on a Friday evening. There was zero chance of rain reported as we headed down the Delmarva peninsula. As we got within an hour of our destination which was the very tip of the peninsula it started to rain. We didn’t bring any raingear. As we travelled down Route 13 and got closer to the location where our friend Karen Fortner was killed in a motorcycle accident the skies just opened up and poured water on us like I have never experienced. This was not rain, this was torrential downpour. We could deal with getting soaked but we could not see. We were on the shoulder of a dark highway in a rural area. All we could do was ride down the shoulder with our flashers on at 10 miles per hour and hope no tractor trailers ran us over. We finally got close enough to the Cheriton Fire Department to get off the highway and head for a safe haven. We dried off and as soon as we decided to stay at the Fire House the storm vanished. We got back on the road and got to our destination at midnight. This was a scary ride and I was literally shaking. I’m so impressed with Diana’s ability to ride through these conditions. 

Fox Creek Leather: we learned we can ride down the side of a mountain on an unpaved road with hairpin switchbacks, no guard rails, no lights, no signs of civilization in a dense forest at night in North Carolina. As we have discovered for the second time you can map out a route using computer software but there is no guarantee the roads will be paved. Sometimes you find yourself on a dirt road when you map out routes to places you have never been. This time we ran out of road at the same time we ran out of daylight. We were coming down a dangerous mountain and there was no way we were going back the way we came. You have to know how to handle your motorcycle on a variety of terrain. The CB’s were invaluable in that we could talk each other though this and check on each other. I could warn Diana about the deer that was staring at me from ten feet away as well as the four cars we encountered. Diana could keep me abreast of our progress in miles as we traveled 5 miles down the mountain at 10 miles per hour. We also learned that although we can travel 300+ days that it is more work than fun and we should cut our trips back if we want to enjoy ourselves. Once again we impressed each other in our ability to cope with the unexpected and dangerous.

I hope there are a few more overnighters in our future before winter arrives.

Tags: Deep Biker Thoughts, Rider Skills, Trips & Places To Go by Jay Green
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