Your leather jacket and abrasion resistant jeans might save your ass if you go down in a slide (quite literally), but they’re just as useless against hard impacts as your regular 501 Levi’s. An easy and affordable way to upgrade your jeans and jacket is with an armored base layer or vest and today you can get CE-rated base layer armor on sale for up to 50 percent off.
Not all motorcycle jackets and riding pants come with the best armor (some don’t come with armor at all), which, if you think about it, is akin to buying a car without seat belts, airbags and modern crumple zones. Sure, you can buy vintage cars for their style, but it’s just as risky to drive a vintage car now as it was back in the ’70s. Luckily, if you buy gear that’s sans armor, you can add it to your daily gear a lot easier than it is to add airbags to an old Porsche.
If you’re anything like me, you tend to take the armor out of your motorcycle jackets and riding jeans — not because it’s uncomfortable or bulky but so I can wear them casually when I’m not riding. That’s not to say I’m riding without armor entirely. An easy way to keep safe on regular rides with armorless jackets is armored base layers. Instead of frustratingly trying to navigate elbow or knee armor down the sleeves of your jacket or pant legs before and after every ride, just slip on an armored base or vest. And now, do it for a lot less cash.
Pro Shorts X-V 2 by Forcefield $189 $170
Back Protector Pro Sub 4 by Forcefield $199 $179
Sport Shirt 1 by Forcefield $219 $197
Pro Pants X-V 2 by Forcefield $259 $233
