Gear: Cruisers Vs. Sport Bikes

what is a good summer jacket that actually has armor in it

I just ride naked

You and your friends ride like bitches. And I've ridden every sort of motorcycle and at the end of the day I prefer a high torque styled out cruiser to a sport bike. I can still hit 120+ on a cruiser bike and still get loud nice revs going around twists and turns. Plus the seating position lets you ride all day.

I don't wear full gear for a couple reasons. It's the summer and I'm riding to feel free with a breeze and my bike feels like an oven between my legs in traffic, also due to my American shape most stuff with padding doesn't fit, I rarely go on the highway mostly back roads. I have 2 helmets though, if it's hot and sunny and I'm just riding around town I wear my beanie and shades, if it's cloudy or cooler or plan on going the highway I wear my full face. I always wear my short cuff mesh gloves with a padded leather palm (if you go down you're putting out your hands I don't want that knuckle guard cutting into my hand.) I always wear slip resistant 6 inch boots and jeans. If I ever plan a long trip where I'll be on the highway a long time I'll buy a leather jacket before hand but I do wear a leather vest. I ride very cautious so I hope to either not crash or reduce the damage as much as I can by giving myself space to slow down as much as I can before impact... Let's hope I never have to find out how the works out.

In the 6 years I've been riding (a cruiser), I've determined from observation that most cruiser riders dress for the ride (according to weather conditions) and most sport bike riders dress for the crash (because - let's be honest - due to the power and the way they're ridden, sport bikes tend to get laid down more.)

Of course I've seen guy's riding sports bikes in shorts and tennis shoes with no helmet and hauling ass (nuts.) . I also know cruiser riders who always wear all their PPE. I tend to dress for the weather. But at a minimum, I always wear boots with good tread (for people who's cages leak), Long pants (to not burn my right calf on a hot pipe at stops), gloves (better grip... and just in case), and eyepro of some sort. Everything else depends on the weather and the highway distance I'm riding.

typically if you see a harley rider with a full helmet its for blocking wind

I always wear jacket, gloves, helmet and long pants or riding pants on my cruiser.  I think my gear habits were from riding sport bikes all those years.

The reason we initially get into motorcycles, is for sense of freedom and the view of the earth, sky and all surroundings. Some of us like to maintain that feeling and ride with no great and/or little gear. Eventually, I've grown to like the full face helmet. I'm tired of being stung in the face by bees and got tired of so much noise from the wind. I personally don't care how much or how little people wear to protect themselves. I just lost my best friend, who was wearing full gear during the accident. I use to wear a $10.00 novelty helmet, but changed that. I may wear it once in a while. Here in San Diego, most accident involve sport bikes and everyone wears full gear. I ride a cruiser, but ride with sport bike groups 'cause cruisers are too slow for me. I tend to ride faster and harder than sp bikes. On a straight line they are fast, but on the curves most of them are squids. I'm only slowed down due to my floorboards digging into the ground non-top. I'm use to it. I've learned that if I'm gonna be riding extremely hard, I wear leather jacket with padding, full face, no gloves unless it's cold, and heaven boots. I also find myself pushing the bike much harder and going beyond my experience. Maybe wearing all this gear makes me feel invincible! That could be a problem for many. I believe that of u go to the track and doing anywhere between 80 to 200 mph, then you should wear a full suit. But if you are doing less than that, then you are just trying to look bad ass, or just wearing "vagina wear." What is "vagina wear," you ask? Well, that is what u wear to protect the "pussy" inside. Besides, if you really know your bike and can handle it, then your ass should not be falling off it. I know that accidents can happen, but if u stay within your limits, then you should be fine. This excludes people coming at you in a cage-not much you can do about that. Another thing is that a cruiser is much easier and safer to ride, and cagers a less bothered by us. I've ridden sport bikes and they are a whole different monster and I would not ride one without a full face helmet and a sturdy jacket. But a whole body suit! Gimme a f@&$ing break. That's overkill. Those people need to admit they are scared shitless and need to stop riding like squids. Squids is the term used for a style of riding, not for what you wear. Most people got that screwed up. Ride safe and wear what you want. Ride naked for all I care! Just don't ask to sit on my bike and leave ass and ball juice all over my seat....peace and out!

Nice vid and thanks for posting.  I ride a Harley Softail around town and a Kawasaki Concours for long distance highway riding.  I wear a FF with the Conny  to  protect my face from bugs,stones and wind.   The Harley has a large wind screen that protects from wind and debris and therefore I like to use a 3/4 helmet.  I know the FF will protect better but  the 3/4 is just so much more comfortable than the FF.    
  I don't agree that sport bike riders wear more protective gear.    Here in New England I see a lot  of sport bikers wearing tank tops and shorts. And their GFs are on the back doing the same.   
  Anyway, nice post.  Be safe.  Ride like no one sees you.

As ever a good topic that makes you look at yourself and wonder....out here in Asia we have the full spectrum of gear.  I agree with you, i would rather be hot and sweaty - but know that i am protected - than some of these jokers we have that get by with shorts, flip-flops and a $20 helmet.  I wear the gear i want to wear as i treasure my life, others may not treasure theirs, but i would rather be hot and stand a chance of an off then be cool (in both senses of the word) and have full body road rash!

Cruisers, Sports, Scooters...doesn't matter what it is, someone hits you, you are always going to get hurt.  Just a matter of trying to reduce the risks and the exposure you are happy to accept, never can tell what is coming at you around that next corner!

Nice video and a good topic. I have ridden cruisers and choppers most of my life. Always rode without a helmet or special gear, just leathers and only then when cold. In addition to the comfort rationalization, I think most cruiser types are clinging to the ''Rebel'' image. They may think they can't look cool and tough if they wear a helmet.  Ironically I have seen major clubs like the Hell's Angels, Mongols, and Banditos wearing full face helmets in states where it is not required. I look at that as them being experienced riders. They don't need to worry about what people think.
Most of my friends don't wear helmets. (not required here), I had one of them say, ''if I crash, I would rather just die''. Strange comment since you have no control over what happens sometimes. You could end up still alive with severe brain damage. And yes, to be fair, with a helmet, you could save you head and have a broken neck. I know people who don't wear seatbelts in a car either. They think they are safer. I disagree, but it's their life and health.
For the record, I now where a full face and armor. I call it, finally getting some common sense. 

one of the main reasons bikers on cruisers wear less protection is because on a cruiser bike you are more protected than on a sport bike. For example, if you ride a sport bike and you hit something head on, you fly over the bike head first, while if that happens to a guy on a cruiser he is less likely to catch air over the front of the bike as easily...

as a person who rides a cruiser styles bikes i ride for comfort and the feeling of freedom and when i'm all covered up its not as free and yes gear is safer but as much as i ride i don't crash much, i am a person who ride 7 days a week my main mode of transport is my bike now i always wear boots so when i put my feet down i need to hold up my 700 pound bike, i have all styles of helmets and in my state i must wear a helmet and depending on what i do that day depends on the helmet i take also my big v twin gets extremely hot and my area in the summer its over 100 degrees so i like to be cool because i get stuck in traffic a lot i do have all the leather gear for my protection but mainly it is for my warmth and another thing to remember gear does nothing to keep you alive just to keep you from bleeding and keep some road rash off it will not save our life the only thing that will is a helmet and my dad had 4 accidents neither one he wore a helmet and hes alive walking and still riding for 30+ years, and to be honest sport bike riders tend to push there limits more then cruisers we know or bike limits and we don't speed like shit through ever corner as much as you, well some times i do y pegs a scraped the crap out of but still that's coming from a cruiser rider who pus over 20000 miles on his bike a year.

areas to consider protecting:
head/face
spine/tailbone
joints
skin
ribs
kidneys

leather riding suit w/all necessary armor
or
armored jacket with spine protector
(armored vest w/spine protector & elbow armor)
knee/shin armor
hip/tailbone protection

helmet
armored gloves covering wrist
protective riding boots

Most cruiser riders usually dont use gear for the freedom. They know the danger they're in but it just feels good cruising around in your street clothes and a pair of glasses (with a good wind screen you feel hardly any wind cruising around). It's all about the freedom, openness, and comfort. Unlike a sport bike which is comfortable for just a little while

What I always considered the stereotypes to be are: Sport Bikes - full face helmet,
 t-shirt, shorts and running shoes, basically squids
Cruisers - leather jacket and or vest , chaps, boots and the smallest, probably not DOT helmet they can find
I now ride a touring bike and for hot weather have a Joe Rocket Phoenix jacket and pants, they give you some protection without sweating.

To each his own. It's our right to wear or not to wear 'Rice Burner Gear". Keep in mind Jr. that a majority if not all  of sportbike riders have immature mentalities and everywhere they go has to be 0-60 in three seconds or popping wheelies and putting everyone on the road in danger. The major number of fatalities and accidents with bikers are the ones on sport bikes. If you are going 100+ miles per hour like most of you guys there's nothing you can wear  to prevent serious injury or death. Don't take me out of content..there are a lot of cruiser morons out there but those are the ones that switched over from sport bikes. Just look in you tube under motorcycle accidents just about 'Every' accident is a sport bike.!!!!

Cruiser Sterotype.. Older guy who dose not spend a lot of time on Youtube or Facebook. 
Sport Bike Stereotype.. Young guy who's upto date on all the info spreading around on Facebook and Youtube. 
I did say "Stereotype" so it's obviously not all, but I guess when a group of Cruiser guys hang out, 3 out of 20 might be on social media, where sport bikes are gunna be at about 15 out of 20. Cruiser guys are more typically the type to single out the minority in their group for preaching something and give the guy a hard time about it. So while we're all preaching Gear and making progress, 3 guys are standing over there getting crap about wearing it. 

I used to ride a lot when I was younger.. (Jesus am I saying that now!?) anyway I had two helmets a full face and one of those half ping pong ball ones, just happend to pick the FF one on the day a wiped out slid probably 20' face first in some gravel sure I got cut up a bit but after seeing what was(nt) left of the front of that helmet I wear one always... Ps this video has made me think I should look into gloves, thanks.