Our first product was the ‘Roadcrafter’, an armored coverall which has been produced, updated and improved continuously for thirty-six years. We’ve never felt the need to restyle it.
Depending on how much one rides, and if they sit behind a windshield or fairing, and where they mostly ride, a Roadcrafter can function well for many years. Still, they eventually wear out. Nowadays there are riders on their third or fourth one.
Last week one long-time customer emailed to suggest he might have the oldest one still in regular use. I replied: I don’t know if you are the longest continuously wearing Aerostich gear wearer or not, but it’s an interesting question. Maybe this would make a nice online contest?
There already is a similar contest at our Very Boring Rally. Held every five years, one of the most fun events is a contest for the most worn-out and disreputable looking Aerostich suit. There is no shortage of entrants. (The next VBR -- number five -- should happen sometime during the summer of 2023, and we hope you’ll come.)
Roadcrafters have always been simply ‘Equipment for Riders’ – a more convenient way to protectively dress to ride a motorcycle. They also unexpectedly became the recipe template for literally all of the world’s modern textile rider’s gear. Armored textile coveralls are likely to remain unconventional for a long time ahead compared to the traditional choices of denim and leathers.
A favorite story about this difference happened maybe twenty-five years ago just as Aerostich was starting to become known among touring and commuting riders. I’d ridden with a friend to the old road race event held for a few years through-the-streets of Steamboat Springs Colorado. (The second night it was cold enough to leave a little snow on my tent in the morning, but by noon everything had warmed up nicely.) At some point this fellow introduced me to four other riders he knew, but whom I’d never met. The six of us were standing on a sidewalk in front of a row of small-town shops and I was wearing a somewhat grubby several-year-old one-piece Roadcrafter. My friend said: “This is Andy Goldfine, the owner/founder of Aerostich.” Without missing a beat one of the four looked directly at me and replied: “If you are the owner of Aerostich, how come your suit looks like crap?” All I could do was smile and say it was well broken-in and comfortable, and I liked it better that way.
The Roadcrafter coverall was created to help make motorcycle commuting easier, safer and more comfortable. It’s simply a piece of equipment. Wearing one always has been a little ostracizing. Roadcrafter’s don’t label you as a ‘biker’, ‘adventure motorcyclist’, ‘hip experienced moto-person’ or anything.
I’m as sensitive as anyone about this, but because I only want to be able to ride more easily, safely and comfortably, I don’t care. This just isn’t a big deal if one’s priority is to ride more.
--- Mr. Subjective, 11-19
PS – Earlier today under dark cloudy skies I rode to a scheduled meeting at the aquarium here. It was pretty cold, maybe 34º. I walked in wearing a black R-3 Stealth suit and holding my gloves and helmet. Another person at the meeting, a bright friendly woman who’s worked with me there for many years, said: “Did you motorcycle in a snowmobile suit?” After thirty-six years, all I could do was smile.
PPS – Here is a short essay on ‘The Joy of Wearing Out A Piece of Gear’ which was recently published online by Outside Magazine: https://www.outsideonline.com/2283481/joy-wearing-out-piece-gear. And here is another slightly longer and slightly more philosophic essay about ‘The Life Changing Magic of Making Do’ (about the same thing) from the Globe and Mail website: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-life-changing-magic-of-making-do
Well, my Roadcrafter is probably not the oldest or crappiest out there, but it’s definitely well up on the “old and crappy” scale at 22 years and somewhere around a quarter million miles (on the jacket; it’s a two-piece and the pants get somewhat less use and look much, much better). I finally took advantage of your recent 15% off sale to buy a new Classic jacket, but I fully intend to keep the old one around because it’s still pretty functional. Patched and frayed and ugly, but still functional… It’s a bit bigger than the new one (I’ve lost some weight recently), and so provides a bit of extra room for cold
You ran a seven-year-old picture of this jacket in the October 8 “Is It Still Raining” email. Thanks for the fifteen minutes of internet fame… I wanted to let you know that as long as I give it a soak in TX Direct every spring, the suit is still waterproof enough to keep me dry through an all-day downpour. I ran into several such downpours back in June, when I did a 10-day trip to Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina and it rained, heavily, just about every single day. We are talking waterfalls erupting from the hillsides and two feet of water in the motel parking lot here. I was traveling with a guy who wore less-enlightened apparel (y’know, the kind that proclaims a certain motorcycle manufacturer…), and shall we say this trip could be a chapter from your fictitious book “Waiting In The Rain.” There is a certain schadenfreude to walking into a diner, zipping off a dripping Roadcrafter, and sitting down dry and comfortable while your traveling companion peels off plastic raingear and still sits in a puddle of his own making…
Mr. Goldfine:
A thought I frequently have when getting into my Roadcrafter, is that it is not particularly comfortable while walking around, that its stiff, makes a funny sound when I walk. All of that goes away as soon as I’m on my bike, and the suit allows me to go where i want, when I want, in comfort.
When I first got my suit, I mentioned one day to one of your customer service folks that I liked the suit, but I noticed that when I looked in the mirror, I noticed that the seat of the suit stuck out. She responded that, I had a “duck butt”. I said “what?” She said, “You’ve got a duck butt.” She said “You can fix that.” I asked how? She said “Don’t look in the mirror.” I took her advice and ridden over a hundred thousand miles in my suit with out a concern about my looks since. This includes the day I got off at 55 mph, and the only damage was my pride, and my suit, which you repaired.
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