Side Notes - Small and Large

The longer most rider’s gear is worn, the better it seems to get. Up to a point. Everything eventually wears out. 

I bond with a new Aerostich suit after about three months of regular use. If I’m able to wear one for several years, I’m unhappy having to break in a new one to try out some small prototype design feature. 

There are more 'teched-out' products in the world today than ever, and there’s also an appealing backlash against overdosing on tech. Witness the renewed popularity of traditional selvage jeans and flannel shirts. Even with the most highly engineered technical protective clothing, simplicity can be a feature, not a bug. 

Over forty years ago, the first Roadcrafter suits seemed incredibly complicated and high-tech compared with classic denim jeans and riding leathers. They were. Aerostich’s recipe combining Cordura and Gore-Tex fabrics, Scotchlight reflectives, Velcro hook-and-loop, and even YKK’s highly engineered Delrin zippers created an entirely new type of gear. A rider’s lightweight water-resistant highly protective coverall.

Many laughed at them, but as years passed and the Aerostich rider’s gear recipe became increasingly adopted by businesses intending to improve it, many more riders came to appreciate the intentional simplicity of their Roadcrafters and Darien's. Simplicity has always been -- and remains -- a key Aerostich feature.

More than a few Aerostich customers have now worn out their old Roadcrafters and then tried something else, only to discover some elaborate 'tech' is for styling and marketing that works best in cad-cam design programs and ad agency photo studios but not out on the road in day-to-day use. 

Tailfins were added to most cars during the 1950s because they helped sell more of them, but they didn’t do anything to improve automotive function, durability, comfort, or performance. Decorative stitching was added to the pockets of denim pants during the 1980s and this sold a lot of designer jeans but did not improve the value, function, or comfort of basic jeans. Eventually, those popular fashions declined.

Sometimes there’s an actual backlash, and such large trends are usually viewed as having been a bit silly and harmless -- after they pass. Fashions come and go.

The Roadcrafter suit has always represented our best effort to solve, as simply as possible, the timeless problems experienced by motorcycling commuters and high-mile riders: Comfort, convenience, safety, protection, and durability. An Aerostich suit is a simple coverall made for riding more. That’s all.

Small nuances matter. Hidden inside every Roadcrafter sewn during the last fifteen years, there’s a short strip of Velcro hook and loop located behind the left 'hand warmer' pocket. It’s there to help seal a small gasketed wire port that is even further up inside the corner of that pocket and to help capture a short jumper wire that can be pre-positioned there to make using electric gear easier. A Roadcrafter-wearing Aerostich customer named Steve Hall suggested this refinement, so it became known as the ‘Hall Pass’. Without it, using electric gear inside a coverall is harder. Not impossible, but a lot more cumbersome.

A small, simple solution. One of many.

-- Mr. Subjective

PS - A Personal Story: Armored Coverall Basics

Last Dec 19th, 2023, at 8:15 AM, a customer named David emailed me this: “So it appears that (brand XXX) has "stolen" your one-piece design with some changes made to it. Sure looks a lot like your one long zipper design ? Perhaps (brand XXX) convinced (another brand YYY) to only sell to them now ?  I hate when someone steals a good idea from the inventor ?

Dave”

I replied:

Thanks Dave,

Yes they have made a copy of our innovative armored coverall. They are not the first, either. Hopefully this will be viewed by many riders as further testimony to the value and utility of wearing armored textile coveralls for riding motorcycles. Especially in short-hop applications like urban commuting and daily errand riding, etc.  

For many riders, the largest disincentive to dressing this way is you don’t feel as cool as you do when you are wearing more traditional and conventional gear. Walking through a grocery store in an armored coverall you get a lot more looks than you do if you are wearing a leather or nylon jacket over denim pants. It would be nice if this way of dressing to ride became more widely accepted as ’normal’.

As an individual rider, I’ve been wearing these coveralls (Roadcrafter, R-3) for so long I no longer am troubled by both knock-offs or the funny looks people give me when I’m wearing one. It’s occasionally even amusing if someone asks what I’m wearing, or if I’m riding a motorcycle as I stand in a grocery check out line holding a motorcycle helmet in one hand. I wear my R-3 mainly because without this suit I’d feel less safe and less comfortable, and would be riding a lot less. So it’s worth it for me and other one piece suit buyers. But most riders don’t prioritize frequency-of-riding in all weathers as much as I do, so they don’t think armored coveralls are such a cool way to dress. 

Andy