Not quite every time, but almost. What follows is a terrific question, which came to us in an email from a potential customer in England recently. This question comes up regularly, mostly from riders in America, though it is particularly of interest to riders outside of the United States because of the higher shipping costs and added tariffs involved. It might be a good moment to share our experiences. Here’s how I replied: On May 8, 2025, at 11:43 AM, Greg S wrote: Hi Andy,I hope that you are well. A question if I may; do you have any statistics that you can share about the number of UK buyers of any of your suits that have returned them for exchange or refund?CheersGreg On Thu, May 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM Andy Goldfine wrote: Hi Greg,Thank you for asking about this.  I’m cc’ing our lead customer service person, whose name is Stephanie.  Between her and I we have around sixty combined years of experience managing UK orders and shipping, so we can give you a reasonable (?) guess. First, note that we have become experts at getting the fit correct the first time, regardless of where the order comes from. USA, UK, Canada or Tasmania. Doesn’t matter. My guess is we make a fit mistake about once for every twenty to twenty-five orders. Probably even less for Stephanie and I. There are a lot of questions a rider must answer: Height, weight, jeans size waist x inseam, shirt size collar x sleeve length, suit coat or blazer size, type of riding most done, type of motorcycle, etc. (We have 61 graded sizes and do simple alterations like sleeve and leg lengths if needed at the time of manufacturing. About half the orders go out from in-stock inventory in one of the graded sizes and the other half are sewn-to-order with small fit alterations. Separately, about 1 in 200 are sewn to detailed body measurements like high-end road racing leathers or bespoke Savile Row business suits.) Second, our sizing/fitting error rate goes up a little if the customer is either extremely small or extremely large. For riders in the middle of the human size bell curve, the fitting accuracy rate is slightly better than it is for people out on the ends of the size bell curve. Same for riders with “normal” motorcycle configurations. Our error rate is probably a tiny bit higher for riders with extreme low bars and rear set footrests than it is for riders with relatively ’standard’ riding position motorcycles.   Summary: 1 in 30 we get the fit wrong the first time, but the actual number could be 1 in 40 or 50. Note to Stephanie, cc’d - What is your estimate? Andy On Friday, May 9, 2025 at 9:32AM Stephanie wrote: Andy and Greg,I would agree with Andy here. My estimate would be 1 in 35 we get the fit wrong the first time.Stephanie That’s about it, except this: Everything purchased by mail in the U.S. is returnable for a full refund or exchange within thirty days. This has been the law for at least as long as we’ve been in business, and it still is the law, unless it’s been changed recently. We guarantee you’ll receive good-fitting, functional, durable, and comfortable riding gear, or your money back. We also guarantee that if you buy and learn to use an Aerostich suit, you’ll ride more than you did before you had it. It’s on our website here.

Helmets are funny. A polarizing issue for many riders.  Forgive the length of what I’m about to write, but here is my complete history with helmets, starting with the first.  Right from Day One I was always a helmet wearer: Bell 500TX Int’l orange. Worn from about 1970-1980. The padding around the ears was an amazingly soft black leather. The last couple of years often worn with a Jofa snap-on chin and mouth guard intended for hockey player use. Compact and light. Made in America. Bell Star, first generation full-face, black, used for maybe six to ten (?) years. Painted the bottom third silver. Rock solid, bomb-proof. Made in America. Shoei ’something’, full face, red, fiberglass, used for about 3-5 years. Made in Japan. Shuberth modular.  First or second gen. Fiberglass. Gray. Used '96-'98.  Made in Germany. Nolan N-100 modular. 1999-2006. White. A favorite. Simple. Polycarbonate. Wore for many years. Modified several ways. (Chinbar latch system, internal speakers.) Was stolen in the middle of a ride when I stupidly left it on the bike’s rear-view mirror for ten minutes. Rode 70 miles on a freeway bareheaded to the nearest place to buy another helmet. Made in Italy.5A.  Rapha modular. Low end polycarbonate. White. Light. Inexpensive. Kept in Arizona where I had a bike for winter riding for many years. Thus, infrequently used so now in storage here at my home in MN. Made in Korea. Nolan Xlite 1002 modular. 2006-current. Still wearing this one today. Early fiberglass model. Now maybe 17-ish years old and on its second full lining (they were designed to be replaceable, and washable, and I’ve done both). My day-to-day ‘beater’ helmet and looks it. White, covered with scratches, held together in a few internal places with glue, etc. Made in Italy. Xlite 1004 (by Nolan) modular. 2017-current. A modern modular. A newer version of #6, also white, but made using carbon fiber for lightness. Only used when traveling on road trips.  Maybe now has 30,000 miles of use. Still looks like new, fits well, quiet. Has internal sun shield, the first one I’ve experienced. Never use that feature. Made in Italy. I also have a very old Shoei ‘jet’ style (open face) helmet which is sort of a replica of that original Bell 500TX. It is white. Comfort lining and strap padding now semi-deteriorated. Seldom wear but is available. Sometimes use in winter over a balaclava and with ski goggles. These days for 100% of my surface street riding -- which is commuting, grocery shopping and small errands -- I wear the beat up #6 Nolan Xlite modular with the chin bar up. (I wear Rx eyeglasses.) I like to be able to grin close-mouthed at pedestrians and dogs and those sealed into nearby cars. Like I’m having a terrifically wonderful time, because I am. If I go onto a local freeway for a few miles at 60-75, I’ll always tip the modular part down. No windshield or fairing on my bike. Only use clear face shields with the uppermost 1” of the shield covered from side to side with some 3M Solas reflective tape. All of this makes me a fairly solid helmet hypocrite. I like DOT helmets better than Snell because I suspect* they’re a bit softer in a lower G force impact. I think the insurance industry got helmet companies to recommend replacing helmets ever 3-4 years or something because this probably represents a worst-case consumer use scenario:  A helmet which is continuously left out in direct sun and high temperature weather, except when being worn by a sweat-prone rider who puts a lot of greasy products on their hair. My helmet is only out in the sun when I’m actually riding, and I’m nearly bald and don’t use hair products and where I live do not frequently encounter the high ambient temperatures where I’m sweating profusely. But still, it’s a little embarrassing to be wearing the most beat-up looking and oldest helmet in any group of riders. That the #6 Nolan Xlite remains my daily ‘go to’ after 17 years and despite industry recommendations, is what makes me, a helmet dealer, an (again) huge helmet hypocrite. Just today I received a reply from Nolan (the company’s HQ in Italy, since they lost their long-time USA distributor here after he died of old age a few years ago – RIP Harry McPherson) about options for replacing the old #6 Xlite, or at least re-lining it a second time. The one I’d like to buy today is their top end carbon fiber modular which is almost half a pound lighter than the current Shoei modular, and is about $750, but it’s not available in plain white. Only clear coat over the carbon fiber, flat black, or several garish paint designs most suitable for young sport bike riders. Below is that emailed correspondence. Maybe you will find it moderately amusing? At least they replied. Another example of another small motorcycle part of the old world disappearing. How can Nolan not make a plain white version of that helmet? (Yeah, I know. It is because they’d only sell one of them, one time. To me.) - Mr. Subjective, 9-24 PS – We’ve always offered a fairly nice selection of white helmets here.  This week, we're offering free shipping with the purchase of any helmet, too. PPS – There is something important about how frequency leads to fluency which is worth being aware of when it comes to rider’s gear, helmets and motorcycles-in-general. Whenever you do something a lot, over and over and over, you become able to do it almost unconsciously because of something brain scientists call neuroplasticity. The connections between our brain cells are called dendrites. The more you do something, the more dendrites grow both in number and density around the brain area controlling whatever it is you are doing repeatedly. For me this means when it comes to putting on my old #6 Nolan Xlite, clipping its chin strap latch, and later removing it, I now have thicker bundle of dendrites somewhere because I can do these things practically in my sleep, and so quicky I’m hardly aware of doing it. In darkness or light, wind or calm, rain or shine, hot or cold. Over the years the helmets anodized aluminum chin strap latch has become visibly polished by the skin on my thumb and fingertips. My muscle-memory knows this helmet’s feel, weight, heft and the slight shell flexing of the part covering my ears so when I arrive at home, at work, at a drug or grocery or hardware store, or anywhere else, I am barely aware of taking it off and attaching the strap to a loop of webbing near the left side of the saddle. And I’m noticeably less fluent handing the much newer far better and far more advanced #7 Exlite 1004 whenever I’m on a road trip. Not a problem, just a difference. You should choose a new helmet which fits your head correctly, and also one that you can keep long enough to develop real use-fluency with. PPPS – This link is to a scan of a one-page postal letter I mailed to the president of Nolan only yesterday. It’s about my helmet biases, and what I think the perfect modern helmet for them to make and for me wear might be. *Based on a little online reading and independent research.

1% Inspiration, 99% Perspiration “Maybe I’m being generally stupid, but I prefer that to being artificially intelligent.” - Tales from a Roll Top Desk, by Substack blogger Kent Peterson kentpeterson@substack.com on Friday, Sept 13, 2024 (Friday the thirteenth…) This blog post is a follow-up on last January’s post about A.I. titled: ‘FFFFlaws-in-the-Algorithm’. Find it here.  ‘Chat GTP4’ quickly provided near-instantaneous detailed-yet-simplistic answers. I projected this reason why: All A.I. source data was online thus could never quite capture real as-lived experiences. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato reasoned how descriptions and representations of experiences and objects (and everything in between) could not be the same as the actual experiences and things themselves, and this is an important distinction for understanding A.I. and it’s limitations. Motorcycle riders know and feel things about motorcycles, riding and rider’s gear which cannot easily be translated into words, sentences, stories, photos, numbers, or 1’s and 0’s.  So following the old “garbage in, garbage out” principle in computer programing, when it comes to motorcycling A.I.’s results must always be incomplete, somewhat predictable, and uh…a little boring. By extension this probably means no project-able future version of A.I. is likely to ever become the existential scifi-type threat to humanity futurists worry about. Because A.I.’s algorithms rely entirely on preexisting digitized data, no matter how unimaginably huge that resource is (or ever becomes), or how powerful any algorithm might be, the wonderful “Aaa-Haa!!” bolt-of-lightening-black-swan moment riding’s magic, or the of outside-the-box moment of inventive craziness can never be perfectly replicated or synthesized. If an A.I. program could somehow be magically transformed into a living human being, most people encountering that person would fairly quickly label this individual a ‘tool’: “In modern slang, calling someone a ‘tool’ typically refers to them being seen as foolish, unintelligent, or lacking in self-awareness. It is often used as an insult to describe someone who is thought to be easily manipulated or controlled by others. While the slang usage of ‘tool’ has negative connotations, it’s important to note that it can also be used playfully or sarcastically among friends without intending any harm.” – from Neuralword.com (Side note: the above definition reads as if it were entirely A.I. generated. Hmmm…) Any true out-of-the-box experience or solution takes a leap-of-faith. For example, in 1983 at the time of its introduction, a one-piece Roadcrafter armored coverall was an answer to a question very few riders in America were asking. Simplified, that question was: “What would rider’s gear be like if it were narrowly optimized to help riders living in advanced and rich countries use their motorcycles more often, and mainly as utility transportation?” At that time I knew only one person who’d been asking that, a motorcycle magazine editor named Steven L. Thompson, so I sent him the first one. A few days after he’d received it his close friend Bob Sinclair, who was then the strong-willed motorcycle-commuting president of ‘Saab of America’, appropriated it, so I had to send Steve another one (which I was happy to do.) Sinclair’s enthusiasm was a good sign. Auto pioneer Henry Ford supposedly said (paraphrasing): “Prior to the introduction of the Model T automobile if you’d asked people how to improve their transportation, the response would have been 'we want a faster horse'. Even if he never said that, his Model T automobile was far more (and less) than simply a faster horse. Today, A.I. provides a lot of ‘we want a faster horse’ results, and as near as I can tell, exactly zero Model T car results. Today, Henry Ford and Apple Computer’s Steve Jobs are both remembered as visionaries who were adamant their businesses should never ask their customers what they wanted. These two believed people-in-general have little knowledge what they want until they actually see and experience whatever any something might be. Yet both visionaries were able to invent, create, finance and produce things they knew would sell well. Their strong belief was at core entirely based on an intangible inner faith that if they personally wanted one of whatever they were imagining, others might want one too. I can personally relate to that. Einstein famously described what all inventors do, and what no A.I. can simulate. He called what he did to develop our current understandings of light, energy, mass and gravity ‘thought experiments’. Such experiments involved asking questions in the simplest conceivable child-like ways and coming up with revolutionary analytic answers. Answers which initially depended on intangible faith. Only later were those answers experimentally tested and proven as truths. The “AaaHaa!!” and “Eureka!” moments when new ideas and new solutions arrive always come with adrenaline and endorphins. You can absolutely feel them being important and right, as much as understand them. The short essay which follows breaks down a simple “AaaHaa!!” product idea having nothing to do with Aerostich directly, but a lot to do with A.I. and how original inventions, new products and new recipes are created. Lastly, the product outlined below is simply a mashup of already existing ideas and technologies combined in a novel new thing. Without using any type of A.I. algorithm I know on faith alone this new idea is good, because I experienced a little adrenaline/endorphin hit as its pieces came together in my imagination. No A.I. can feel or do this. Someday I’d enjoy having and using this doesn’t-exist-yet product… A Perfect Hard-Sided Roller (or Spinner) Carry-On Bag The perfect hard-sided ‘roller-board’ or ‘spinner’ carry-on bag does not (yet) exist. I’ve spent some time trying to find this bag from among the hundreds of variants available today. None offer the combination of features I’d like. Not one. In addition to the baseline of being sturdy, lightweight and fit-able into an airliners overhead cabin bin, what I’d like needs to have a couple of unique characteristics. Essentially it would be a carry-on sized hard-sided bag configured more like an old-fashioned footlocker or steamer trunk than a shrunken hard sided suitcase. Visualize a rectangular-shaped acoustic guitar case with a thin-ish lid and a deep-ish bottom into which a guitar lays into. Add wheels and a retractable handle. No hard-sided spinner carry ons have ever been made this way. (Note: Spinner = four smallish 360º swiveling wheels on the bottom end. Roller = two larger diameter wheels set into cavities in the bottom end.) Elements the same as current carry-on spinner and roller bags: Shaped like a current hard-sided carry-on bag. Size like a current hard-sided carry-on bag. Material like a current hard-sided carry-on bag with similarly radius-ed corners. Either four wheels like a current hard-sided ‘spinner’ or two wheels like a current soft-sided ‘roller’ bag. Telescoping handle like a current hard-sided carry-on bag (must be narrow enough to ‘piggyback’ another bag). Lining of the bag and lid is fabric with pockets along the sides. Elements different than current carry-on spinner and roller bags: Lid is piano-hinged on the longer dimension, and the deeper side has two or three low-profile recessed latches. Lid is about 2” from the top ‘side’ of the bag. Lid seals against a waterproof gasket (with a small air-pressure equalizing vent separate or as a gap incorporated into seal). Gasket is a rubber extrusion along the top edge of the deeper ‘bottom half’ of the bag. Lid has a single small, compressed gas strut as a hold-open (like car trunks, hatchbacks). Lid opens 90º with strut, more than 230º with strut disconnected (via quick release). Advantage(only one, but it is an important one): 50% smaller ‘footprint’ when laid down and opened inside a hotel room or bedroom. Which is where bags of this type are usually opened after being placed on a chair, table, bed or luggage rack. Without specific prompting I know of no A.I. algorithm capable of weighting this consideration strongly enough to produce this design solution. When some inventor added wheels and a telescoping handle to a basic soft-sided carry-on bag, air travel became far easier. That humble innovation seemed in hindsight so obvious it was universally taken-for-granted but it also probably increased the number of potential air travelers by millions. Today’s air travelers overwhelmingly favor the increased protection and easier maneuverability of hard-sided four-wheeled spinner-bag versions, but unfortunately all of these types split bilaterally down the middle like the shrunken version of an old-fashioned suitcase. This means when you open them up the bag’s ‘footprint’ is that of two bags, not one, so using them is more difficult within the confined space of a bedroom or standard hotel and motel room. Only the now out-of-favor ‘drag-behind’ soft-sided roller-bags are set up with an opening lid (always secured by a perimeter zipper). It would take a very brave investor to finance the creation of a hard-sided spinner (or roller) carry-on bag set up with a side-hinged hard top lid faith alone:  1.) It would be different than the hundreds of hard-sided carry-on bags, and 2.) it might be slightly more complex to manufacture, and 3.) the ‘target market’ for such a bag does not know they would prefer using this type of bag, since it does not yet exist. There’s never a Henry Ford or Steve Jobs around when you want one, and no A.I. program can do the required on-faith creative stuff like this, either. – Mr. Subjective, Sept 16, 2024 PS – We (Aerostich) are not planning to enter the ultra-competitive carry-on bag business. The description above was written to serve as an example of a limitation of A.I. programs. I’d still like to have one of these bags, though, and would be happy to serve as an unpaid design consultant for anyone wanting to develop this design. PPS – This blog post was inspired by my wife, who was looking for and not finding a perfect roller bag. She writes a cool substack called ‘Peeled Grapes’.

A collection of useful online links and videos The key to managing high heat effectively involves adopting techniques used by Arabs and other desert peoples for centuries: wearing robes to cover yourself and create a moist, manageable micro-climate next to your skin. Uncovered riders have suffered from severe heat stroke, with some even requiring weeks of hospitalization to recover. With an R-3 suit, you can control sweat evaporation through the microporous membrane and zipper vents. Stay cool by using a frequently re-wetted silk scarf or other evaporative layer. For a demonstration, check out the video titled "A Modern Bota" below. More Blog Posts on Heat: 8 Tips for Beating the Heat Rand Rassumusen, SEDALIA:A Primer Focused Mostly, but not Exclusively, on Riding and Camping in the HeatOne-Hundred-and-ten degrees. Fahrenheit! That’s what the thermometer affixed to my windshield says... Read Full Post Aren't You Hot? My reply, whenever people ask, “Aren’t you hot?” is “Yes I am.” But my favorite reply to any question about wearing Aerostich gear on a hot day came from my friend John Chase. Thirty years ago, we were riding back roads and cross-country dirt trails... Read Full Post A Modern Bota …Or How to Ride Through 90º+ Temps (More or Less Comfortably)A) Ride a minimally faired/windscreened bike... Read Full Post What do you do to stay cool on hot rides? Let us know your tips below!

An Email to A Co-Worker I’m not sure how we might use this photo, but I think it is funny.  I’m not sure why it appeals to me so much.  Maybe partly because it violates the PC stuff about never riding after drinking? Or maybe because it tells an important truth about the awkward clunky/bulky/pain-in-the-assed-ness of these suits unless one is comfortably inside one, in motion on a motorcycle. This photo would probably bring out the worst in some of our audience because so many people have been killed or seriously harmed by drunk drivers and riders. Or died due to driving or riding impaired. To be clear, I am very much against drinking and riding (and, of course, driving). So it’s tough to figure out a use for this image, even though it tells a real truth about one-piece armored riding suits. Maybe a ‘caption-this-photo’ contest, noting that: A) no drinking was involved, B) the photo was not set up or staged to be a provocative photo, and C) with an explanation about the actual circumstances of the creation of the photo to be revealed along with the winning caption? The title of the photo might be something like: "Here is one picture not worth 1,000 words.” The actual circumstances: I was invited to join my wife, brother, and brother-in-law for dinner last week at the OMC Smokehouse. Great BBQ food located only a block from Aerostich. The place wasn’t its usual busy normal. My three partners for this dinner had arrived by car a few minutes before me and were seated in a booth directly opposite this bar. Nobody was at the bar, so I draped my R-3 over an empty bar stool and joined my companions. My wife noticed the arrangement of the suit draped over the stool like a passed-out drunk and took the photo. After a nice no alcohol-for-me meal I put the suit back on and rode home. Compared to a riding jacket, these suits usually (and again) are a big pain-in-the-ass when going out for a social event. Before he died, the record-setting endurance rider John Ryan was famous for simply leaving his suit on all the time, wherever he was. But I always feel more comfortable if I can take my suit off when in a social situation like the one described above. Sometimes I can safely leave it on the bike, but in this situation and some others, that wasn’t or isn’t an option. When it comes to what to do with my R-3 after arriving at public and social destinations, there’s a wide range of inconveniences. Riders on full-dress touring and ADV bikes sometimes stuff their suit inside an empty saddle bag. Others drape it over the bike’s handlebars, about as shown in the above photo. This has the extra advantage of helping protect any cute handlebar-mounted farkels from opportunistic thievery but isn’t safe if it is too windy unless a bungee cord is also used to prevent the suit from kiting away in a strong gust. At the other end of the spectrum are places like the dance studio where I met my wife for lessons yesterday. She’s a great natural dancer who loves to dance while I’m nearly unable to keep time and memorize even the simplest steps and moves. “Opposites attract” is all you need to know about this. Anyway, right at the entrance is a bench and a big rolling coat rack. Upon arrival, I hang my backpack off the end of this rack and then drape my Aerostich suit over it, exactly like how it is draped over the bar stool in the photo, except this rack’s horizontal bar is high enough so the empty suit looks more like it’s fully standing. Then I sit on the little bench and take off my riding boots and I’m ready to…er, go ‘dancing’, if you’d call it that. But my wife always has a great time, and they have a nearly perfect place to hang the suit. I’ve known riders who will roll their suits tightly enough to be wedged under the bike’s frame against the rear tire, and those who use Aerostich Carry Straps to do the same, bungeed across a saddle, and there are a few riders like John Ryan who just keep the darn things on all the time despite everyone around them being in their comfortable street clothes. Unfortunately, there’s no sci-fi George Jetson press-a-button and it self-folds into a jeans pocketable size. (See 0:47 in this one-minute video for the idea.) An R-3 suit version sure would be nice. I wish I could write here we’re working on it. Maybe someday. Last week I went to a concert at the West Theatre which was part of the annual “Homegrown Music Festival” here. The place was standing room only, so when I did eventually find a seat, I just sat there in my zipped-open-to-the waist Aerostich suit, enjoying the music, and remembering the great John Ryan. For him and me, No matter what this might look like, riding there is always worth it. -- Mr. Subjective, May 2024

If you live somewhere with seasonally changing weather, one big secret about being able to ride more often is the need for what amounts to a large arsenal of different types and sizes of riding gear, all kept wherever it’s easiest to get to and use. For example, and I’m embarrassed to admit this, for my northern Minnesota year-round local riding I employ two different Aerostich R-3 ‘light’ Tactical one-piece suits.  On close inspection, these suits look identical, but they’re actually two completely different sizes – one is slightly larger and has been fit-altered to be comfortable over a sweater and down puffy, and the other is a size smaller and provides a standard (and closer) fit for the rest of the year. Each R-3 is now about ten years old. The bigger one gets worn daily during about five months of wintery riding and the other one is used the other seven. The luxury of having two identical-appearing Aerostich suits is like cheating and until now they were my secret to more year-around saddle time. The madness doesn’t stop there. For my out-of-town traveling during the ‘riding season’ I’ll wear either a Darien jacket or a Transit leather jacket over a pair of AD-1 light pants. Both of these ensembles have now seen years of wear. For me, a two-piece jacket + pants work best for all-day and day-after-day road trips, and the one-piece suits are faster and easier for commuting and running errands around town. Many long-time riders have come to this same conclusion: A diverse collection of gear is a necessity for dealing with variable weather and different riding applications.  For most riders making such large investments takes a while, and like all longer-term expenses, is harder to justify. This means it’s important to choose gear that really lasts, is long-term serviceable and repairable, and will not reflect only the moto-fashion-of-the-moment.   From day one my riding gear has always been more equipment than fashion, devil take the hindmost. Soon after I started riding as a 16-year-old high school kid I’d purchased an actual ‘motorcycle jacket’, a pair of ‘motorcycle gloves’, a helmet, and a pair of nice-quality boots (specifically a black Belstaff Trialsmaster waxed cotton jacket, a pair of red HI Point MX gloves, an international orange Bell TX500 helmet and a pair of reddish-brown lace-up Red Wing Irish Setter hunting boots). With all this gear I considered myself an extremely well-equipped young rider.  Fifty-four years later and I have three different helmets: An old ‘open face’ Shoei which is a lot like that first Bell TX 500, a much-less-old Nolan ‘modular’ for daily commuting and general riding, and an even nicer newish Xlite (Nolan) modular for traveling. I also now own two different types of riding boots, half a dozen pairs of riding gloves, two different types of balaclavas, two different electrically heated mid-layers, a bunch of scarves and neck-bandanas, multiple base and mid-layers, and the aforementioned set of Aerostich R-3 light one piece suits and two Aerostich jackets (Darien light and Transit) and two pair of AD-1 pants. It’s all become well-used and well-worn. I’ve accumulated this inventory, sorted out the keepers, gotten rid of the little-used items, and have pretty much narrowed my quiver of gear down to what works for me and what doesn’t.  It took years.  Today I have a bit less gear than I did as recently as ten years ago, but once in a while, I’ll still decide I need to try something I’ve never experienced before. This coming fall* it’s going to be some Neos over boots. We’ve carried them for years and they’ve never sold too well, but I have an idea about how I want to use them. Several years ago, I’d started riding/commuting through the winters on a bicycle with studded tires. A few years after that I moved a little farther from work and upgraded to an E-bicycle (though keeping and still using the non-electric one sometimes) and have not yet solved the problem about what to wear on my feet during really sloppy weather. When it’s cold and dry enough I’ll wear a pair of simple ankle-high fleece boots which look like winter versions of a high-top basketball shoe. I’ve worn these for many years before I started winter bicycle commuting and they are great. And for super-cold days I also have a pair of very old felt-lined mukluks which are lightweight and these also work great for bicycling. But when temps are around and just below freezing, the streets here are mostly wet and slushy, and my E-bikes front tire picks up this slop and flings it at my feet and lower legs, and I have nothing for this. These conditions seem to exist around here for about 50% of the winter, which is where the Neos come in. My new plan for E-biking through that sloppy cold weather will be to use my Chaco sandals (with wool sox, as I normally do on cold days) inside the Neos waterproof over boots, hoping this will prove ideal. If it does work (?) then after I get to work (or any other destination) I’ll quickly be in comfy dry sandals.** Gearing oneself up to comfortably ride nearly every day and nearly everywhere for nearly everything is far tougher than gearing up primarily for sport and leisure. Taken together, all the necessary gear is so expensive to acquire and so time-consuming to use, that few riders have the combination of determination and means to attempt it. Which partly explains why motorcycles in advanced and wealthy countries are widely understood by the general public, law enforcement, and judicial communities as self-indulgent toys. Which is unfortunate for all of us. In theory, we could change that, but it would be a lot of hard work. Riding all the time to nearly everywhere can be done. It just takes planning, patience, a fairly generous gear-purchasing budget spread across more than a few years, and some sort of set-aside ‘bat cave’ location in one’s dwelling to keep this stuff organized and at-the-ready.  It’s always been worth it, at least for me. Mr. Subjective, October 2020  (Published April 2024) *Those Neos over boots have now worked great for four years. As I’d projected back in 2020, when this blog post was written, when motorcycling I mostly wear them on rainy slushy days to protect my very old-school (Gokey brand) leather ankle-high laced ‘around-town’ riding boots. Those boots have been around long enough to have literally required re-soling twice. I also wear the Neo’s during really bad wet weather over the lightweight shoes I wear whenever I’m pedaling (E or regular bike). [Please Note: For reasons beyond our control, the Neos Overshoes are not currently available, but we expect them to be again in the future.] **The Neos did end up solving this problem.

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 Audio Version (6:59), reader: Mr. Subjective

Step One: Create a terrific product which answers a question almost nobody is asking. Something entirely new which meets a need few people are interested in meeting...

When it comes to crappy spring weather, riders living here can sing “Don’t Cry for Me Minnesota” to the melody of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” and really mean it. Below is a screenshot of what might be the worst-ever NWS (National Weather Service) seven-day forecast for April 16th in Duluth Minnesota. It was issued four days ago. Our typical spring weather is so bad it is actually funny. This year it’s been even worse. Locals have learned through long experience to laugh when bad weather happens and everything atmospheric goes against them because there is nothing they can do about it. Every rider living here gets this. Arguably, our reliably terrible spring weather is one of two reasons we ended up making some of the planet’s best rider’s gear. Combine truly rotten riding conditions (1) with wanting to ride a motorcycle extra-badly after suffering through one of our typically frigid, dark, and snowy Minnesota winters (2) and the solution (3) is an Aerostich R-3 armored textile rider’s coverall. It’s as simple as 1 + 2 = 3. These suits are highly wind and weatherproof, comfortable to wear, and very quick and easy to put on and remove. Another example of ‘circumstance being the mother of invention’. Aerostich R-3s, like many other models of Aerostich gear, work great for all kinds of riding situations and scenarios. Still, none of this was ever calculated to help you look like a cool bad-ass, or any other kind of hip or knowing rider. Rather it’s moto-gear as a simple and slightly geeky piece of equipment that is a functional tool more than a moto-fashion statement. It’s simply about riding more. So if you enjoy looking at yourself in mirrors or the picture windows of passing stores and shops, this gear is probably not for you.  But if, in addition to riding your motorcycle more often, you also enjoy showing up at the occasional meeting, or your regular workplace, or running routine errands on your motorcycle and having people look at you quizzically and sometimes ask: “Are you riding a motorcycle???” because the immediate weather at that moment happens to be noticeably less than ideal, I hope you will take a look through our online click-functional and pageable catalog here. You’ll be welcome there. This really was an unbelievable and terrible seven-day forecast for mid-April, even for here. Enjoy the ride. - Mr. Subjective PS - The R-3 mentioned above is the current and most advanced ‘third generation’ of the Roadcrafter one-piece suit, which is the product the Aerostich business was founded to manufacture forty years ago. You can watch a short video showing the early real-world testing of the R-3 here: PPS - The payoff for all this misery (yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus…) comes in July and August when the weather, camping, and riding around here are all super nice. And to celebrate our 40th Anniversary this year, we are planning the Very Boring Rally 5, too. It will be a little different than past VBRs (1-4). Instead of a single weekend gathering, all during these two months everyone showing up at our HQ will receive a swag bag with a VBR5 T-shirt, event pin (pin while supplies last), and assorted other stuff. Free. In addition, there will be a random variety of famous, semi-famous and infamous moto-related speakers and storytellers some days, sharing their life and riding experiences in the Road Grimed Astronaut Lounge (AKA the garage part of the Aerostich building) which has already been set up with tables and chairs. Light refreshments are a possibility. So come and visit us this summer and enjoy the area’s best everything, including the weather. More info about the event and the area’s many accommodations and attractions is here. We’d love to see you. Edited to add: This showed up in Mr. Subjective's email. You can't make this stuff up. For context: A few days ago, we were just shy of surpassing the record for the snowiest winter in Duluth. After Thursday's snow, we broke it... Yay?

Rightly or wrongly I’ve sometimes privately felt a bit like the legendary Johnny Appleseed, in that the purpose of my life’s work turned out to be to help make ordinary useful A to B daily motorcycle and scooter use in wealthy countries a bit safer, easier, more comfortable, and more popular. By one rider at a time. This wasn’t planned. Making Aerostich one-piece coveralls is why the Aero Design & Manufacturing Company (inc.) was started. I simply wanted one of these coveralls for myself so day-to-day I could ride more and drive less. So I could ride on days when the weather was less-than-perfect. The weather is perfect for riding here about 5% of the time. The rest of the time it is either too hot, cold, windy, or wet. I wanted to ride anyway. In this regard, and for some Aerostich suit purchasers, the one-piece suit has been somewhat subversive equipment. A rider may have bought it for a recreational ride to a distant motorcycle rally or some other bucket list destination, but after getting back home there it still is, still hanging in the garage or closet, softly calling the rider’s name like the Tell-Tale Heart in Edgar Allan Poe’s famous horror story. “Rider, rider” it whispers, using the rider’s name, “come out and play today…” followed by “It’s not too cold or windy or wet…” Only the owner of the coverall is able to hear the soft seductive voice saying over and over: “You can ride to work today…” Or to the grocery store, or to wherever. Over and over, it is saying: “Leave the car in the driveway today. Ride there…” After hearing this sort of haunting invitation enough times, eventually one day the suit owner gives in and chooses the bike instead of the car. A few days pass, then a few weeks and eventually, they are choosing riding over driving a bit more often, somewhat to the concern of loved ones, employers, and (of course) the army of industrialists, governments and workers who create, provide and operate our complex car-centric surface transportation infrastructures. Including Elon, currently the grand hero-of-the-moment in these areas. Forgive my small hubris comparing the work of Aerostich to the work of Johnny Appleseed. It’s just that those coverall suits do plant subtle seeds about the feasibility of everyday useful motorcycling into the hearts and minds of some riders who own and wear Roadcrafters, Classic Roadcrafters, R-3s, and Cousin Jeremy’s. Until this morning I never knew anything about Mr. Appleseed beyond what has always floated around in popular culture. But today a fellow named William Ashworth, who writes and sends to a subscriber list an excellent daily email about a historical science figure (one per day), which I gratefully receive, made today’s post all about Johnny Appleseed, famous American 18th century amateur botanist. Beyond planting a bunch of apple trees during his walkabout life, I never knew his actual story. This story may be of interest only to me (?) because of my experiences at Aerostich, but here it is anyway: From: William AshworthSubject: Anniversary for Sep. 27, 2022: John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed)Date: September 27, 2022 at 6:02:41 AM CDTBcc: agoldfine@aerostich.com John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, nurseryman extraordinaire, was born Sep. 26, 1774, in Massachusetts (see first woodcut portrait of 1871). It is hard to sort through the legend of Johnny Appleseed to find the real John Chapman, but several historians have recently managed to make credible attempts. Chapman was a real enough figure, an itinerant who moved west to Pennsylvania, then Ohio, and finally Indiana, acquiring plots of land here and there, where he would plant orchards of apple trees from seed, and sell the sprouts for a penny or two apiece, which is where he got the money to buy land. He lived simply, wore second-hand clothes, disdained shoes, and slept on the ground except in extreme weather, when he had no problem finding a floor by a hearth, since he was a well-loved figure among the settlers. Here is a second portrait, from a different source, 1862. In addition to sowing apples, Chapman spread the Gospel as he went, as taught by a Christian sect known as Swedenborgians, or the New Church, which seems to have emphasized the oneness of humans with nature. I do not know much about the Swedenborgians, but I do know a little about Jainism, and Chapman sounds like a Jain to me, although a Christian version. He respected all forms of animal and plant life, refusing to kill anything, even insects. Most apple trees were the result of grafting onto a rootstock, but Chapman refused to cut and wound a tree, and so he grew his trees from seeds. It has however been pointed out, cynically perhaps, that grafting is difficult and time-consuming, whereas it is fairly easy to haul around a gunnysack filled with seeds, which could be acquired free at cider mills. Here is a third woodcut, from the 1871 source. The problem with growing apple trees from seed is that, if you plant the seeds from, say, a MacIntosh apple, you do not get a tree that bears MacIntosh apples. The seeds are unrelated to the apple the contains them. So the apples from Chapman’s trees were generally small and bitter. The fact that they were probably not too tasty may not have put a crimp in Chapman’s business, for the buyers of his two-penny sprigs were unlikely to know what kind of fruit they would bear until after Chapman had moved on. And they probably would not have cared, for the fact is that the reason people wanted apples was not to make America's favorite dessert, but rather to turn them into hard alcoholic cider. In hindsight, we know that Chapman’s habit of growing apples from seed was an ecological godsend, since he managed to leave behind an incredible variety of apple trees and thus inadvertently preserved most of the diversity inherent in the apple genome. How Chapman morphed into the legendary Johnny Appleseed, who wore a pot for a hat and could communicate with animals, is not altogether clear. The mythical Appleseed probably blossomed from an article in 'Harper's New Monthly Magazine' in 1871, 26 years after his death. The article plays up his simple life, his missionary ways, and his reverence for animals. Recent scholarship has shown that Chapman may have led a simple life, but he was far from simple-minded, being a fairly shrewd and eventually wealthy businessman, who had accumulated quite a bit of valuable acreage and capital by the time of his death. There are only two sets of near contemporary images of John Chapman, and both are posthumous. One is a single woodcut portrait that appeared in an 1862 history of Ashland County, Ohio, which I have no access to, but which is reproduced on Wikipedia, from which we borrow it (our second link). An account of Chapman in this book is one of the sources for his tin-pot hat. The other visual record is a set of three woodcuts that were included in the 'Harper’s New Monthly' article of 1871. For want of any other visual aids, I include all three here (our first, third, and fourth links), from a copy at Harvard. The last of the Harper’s woodcuts illustrates a story of an itinerant preacher, railing against modern decadence, who cried out, “Show me a primitive Christian,” whereby Chapman stepped forward in response.. Of course, if you prefer a pot-for-a-hat version of Chapman, you have your choice of dozens of covers from a variety of modern children’s editions of the Johnny Appleseed story. Here is a link to one, and to a second, with a young Johnny Appleseed and a child-sized pot. Bill Ashworth Should you want more of my drivel on the origin of the Aerostich suit, please follow this link to a much longer and fairly convoluted story explaining why (but not how) Aerostich suits came into existence. I didn’t have the courage to publish it on this blog without some kind of explanation like this.

This story winds around a bit. The other day my younger brother, who’s a great vintage car lover, emailed me the link below which is to a story about how, during the great depression of the 1930’s, some ingenious fellow turned scrap Ford Model A four-cylinder auto engines into self-powered air compressors, and did pretty well selling them. Several patented conversion parts were involved. It’s a cool obscure story of someone making a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. When America reinvented a Ford to get stuff done I replied to my brother: “I didn’t know anything about these, either. Thanks for forwarding the story to me. Very cool. And believe-it-or-not, for many years we carried and sold an air compressor device that works on this exact same principle, and I’ve carried and used it. More than once. It’s called the ‘engineair’ pump, and it was listed in our catalog and on our website for many years but the company must have gone out of business (?) because it’s not there anymore. Attached below is an image file showing a scan of our 2016 main catalog, which shows it being available.” Screenshot from 2016 Aerostich catalog I continued writing: “One of these pumps right now is in the tool pouch located on the back fender of my 81 BMW R80gs, the one I kept in mom and dad’s garage in Arizona for many years. I bought that bike in AZ in about 1988 to ‘live’ in AZ, for use when visiting them, and to be able to ride to CA in the winter to visit with MC friends and motorcycle magazine editors there. That bike is now in dry storage in the basement of Molly and my home on PP. "I rode this bike more than any other, about 300,000 miles over a 25-ish year period. And used this odd tire inflator several times. You’d screw it into one spark plug hole, then start the bike so it ran on one cylinder with the other end of the hose clamped on the tire’s inner tube valve stem. The bike sort of lumped along that way with the ‘enginair’ thing going ‘chuff chuff chuff chuff’ until the tube had good air pressure. I thought it was brilliant. Compact, light, and easy to carry. Also, very reliable. Today everyone carries (and we sell) tiny 12v electrical air compressors to do this same job. You plug them into a cigarette lighter socket or use clamps to the battery terminals. We sell one made for us to our specs, and it works well but probably isn’t as reliable as an ‘enginair’, and is bulkier to carry, too. Would not fit in the tool pouch on the back of that bike. I think I also have one of these enginair things stored on the gold hot-rodded BMW airhead which I also rode quite a lot off-and-on during that same period. Here is a link to a blog-post I wrote about using this tire inflator thing back in 2009 (it was posted to the blog in 2018). I think this was the last time it was used:  https://www.aerostich.com/blog/flat-tire-story/ "And lastly, I had a flat only a couple of weeks ago just south of Superior WI, where it goes from two to four lanes. Fixed it in the wayside rest there, much to the amusement and interest of others using this rest area at the time. But I used a bicycle tire pump to inflate, because the tool kit for this bike does not have one of these neat ‘enginair’ things. Photos attached. I have a flat about every fifteen years. This time the tire and tube were only a few weeks old.” Next, I shared the above story with some riding friends like this: “Fellow Geezers, This is an email exchange between my younger brother and I, about a weird Ford model A engine compressor” and also by added by cc two Aerostich co-workers (Rick and Stephanie), with this request:  “See the image attached from our 2016 main catalog showing the ‘enginair’ pump. Any chance the company that made these still exists? Stephanie, any chance one or more of these might still be in stock somewhere?” My cc’d riding friend Mark replied with: “Thanks Andy, I’d heard of the engineair compressor but never owned or had one. It’s fun to hear about the device again :). Hopefully Al will weigh in about how he turned a 'tube type' tire on his BMW into a 'tubeless' one upon having a flat on a rural road North of the Twin Cities, then rode home on it. Years ago, at Crown Auto (on the clearance table) I bought a compact 12 V tire pump kit which measures about 8”x8”x2.5”. I keep it in my truck along with a tire 'plug' kit. I've used it several times to fill a low tire and limp to the next gas station that had a decent air compressor (a rarity these days). When I used to travel on my 1966 Honda CL77 I always had a tire patch kit, tire irons and a skinny bicycle tire pump (which I still have) although the hose keeps rotting out after 50 years ??‍♂️. As a Boy Scout I was taught to 'Be Prepared'." I replied to Mark: “Before cell phones everyone valued mechanical self-reliance a little more than they seem to today. And I know those who convert tube-type spoked wheels to tubeless using strong vinyl tape with a powerful modern adhesive have good results, but I’m not interested because the rim profile of a wheel designed for tube type tires is different than the rim profile of a wheel designed for use with tubeless tires. So even though it can easily be done, and lots of people have good results, I’m too cowardly to do it. But I’m not a complete coward when it comes to tire and wheel experiments. I’m a half-coward. Last winter I took a chance and rode all winter on a set of non-DOT ‘gummy’ trials tires. Very soft rubber compound and very thin sidewalls. These are special Trials-competition-only tires and they hooked into frozen pavement well when they were also ice cold, but I am not going to do this experiment again for several reasons. The experiment was interesting, but also was about like running non-DOT ‘wrinkle wall’ drag slicks on the street, underneath a hot rod car. Pretty stupid. But I thought it was worth a try. I wish there was a motorcycle tire with a compound about halfway between that of regular MC tires and those gummy trials tires. And with all its tread blocks siped with little wiggly grooves like modern snow tires for cars. I’d buy them. Can you imagine the guys at the tire company making those? They’d be jumping up and down saying to each other: 'Hey!!!  We sold TWO of those stupid winter motorcycle tires! To some idiot in Duluth Minnesota.  Let’s celebrate!  We’re going to clean up on that guy!' Nobody ever makes the stuff I want. Which is why Aerostich armored textile coveralls exist, I guess.” Now you know why, too. PS – If any of you know of a good soft compound DOT legal engineered ‘street’ snow tire for winter-ridden MC’s, please let me know.  PPS - On motorcycles as on cars, tubeless tires are much better in so many ways. Many spoked wheels have been redesigned to allow the use of tubeless tires. High performance bicycles also now use tubeless tires. I wish my old Honda and Suzuki had such wheels. There is no super practical way to convert them, save using a special kind of strong adhesive vinyl tape where the rim strip would normally go to seal conventionally spoked wheels to work with tubeless tires. Even tough traditional spoked rims don’t have the correct cross-sectional profile for use with tubes tires, many off road riders have done this without encountering problems. At least in theory another way to use tubeless tires on an older bike with traditionally spoked wheels would be to build special wheels using the kinds of wheel rims designed to be used with tubeless tires. Even if custom modified spokes were not needed to accomplish this, if spokes simply building such wheels would be overly costly relative to the fairly low value of the older bike(s) these wheels might go on. In other words, who would spend $2,000+ (est) on a custom-made set of wheels for a bike worth only $2,000 only to avoid having to fix a tube flat once every five or ten years? Even if such wheels were built DIY, the time involved would be significant.  One’s time is worth something.  My newer (2007) 1200cc ’travel’ bike has tubeless tires. I carry a plug kit and an electric air pump under it’s saddle. Whenever it needs new tires they are dealer installed.  My car also uses tubeless tires. When manufactured it came with ‘run flats’ but now has ordinary tubeless tires.  After I switched to those I added a jack (to fit the OE jacking points), a plug kit and an air pump with an extended power cord, which so far I’ve never had to use. PPPS – That clever made-in-USA enginair gizmo is no longer available. Everyone today uses the ubiquitous little Asian-made 12v compressors. If one wanted to split hairs, the old fashioned gizmo probably had a lower overall impact on climate warming, but now we are talking Amish/Hutterite/Mennonite (etc.) stuff. - Mr. Subjective, Sept 17, 2022

...Or How to Ride Through 90º+ Temps (More or Less Comfortably) A) Ride a minimally faired/windscreened bike. There are several other reasons for this (Mr. Subjective) preference than heat, but below 95°F this can be a factor. B) Wear a wetted Aerostich Silk Scarf around one’s neck. Fold the wet scarf in half then drape it over your neck and put the two ‘free’ ends through the loop where the scarf is folded, then pull these ends until the scarf fits against your neck all the way around. The scarf is not worn loose around your neck. Lastly, zip up your jacket about 2/3rds or 3/4th of the way, so the loose ends of the scarf are well covered. C) As the scarf dries, I (Mr. Subjective) re-wet it using a self-modified Platypus water bag worn over my shoulder bandolier-style. The bag’s cap has been replaced with a neat flip-open cap from a (stupid and expensive) ‘Fiji’ brand water bottle, which allows me to either drink directly from it (after opening my modular helmet’s chin guard) or re-wet the scarf as needed while moving. I normally fill this container only about ½ full, which is more than enough water to get from one full-tank gas stop to the next. At highway speeds the wind stream ends up shifting it sort of behind my lower right back area. To use it, I pull the cord to bring it around to the front, then flip open the cap and go at it. The home-made cord reinforcements are necessary and involved using some 500D Cordura fabric, Barge cement and the grommet setting tool used in production at Aerostich. D) When not in use, this water bag rolls up small enough to carry or pack away easily. This is why it’s not covered in ¼” thick aluminized bubble-wrap or a water-absorbing fabric, which would help to evaporatively cool its contents.  In hot conditions I will use it as a kind of modernized version of a Bota bag, those comma-shaped traditional leather soft flasks used in alpine areas of Europe. I ‘sterilize’ my modified Platypus bag by letting it dry for a few days on a sunny windowsill after each trip/use. -- Mr. Subjective, July 2022

Two high-mile riders meet: Brook Dain (left) and Paul Pelland at the Aerostich store and factory in June 2022. Brook Dain and Paul Pelland. Click to view full size image. What do these guys have in common? Both Brook and Paul ride a lot more than the average rider (basically every day), and they use Aerostich gear.  One chooses a Vespa scooter and the other a Yamaha Super Tenere, yet it’s no coincidence both depend on Aerostich gear for its long-term value as functional equipment.  When they each rolled up here simultaneously, coming from two different directions, it was a coincidence, so we made introductions, took some photos and shared stories (and a nice lunch). Experienced high-mile riders appreciate better fitting all-day-comfortable gear that works and holds up. This means easy to use real-world-useful pockets, great functional venting and serious protection for hard rain and possible crash scenarios. Plus repair services if needed. Brook was an Aerostich ‘Rider of the Month’ a few months ago and is on a 3,000 mile loop around the western side of America, from home to home.  Paul is around the 500,000th mile of his million-mile ‘Chasing the Cure' for MS ride and stopped in because we were on his route home as well.  You may have met Paul at a motorcycle event or IMS show. He suffers from MS, which is why he’s donating his life to this cause, and has been partly sponsored by both Aerostich and Yamaha. He’d also be happy to have your support. Road directions to visit us are here. We’d love to show you around and help you examine the full selection of Aerostich gear.  We have (at this moment) about 153 R-3 one piece suits in stock, and another several hundred other models of Aerostich suits, jackets and pants in the store. Suits come in more than 60 stock sizes and our fitting experts will take measurements if you require alterations or would like a sewn-to-order garment in a custom color combination. Factory tours are always free, and this (recently gentrified) neighborhood now has several nice places to eat within a block or two.   If you visit, we cannot guarantee you’ll meet riders like Brook and Paul, but we can guarantee you won’t be disappointed in the gear or our service. -- Mr. Subjective PS - There’s a 10% discount for ALL purchases made here, and we ship your old gear home on the day of your choice at no charge.

A famous old saying goes: “Nothing clarifies the mind like standing before a firing squad.” The last couple of years have been like that for more than a few of us. Hopefully we’re now on the far side of a fading pandemic. Surviving this plague (…so far anyway) has made me grateful and wanting Aerostich to focus more sharply on areas we’ve always been most interested in. One is making as long-term enduring products as possible. Typically sales are grown via the continuous introduction of ‘new-and-improved’ variations. Everything from laundry soap to fast-food items and motorcycle rider’s gear is commonly reformulated to increase sales. Though there are many exceptions, this business tactic is nearly universal because it works so well. Incremental improvements to Aerostich products are continuous, but our signature items are more like long-enduring successful products such as Levi’s 501 Button Fly Jeans, McDonald’s Big Mac sandwiches, and (in our field) Langlitz, Schott, and Belstaff motorcycle rider’s jackets. The technical rider’s gear from these businesses was first created to be worn as riders’ equipment, not fashion. Yet each soon became fashionable. Our synthetic-fiber abrasion-resistant armored gear represents another genuine rider’s gear advance and thus belongs within that timeline. Photo: Customer commend card from 1992, and accompanying letter. Click to download PDF version. When a market for anything new is created, later-entering businesses depend on coolness, fashion and style to sell their products. This means much of today’s rider’s gear is more like the specialized fashion clothing presented in ski and snowboard shops, which is revised annually with new colors (colorways) and design details intended to help boost sales. Selling ’new and improved’ is always tempting regardless of the functional value of what usually are trivial changes. One cannot easily improve a Langlitz, Schott, Belstaff, or Aerostich garment despite strident marketing claims otherwise. Our experience has proven that simpler and lighter and armored textile gear wears and works better over a long term. The Aerostich Darien, AD-1, R-3, Falstaff, and Roadcrafter Classic are each as lightweight, comfortable and functional as we can make them. And are sold without reference to fashion. They are gear-as-equipment, and we hope to continue doing the necessary business-discipline things well enough to be able to continue providing this gear for as long as riders want to wear it. So, what is new and improved at Aerostich? Like most manufacturing businesses we’ll always have a small wish list of things we someday hope to develop. Like an entirely new off-road jacket design which is complete and graded but has never been produced. It’s different from the Darien and might be better for some types of off-road riders. We also have plans for non-clothing items, including a revolutionary DIY bike service tool, and a new kind of structural fabric product which would be useful for protecting any bike, ATV or small side-by-side. And there’s more. Someday, and if all goes well for us, we’ll be able to introduce them. You probably understand how tough it is competing when making things in America. There are good companies from A to Z doing their design and marketing work in America with the actual production contracted to overseas manufacturers. Our business exists for many reasons, but my top three are: I wanted a kind of self-identity which involved having a small business, and I wanted to make stuff. Actual physical stuff. I enjoy the design and R&D work a great deal, but mainly as part of a vertical process which involves us making and selling stuff. I wanted to be able to ride my motorcycle more frequently, safely and comfortably, and drive a car less. It’s that simple, and in that order, too. I’ve never had a problem with consumers who desire the latest/greatest gizmo or fashion, but there is also nothing wrong with long-proven classics like Langlitz, Belstaff, and Schott jackets, Levi’s 501 denim pants or Big Mac sandwiches. And there’s nothing wrong (and a lot that is right) with Aerostich gear. Especially when it involves riding more, in a wider diversity of situations and weather conditions. If you’ve read this far and have never tried Aerostich gear, try it. There is a difference. You will not be disappointed. This is who we’ve always wanted to be as a business. - Mr. Subjective, May 2022

Start with a merino wool base layer.  We sell this but Smartwool and many other companies offer similar.  And if you can’t deal with wool, there are excellent synthetics these days.  We sell this made in USA one and several others. Skip the cotton boxers, briefs or t shirts. Commando is (works and feels) best for this end-use. Over the merino, either microfiber, jeans or fleece pants, depending on temperature, wind and length of exposure. Or even a mix of all three if you can get the layering fits correct. You’ll want something semi-slippery which will smoothly and easily glide over your merino base layer because this provides maximum low-fatigue freedom of movement. It’s also got to be highly breathable. Remember, err on the looser side, look for breathable and a bit slippery.   Side note: Loose-fitting sliding layering is extremely important. In 1999 the frozen body of expert mountain climber George Mallory was found on the side of Mt. Everest. Back in 1924 he and his partner Irvine were attempting to be the first to summit the world’s highest mountain. After the body was recovered his period clothing and gear were analyzed. Researchers found the combination of cotton and wool layers he wore (which were the very highest tech then available) provided this exact ‘slippery’ quality which yielded the most fatigue-free layering solution for working and climbing in this extremely cold and windy environment.   Over your mid layer add a down or synthetic ‘puffy’, who’s thickness can vary depending (again) on temperature and anticipated length of exposure.  Over everything goes a customized Aerostich R-3 light tactical with its impact armor removed, and after being altered as follows: This example (mine) was about $1,700.  I started with an R-3 one size larger than what I wear during the spring, summer, and fall for commuting.  Then I shortened its legs and sleeves slightly, added an extended side gusset on both sides (from elbow to thigh) to make it bigger around my middle and allow much extra insulation, and then added the ‘forward rotated sleeves’ and ‘back panel ellipse’ appreciated by riders of sport bikes with low handlebars and high footrests. All this leaves plenty of room for moving around freely and adding or subtracting insulation layers as needed. This example is the second one of these suits I’ve owned, and at my age now (68) I’ll hopefully wear it for ten or more winters ahead.  The first one of these winter R-3’s was made for me five years ago when we were doing our Zero Below Zero project. This one is brand new, and in a few weeks, I’ll probably clean up the ZBZ one which was made slightly smaller and sell it on our sale list as a ‘product development sample’. What this all means is I have one oversize suit for winter (which around here means three months of very cold winter weather -- Duluth is statistically the coldest or second coldest city in the lower 48 states, with periods of weeks each winter when the ambient temp may not get above 0ºf -- and another suit for the rest of the year. This year that regular R-3 is going to be seven or eight years old and is still working fine. It took me years (decades) to conclude that I needed to have two of these suits to be able to ride year-around in comfort here. What I learned along the way is a lightly altered R-3 lIght combined with some good base layers make an R-3 light just about the world’s finest snowmobile suit. Or winter extreme exposure suit for watching the Green Bay Packers during the playoffs at Lambeau Field in January. Or for snow blowing a foot of snow off your driveway at night in a stiff wind. So, if you have the money, try one.  We’d appreciate your business, especially at this ‘slower’ time of the year. Note that our fit-experts will set you up with the exact correct size 97% of the time (or some similarly high percentage), and if it doesn’t fit, you may send it back for a full no-questions-asked refund within thirty days of receiving it. Once you have it, you’ll use it more than you expected to. I have. Mr. Subjective, 1-15-22 *Also, downhill skiing (especially deep powder) and ice fishing. Can’t forget ice fishing.

The minimum we recommend wearing under an Aerostich suit (Darien, R-3, Cousin Jeremy, all of them) is a T shirt and shorts.  For most of the  warmer part of the year that's what I wear.  Specifically, these shorts, ‘commando’ (without boxers or briefs): Mid-Weight Cotton Shorts and usually a Polo-type shirt like this.   This combination is comfortable and absorbs moisture well. The Polo-type shirt is a slightly heavier 100% cotton fabric than a T shirt, and a little fancier/dressier, which somehow feels better in most off-the-bike situations such as stores and restaurants, etc.  In my imagination the cotton shorts similarly look more socially presentable than other options in off-the-bike situations, however when I’m riding all day or on a multi-day trip, I like to wear AD-1 armored pants over them, and they typically remain on continuously until riding ends for the day.  All Aerostich gear is deliberately designed to be as lightweight as possible to improve rider comfort, and to also be sacrificial in crash situations.  When we were pioneering armored textile gear back in the 1980’s, this way of thinking about protective gear was unknown and for some riders was radical and unacceptable. At the time leathers were the only 'serious' option and they were all designed to be heavy and thick enough to withstand repeated crashes.   (I've always felt that if after a crash a rider stood up relatively ok and then the rider's completely shredded garment fell to the ground in tatters and smithereens around their ankles it would be perfect. Sort of like a scene from one of those old Warner Brothers Road Runner cartoons. And then the hapless rider would buy another suit - Acme brand, of course.) We see a lot of crash-damaged gear because we offer repair services. Studying these garments has taught us a lot. One can break down abrasion damage into two overlapping kinds: 1.) areas where the garment was under higher load as it rubbed along the pavement, and 2.) areas where it wasn’t.   The areas which usually are under high load are the elbows, shoulders, hips, and knees. In our gear these places are reinforced with multiple layers of abrasion-resistant fabric, and beneath the fabric there are additional layers of material associated with the impact armor. We’ve never seen crash abrasion wear penetrate through all of those (usually five or six) layers. Other areas of a garment which are not under load are typically only scuffed, but there are exceptions. For example, if a rider slides on his bottom (seat/butt) a long way during a very high-speed crash, a layer of fabric can be worn through, which is why there are two layers of abrasion resistant fabric there. The faster the get-off and the longer the slide, the more potential there is for abrasion to wear through even very strong fabric. We design our gear to withstand even higher speed crash-abrasions while also recognizing they are rare. Riders who frequently ride in mid three-digit speeds (120-170 mph) should wear race leathers.  Even though I’ve become relatively old, I’ll still get briefly into the 100+ speed range several times a year (typically when I’m passing several cars in a string on a two-lane road, etc), but normally I’m riding somewhere the 60-85 mph range when on highways outside of my urban area. Aerostich gear is designed to provide acceptable abrasion protection for all of these (and my) riding scenarios, regardless of what one wears underneath. Winter, however, is another story.  -- Mr. Subjective, November 21

  - Said more than a few Roadcrafter suit wearers... When the Roadcrafter was first designed in 1983 it was intended to be an easy-to-put-on-and-remove armored coverall for commuting, constructed along the lines of a leather rider’s suit, but made using lightweight, breathable, abrasion-resistant waterproof textiles. Because of those priorities and considerations, it was never expected to be, or presented in our marketing materials as a perfectly waterproof rain suit, or to be ideal for extended rides and severe rain exposures.   We were looking for Roadcrafters to be able to handle about a 20-minute daily commute during a typical moderate rain, while still being much easier to wear on an everyday basis than heavier and harder to change into non-water-resistant leather gear. This is why all Roadcrafter and Roadcrafter Classic suits were (and are) fully lined like leathers, and why, because of the lining being stitched-directly-to-the-outer-fabric construction, and the easy entry zipper arrangement, they may sometimes leak slightly in the crotch in some wet-weather situations.   About seven years ago the original Roadcrafter coverall was superseded by a more advanced R-3 model, and was renamed the ‘Roadcrafter Classic’, and it remains in production today. Many riders still prefer its fully lined design even though it isn’t perfectly waterproof and does not meet today’s ‘Rainwear Without Compromise’ Gore-Tex waterproofness test standard. (That formal certification standard did not exist at the time this suit was created.) All Roadcrafters and current Roadcrafter Classics come with detailed instructions teaching how to easily apply a liquid seam sealer to a few vulnerable areas, which, if carefully done, almost entirely eliminates the wet weather vulnerabilities of this design. These instructions are also downloadable here. Even a slow drop-drop-drop leak every minute or two may cause a large, wet area after an hour or more in wet conditions. It can help to arrange the way the fabric folds across one’s lap in ways which do not help pool or gutter rainwater runoff directly into the zipper and its adjacent stitching. The newer R-3 armored coverall design is fully waterproof and meets the ‘Rainwear Without Compromise’ Gore-Tex standard. Because this design is unlined, a few internal high wear-points may develop after long and hard use which may allow small leaks.  But repairs, if needed, are simple, inexpensive, and easy. A heat-activated seam-sealing tape (or a liquid sealant as above) can easily be applied over any small worn areas which eliminates associated leak (or leaks). This occurs only after lots of hard use. Further information about this and all other maintenance and repair procedures is available during business hours (central USA time zone) at 218 722 1927 or repairs@aerostich.com. - Mr. Subjective, 4-21

“When you own your story, you get to write the ending.” Brené Brown Because Aerostich gear isn’t hanging in cycle shops, and is made in America, and is available only factory direct, media exposure is important. Almost any kind of exposure in social or traditional media is good, which gives professional journalists and ‘influencers’ the space to take their Aerostich gear stories in just about any direction.Personally, I’ve always appreciated stories about Aerostich gear ownership which include the idea that riding gear can be a little more about the function, durability, and practicality -- than the latest ‘tech’ style and fashion stuff. This includes the idea that useful refinements and improvements are incremental and are not driven by a marketing need to announce “new and improved” redesigns every year or two. The idea that if you hope and plan to ride for the rest of your life, then having durable, functional and comfortable gear which is less influenced by fashion (because it was never ‘in fashion’) is a good thing. And the idea that an investment in quality gear one can wear for many years and still get a zipper fixed, or a little crash damage taken care of, is a smarter choice than chasing whatever is the latest-greatest.I also look backward at Aerostich gear as a unique and pioneering original. The still-popular Aerostich Roadcrafter one piece suit was first to combine all the important ingredients for what has become the standard recipe for armored textile riders gear. In the beginning this recipe was so unusual most motorcyclists were reluctant to try it because it didn’t look ‘correct’ in the accepted moto-fashion sense. Sometimes even the more experienced and expert a rider was, the more reluctant they were to accept this entirely new and different way to dress for riding. See this Steven L. Thompson story from a 1986 issue of Cycle World magazine.Today the Aerostich R-3 one piece coverall and the Aerostich Darien and Darien Light suits embody everything we know about making superior quality better wearing equipment and gear to help people ride their motorcycles more easily and comfortably, to a wider range of destinations, and through the widest range of weather conditions and situations.Many riders actually don’t want to ride more. Rather, their priority is to be able to ride better, farther, and safer and faster whenever they do decide to ride somewhere. They also like to look like they know what they are doing, regardless of if they do or not. Online forums are full of posts by enthusiastic and experienced riders strongly testifying how and why their latest ‘it’ jacket is well worth its (high or low) cost. I’m sure they all are. But when I look a little deeper, at least few of these online emperors-of-riding-expertise can seem slightly undressed, at least when measured against my well-known arbitrary Mr. Subjective goal of riding more conveniently, safely and often.If you are reading this far, you already know that in most of the rich and advanced parts of the world motorcycles are toys and riding is consumed primarily for sport or recreation. I too enjoy riding because it simply feels cool and is such great fun, even when it’s raining and/or cold. Riding helps me feel I’m somehow a bit superior to the nearly infinite masses of people which seem to require at least four wheels to get themselves from A to B. It’s so much fun I just want to do it as much as possible, thus the Aerositch coverall.And in addition…Consider that some types of useful gear may be a bit like those original and now classic denim work pants, the ‘Levi’s 501 button fly’ jeans. According to some skillful marketers these jeans can be even further improved with added decorative pocket stitching, or by adding pre-engineered torn, weathered, and distressed areas. All the better for fashion-marketing reasons, except those versions do not make functionally better all-around general wear and work pants. Yes, they may be excellent for signaling to others (and to oneself, when seeing one’s reflection in a mirror) how cool one is, and how directly connected they are with the latest fashion trend. But if one simply wants a good pair of jeans for a wide variety of wearing situations, those basic 501’s (and all the Wrangler, Lee and other very close copies) remain tough to beat.Specialized armored textile riders gear marketing is a lot like that, so don’t go to an online rider’s forum and call out someone who just spent $1,600 on the latest-greatest riding jacket. Those ‘latest-greatest’ versions really are good jackets, and their wearers will be offended the same way a teenager would be if a parent criticized her carefully considered (and costly) pre-ripped jeans. That fashion-aware kid will pout and be offended because how can anyone be so clueless to not understand the importance of looking cool? Peer approval is one of our most strongly hardwired needs.Despite all that, simply choosing to ride any motorcycle is one way to partly step away from our species-wide social-approval instinct. It’s a legal way to throw some of the societal norms about personal mobility under the bus (sorry…) and simply do what feels most right.So (in conclusion) I’ll always enjoy any media exposure for Aerostich gear which celebrates or at least recognizes the un-coolness-coolness aspects of riding a motorcycle, and the related un-coolness-coolness component of most Aerostich gear, because it is motorcycle and scooter riding itself which is so cool, and anything which helps us make it easier, more comfortable, and safer is cool. So, enjoy the ride, and from time to time take a few chances. PS – Here’s my first-ever vlog. The oldest vlogger and most boring vlog you’ll probably watch this week. About thirty minutes exploring and explaining an uncool old bike I ride.

If you want to ride a motorcycle often it’s always part of a system. Simply owning a motorcycle is great, but by itself that bike isn’t quite enough if you wish to ride a lot. Just like most individual recreational activities, riding (and racing) require a support system of parts, tools and equipment. And the more frequently and longer you want to be riding, the more extensive a support system you’ll need. If you’re mostly a fair-weather and/or occasional rider, you may only need a place to hang a riding jacket and possibly a shelf for a pair of gloves, or gloves + a helmet. But if you want to ride nearly every day in all kinds of weather, and occasionally travel long distances by motorcycle, you’ll need more. Much more. Long-time high-mile riders usually have a closet full of old gear and a garage full of parts, tools, lubricants and assorted bike-related junk/crap/stuff. Maybe even an extra (or alternate) motorcycle or two. One for daily riding around town, and another for traveling. Or one for when the other one is broken and/or awaiting service, or perhaps another one as a “project bike”. It can be quite a commitment to ride a lot, year after year. For a few riders all of this extra stuff is worth it simply because it means they get to ride all the time. And this is important: every time they ride -- rain or shine, day or night, long or short, hot or cold -- it’s always fun. No matter what. Riding provides one with a nice subtle (but measurable) dose of neural and physical medicine. You feel a little better after riding somewhere, even if it’s just going to the grocery store or wherever you may work. Bonus: If you choose to ride this much, you are also doing the planet and everyone sharing the roads a little favor, too. One Less Car and all that. Road-builders, carmakers and oil companies won’t appreciate that, but they’ll probably manage to get along ok without quite as much of your business.  Side note: I’m fortunate to live in a single-family home, with a non-riding but extremely riding-understanding wife. Our house isn’t unusually large (+-1800 sq ft) but being in this circumstance makes having a system a bit easier. In an apartment or condo there’s a similar system, but it is necessarily a bit smaller since most apartments and condos are smaller. In these places your riding gear usually goes into the entry closet and your helmet and gloves go on the shelf just above. Having a system does not require living in a freestanding home. There’s this, too. I’ve lived in two residences over the past fifty years and my system hasn’t changed much. It involves a garage large enough for a single car, a smallish adjacent space for a few shelves and a clothes-hanging bar positioned high enough so even a one-piece coverall riding suit can hang without touching the floor. In some ways this personal bat-cave setup is as important as the motorcycle itself, just because it makes near-daily riding so much easier and quicker: Get up, out of bed, brush teeth, get dressed, make some tea, read email and/or watch some news while drinking that tea…and it’s time to go.   For me this means walking down a flight of stairs into a basement containing a furnace, water heater, laundry sink, a washer and dryer, too many boxes of stored items, and most importantly, a garage space with an electric door. (Side note: For many years this garage door was not electric. I’d open it, roll the bike out, put the bike back on its side-stand, then go close the garage door. Now that’s all done with a button dangling from a mini carabiner clipped to the shoulder strap of my small backpack.) Mr. Subjective's suit hanging set up: Previous house -- current house. On go the boots, then the riding suit, then the helmet, then the gloves and then (finally…) “I’m outta here!” Off and riding! Best part of any day, rain or shine. The clothes-hanging bar where my jackets, pants and riding suits hung at my first home was a water pipe which ran along the ceiling at a spot near the furnace, but still far enough away so there was no danger. Where I live now, I had to make a hanging bar with supplies from the local home/hardware store, but the job was simple. It’s a piece of wood screwed to one of the floor joists above, supporting one end of a closet hanger rod. The other end is held by a hanging-rod-saddle screwed to the adjacent wall. This whole thing took less than an hour to make and is only two feet long, but there is plenty of room for my gear. And it makes all the difference in how easy it is to go riding. The other bat-cave installation is a narrow set of freestanding shelves reserved for riding gloves, a couple of helmets and assorted small items like ear plugs, bike keys, face shield cleaner and other incidentals. At my first home this stuff was located in a corner of the garage right next to the bike. Where I now live it’s located about three feet from the clothing hanger setup with the riding gear. Both worked just as well. (The little shelving thing was fully assembled and came from an unpainted furniture store and cost less than $100.) That’s all there is to it. Same idea as Batman had for his bat cave, except my system doesn’t involve fighting evildoers. It’s simply about getting around on two wheels more often and easily. Nothin’ fancy.  Motorcycling is a system. What's yours?

This post/essay is included in Section 5 of the book "The Riders" (pictured below) available for purchase here. The smaller and more obscure a road is, the more interesting it usually will be on a motorcycle. This size/interestingness inverse proportionality is well known to experienced riders. Motorcyclists naturally want to find out what is just over there, on the other side of the horizon, and around the next few bends in the road. We do this again and again, often via ever smaller and less crowded roads. If enough reasons exist to get from wherever we are to somewhere over there, a small pathway will first develop, which, over the course of time as more people want to go there, will become a larger road. The more travelers, the wider and straighter a road will become. At one extreme are superhighways with as many as eight or more lanes in each direction, and at the other end of this spectrum are endless squiggly, seldom-used, single-and-double track trails. The genius of every motorcycle ever made is its unique ability to help us traverse and enjoy this entire range. No other motorized vehicle is able do this. Road networks develop in ways similar to the branch and root systems of trees and the evolved meandering pathways of river and circulatory systems. Mathematicians sometimes describe this natural branching using algorithmic formulas for fractals, and riders experience it more directly whenever they choose to head off down roads that become successively smaller and less commonly used. Thus, roads that don’t seem to go anywhere important often make for very desirable journeys on a motorcycle. I’m located in the north central part of the United States, and from here to the West Coast it’s about 1,800 miles (2,900 km) by road or about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) by air on the shortest-distance great circle. Covering this distance are three more-or-less parallel and reasonably comparable routes: Interstate 94, US Highway 2, and Highway 200. From top to bottom on a map, US 2 runs near the US/Canada border, Highway 200 does the same roughly 50 miles (80 km) farther south, and I-94 crosses similar country about another 100 miles (160 km) lower. “I-Ninety-Four” is the newest. It connects largish prairie cities like Minneapolis, Fargo, and Billings with a smooth kind of efficiency appreciated by engineers, accountants, long-haul truckers, and drivers with places to go and things to do. This road is about speed, safety, and making good time. At the other extreme is the much older “Two Hundred” that connects countless little farm and ranch towns and is occasionally intersected by even smaller crossroads and driveways, each unique. Lastly, “US Highway Two” evenly splits this difference in traffic, average speeds, roadway age, safety, and architecture. The Interstate (aka “Freeway”) is about as straight, flat, and smooth as is humanly possible to achieve. It comes complete with a wide, nicely mowed, grassy median separating the opposing lanes, of which there’s always a minimum of four, so it’s usually simple to safely pass other vehicles at any time. Its paved shoulders are extra-wide, and 50 feet (15 m) beyond them is a sturdy wire fence to help keep local wildlife out of your way. There are no stop signs; all crossroads involve bridges, underpasses, or on-and-off ramps. You simply lock down your bike’s throttle at the chosen speed and this endless slab of near-perfect pavement supports you and your bike until the machine needs gasoline, or you get hungry and thirsty, or you need to pee. The magnificent Great Plains pass by in the distance and produce an effect that is simultaneously awesome and soporific. Highway Two Hundred is at the other extreme. With a few exceptions, there’s little traffic and you’ll find only two opposing and fairly narrow lanes the entire way. The endless prairie, foothills, and mountains begin a couple of feet from the edge of a slim gravel shoulder and extend in every direction to the far-off horizon. There’s no median and no wildlife fences. You are right in the environment. Along one side of this ribbon, an infinite row of evenly spaced telephone poles has been planted. Every so often you’ll notice a hunting bird perched atop one of them. Each of 200’s small towns, motels, roadhouses, and gasoline stations is slightly different, and between them every few miles are occasional lonely-looking ranch mailboxes. You’ll also occasionally see someone out walking, riding horseback, or bicycling. Those you may stop to talk with will be polite and sometimes a little quirky. The quality of 200’s pavement is generally very good, but during the spring thaw, a few low places may be a bit flooded. You’ll see mountains, forests, rising foothills, small streams, rolling prairies, near-endless billiard-table flat areas, and great expanses of naturally variegated terrain—the Great Plains up close. Occasionally there will be a required 90-degree turn at an intersection in the middle of nowhere, so if you want to remain on this highway, you need to pay attention to signposts. Even out there with almost nothing else around you, it’s still possible to miss an important turn. Sometimes more than an hour will pass without seeing even one other vehicle, and it’s easy to run out of gas if you don’t stop to fill up where you need to. Though this road (like all roads) can be cannonballed, taking 200 usually means riding about 600 miles (966 km) each day, which makes either reaching or returning from the West Coast an easy three-day project. Both directions are a ride you’ll remember. It doesn’t take a genius to correctly guess which roads deliver the best riding experiences. When you have the time, it’s nearly always the road less taken. Enjoy the ride.

This is a great question. We don’t actually know much about this, and very little useful information is available online. What we’ve found there is not precise. The Gore-Tex® membrane on the back side of the Cordura fabric does not seem to have a wear-limit in normal use. It’s good as long as it’s cared for and the outer Cordura fabric is good. All fabric durability varies by fabric type, weight, weathering and wear. The Cordura we use is fairly heavy weight, which helps it last longer and resist wear and UV exposure better. Our direct material and workmanship warranty is for two years, which I felt would cover the most severe wear scenarios. I.E. - Someone who rides over 150,000/miles a year for two years, on a bike without a windshield or fairing. Only a very few Aerostich customers ride that much. Based on what we see every day in our repair department, wear varies greatly, and this is very different than age. Some garments still look almost new after ten or even twenty years, but on average most begin look fairly used-up after about 12-15 years of ‘typical wear’. For those ’typical wear’ scenarios we see come through our repair department, we know the Cordura 500 provides effective crash abrasion-resistance for approximately 12-15 years. We know this from examining many crashed garments which have been sent to us for repairs. Obviously the newer the garment the better, crash-wise, but for ’typical-wear’ garments the protective performance difference between 'brand new' and '10 years old' seems pretty negligible. If you visit our facility, you can see this yourself by looking at a display of about fifteen crash-damaged suits hanging on the wall. These days we occasionally receive very old garments which show much more age and wear than ’typical wear’. Our repair expert (a co-worker with years of experience) evaluates all of them. If the fabric feels too worn-out based on overall experience, our expert will tag the garment as ‘unsuitable for protection’ before sending it back to the customer. We may still repair a broken zipper (or whatever) even if it no longer meets our protective-function requirements. I’ve forgotten precisely what the ‘unsuitable for protection' tag reads, but it’s something like (paraphrasing): “This garment no longer meets our minimum requirements for rain and crash protection.” In summary, we don’t know the exact life of the fabric without first inserting all of the above qualifiers. Separately, there also is a rider-psychology aspect to this: ‘Fonzie’ (of TV’s ‘Happy Days’), famously imbued his old worn leather jacket with a kind of special quality protecting him from harm in some kind of magical way. Many riders do this to some extent. It’s natural. Riding produces happy-chemicals in one’s brain, and some of this happiness-feeling is transferred to a rider’s favorite gear and also to their bike. All motion activities produce this happiness effect, which is why skis, bicycles, surfboards and the like are usually also extra-special to their users. Similarly, most very small children (including me when I was very young, and Linus Van Pelt from the ‘Peanuts’ cartoon strip) imbue a favorite blanket or something with a similar kind of special magical value in exactly this way. So, when we see a twenty-year-old well-worn suit, which is all faded and floppy and looks like it’s ready to fall apart, it probably is. After its zipper (or whatever) is fixed it is tagged as no-longer meeting our functional requirements and shipped. When the customer receives it back, it’s out of our control. -- Mr. Subjective 4-2021