Harleys and Kilts: Leather, Wool or Cotton?

[azwildcat96]

I restrict my mixing of kilts and Harleys to my sgian dubh. The blade is Damascus steel forged from a used Harley chain.

Oooo! I'd love to see a picture of this!

As far as kilts and bikes, I'd say it's as dangerous as drinking and riding! Just asking to be an organ donor!

[Santa Kona]

As a life long motorcycle rider and member of the Hamsters USA I have seen just about everything worn on a bike. However just because you can wear a kilt doesn't mean you should. Have you ever seen someone with shorts on after the have had a crash? Can you say road rash and skin grafts? I say play it safe roll it and change when you get there.

[Tobus]

I ride an Ultra Classic and my advice will be.... Do not wear a kilt while riding... period. If you want to wear a kilt somewhere, bring one with you, and change into it when you get there. Safety should be your number one concern, and being properly dress, while riding is just plain smart. Most of the people I ride with prefer leathers, boots, it's smart, and less damaging when the unexpected occurs.

You can do as you like, this is my opinion on the matter.

I will add another *** to this comment. I ride a Shovelhead Sportster and as much as I love to wear a kilt, I would not wear one on my motorcycle.

First, oil, grit, and grime are factors. Mine's a chain drive, not one of them new-fangled belt drives. So even with good sperm oil on the chain and a chain guard, I still get some oil thrown off. Not to mention road grime. Bugs, random grime thrown up by other cars, etc. It would ruin any decent kilt. Not only will it get on your kilt, but now with bare legs you'll have it all over you! Imagine catching a jumbo grasshopper on your bare thigh at 70 miles an hour.

Second, heat. Your bike may have heat shields on the pipes (mine doesn't). But there's a lot of heat coming off of there, which is normally not a problem with jeans. But with the folds of a kilt, they will undoubtedly at some point hang down onto the pipes, jugs, or other hot parts.

Third, safety. I'm a stickler for good boots, jeans (sometimes with chaps), and a leather vest at a minimum. No way I'd wanna go down wearing a kilt. I've dumped a couple of times and have the road rash scars to prove it... and that was with the protection of denim and leather. Bare skin - I shudder at the thought!

Fourth, modesty. No matter how well you tuck the kilt between your legs, you'll get into a situation sooner or later where it will become untucked. You may not care, but everyone else around you will. That's just not cool.

There are a lot of other reasons I'd choose not to as well, but these are the big ones. You can do it if you like, of course. But I think it's asking for a whole lot of trouble. Motorcycling has enough issues on its own without introducing the kilt factor to it.

I'd just bring the kilt with me and change into it. Think how good it will feel after a long ride to get out of the pants and into the kilt! It can be the reward at the end.

[james a. husky]

It's a four mile ride to work, so today I'm wearing a four yard, knife pleated, straight cut government sett, should be all right for 1779. That along with a shirt and tie and doc martins makes it perfect for work here at the library.

Patrons seem to like it although my nemisis is tryiing to stir up trouble with management. I've dropped the hint of sexual harrassment and suggested that her problem was not so much me wearing a kilt, but that I looked better in a dress than she did!

Anyhow...

Happy Tartan Day,

Jim aka kiltiemon... and YES! I'm REAL careful on the bike when wearing a kilt. Only do it for very short distances and special events.

[BoldHighlander]

As a life long motorcycle rider and member of the Hamsters USA I have seen just about everything worn on a bike. However just because you can wear a kilt doesn't mean you should. Have you ever seen someone with shorts on after the have had a crash? Can you say road rash and skin grafts? I say play it safe roll it and change when you get there.

Lot's of sage advice on here....

You know, when I rode with a certain group of patchholders, (whom I won't name), we had a saying: 'There are two kinds of bikers, those who've crashed, & those who are gonna' crash....which are you?'

I laid my Sportie down a number of years ago & slid about 30 feet with it on top of me....thankfully I wasn't wearing a kilt (or shorts). I had some road rash (friction burns) through my jeans but shudder to think what I would've looked like otherwise.

[dutchy kilted]

I wore a kilt on a motorcycle for few miles. It was not as much fun as you would think. However, I wore a UK Workman, which has snaps to keep the front and back together so you don't cause too many accidents.

[Stiavo89]

I restrict my mixing of kilts and Harleys to my sgian dubh. The blade is Damascus steel forged from a used Harley chain.

Oooo! I'd love to see a picture of this!

What he said!

~Steve

[thescot]

Get saddle bags and carry your kilt there. Then when you get where you're going, change. It's not a big deal, but you'll be better served in blue jeans on a bike.

Good luck.

[Old Hippie]

I suppose you could get (...) tartan jodhpurs but....

Yeee-HAAA! I want some of those, in a nice whipcord. Riding an old motorcycle with spinning greasy parts on it, you can understand why the old guys wore jodhpurs and tall boots.

Anent the question, don't do it. Having seen (on YouTube) what happens when a nude man hits the ground at speed while stunting on a bike, I've become a firm believer in "ATGATT" -- all the gear, all the time.

And yeah, I can say with the voice of experience, "Crashing sucks. And not very well, either."

Keep it in the wind, but covered.

:ootd:

[CDNSushi]

Hoo boy. Here we go again.

My personal opinion on kilts and motorcycles is that if ANY topic should be against the rules on XMTS, it should be this one. Every time it comes up, nothing good ever comes of it and it ends up in hard feelings and irate people because of how strongly they feel about this issue.

I won't get into where I stand on this, as I've made it very clear in previous threads, but let me just say (to any newer XMarkers) that if you have the chutzpah to come out and admit to being a kilted motorcycle rider, you are guaranteed to have at least 10 mothers jump on your back to tell you what a horrible idea it is.

Oh. Two other points. One, last year there was an excellent how-to post here on the forum where a member explained some really useful tactics -- if you do a forum search, you may be able to find it. PM me if you can't and I'll give it a try.

Two, I belong to both groups of riders: those who have crashed AND those who will. But I am enough of a libertarian to allow people to make their own choices in life.