Getting started riding a motorcycle

[Balog]

A word of warning on chaps, they will not protect you in a crash. There is no leather on one area that commonly slides across the pavement: Your butt.

I guess I can see that, but if they're useless why are they sold as protective gear?

[mgdavis]

Same reason people buy Skid Lids: They look cool. 

Chaps go way back, they were originally worn by guys on horses. Now, they fit the "image" that many riders strive for. They're a step better than jeans but, like Bedlamite said, there's no protection for what you sit on.

The Fox Creek leathers look nice, but I encourage you to look at textile gear. Living in the NW, leather is going to be unpractical for much of the year. Wet leather is not the most comfortable thing out there.

I ride with a Firstgear Kilimanjaro jacket and Cortech overpants. That combination keeps me comfortable until temperatures drop into the mid-forties, at which point I add my Gerbing liner and gloves. With the heated gear on I'm good down to freezing, rain or shine.

[Sergeant Bob]

Whenever I see someone in chaps, I keep expecting to see them followed by someone with a whip.

[coppertales]

You guys ride to a different drummer than I.......chris3

[Monkeyleg]

I almost bought a set of chaps once, but not necessarily for riding. My wife thought I'd look sexy in them. 

[gunsmith]

I wouldn't wear chaps but then again I ride street bikes.
But I can see their use, they protect the front of the legs
against the elements while riding but are not oppressively
hot when you get off the bike.

Before I had a mesh jacket, I wore a leather jacket in the summer
in south Florida while riding, warm when riding HOT
when not.

[detritus]

I'll tag along to the end of this (least for now) b/c I am another member looking into cycles (as well as large scooters). 

My personal situation is that both my wife and i are in a position where two-wheel transport is increasingly appealing, and we've both decided that we want to persue it, her in the form of a highway rated scooter (ie suzuki bergman or similar) and me in either such a scooter or a cruiser/standard of less than 800cc (the Honda Shadow Aero being a good example of what felt comfortable when i sat down on it, and it's ~750cc engine size being the top of what i'm even willing to look at)

My concerns are that i have been having trouble finding decent info on modern scooters like we're interested in and i've gotten some conflicting info Re: the MSF course as offered in texas.  anyone got a good link to forum that has a "comprehensive reader/member-ship"??  the one i used to read through has gone teh way of being dominated by sportbikes and NSFW girly pics

add to the above that i am for want of better desciptives a "big guy" 6' tall 54" waist and a big head, and i'm not even sure where to start looking for protective gear.  as well as where to have SWMBO look for such gear for herself.

any help is greatly appreciated.

[Hawkmoon]

Still, this thread is enjoyable reading.  There seem to be many motorcycle owners here, and not one of you is brain dead.

That is perhaps arguable ...

I second the idea of buying a small-ish, used bike for the first season. My first bike, many years ago, was a Honda CB350 twin. It was what was referred to above as a "standard" style -- the same bike with a single, high pipe and knobby tires was (IIRC) the CL350. My friends at the time were riding 650s and 750s (back when 650 and 750 wasn't sneered at as a "small" bike). I couldn't match them for acceleration, and the chassis was a tad on the small side for my 6'-3" (then) height, but it was reliable and affordable.

And repairable. I dropped it when I hit an oil slick on a curve at 50 MPH about two months after I bought it. It cost almost exactly as much to repair it as it had cost to buy it.

[mike]

Wuss!

You don't need no helmet!

Die like a man!!!

[Hawkmoon]

You don't have to take out a mortgage on your house to buy a riding jacket:

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/search/search.asp?r=Page%3A+%2FDefault.asp+KW+Box&s=SEARCH&a=search&k=jacket+leather