Warmer jacket: Textile or Leather?

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mellofelow

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It's time to replace my winter riding jacket. I have a tour textile jacket with liner and it's quite warm except when it's 50-ish, I feel my body temperature drop after 15 minutes or so on freeway speeds (70-80mph).

So, for this types of conditions, which jacket type would be warmer? Textile or heavy weight leather? Any experience and/or recommendation is much appreciated.
 
In my mind/experience, there is no doubt; TEXTILE!!

I use an IXS jacket which has an inner removable thermo lining for those sum 10C days.
I have no problems with getting cold, - even after 4 - 5 hours non stop driving (only stops for fuel) in -4C.
 
If money is not an issue than I would go with a nice high quality full grain leather jacket with liners included. Tourmaster has a nice affordable leather jacket called the Magnum that is reasonably priced compared to other jackets. If you are looking for value then a textile jacket with multiple liners would probably be best. I have a tourmaster Intake mesh jacket with two liners and I use it all year.
 
xj750_Pete said:
If money is not an issue than I would go with a nice high quality full grain leather jacket with liners included. Tourmaster has a nice affordable leather jacket called the Magnum that is reasonably priced compared to other jackets. If you are looking for value then a textile jacket with multiple liners would probably be best. I have a tourmaster Intake mesh jacket with two liners and I use it all year.
Click to expand...

Textile is not always cheaper than leather .....,- i.e. my IXS jacket/pants set was 50% more than a medium priced Leather set .....

So the cost can't just be set on textile v. Leather.
Brands, inbuilt protection, durability, fit and so on always costs extra.
 
Textile is warmer than leather. In my experience leather gets cold and stays cold, while textile doesn't. Plus a good textile jacket will be at least water resistant if not fully water-proof. I used to wear leather when I was a new rider and after a couple of years and talkiing to other riders, I switched to textile. I wear a lightweight fleece under my Olympia AST jacket with it's quilted liner. When temps get below 45-50, I wear a Gerbing electric liner instead of the Olympia quilted liner. I installed a portalet outlet on my FZ, wired direct to battery with fused harness. Now I can ride in sub freezing temps no problem.
 
The key is to get a jacket that has a wind proof liner (not quilited). A trick I learned eons ago is put your hand inside the item you are looking to buy and put your mouth aginst the material and exhale real slow- if you can feel the warmth of your breath don't buy it. If your warm air can penatrate the material so can cold air.
Fleece is a good base layer to help keep warm.
 
Thanks for your inputs guys! Ok, I'll stick with Textile. Probably makes sense because it'll be used only 3-4 months out of the year.

OK... I found this on Yamaha's website. The Base Camp Jacket, supposedly for snowmobile and mountain riding. LOL, should be very toasty.

Yamaha Motor Corporation, USA - Riding Gear Base Camp Jacket (Black)

smb-09jbc-bk-500.jpg
 
One trick we use in the UK to battle the cold and wet is to wear a WindStopper jacket under your normal jacket. You can get them from North Face and sweveral others and they work great to block all the wind and keep you toasty.
 
I have both leather and textile.

The problem with leather is that when it gets really wet, it stays really wet for days.

Steve
 
Tourmaster textile with liner. As long as I wear a tutleneck it is good down to 25F. Agree with above comments. Textile warmer than leather (even with liner). Also, windproof liner makes a huge difference. The Tourmaster comes with two liners, windprrof/waterproof and one thermal. Most textile jackets come with it. The Yamaha jacket looks nice, but would not offer much protection. Check this out:
Teknic Chicane Textile Motorcycle Jacket :: New Enough, LTD
Something like that is both inexpensive and has both liners. I bought my Tourmaster from Newenough on clearance for around $100 and love it.
 
I'm another in the camp of textile with liner and then swap the liner for a heated vest if you want to go colder. I also find that the 3/4 jackets feel warmer because they cut down on drafts. Here's one the seems to be a good deal at the moment (i have no experience with this one though)
Teknic Stinger Textile Motorcycle Jacket :: New Enough, LTD

I'm currently wearing a Tour Master Transition which is warm enough with the heated vest for sub-freezing temperatures, but it's not as warm as the Fieldsheer Subzero jacket I had previously. Can't find a direct link but it looked similar to this one.

Incidentally - IMO fleece liners are nice and warm but it's much easier to slide your arm into a jacket where your street clothes are sliding against a smoother material. So fleece on the outside, nylon lining or nylon on both sides seems to be where I end up.
 
textile is warmer, no doubt about it.

Seriously, you don't have to buy a $1000 jacket to keep warm in the winter. It's all about layers baby. I wear the same jacket as I wear in the summer, but I wear about 5 layers underneath it. T-shirt, special mountainbikers thermo-underwear wind-stopper stuff, a fleece sweater, a regular sweatshirt... These layers are all pretty thin, so no discomfort, and they keep me very warm and cozy. Also under my textile pants, I wear leg warmers that also bicyclists and mountainbikers wear. No need to spend a lot of money on keeping warm fellas. The only thing you might need to buy specifically for the winter, are gloves.
 
I am a new textile convert lol,
I use Spada trousers and Hein Gericke jacket. I now enjoy riding in the rain and don't have a problem in the cold weather. Doorag makes a great point about a wind stopper being worn underneath the actual jacket.

Nelly:thumbup:
 
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