Recently I found myself in a situation where I wanted to go on a 10 day trip, riding through the stunning mountains of Orizaba and Cordoba, the beautiful crocodile biosphere of Laguna Catemaco, the dense jungle of Chiapas and the Caribbean beaches and lagunas of Bacalar and Tulum. Does that sound attractive? Mexico offers it all 😊
As temperatures are easily going over 95F (35C) for extended periods of time, and as these times match my riding hours I knew I had to invest in some proper summer motorcycle gear. I found this extended article on MCGearhub very useful to help me choose.
According to MCGearhub the one thing all good summer motorcycle gear has in common is optimal protection and fitment that’s compatible with supreme airflow. The main lesson I learned from the article was that the pants have to be of mesh and must include CE-certified knee armor as well as hip armor or at least pockets for optional hip armor.
So with that in mind I searched for the best motorcycle pants as my leather ones definitely wouldn’t do on this trip. I am torn between the Dainese and Alpinestars mesh pants but haven’t made up my mind. In the end, unfortunately I had less time than I thought and I decided not to make the ride but take a plane instead. Please don’t bash me too hard in the comments 😉
Well, that was a complete waste of time. Why even bother writing this if you don’t even talk about summer riding pants?
I have a couple pairs of mesh pants for riding here in Florida…and further north. One pair is Sedici and the other is Reax. I like them both, but lean towards the Sedici, because they are a light gray. Both have knee and hip armor. Black sucks in the sun here in the summer. I have found that I can comfortably wear these mesh pants down to the high 40s with only shorts on under them. Both pants come with a rain liner. The only drawback I have noted that bugs me is that the Sedici pants have very small front pocket openings. I can barely get my hands in there…and I am 5’10” 185lbs…not a big man, and wear a size L to XL glove (depending on maker). I cannot get my hands in the pockets with a glove on. I have also found that my Klim Carlsbad Gore-Tex pants are not too hot, thought the are black.
Now that was a useful bit of information.
Have a pair of Alpinestars Ramjet Air pants. As with prior products from Alpinestars I’ve purchased, the quality of construction and function are very good, but there is only mesh on the top of the thighs and the rest of the pants are not mesh so they’re suitable for fairly warm weather but probably not the hottest as in Southern U.S in July or South America, in my view