Mesh Pants (Sometime Mesh isn't Cool)

[texcollect]

I have had my FZ6 for about 18months (8,000 miles) and one of the first pieces of safety gear I bought (after jacket, helmet and gloves) was a pair of Draggin kevlar lined jeans. I wore these up until Christmas when my delightful wife bought me a pair of Olympia Motorsport Air Glide 3 mesh pants. I have worn them with the liner in the cold and without liner in the warmer weather.

Today my buddy and I rode to Galveston from Houston. The intake temp on my bike read 113 for most of the way so I'd classify it as HOT. On the way there and on the way we were subjected to a pretty strong side wind which is when I made my discovery. When mesh lets air through it lets ALL the air through. Even the air that has been heated to just short of plasma level by the headers !! I had 1 cool leg (upwind) and 1 cooked leg (downwind). Luckily since we went there and back both legs got cooked equally well.

So I guess I'll either switch back to my jeans with knee pads of wear some long socks to insulate my lower legs !!

Also the seat of my jeans is kevlar lined and provides some insulation from the heat generated by the under seat exhaust. insulation that is not there with the airglides.

Has anyone tried insulating the underside of the seat using any of that adhesive insulation on the underside of the seat?

 

[Norbert]

dayum! i had no idea it got that hot in texas.
i posted this a while back.
according to this chart, you were heating yourself up by riding faster.

are you really feeling heat from the exhaust? i thought the heat just comes from the radiator.

 

[Motogiro]

Talk about heat. It can be dangerous as I found out last year. I almost bought it from heat exhaustion while playing for hours on Palomar Mountain's South Grade. I was fully leather clad and was having so much fun I didn't stop for water and food. When I was running low on fuel I decided to get off the mountain and get fuel. I had noticed a funny headache and a hungry like feeling in my stomach as time went on but thought maybe it was the headache was the angle of my neck when running up the mountain. The stomach..Well my middle name is "Hungry" so I thought nothing of it. As I got to the bottom of the mountain and onto the main road toward the reservation gas station. I could feel a sick feeling in my gut. I knew something was way off and probably had to do with me not hydrating enough. I sped up to get to the station because I started feeling faint. I pulled into the lot and as I got off my bike and headed into the store I had tunnel vision because everything was shutting down. I dropped to the floor and told the clerk to get me water, that I was in trouble. I opened my gear and got out of my jacket on the floor and started drinking a lot of cold water.
Luckily I came back to life and was okay. Heat can be very dangerous as some of us live and play in climates that can be treacherous. When you have that certain set of combinations it can be deadly really fast. I know a bike mechanic that told me when he was 25 yrs old he was riding in hot weather and just woke up in the hospital not knowing what happened. His friends told him they saw him slump and go out like a light on his bike at 50 MPH. He was lucky but he never knew what hit him!

I bought a hydration pack for when I'm out playing in the heat and I bought Kevlar mesh pants that make all the difference in the world as far as cooling off.
At 113 F there's not much you can do. I feel your pain and understand your . dilemma.

 

[ssmotorcycle]

The hydration pack is a riders best friend. I have had good luck with the mesh pants....I know when I have ridden in temps well over 95, it's f'ing HOT and not much helps you to feel cool. With that said, I don't notice any heat off of my exhaust. Granted I do have after market "Two Brothers" carbon fibers exhaust on her. I have to ask; do you have full fairing on it?...that is the only time I notice A LOT of heat on my legs.

 

[Norbert]

another thing that helps is synthetic moisture wicking underwear.
i'm talking about underarmour or champion (from target).
it will change your life folks!
no more cotton undies for me!

 

[The Dude]

another thing that helps is synthetic moisture wicking underwear.
i'm talking about underarmour or champion (from target).
it will change your life folks!
no more cotton undies for me!

I'll second that.