-K-----ELMEFEATURE - COLD WEATHER GEAR----KL---I--ET

 

 

 

 

Is it possible people simply stop caring about what they wear to keep warm when the mercury starts heading for the ground? Last year when things got nasty I saw a variety of creative uses for household items that don’t belong on you when riding. I saw all sorts of things simulating jackets, from plastic garbage bags with holes punched through them to let head and arms hang out, to torn up sweatshirts. These poor excuses for cold weather gear simply cannot be effective at combating them elements. Either these people are so excited to be riding (we can relate to that) that they could give a sh**t how cold they are, they have no idea about the existence of element repellent fabrics or they just don’t know what it is like to ride in the comfort of gear designed to deal with cold climates.

When the skin is wet, the body’s temperature control system will get out of phase, which can lead to unpleasant and potentially dangerous chilling. Remember - physical comfort is a vital part of safe riding. Over the last several years textile manufacturers have designed materials that are so good at resisting water and wind while maintaining the ability to allow moisture to escape that you no longer have to feel like you are swimming in your own sweat to keep warm and dry. The invention of Gore-Tex in 1976 revolutionized outerwear, first used to manufacture tents for camping it is now used in such diverse applications as patch material for heart surgery.

Gore-Tex based fabric material is composed of a thin, porous fluoropolymer membrane with a urethane coating that is bonded to a fabric, usually nylon or polyester. The membrane has about 9 billion pores per square inch, each of which is

 

 

 


approximately 20,000 times smaller than a water droplet, making it impenetrable to liquid water while still allowing the smaller sized water vapor to pass through. The result is a material that is breathable, waterproof, and also windproof. The outer fabric is treated with water repellent and seams are sealed to prevent water leakage through pinholes caused during the sewing of the fabric. Windstopper is another fabric laminate, similar to Gore-Tex, except that it is only windproof and breathable, not waterproof. One of the most common applications is a lamination with Polar fleece, since the lack of wind resistance is one of the principal drawbacks of that fabric.

Texland and Nexko Co. manufacture Reissa, a breathable water-proofing textile which is another marvel of technology. It protects the body from outside humidity, is extremely windproof, yet allows sweat to evaporate away from the inside of a garment. The critical membrane is a thinner-than-thin foil, overlaid on a foundation fabric (the Z-liner), which functions as a water-proof inner jacket between the outer shell and the inner insulated lining.

For those of you out there who have cold climate gear, sit back and take a look at the latest outer-wear from some of the leaders of the pack. Hopefully we can show you some new gear you haven’t seen yet. And for those of you out there wearing the sweatshirts and garbage bags look closely at the pages of this story to find out what is available to you. So when the outside temperatures drop, your body temp and fun level won’t follow.