There’s nothing quite like the immediacy of motorcycling, our connection with the bike and nearly complete immersion into the elements that creates such joy and wonder…like feeling the temperature and humidity change as you round a corner or dive into a valley.
That is, of course, as long as you’re dressed for it and are not suddenly freezing or sweating your butt off.
Electric liners, layering and mesh apparel are effective, easily adjusted lines of defense. The Rider staff also relies upon “base layers” for consistent comfort in both cold and hot weather. Textile material advancements have brought us synthetic fabrics that—when worn next to the skin—keep the body comfortable over a much wider temperature range than natural fibers, don’t require washing as often and dry quickly when they do. Call it underwear for road warriors.
I recently discovered an Italian activewear maker called Sixs that produces highly functional underwear and base layers for all kinds of sports and weather, and opted to try its Thermo Carbon Black Underwear for cooler temperatures last winter.
Both the long-sleeve, round-neck jersey and leggings are made of 72-percent polypropylene, 21-percent polyamide, 4-percent elastomer and 3-percent carbon fiber (for strength and static prevention), and for good comfort the jersey is seamless and the leggings have no internal seams.
This material combination wicks sweat to the outside, so that it evaporates while no longer in contact with your skin, promoting natural thermoregulation and preventing excessive cool-down in the wind and/or low temperatures. And Sixs’ weaving technique insulates really well for such a thin garment—when I wear the jersey under a regular shirt and riding jacket and the leggings under riding pants, it can get pretty cold before I need to add another layer. When it warms up you don’t necessarily need to remove the underwear, either, because the skin-tight fit and light weight of the synthetic material won’t heat you up as much as other layers.
Sixs apparel is distributed by MTA Distributing, which offers a huge variety of its warm and cold weather jerseys, leggings, socks, dickies, glove liners, etc. in men’s, women’s and youth sizes. Visit the website at mtadist.com and open the Helmets, Apparel & Soft Goods catalog to the Sixs section, then use the Dealer Locator to find your nearest dealer.
A sizing guide is available on Sixs’ website; remember that it’s supposed to fit snugly. I recommend trying the Sixs 600-0235 Thermo Carbon Long-Sleeve Jersey and 600-0255 Leggings ($69.99 each) for cold weather. This summer I plan to try the Superlight Carbon Underwear for hot weather.
For more information, see your dealer or visit mtadist.com.
I wish these reviews actually reviewed the product, does it work well or not, rather than just describing the product. How about a thumbs up or down.
you’re saying you want the review to be a review? OMG!