Riding Heavy?

Log Item: ROAD ARMOR. I have ruled out wearing leathers while riding because it will make me look like an old, white hair'd Elvis. My resolve in that regard remains firm, however a friend of mine has been beating me up to buy kevlar (yes the stuff they use to make bullet-proof vests) riding gear. If you go down while wearing this stuff, your chances of walking away even at higher speed (60+ mph) is excellent. Adding to that, I know the guy who owns Motoport (not that far from the house) and I can go over and get measured for armor. Kevlar gear for riding is roughly a $1000 problem.

Obama's boys - waiting for the DREAM Act to kick in... 

Back Story: When I was working in Mexico four years ago, I had Motoport build an impact resistant and bullet proof shirt out of Kevlar, custom for me. It was black and I used to wear it at night when I was on the town down south of the border. One bozo actually hit me with a pipe across the shoulder and all I felt was a thud. (it didn't go so well for him) The Kevlar dissipates the impact and there was also some padding built into the gear. It really looked like a regular long sleeve shirt...pretty cool. I did some testing at Motoport and we fired ammo commonly used by cartel people in Mexico --- into the shirt (.38 Special and .38 Super) The shirt handled the impacts without penetration. Note, I didn't fire twice in the same spot, or do that sort of test. I just needed some level of confidence that it would provide a very basic level of protection in a situation where it absolutely didn't look like I wore ballistic armor (prompting a head shot). Nobody ever shot me while I was wearing the shirt but since I was the one who tested it, I had a lot of confidence in the garment.

Conclusion: I have some history with both the brand and their capacity to make a quality, custom garment, for my personal use. When I packed in the field work, I gave the shirt to one of the guys I worked with, who admired it. I'm having lunch with him tomorrow (taking the Devil to the meeting) to chat about 'stuff'. I'll ask him about any additional "saves". However, if the garment works for that, it should work for putting a scooter around town.