Women's Gear Success Story!

dainese_airframe_womens_mesh_jacket

Today I had a really great success story with a woman who needed almost an impossible jacket with longer arms, and a very lean body. 

She also had broader shoulders too which made it even more difficult. Another hurdle was the fact that she was rather tall and long waisted (~5'8") with a very lean build; probably a US 0-2 in the body but US 4-6 for shoulders and sleeve/torso length.

So what to do? After trying on many options, she left happily with the above Dainese Air Frame Women's Jacket, perfect for summer riding weather.  Dainese is a fairly slim brand, but not slim enough when you have to size up 2 times to fit your sleeves and shoulders.

What you don't see in the photo are also 2 key button adjustments; one at the bicep and one at the forearm to taper the sleeves even more. The last piece was adding a heavier back protector to take up quite a bit of volume in the body of the jacket.  I chose the Dainese Manis G1 Back Protector. The result was a better fitting jacket and a perfect sleeve length! This means that she can pretty much go with any Dainese ladies jacket in the same size and have a fairly good result with fitment.

Dainese tends to run narrow and long in the sleeves, but when you're caught outside of even this fitment, sometimes a little creativity needs to be employed for an ideal outcome.

So Excited! Women's Motorcycle Boots with Real Ankle Protection

 

As soon as the temperatures come back up and it's time to go riding again, I'll be upgrading my everyday riding boots to these beauties, the Dainese Women's Torque D1 Boots. With my tiny Size Euro 36 / US 6.5 feet, it's incredibly difficult to find motorcycle boots that offer real ankle protection. What this means is full lateral support, and that these boots will make it nearly impossible for your leg to bend sideways at the ankle. Hopefully it should minimize the injury to a sprain or fracture vs. the need for major surgery.

Although you can't 100% prevent every injury, you can drop it down to the best possible outcome. When I crashed last June, I got lucky when I lowsided because although my foot was pinned underneath the bike for a bit, I only walked away with a fat bruise. Every accident is different, and you have no idea what can happen to you in each circumstance. Some people wear absolutely nothing and get up without a scratch, who knows how? But then there are many riders who can't get up at all. I don't want to be one of them, and rather than gamble with the ability to walk comfortably without pain, I'd rather wear a better boot.

 

I do *adore* my Sidis, but I have to give in to the extra protection that these offer. They're too good to pass up.

I just hope they fit me as good as my Sidis do. I only got to try the 36 (barely, since my feet couldn't get into the opening!) and not the 37. I put on a 38 and definitely had enough room to add my amazing insoles.

So FYI, these do run narrow especially at the instep. The opening is rather narrow.  So I recommend ordering a size up unless you have narrow feet.