Motorcycle Fashion has its Limits

I love summer and all its warm and sunny fun for a lot of reasons.

One of those reasons is summer fashion. Cute shorts and swishy summer dresses are my favorites.

If you read my column with any regularity, you know that my husband, Tom, and I have been motorcycling for years. You would also know that I upped my creds in the motorcycling world when I purchased my own bike a couple of years ago. Another thing you might already know about me is that I’m a pretty girly-girl and that my motorcycle reflects that personality with its white-with-pink-flames paint job.

Because there are dangers that come along with riding, Tom and I prefer to dress a little more protectively on most of our rides. I’m OK with that, but when it comes to the stopping part, I struggle. When we first started riding we were really into “the look.” Leather jackets, chaps, riding boots, and other motorcycling accessories that made us stand out and look like tough bikers. But underneath that we were still just a regular carpenter and his schoolteacher wife. In fact, I always kind of felt like I was playing dress-up when I had all of that stuff on.

In the past few years we have toned it down quite a bit, relinquishing the big Harley patches sown on the back of our leather jackets and only pulling on the chaps when the temperature was too cold for just jeans. That was around the time I traded my plain black helmet for one with pink flames and a red or black bandana for pink while Tom traded his riding boots for Keens.

I don’t have much of a problem dressing to ride. My problem comes when the ride is over and we’ve arrived at our destination. I don’t want to look like a biker chick when I’m just hanging out downtown. I just want to look like myself, which can cause a problem. How do I wear jeans and a long sleever on my bike, but cute shorts, a short-sleeve top, and flip-flops when I get there without hauling a duffle bag into the nearest public restroom to change every time we stop? Not to mention that it can be pretty hot walking around in the middle of July in downtown Boyne City wearing boots, jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt.

Last year I felt like I had a solution. I realized that my son’s jeans fit perfectly over my shorts and that I could throw a bigger shirt over my top. The only thing left was to change from my boots to flip-flops, and I was off. That was, until my son saw me downtown wearing his jeans, which, as you can imagine didn’t go over so well (neither did me taking them off next to my motorcycle). However, I finally found a solution to my problem. I don’t have to pretend to be a tough biker chick. I can enjoy the ride in protective gear while riding and sport cute shorts with a matching top when I’m not. It just takes a little bit of planning and someone else’s jeans.