The Beginner Motorcycle Gear You Really Need, And How To Pick It Out

So you're fresh off your MSF course, scouring Facebook Marketplace for beginner bikes, and you've realized you need some gear to keep you safe while on the road. First off, good on you — you're smarter than many riders if you're thinking about things in advance. Secondly, you're probably confused by all the info about beginner gear. ECE, DOT, CE, AAA, the world of bike armor has enough acronyms and industry terms to make your head spin. Don't worry, though. There's help. 

To get your start on a bike, there are a few pieces of equipment you're going to hear about: Helmets, gloves, torso protection, leg protection, and boots. We're going to look at every one of those categories, but I'm not going to tell you what to buy for any of them — I'm going to tell you how to buy, because that's going to be a lot more useful for you. Let's get you started fishing. Er, riding. 

This is the area where, more than any other, I can't tell you what to buy. The simple reason for that is shape — heads come in all sorts of shapes, and helmets do too. You'll see three main shapes: Round, intermediate oval, and long oval. These refer to the shape of your dome when seen from above, whether it's as long as it is wide or even longer. Most heads and helmets in the U.S. fall in the intermediate oval range, but the best way to find your fit is just to try on a few different brands and shapes. Find a Cycle Gear, a dealer, anywhere that lets take your time with lids. Wear a helmet for a few minutes on end, as long as you can get away with, and feel for hot spots — areas of pressure at the front or sides of your head. If you feel those, you've got the wrong shape helmet on. 

Once you've got a shape down, you'll want to find the safest helmet within the range. There are a few identifiers to look out for here: DOT, ECE, Snell, and FIM. DOT is the Department of Transportation certification, a sticker that conveys street legality in the States and nearly nothing in terms of safety. It's the oldest standard of the bunch, with the lowest requirements, and it allows manufacturers to self-certify their compliance. Do not buy a helmet that's only DOT certified. 

ECE is the European standard, which has actually been updated sometime in the last five decades. In 2021, in fact, when it was updated to version 22.06 — the version you want to find on your next helmet. ECE 22.06 not only accounts for the impact force of a crash, but for the rotational forces imparted in the kind of sprawling collisions motorcyclists often end up in. Essentially, ECE 22.06 mitigates both skull fractures and concussions. Buy an ECE 22.06 helmet that also happens to carry a DOT sticker.

If you can find one that also says Snell on the back, even better. Snell doesn't have much to say about rotational impacts — the concussion hits — but it's even more stringent than ECE for pure force. It's rare to find a helmet that meets ECE and a true Snell rating, and they're usually not cheap when you do, but you can rest easy knowing you're as safe as possible on two wheels.

I mentioned the true Snell rating there, because there's also a false one. Snell is technically divided into two categories, M and R, one of which is functionally identical to ECE. FIM too, theoretically the ultimate motorsport safety rating, offers only marginal improvement over the European standard. If you're just starting out, consider these latter two labels as something that's nice to have rather than a requirement. Seek out ECE 22.06, take FIM or Snell if you find them in addition.

The hot new thing in protecting your precious organs from motorcycle crashes is the airbag. Airbags now come in vests, jackets, race leathers, even built into the straps of backpacks. They're a massive safety upgrade, a sea change in impact absorption, and I think they shouldn't be the first place you look for gear. Allow me to explain, for the sake of both you and the Static Media attorney who is likely having a conniption over me besmirching a safety feature: Airbags are better at protecting your torso from impact than a jacket with traditional armor pads, full stop, but they only protect your torso from impact. They aren't built to protect you against abrasion — road rash from that gritty asphalt — and they do nothing for your arms. Plus, a good entry-level airbag will cost you $650 or more. 

My logic goes like this: You should absolutely own an airbag at some point, but it shouldn't be your first purchase for torso protection. First, get yourself a good traditional jacket, one with armor pads in the elbows and shoulders and abrasion protection that covers you from neck to waist. Either get one with a back protector, or put a back protector in the one you get. Then, once you've got that settled, you can start looking into airbags. There are some types of riding I simply will not do without an airbag — I don't want to set foot or tire on a race track without one — but I always want abrasion protection. 

Of course, this opens the question of how to pick out a good jacket. That usually starts with the armor, which comes in two main varieties: CE levels one and two. CE1 is basic protection, CE2 is more intense. My rule of thumb is that I'll happily wear CE1 around the city, at low speeds, but extended highway trips require a bump up to CE2 — sometimes even with an airbag on top. Most jackets have armor in the shoulders and elbows from the factory, though many leave the back protector sold separately. It's worth the investment. You may also hear terms like "D3O" or even "viscoelastic" when referring to armor, and you should seek these out if you can find them. Viscoelastic pads — of which D3O is but one brand — are soft when worn and hard when hit, making them much more comfortable to put in a garment. The best armor is the armor you actually wear.

You may have also wondered, through these sections, how one even quantifies abrasion resistance. There are a multitude of answers, all involving fake words like "denier" or "Darmstadt," but what you need to worry about are the CE abrasion ratings. A for bopping around town, AA for hopping on the highway, AAA for the most protection you can get. Each of these corresponds to its own slide time and speed in a laboratory setting, but remember that motorcyclists tumble as much as we slide — we don't operate under lab conditions out there in the world. If you're really curious about the exact capabilities of an individual garment, check if MotoCAP out in Australia has tested it. Their real-world, garment-specific tests will give you more information than any rating, but the safety ratings are a good start.

The last consideration with a jacket is one that I forgot about when I first went gear shopping: Comfort. I went out and got myself the sleekest leather jacket I could find, only to remember that motorcycles run hot and I like riding them on hot days — I absolutely cooked in that jacket until I got myself something lighter and with more vents for airflow. Now I have all sorts of gear for all sorts of weather conditions, but it's good to start out with a jacket built with lots of vents or mesh. You can always layer under or over it with non-motorcycle jackets, if you need.

Little bit of Amber trivia for you: Before I wrote about cars, I used to teach snowboarding over the winters up in Vermont. I taught young kids, and the first thing I always had to tell them before we ever touched a snowboard was not to catch themselves with their hands when they fell. It's our natural instinct when we tip over, to land on the heels of our palms, and that's just about the most efficient way to break your wrists that exists.  Unfortunately, it's an instinct, and those are hard to train out. Instead, we look towards palm protection to help us out in the real world. 

Your hands are full of sensitive little tendons and bones, and they'll be the first thing you throw out as a sacrifice to save yourself when things go south. Do not skimp on gloves. Gardening gloves don't count, mechanic gloves from AutoZone don't count. Look for hard armor on the knuckles and the backs of your hands, multiple layers of leather or a good textile on the palm, and stitching that holds it all together well. You don't want too much flex in the glove, too much slop between your hands and the controls, especially when you're just getting a feel for how motorcycling all works. If you can find one, get something with a hard plastic slider right at the base of the palm. When you inevitably try to catch yourself in a fall, that will ensure your wrists slide rather than break. Sure, you'll hit your elbows harder, but that's why we got that jacket in the last section rather than an airbag. 

Gloves are one of the most important parts of your moto armor kit, moreso even than a jacket and pants. When I was picking out gear to take my third-first bike home from the dealer in New Jersey, I ended up with Icon Hypersports for their palm sliders. Like helmets, though, gloves really need to be tried on for comfort and fit. I've long had an issue with short-cuff Alpinestars gloves, where the ring and pinky fingers ride up when I go to grip the throttle and leave me with slack in the glove — it's an absurd issue, something no one else I've ever spoken to has dealt with, but it's a factor I keep in mind every time I go glove shopping. Try on everything you can before you make your purchase, and get what fits you best. 

I'm a rider of the ATGATT school of thought — All The Gear, All The Time — and I follow this to its illogical extreme: I have replaced nearly all my standard jeans with motorcycle jeans. I wear a pair of now-discontinued moto jeggings nearly every day of my life, and I've rarely wanted for more comfort. Moto pants can look and act just like regular pants, but with a bit of extra protection. 

When buying pants, you'll find armor in two areas: The hips and the knees. Hip armor is generally small and borderline unnoticeable, while knee armor has to have a slight bent to it in order to accommodate your knee — this is the pad that'll annoy you. Luckily it can be improved upon in the aftermarket, by simply buying your own pads. 

Buy jeans for their abrasion resistance, their comfort, and their closeness to whatever look you're going for. Mens' jeans are almost always early-2000s-level baggy, while womens' jeans are invariably 2014 skinny — if anyone knows where to get a moto-rated cargo jogger, please tell me — but there are still options within these two camps. There are faux-chinos, faux-cargo pants, even some real "Star Wars"-looking pieces. Consider all this when shopping, consider the pants' comfort and where their armor pockets are located, but ignore the armor. 

This is because, for the utmost comfort, you'll almost always swap the armor yourself. CE1 pads like Rev'It SeeSmart or D3O Ghost are hard to find in off-the-rack pants — the former patented by a single brand, the latter simply new to market — but they make a world of difference when added in. They're lightweight, they're comfortable, you may well forget they're there. Like above, the best armor is the stuff you'll actually wear, and you'll wear thin pads like these. 

Of course, like jackets, you'll be dealing with the A/AA/AAA protection rating scale here. This again includes abrasion resistance, and I again follow the same breakdown: My A-rated jeggings for the street, my AA-rated ADV gear for highway hauls, and a AAA rating for the most intense riding. Moto gear always has a tradeoff between safety and usability, and navigating that tradeoff is the duty of every individual rider. A full leather race suit would be safer for riding to the park than my jeggings, but it'd certainly be less comfortable once I get there — if I even do make it, without cooking in traffic first. 

Boots may be last on this roughly top-to-bottom-of-the-body list, but they're far from least in importance. In fact, they're one of the most important pieces of kit you can buy. There's a simple reason for this: Most motorcycle crashes, particularly with beginners, are low-speed drops. Maybe your leg hits an oily patch when you set it down at a stop light, maybe you misjudge the crown of the road while setting off from your parking spot — both things I've done — but these slow crashes happen to everyone. Unfortunately, a slow crash can still leave hundreds of pounds of motorcycle sitting on your leg. 

At the very least, you'll want boots that cover your ankles. That round bone that sticks out the side is called a malleolus, and you'll want to ensure it's covered with proper armor — expect to see that D3O name again in your boot shopping. You'll also want crush protection in the sole, to keep those fragile little foot bones in shape under the weight of your shiny new Ninja 400, but I'd encourage you to explore even further protection than that while you're starting out. I dropped all 495 pounds (plus cargo) of my old BMW GS on my leg while off-roading once, and I've never been more thankful for calf-high armored dirt boots. Without them, I'd have a crash bar where my shin bones should be. 

Full-bore dirt boots are often so cumbersome that they can turn a beginner off from shifting altogether, but you're in luck — the ADV craze has sent a world of half-measure adventure-styled boots onto the market. These lack the severity of hard armor found in dirt boots, as well as some of the most intrusive ankle protection, but they're still far more protective than any riding sneaker. There's no mistaking them for Doc Martens, sure, but remember that everyone in whatever restaurant you walk into will see you carrying a helmet anyway. Prioritize protection over subtlety, and consider a taller boot. Don't even think about one that doesn't protect your ankles. 

Get your helmet first. You don't need to spend the most money on it of all your kit — though you very well may — but you do need to get a lid that meets modern safety certifications. Once you've got those, more money often buys you more comfort rather than more safety. Next get your boots and gloves, with as much leg protection as you can stand and as much of a hard palm slider as you can find. Your jacket is the next priority, followed by pants, and then followed by a fancy airbag if you so desire. 

Motorcycle gear is (comparatively) cheap insurance, a way to make you safer while you're out there on the road. If you take your time looking and trying things on, you can find a kit that's as safe as it is comfortable — and maybe even stylish to boot. Hopefully, this all makes the process of putting that kit together a bit less arcane.