AUSTRALIAN ROAD RIDER | 145HEAT-RATING RIDING GEAR
STORY: MARK HINCHLIFFER
iders could eventually have
a guide to the most crash-
resistant motorcycle gear
suitable for harsh summer
riding conditions. Researchers have enlisted
Canberra volunteers to be part of a study
into the most eff ective summer motorcycle
gear this year.
Neuroscience Research Australia (NRA)
senior research offi cer Dr Liz de Rome,
a rider since 1969, says she had been
conducting laboratory research with a
thermal sweating mannequin and riders,
then followed up with real-world research
early this year in Canberra. Liz hopes the
end result of the research will be a fi ve-
star rating for motorcycle gear that has
crash protection even in hot conditions.
Liz says she is an ATGATT (all the gear
all the time) rider, wearing a fabric suit and
fl ip-up helmet on her SYM 125 scooter. “The
main problem in summer is that riders
don’t wear all the gear,” she says. “Heat is
the biggest disincentive to wearing the
right gear. Some riders are ATGATT and if
it gets too hot they just don’t ride, but a lot
of riders who own the right gear opt not to
wear it when it gets hot. They are leaving
themselves exposed to crash injury.”
The joint study is being conducted with
associate professor Nigel Taylor, one of
the world’s leading thermal physiologists,
at the University of Wollongong’s Centre
for Human and Applied Physiology. They
are examining how much body heat
motorcyclists produce and whether riders
risk reaching a physiologically damaging
level of heat strain when wearing
motorcycle clothing.Liz says they started by selecting 10
of the most widely used rider suits in
Australia featuring a combination of
leathers, fabrics, synthetics and protective
jeans. The fi rst tests were conducted with
associate professor Olga Troynikov from
RMIT and involved thermal sweating
mannequins, which look like shop store
dummies, but are computerised to
replicate the body warmth and sweat of a
human being.
“We were able to measure the heat
insulation and breathability of each
garment,” Liz says. “You want to wear
clothing that will allow the heat of your
body to escape. If the heat of your body
can’t escape, you sweat and when you
sweat, the sweat has to evaporate for your
body to cool.”
Liz says they had a “wide variation”
in results. “Some suits are good at one
thing and not at the other,” she says. “We
will also test all the gear for abrasion
resistance to identify the features of suits
that off er both crash and heat protection.
The researchers have been using a
thermal chamber to test 12 volunteer
“human subjects” wearing motorcycle
gear. The tests are based on a previous
study with Honda Australia to measure
the workload involved in on-road riding.
In that study, six experienced riding
instructors wore masks measuring theiroxygen consumption while they rode a
5km urban route with stops, and a 5km
rural route without stops.
“How much oxygen you consume
indicates how hard you are working and
relates to your body’s heat production,” she
says. “The amount of oxygen you consume
while riding on-road is surprisingly low.
It equates to slowly pedalling a bicycle,
compared to motocross riders whose
workload is quite high.”
The climate chamber’s controlled
environment replicates the heat and
humidity of riding in full sun while the
researchers use a fan to replicate wind
speed when riding. In each trial, the test
riders pedal an exercise bike slowly for
an hour-and-a-half with three breaks
for fi ve minutes, during which the fan is
turned off. Trial conditions are based on
average temperatures from six locations
around Australia to get a range of summer
conditions.
The volunteers completed four
trials in a variety of gear from boots,
gloves and a long-sleeve t-shirt to full
protective motorcycle gear. Heart rate,
skin temperature and sweat production
were measured as well as volunteer
ratings of comfort.
The fi nal stage involved real-world
tests around Canberra before Liz began
compiling the results. ARR“A lot of riders who own the right gear opt not to wear it when it
gets hot. They are leaving themselves exposed to crash injury”LOOK COOL, FEEL COOL, BE SAFE
Aussie study to find coolest motorcycle gear
r When something looks cool, it’s not necessarily going to keep you cool!ARR112_145_Humour.indd 145ARR112_145_Humour.indd 145 2/3/2015 9:53:52 AM2/3/2015 9:53:52 AM