Blue jeans, some cool t shirt, most often black. Doc Martens were my preferred boots on account of the heat. Leather army surplus shells for gloves. Cheap wrap-around shades and maybe a bandanna. Leather jacket or not depending on how hot it was, chaps when it was cold. Rain gear over all of that when it was really cold.
Used to bring my helmet, but really only wore it for comfort on longer trips, to get out of the sun and wind. Some time along the way I learned about earplugs and avoided riding without them after that.
A couple of years into it I noticed the skin on my arms was aging faster than the rest of me from being out there in the sun so I switched to long sleeve T-shirts.
Most of the time I woulda been ground hamburger if I had gone down on pavement. Leather jackets are good as far as they go, but chaps don’t protect anything important.
Watching the Harley riders, bareheaded, leather vest, lots of exposed skin doing 80 in full sun down the interstate, I came to understand why Harley riders often looked so rough.
"...if the gentlemen of Virginia shall send us a dozen of their sons, we would take great care in their education, instruct them in all we know, and make men of them." Canasatego 1744
