Biker Jacket Evolution

Gottlieb Diamler invented the motorcycle when he took a gasoline powered engine and attached it to a wooden bicycle in 1886. A friend and myself attached a lawnmower motor to his sister's tricycle in 1968 and all we got was a swift kick to the rear. Seems his dad really wanted to mow the lawn again.

At any rate, you know it didn't take long for someone to build a second bike and very shortly after that, the beating of the chests began. The races were on.

The motorcycles got faster, which meant that Newton's Laws began to kick in. In particular the law that states; The severity of 'Road Rash' is directly related to the momentum of the rider at the moment he is propelled from his motorcycle.

The great war machine that fed World War I provided the first leather jackets for motorcyclists. Farmers sold horse hide by the tons to the government to make military clothing. A lot of these hides were tanned and made into Jackets for aviators and tank crews. After the war there was an abundance of this apparel left over.

In 1869, Sylvester Roper invented a steam powered bicycle that some see as the first motorcycle. He went on to build a steam powered car and other steam powered machines.Roper showed up at a bicycle track in June of 1896 with a modified motorcycle. He was 73 at the time and declared he wanted the bike clocked. He got the machine up to a fast 40 mph, developed a severe wobble, then crashed. He was found dead, but an autopsy revealed it was a heart attack that killed him.

The severity of 'Road Rash' is directly related to the momentum of the rider at the moment he is propelled from his motorcycle.

Motorcyclists were given a great deal of protection by the Tanker and Pilot jackets that were plentiful after WWI, but it took over a decade before the bikers had jackets they could call their own.

In 1913, Jack and Irving Schott started a clothing manufacturing business on Staten Island. By 1928, they moved to a new and larger facility in New Jersey. This is when the company introduced the first true biker jacket. The Double Pattern jacket with the Perfecto label was actually a heavier construct and made with naked cowhide, two attributes of higher quality than the military issue jackets that were popular. Thus providing more protection to the rider.

Outside of most police departments, the Perfecto motorcycle jacket didn't become popular until a quarter of a century later.

Members of The Boozefighters were made notoriously famous in 1947 by a Life magazine photo-essay about a supposed riot that took place in Hollister California. The riot was actually just a bunch of bikers in town for a local bike race. Yes, they were rowdy, according to some townspeople. The bikers were partying and paying their bills. As it turns out, a famous photograph that appeared in Life was staged. A drunken local was paid to sit on someone's bike, beer bottles were piled around the bike and the picture was snapped. The real problem was when a group of locals got drunk and burned a car. The incident was the inspiration for the 1954 movie, 'The Wild Ones', and gave birth to the bad boy image tagged onto many bikers.

Once again, a world war intervened and most efforts were put towards fueling the big machine. Airmen and Tankers needed jackets, and even the Schott brothers focused on helping in the Allied effort by producing the now famous Bomber Jacket that became the post-war fashion statement.

After the war, some Airmen and Tank Crews formed motorcycle clubs. After all, they had lived through the war where their lives were on the line every second of every day and they had pent up energy that need exhausted.

Once again, the military jacket became the wear of the biker, and this time club insignias were sewn on the backs of these jackets. Perhaps the first of these 'Gangs' was the Boozefighters out of California.

It wasn't until the early 1950's that the true motorcycle jacket became popular again. The movie The Wild One was huge in the jacket's boost in popularity. The movie featured one of Hollywood's popular young actors in the lead role of Johnny Strabler. Marlon Brando kick started the popularity of the Double Pattern biker jacket into stellar proportions with his portrayal of the biker with a heart.

The biker jacket not only became the icon of bikers everywhere, but it began to be seen as the symbol of

The Ramones

rebellious youth, or at least the spirit of young adults who lived on the edge. Elvis Presley and James Dean are often portrayed as wearing motorcycle jackets, not to mention the vast numbers of the rock musicians who wear the biker jacket as a flag.

The styles of leather motorcycle jacket started to vary In the 1960's, in some cases, the jackets seemed far from the original Schott Brothers Double Pattern. Pop Culture icons such as Steve McQueen and Peter Fonda both enjoyed motorcycling of one kind or another and both had made the Racing Style jacket popular.

Today, one can find a variety of styles, including, Western, Pistol Pete, Scuba, Bon Jovi just to name a few. Also, most styles are available in Naked Cowhide, the best leather for motorcycle jackets.

Wait! There's More! (okay, so I saw far too many Ronco commercials as a kid). Pick a style, get your leather, and you can enjoy many other creature comforts. Zip-out liners, neck warmers, and vents(my personal favorite) are available with most biker jackets today.

After over 100 years, the biker jacket, with all the trappings of comfort, has finally found a place in our closets and on our backs. The leather motorcycle jacket of today is far different than the ones originally worn by enthusiasts nearly a century ago, but the purpose and results are fundamentally the same. Protection is the function, and the image living on the edge is the perception.

Here are just three of the over 100 Men's and Ladies leather motorcycle jackets combined that you'll find at Bikerleather123.com. Add the current offerings of leather biker vests, chaps, saddle bags, boots, and off bike leather goods such as sexy biker chick wear, bags and coats and we have over 400 top quality leather biker apparel items available.

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Classic

Western

The Pete