Continued from the Pants Page –
Motorcyclists, especially racers, were looking for a more durable pair of jodhpurs due to the increasing speeds from mechanical improvements in the motorcycles. With the advent of the board track it became a must have. These board tracks got covered with oil from the lost oil metadit of the early motorcycles. As these board tracks got older, boards would open up and splinters as long as 14 inches could come loose and lodge in a racer’s leg. With the oil, creosote, and gas the racers leg could get infected. For this reason leather breeches were actually spreading in motorcycle scenes much faster than leather jackets because wool jerseys were still very popular. Most motorcyclists used to buy leather breeches first, and then added leather jackets later. This may be the reverse-buying of present-day riders.
These breeches are cut full and roomy at the hips and snug fitting at the knees. The seat was most often reinforced with a saddle seat for hard wear. Early leather breeches didn’t have any zippers because that did not come into common use until the early 1930s in the U.S.
