So I got back from Spain yesterday and was wondering. Would you ride in full gear if it was over 30 degrees every day (the coldest I’ve seen in Madrid is around 19 at 4am, it’s still well over 20 at 1am)? Because I haven’t seen anyone ride in full gear, or any gear for that matter and especially the way the spanish drive and ride I’m surprised there’s still so many of them 
Taxi drivers as usual take the prize with their stopping one car length after the lights, or even over half of the crossing so you really don’t know if he’s gonna stop or not 
But the best was I’ve seen a car actually split lanes. Cool experience. At least I was there fast.
Yes and No …
Yes, in the glorious summer of '76 I rode the Norton 5,000 miles around Europe in various states of undress, covered 400 miles one day in a pair of shorts and trainers. Although back then most of our riding was done in blue Levi jeans and a black Lewis leather jacket, full gear meant you’d also put your gloves and helmet on!
No not any more, I now appreciate just how quickly tarmac can strip flesh from bone.
Yeah I wear all my gear…
Vented jacket helps. Keep moving and it’s fine but I get mega sweaty when I stop.
I’d rather be in full protection when I crash.
Noticed this when I was in Spain a couple of weeks ago too.
Every rider around the local town was in shorts and tshirts. Some wore gloves. Many wore some funny looking helmets that looked like some tin hat out of WW2.
always fully geared.
i quite like my skin.
admittedly, its not comfortable.
but its better to have a shower than skin grafts afterwards
A veces si, otras no 
Mira mis videos tio.
Speaking from experience.
I have been known to hop on the bike and nip round the shops in my slippers :Whistling:
flip flops, shorts, t-shirt and sunglasses… ah those were the days!
always fully geared up, I’ve come off several times and even at 40 leathers take a big old scuff. I’d hate to think what would happen to flesh
Mind you, in my last off I was in full Arai/ Held/ Alpinestars/ Sidi attire - and better for it. Well, ‘not so bad off’.
Never ride without at least my mesh jacket, kevlar jeans, gloves & helmet.
If I lived somewhere that’s 30+ degrees every day, I’d probably move - I’m not designed for hot weather.
I did notice when I was in spain at the start of june that the bike cops in the towns we stayed didn’t wear any bike gear other than an open faced helmet - it wasn’t even all that hot back then.
¡Igualmente! As an exiled Madrileño, I am used to seeing riders of all sorts of bikes with just a helmet as protective gear in Madrid and I was out there last week and had I had the bike I would have done the same, 35 degrees is just too uncomfortable to wear full gear, especially if you’re justing nipping over to the Retiro to meet some mates.
The other thing is that despite the driving, which can be bad (by bad I mean less courteous because on the whole it isn’t really any worse than in London) the roads tend to be much better maintained and significantly wider giving more space to get out of the way. Also U-turns are generally not allowed and so very infrequently carried out even where they might be legal, you are not allowed to park on the wrong side of the road (i.e. against the kerb facing into oncoming traffic) and there is a rule in the spanish highway code that dictate that in the absence of markings at a junction or where a junction has the same priority of marking in two directions you musts always give way to the vehicle on your right.
None of these things will prevent your skin from being scraped off when you hit the tarmac, but I think they do reduce some of the riskier situations we encounter in this country. Everyone makes their own assessment on the risk they are prepared to take, for me in Madrid in summer jeans and t-shirt wouldn’t be out of the question. But then again, I do consider myself to be a very defensive rider.
I just wish we had even a hint of the weather to even make it a consideration here this summer!
For me it would totally depends on how and where I was going to ride.
If I was to ride on the highway at 50+ then ye I’d wear full gear but if I was just going from one side of town to the other then just jeans and a t shirt. But I’d still wear boots wherever I go.