Letter of Recommendation: Cutting The Liner Out Of Your Leathers

I wear my leathers every time I skate downhill because (a) I am, fundamentally, a coward; (b) having road rash sucks; and (c) if I don’t, I spend more money on first aid supplies than I make in pro-model board royalties and my ego absolutely cannot handle that.

Of course, riding in leathers has some minor drawbacks. They can be uncomfortably warm on hot days. You look like a sport motorcycle weirdo may attract the attention of homosexual leather fetishists. (This is, emphatically, not a problem for me.) Finally, even the best-designed skate suit can bind up between your knee and your shoulder, restricting your flexibility and range of motion when crouching down for slides. For a long time, I accepted these tradeoffs as the price of not waking up with road rash that had fused to my bedding. We all make choices in life.

Last year, after hearing my friends sing the praises of unlined leathers for several months, I finally took the lining out of my NJKs. All it took was a sharp pair of scissors and some patience (be careful around the zippers).

I was immediately impressed by how much easier it was to move in them. Instead of binding up when I crouched down for a heelside, my leathers slid easily over my body, restoring a full range of motion. This was a game-changer, and it has made skating in leathers feel functionally identical to skating in street clothes, a fact that I have been annoyingly vocal about in downhill-event U-Haul trucks across North America.

Without a liner, you will need a full-body base layer to put something between your body and the leather. I personally prefer one-piece skins like these (cut the stirrups off). Other riders swear by UnderArmour’s moisture wicking HeatGear leggings and shirts. If you don’t care about brand names, cheaper compression shirts and leggings will also do the trick.

Yes, this is one more thing to bring with you when you go skating; but unlike your leathers, skins can be washed in a regular machine; so you’ll be considerably less stinky and/or bleeding at the end of the session.

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