Commuting to work on a motorcycle is a daily routine for some people but if you work in a suit this can be a problem especially when the road is wet. You want to arrive at work looking clean and professional but it can be difficult to do if you don’t have facilities to change or store your clothes. You might consider subscribing to a gym that is close to your work or you can wear protective clothing over your work suit.
Overview
In this article, we look at the different ways in which you can commute to work on a motorcycle and still look neat and professional in your suite when you arrive.
We will discuss the following:
- Why is wearing a suit a problem for riding a motorcycle?
- How a gym nearby can benefit you
- How to dress over your suit in protective gear
Why is wearing a suit a problem for riding a motorcycle?
When commuting to work on a motorcycle, it can be a problem when you have to wear a suit at work. If the road is wet or it’s raining, you might be full of mud and soaking wet when you arrive. This doesn’t work well with a white-collar job as you always need to look professional and clean.
The other problem is that a work suit doesn’t provide the protection you need if you were in an accident. Suits provide very little protection and even if your accident is minor or let’s say you tip the bike, your suit is at risk of tearing or getting oil or grease all over it.
How a gym nearby can benefit you
If you are lucky enough to have a gym near your workplace, you could consider subring to that gym and make a change in your morning routine to start the day a bit earlier. This way you can go to the gym before work and get yourself ready there before riding the short distance across the street.
To make this worth the money and change of routine, you should consider working out before work. 45 minutes is all you need and then another 15 minutes to shower and get dressed. So you are basically going to work an hour earlier than you would have.
You will just need to have a backpack to take along your suit and shoes. And you will probably get a locker at the gym as well so you can leave your motorcycle gear there while you are at work.
If you are not sure you can afford the extra expenses, you might be able to talk them into letting you rent only the locker at a more affordable price. This way, you can at least change before work.
How to dress over your suit in protective gear
If there is no gym in your area, you could ask the company you work for to have some facilities set up. But it’s not always possible for them to do this and it kind of hard for them to agree to this if you are the only one that needs the facilities. But try to make suggestions from your side as well. All you need is a room the size of a large shower.
If all else fails you could dress over your suit but this may be difficult because dressing over other clothes will most likely leave wrinkles in the material. If you can, try to get yourself some suites that are resilient to wrinkles.
So let’s have a look at what you can wear over your suit to give you acceptable protection and also to keep your suit clean:
Jackets
You can wear any motorcycle jacket if you don’t necessarily need to arrive in style. A slim leather jacket might be a good choice but that’s more of a personal preference I guess. You’ll need to decide that for yourself.
Your motorcycle jacket doesn’t need to be much larger than your normal jacket size seeing as suits are mainly made of thin materials. But I would suggest folding up your blazer into your backpack as they can wrinkle where your arms bend.
Pants
This is probably the part you are most concerned about. Your pants can get a lot of dirt on them while riding your motorcycle, especially when the road is wet. A good investment would be to get some overpants that you can just take off when you arrive at work.
Just remind yourself to put your wallet and office keys in your work pants before you put the overpants on. When arriving at work, you might forget to take them out if you put them into your overpants pockets.
Boots
Keep your shoes clean by wearing motorcycle low-boots that don’t take up too much space in your backpack. If you only have high-boots, neatly roll up your work pants so the boots don’t cause wrinkles and consider wearing longer socks because an overpants is usually rather thick and might not fit with your legs into the boots.
Final words
Personally, I’ve never had a white-collar job before but I did have the issue of having to go to a wedding when a motorcycle was my only means of transport. I’m sure there are other solutions as well.
Featured image by p_a_t_m_a on Instagram.
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