Although the leather jacket is a bikers' icon and is used to avoid "road rash" should the motorcyclist crash, what about on hot days when nobody feels like wearing leather? Well, they usually just take their chances and ride around in a t-shirt.
I suggest making jackets, or even whole riding outfits, out of lightweight, hard plastic loops woven like chain-mail. Air would pass easily through the suit when riding, and a thin, gauzy lining could be sewed in to keep the skin from contacting the plastic. But if the biker went down, he would be protected from road rash by the jacket. An additional benefit is that it might make the biker more likely to slide rather than tumble, thereby possibly reducing broken bones.
They could be made out of recycled plastic and could be made in all sorts of wild colors and designs. I would expect this "look" to be particularly attractive to the "cafe racer" type biker.
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i think this is a good idea, but you would need to find a different material than plastic, simply because plastic melts. sliding across the asphalt would cause friction heat, and i would almost prefer the road rash to a glob of melted plastic stuck to my arm or hip.
I thought of that as well, but there are plastics which can be made very hard and won't truly melt. I expect this is a "one crash and it's done" sort of garment, like helmets are supposed to be. Also, I think the thin jacket liner might keep the plastic from melting on the skin. Thanks for the feedback.
Plastic only melts if it's not abraded off quickly enough. There are also "higher temperature" (the quotes mean it's relative to other plastics) plastics one could use.
One could use kevlar rings, or anothe kevlar layout that isn't rings but still permits air topass though.
There are lots of different compositions of plastic. Thermoplastics can withstand very high temperatures. A mechanical engineering team at Western Michigan University took a 5 hp Briggs and Straton motor apart and made molds with the castings. They used thermoplastics to make a cylinder, piston, and connecting rod. With those changes they were able to get over 50 hp on a dynamometer. Some plastics are very tough. Motocross riders commonly use plastic protective gear. See Motocross Protective Gear. Though I understand they won't be sliding on pavement.