Why Bikers wear cuts/vests - Motorcycle Riding Hangout, Stories from the Saddle 

I wear my vest for the pockets and conceal my firearms, etc.

When people ask my why I wear my vest I always respond with "do you want all the cool biker reasons or the truth?' When they say they want the truth, I tell them "it's basically a purse." 😎

I live in southern Alabama, vests are perfect. I noticed some comments about how vests perform no protection purpose, they have obviously never been pelted by giant hornets or any of our other giant flying insects 😂 and with near 100% humidity 90% of the time and “feels like” temps in the 100+ marks, leather jackets have the potential to harm more than protect. Like you and others have said, vests are a great way to carry your “essentials” without having to try to ride with your pants pockets bulging and being uncomfortable, and without having to stow important things in your saddlebags and worrying if they’re going to grow legs and be gone when you return 😂 A nice vest over a quality flannel jacket or hoodie is perfect for southern Alabama cold winter weather, all two weeks of it 😂 Great video brother

Wonderful video. I wear a vest the keep the wind off my chest, it's less fatiguing and you're right on the money about moveability too. I'd like to add the biker culture amongst us combat vets is still alive and well, no matter how much society looks down upon it.

You just turned one of the most iconically manly things into a murse. 😂

A nice answer for the general viewer. I enjoyed the historical context. I've heard clubs often give one vest to last a lifetime. Leather is longer wearing than denim.

Just found your channel and subbed great content. My reason for wearing my vest was to hold my old second hand leather jacket together. I made it myself from a modified pattern I bought from a sewing shop in the early 80s and still have it today but with a newer jacket that was given to me by a good buddy who is now deceased. If you look at 5.00 minutes you will see Clint Eastwood from an old TV show ( Highway Patrol season 1 episode 27) riding the coolest motorcycle to ever to grace the TV or movie screen ever. At 4.57 minutes I wonder what the cost of a back sack and crack waxing was Then? Cheers to you and thanks for the vids,watching from the deep south of New Zealand.

Still wear my HD brand vest that I bought in like 1979...couple small inside pockets, 2 small outside pockets, but my .357 snubbie fits in the right front outside pocket like a dream.

Pockets, patches, and I don't run a windshield so it helps in the wind. Good vid, brother.

Great way to stretch 10 seconds into 7 ¹/² minutes !

I hadn't thought about the link between motorcycleist attire and WWII before, really cool stuff! (FYI, the chapter headings on the video don't contextually match the content, like they are a holdover from another video.)

a great and very interesting video well done just subbed👍

I keep some stuff in my cut, but really, that isn't its main function for me. Anyway, thanks for the video, I enjoyed!

I keep the registration & insurance in my vest, not on the bike. Thanks for the insight and affirmation that I'm doing something right. Keep the rubber side down... 😎

In the old days in the 50's and 60's you only could have a cut on if you were in a outlaw MC. Hang around you get a plane vest with nothing on it. Prospect patch was next then you had to earn the rest to be a full member

Great video. Ride safe.

I wear a vest because it looks cool.

Yes good summary. I wear a vest because I'll get killed having a purse being a Male on a Harley lol

Good content man

Interesting. Make more of the period we now live in..Ride on. N.C. East side....

When I smoked,vests were necessary to keep a pack of cigarettes from blowing out of your pocket

Asked my Dad why he wears a vest. He looked at me and said I don’t know.. Now I know why.

I like you, you were amusing in your telling of

Still wear denom cut over leather jacket , yes more pockets to put my stuff in Australia

my cut off is purely to put patches and badges on to show who I am and not have to ruin my leather jacket that is allways worn underneath, vests to not offer full protection if you fall off.

The story I was told, when I began riding, is that the genesis of the "cut" goes back to the AMA saying that 99% of motorcyclists were "good, decent people". The 1% clubs cut the sleeves of their leather jackets as a means of separating from the AMA and it became a tradition. Supposedly it happened after the Hollister incident and the negative image it gave motorcycle riders and the hobby in general. That was long ago. Before I retired, I was a Lunchbox Rider. One of those guys with a hardhat and lunchbox bungeed to the back rack. Function rules over form. In the spring and fall I wore a Carhartt over a Milwaukee heated hoodie. Engineer boots with steel toes are jobsite ok. A vest did nothing to keep the wind off my arms so it wasn't necessary. My "life", such as it was, was displayed in all of the outage stickers covering my hardhat.

Glad this video popped up on the suggestions. I had wondered about the whole vest wearing thing with bikers too. Something else I've never really heard or got an answer about is why do non outlaw biker clubs want to look like outlaw bikers? Doesn't that just piss off the real outlaw clubs? Like the kids who dress and try to look "gangsta" but really aren't. Are they just being posers or playing dress up? Not trying to be sarcastic, ever since the movie Wild Hogs came out I really noticed a lot of this clubs around.

Just looks tuff as hell

I have a question if you support a 1 percenter motorcycle club I certain chapter of that motorcycle club can you go to the another chapter's event of the same 1% of motorcycle club where in your support stuff for the other chapter would they be cool with it

Starts with the difference between a “cut” and a “vest”. For clubs, it’s what’s in it, and what’s seen on the outside. Leather is often the choice of bikers in colder climates… the vest goes over the leather coat, for more wind/weather protection, and safety. 22degree nights and still riding 🤪

Good topic. With me it's about function more than form. Any other context, it's nothing more than a costume.

I clicked to see what your answer would be , while asking myself, why do I wear a vest? Mines thick with big pockets, My conclusion was protection? Ya a little bit , but mostly it’s cause I carry stuff. Mostly stuff that should I go down it’s not going to complicate my situation. For instance no glass bottles. Emergency contact information.

bikers wear vests for the same reason they wear tiny helmets, so that if they crash they can grind their face off or sustain horrific injuries to their arms and shoulders. Yes that's right, bikers don't have accidents like us regular motorcyclists

I wear my vest to represent my life. Six years Army two tours. Then I was a union plumber for 37 years.

I carry my .45 Colt Compact and extra mags since I can't carry on my hip in this state.

I wear my vest to keep warm.

Registration and proof of insurance, sunglasses, reading glasses, beanie, shop rag : What’s in your vest?

Not on clubs, but my older brother is. And he uses it because, according to him, he has the right. Go figure...

I usually just wear multiple calibers. 😆 These groups prefer easy prey. Lol

Eh. I like my leather jackets (Blank slate) only due to the "raider" style i got has a ton of pockets and room for everything i use daily. I got a few denim vests from back in the day also but that's all patched up with old ripped up band shirts turned into patches from "punk rock" friends at shows who passed away and given as gifts before their expiration date. I just feel like everything is based upon the same view point of "not being punk, is being punk" theory even regarding MC's or Car Clubs, anything. Don't gotta be a lone wolf and all that BS but you just gotta live to live for what ya love. I don't know if this is off topic or not but at some given point it's like come on...everyone is just trying to live until their expiration date and for any sort of "ultra violence" to shorten that term majority of the time isn't even worth it and this doesn't include assassinations and so forth, Just the overall thing of if someone is looking for trouble they're gonna get it and for what REAL purpose? survival? Cash to survive? Land? The growth of our world with how people act in our "civilization" corrupt everything that is, was or could be an amazing thing, unfortunately i think father time is kind of laughing in everyone's face. Pardon my ignorance if i am completely off topic.

cut keeps me warm , inside pockets great for anything ... phone knife gun ....

I prefer pockets over bags....that simple.

Hahahahaha nope. Not the purse. Patches yes, purse not so much. Keep up the good posts 👍

I agree

Did Link Wray wear a vest while playing “Rumble”? Maybe…maybe not. We’ll never know.🤪😵‍💫🤪

if you had to ask,then you don't ride.. so don't worry about it.. no concern of yours😂😂

I think its a cowboy thing also outlaws of past

I'm a rider and don't wear a vest.

I'm a biker myself my fault for clicking won't happen again

I wear a vest because it makes people ask questions it work didn't it

Been riding Harleys for 45yrs. Never owned or wore a black leather vest. Too much tough-guy stereotype. Protection? A vest offers ZERO protection from road rash should you go down at any speed. Most road rash is on arms, elbows, hands, knees, and ass. Most leather vests are much to thin, have minimal closure devices, and are usually nylon lined, which just helps it slide around. And black is the color you don't want to wear with the hot sun beating down on you. It absorbs heat from the sun! Same with black helmets! Leather jackets in the cooler riding months, definitely! Have a closet full of them, black and brown. Including the brown leather flight jacket I was issued and earned the right to wear as a Navy Aircrewman. They do seem to shrink after a few years though!

Most are wearing vests to try to look like outlaw club members, that's the real reason. It's not about carrying stuff, what stuff do you need? Put your keys and phone in your jacket or jeans pocket. I can't think of anything else you'd need to carry in 2022.

Cause you don’t wanna wear your colors on a full leather jacket when its 90 degrees out.

Because they funny always get in love how the other funny guy looks

I wore a vest for a short time, it was made of paper.

Leather vest for protection…..you gotta be joking…

Dumb. Some of my cuts don't hold anything as they dint have pockets.

It’s part of the costume

Wear what you want, it's a free country. However, cuts are for club members who earn the right to wear them. Not much reason otherwise. You can't call a VEST a CUT. Your cut is for flying colors period

Good luck finding all the pockets too.

The real reason is to cover up the belly fat that every biker has and we all know this.

They are ex military and hide shoulder holsters.

There was a time when only outlaw MC’s were “allowed” to wear cuts. Personally I wouldn’t wear one unless I’m in an MC

Pockets.

Cause without one you have no pockets and if you wear a shirt everything will fly out and you will lose your $500 glasses.

What's the deal? POCKETS

Not really safer. Identity that's it.

Sooooo.....it's a biker's handbag....hold the lippy...

Pretend to ride. Ride to pretend

I want to ride in a white, 100% cotton T-shirt. To many G-Mothers wearing H-D T-shirts. Denim vest are for club members, like, real club members.

Dress for the slide not the ride ...

Core warmth, and because riding around with a tshirt flapping up around your head looks stupid. End of video.

If you go down, your skin will peel in about 1/10th of a second...the leather tears up in about 5 to 7 seconds. Thats why you are wearing leather, so you do not need skin grafts. Support Your Local Lancers MC

They wear vest to show off there great tattoos. And to watch the hair on their arms blow in the wind

I wear one because they add heat in the winter because i am a true biker i have no car licence and ride every day of the year... I wear a denim cut... I was a member of an international 1% club but that did not define me. I now wear a plain black denim cut with no patches because im not looking to look like a Christmas tree covered in colours, bells and whistles... But i dont think ot matters.. Most bikers i know may as well be carrying a bag like my mom cos they are all hipsters hitching a ride on a fad and wouldnt know a real biker from a twat if they hit them in the face.. Thank you for listening to my reply and pleas do not scribe to me cos i dont care about your opinions or views on this matter

BMW, DUCATI or japanese motorcycles bikers don´t use that kind of clothes, it´s about security, Harley style on bikes is silly and dangeorus.