Motorcycle scarves are a great idea – IF you wear them right.
Tucked snugly around your neck, a motorcycle scarf can help keep you toasty warm on a cold ride.
It’s the final defence against an icy wind that’s trying to wriggle its freezing fingers down inside your motorcycle jacket.
A motorcycle scarf is also handy for protecting your neck from flying objects that can strike any exposed skin – from little rocks and road debris to a lost bee that could find itself thrown against your neck, just long enough to sting you angrily.
And of course, you want to protect your delicate neck skin from the drying and ageing effects of the wind.
No-one wants to look like a turkey by the end of a motorcycle ride, right?
Buh-gark!
A motorcycle scarf is the final part of your motorcycle safety gear.
Set it up just right, and your motorcycle scarf will protect you from flying bugs and a cold wind.
It can massively increase your comfort levels.
And if you tuck your motorcycle scarf away, you can make sure it never gets tangled in the motorcycle.
Are Motorcycle Scarves Dangerous?
OK, so they’re not in the same category as an escaped serial killer.
But motorcycle scarves can be dangerous if you don’t wear them right.
An extra long motorcycle scarf could potentially get tangled in the wheel of the bike.
A wildly flapping motorcycle scarf could obscure your view of the road.
And a motorcycle scarf that’s too loose could go rogue, wriggle its way free, and even end up on the windscreen of a passing car.
We don’t need to give car drivers any more excuses for driving right at us, that’s for sure.
So you need to keep control of your motorcycle scarf and make sure it does its job – to protect your neck from the weather and airborne objects.
Here’s how to do that.
How to Wear Your Motorcycle Scarf
Let’s get straight into these simple tips.
1. Wear your motorcycle scarf INSIDE your jacket
If you put your motorcycle scarf on before your jacket, you can make sure that it won’t escape, and flap away on the wind to start a new life without you.
Trap it underneath your jacket, and it won’t be going anywhere.
2. Don’t leave the ends of your motorcycle scarf flying free
A medium length scarf you can wrap around your neck can work so well to block a freezing wind from getting inside your jacket.
But after you wrap it around your neck, remember to tuck the ends inside your jacket before you do it up.
That way, there’s no way the ends can get tangled in any part of the bike.
3. Try a neck tube for a motorcycle scarf
If you don’t want to fiddle around making sure that your scarf is safely tucked away inside your jacket, just cut to the chase and wear a neck tube.
This is the same principle as a tube top – but way less embarrassing, and a lot easier to wear.
Some people swear by these, as they’re lower-fuss than a scarf.
Personally, I don’t like them as they’re impossible to get over my gigantic head and enormous hair and I can’t adjust them to be looser or tighter.
But give them a try if you’re looking for a simpler solution to neck warmth and protection.
4. Choose the right fabric for your motorcycle scarf
In the winter, I never get on the motorcycle without my go-to wool motorcycle scarf.
It’s really soft and warm around my neck, and no wind has a chance of getting past that barrier.
In the summertime, I have a motorcycle scarf in a much lighter, cotton/muslin blend that’s still soft and protects my neck, but also absorbs sweat and oil which are the nasty by-products of riding in warmer weather.
5. Position your motorcycle scarf just right
Often you’ll find your motorcycle jacket won’t quite do up all the way to the top of the zipper.
A motorcycle scarf is the perfect way to fill that gap – so position the scarf strategically to block that last chink in your armor.
And then keep it in place by trapping it there underneath the strap of your helmet.
Do your helmet up over the scarf when it’s perfectly positioned.
Then it won’t be moving – and you’ll have a windproof barrier perfectly in place until the end of the ride.
6. A motorcycle scarf can be practical AND pretty
You may have noticed that motorcycle safety gear is not exactly glamorous.
It’s easy to disappear under layer on layer of black bulky gear.
But there IS a woman somewhere in there, right?
A gorgeous motorcycle scarf can make that a little more obvious.
My favorite motorcycle scarf is shamelessly feminine.
It moves through several different shades of pink, from light to dark.
Yes, PINK.
How outrageous!
It’s not black, like the rest of my motorcycle gear.
And it doesn’t feature gruesome pictures of skulls bleeding from their eye sockets either.
Unlike your standard motorcycle “style”.
My pink motorcycle scarf is practical, and has kept me warm for hundreds of thousands of miles on motorcycles.
But it’s also pretty – which comes in handy if you end up in a bar or upmarket café.
Suddenly you have a stylish accessory to balance out the biker look.
It provides real contrast to the bulky black layers of motorcycle safety gear.
And down here in New Zealand, where the wind whips in straight from Antarctica, I never get on a motorcycle without it.
So try a brighter color that you know looks good on you – and will provide relief from the black-on-black layers of motorcycle gear.
Motorcycle Scarves Are Essential – When Worn Right!
A motorcycle scarf that’s soft, comfortable and positioned just right becomes the final piece of the windproof puzzle.
Keep tight control of it so it doesn’t go rogue and become dangerous, and it can be the finishing touch to your layers of motorcycle safety gear.
You’ll be warm, protected – and if a pretty scarf happens to make you look good at the same time, well that’s OK too, right?
Like this article?
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25 Motorcycle Comfort Tips for Passengers (What works?)
