Christmas Gifts for Motorcycle Riders: A Buyer's Shortlist

Every December I get the same text from somebody's spouse: he rides, I want to get him something for the bike, I have no idea what. And every January I hear about the same outcome, which is a return. The failure is almost never taste. It is size. Riding gear is fitted gear, and a jacket bought on a guess comes back.

So this list is organized two ways at once: by what you can spend, and by how much sizing risk each thing carries. Everything in the first tier fits anybody. Everything in the last tier requires that you actually know a measurement. Nothing here is filler, and I have left out the novelty items that end up in a drawer by February.

The Only Rule That Matters

Do not guess a size on leather. A vest that is one size small cannot be worn over a flannel, and a jacket that is one size large flaps at 60 mph and never stops annoying the person wearing it. If you do not have a chest measurement or a hand measurement in hand, buy from the first two tiers and be happy about it.

One correction worth making while we are here, because it causes real mistakes at the register: gloves are sized by hand circumference, not by gender. There is no such thing as a men's size or a women's size in a glove. Measure around the palm at the knuckles with the thumb excluded, in inches, and that number is the size. The glove size chart turns that measurement into a size in about thirty seconds, and you can get the measurement off a glove they already own with a tape and no explanation required.

Under $30: No Sizing Risk At All

This tier is where most people should shop if they are buying for someone whose gear they have never seen. None of it can be the wrong size, and every item on it is something a rider actually uses up and replaces.

• Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP Conditioner, $15.99. The tin every leather owner should have and most do not. Beeswax and propolis base, works on boots, vests, jackets, and saddlebags.

• Obenauf's Cleanit Natural Leather Cleaner, $15.99. Pair it with the conditioner. Cleaning before conditioning is the step people skip, and it is why conditioner sometimes darkens a jacket unevenly.

• Gators Skin Glove Liners, $25. Thin liners that go under an existing pair of gloves and buy roughly ten degrees of usable range without changing glove size.

• G.I. Military Glove Liners, from $18.99. Same idea, military pattern, cheaper. A good filler item next to something larger.

• Leather Vest Extenders, $24.99. Only if you know they own a vest that is snug. When that is true this is the best twenty-five dollars on the whole list.

$30 to $125: Where Gloves Live

Gloves are the sweet spot of rider gifting. They wear out on a real schedule, most riders own one pair when they should own three, and the sizing is a single number you can steal off a glove in the garage. Everything in this tier is deerskin or goatskin, unlined and unarmored, which means it is wind and abrasion protection and not crash protection. Nobody should be told otherwise.

• Fingerless Deerskin Gloves, $72.99. Summer pair. Deerskin stretches to the hand within a couple of rides, so a size that is close still ends up right.

• Bad Billy Black Goatskin Gloves, $99.99. Goatskin instead of deerskin, which means a firmer hand and better wet-weather behavior. Under a hundred dollars.

• Classic Short Wrist Touchscreen Deerskin Gloves, $120. The one I recommend most often. Touchscreen thumb and forefinger, short cuff that lives under a jacket sleeve, three-season useful.

• Fleece-Lined Deerskin Gloves, $120. The correct December gift. 3M fleece lining, which is what turns a 50 degree glove into a 38 degree glove.

• Legendary Ole Blue Men's Denim Vest, $65. Denim is far more forgiving on size than leather, so this is the one garment in this tier I would risk on an estimate.

$125 and Up: You Need the Measurement

Above about $125 you are buying a fitted garment, and the size has to be right. Get a chest measurement, or get a look at the tag inside something they already wear on the bike. If you cannot do either, go back a tier and buy two things instead of one.

In this range the honest ranking goes: a vest is the safest large gift, because side lacing and a boxy cut absorb a size of error. A jacket is the least safe, because sleeve length and shoulder width both have to land. And a gauntlet glove sits oddly in between, since a longer cuff has to clear the jacket sleeve they already own.

The prices worth knowing at this level: the Legendary Dixon vest at $125, the club vest at $179.99, the Classic Deerskin Gauntlets at $145, and the Legendary Cruiser leather jacket at $299.99. Above that, BECK, a separate American maker that Legendary carries as a dealer, starts around $365 for a horsehide vest. That is a serious gift and it should only be bought with a size in hand. The year-round gift guide has more at each level than I can list here.

Editor's Picks

If I had to hand somebody three items and tell them one of these will work, it would be these. They cover three different budgets and two of the three carry no sizing risk.

• Obenauf's Heavy Duty LP Conditioner, $15.99. The safest gift in motorcycling. Every rider needs it, nobody buys it for themselves, and it cannot be the wrong size.

• Fleece-Lined Deerskin Gloves, $120. The December gift that gets used in December. Get the hand measurement first and this is close to a guaranteed hit.

• Legendary Men's Leather Club Motorcycle Vest, $179.99. The best big gift under two hundred dollars, because the side lacing forgives a size of error and it is the piece riders wear most.

What I'd Actually Buy

RevZilla deserves the honest mention on a gift list, because their return handling and their selection breadth genuinely beat any single brand's store. If you are buying blind and you want the widest possible net plus the easiest return in January, that is the practical answer and I would not pretend otherwise. Prices verified August 2026.

But if you know the rider even a little, the specific beats the broad. My default gift for someone I know rides is a tin of conditioner and a pair of unlined deerskin gloves in their measured size, which lands around $136 total and gets used every week. My default gift when I know nothing except that they own leather is two tins of Obenauf's, one clean and one condition, for $31.98. Neither of those comes back in January, and that is the whole test.