For the newbies on here: Be prepared to have this point brought up again, and again, and again during the riding season. I've been a gear nazi in the past, but I will cite rule 11 of the Rules of the Internet: All of you carefully picked arguments can easily be ignored. It's your body, it's your skin, you can do whatever the hell you want to, up to and including rocking a mankini. Any new riders that have come to me for advice I've always steered down the path of proper gear for the budget they have to spend, and will continue to do so. As for me, I've got a A* ATL jacket that is fairly decent at airflow, non-gaunt gloves, Scorp helmet, and Setup race boots that I wear everywhere when I'm on the bike. If I know I'm hitting some twisties I'll throw on some sixsixone knee pads under my jeans. Went down in this setup (substitute ATL jacket for Teknic textile) and didn't have a scratch.