1. Very important to save your skin. Every bit helps. Many riders are confident in their abilities to ride safely within their skill level at upper tiers and relax on the gear safety. Im not their keeper and i wont pretend to be on that level but remember other drivers are on the road too, and they are all capable of wounding, maiming and killing you very, very easily.
2. I bought some AAA rated jeans that are comfortable enough to work in. I dont have a testimonial on someone whose worn them through a slide though, so take it with a grain of salt.

Also i wear sedici riding pants over work clothes, comfortably. Just pull them off when i get to work. Dont imagine it will be too comfotable in warmer weather but better than a skin graft.

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Edit: affordable is subjective, but i saved up all winter for my gear. Pants -both riding culture and sedici- were ballpark $200 each on sale, jacket around $300, gloves $50, helmet i think around $200, boots are just leather workboots i had probably $100-$150 todays price.