I admit, I wear jeans sometimes to ride. I always feel a little stupid when I do, but I guess I would feel a little less stupid wearing jeans that actually protect somewhat. I posted a link to some BMW brand riding jeans a while back that were like $400 but have Kevlar and padding etc.
Ordinarily I wear zip-off waterproof riding pants with padded hard knee armor and some padding around the rest of them, though probably not enough for a high speed get-off (how much is enough?). I am confident they would protect quite a bit more than jeans. However, they get somewhat warm in hot weather. This will be my first summer with the bike, though I've had some hot weather with it already.
My #1 piece of advice for staying cool (up top at least) is Under Armour Heatgear under your leather. That stuff will keep you COLD. Riding with any amount of breeze coming through, these shirts just steal the heat off your body and throw it away. I'm serious, even in hot weather I sometimes end up shivering at speed. Plus it's indestructible and doesn't hold smells nearly at all.
I am looking into hot weather riding pants of some kind as well.
