touring gear thoughts?
 

I'm looking at buying some textile touring gear, so far I'm really down to a few choices that are in my price range (roughly $300 for a suit). I'm currently weighing the pros and cons of a 1 pc vs 2 pc suit.

Any thoughts or ideas on one vs the other?

1pc:

http://www.newenough.com/street/suit...ycle_suit.html
http://www.revzilla.com/product_imag...rion1_zoom.jpg


2pc:

http://www.newenough.com/street/jack...le_jacket.html
http://www.newenough.com/street/pant...overpants.html

http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...ity_Yellow.jpg
http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com...OG/CALIBER.jpg

I like Tourmaster gears.

I still can't decide which is more convenient, 1-pc or 2-pc for touring.

It's easier to take a shit when in 2-pc set. Just drop pants & go.

I really like First Gear's stuff... after talking a long time to the owner of Dual Sport Touring (the place we stopped on the ride down to the rally this year) Franswa (sp?) he showed me how well the BMW, Rev'it, and First gear stuff are made.

I think I'm gonna buy the Rev'it Sand jacket and pants this winter. that or the Canyon Pro. There were little things about the first gear stuff that could have been done better when it came to continence... but quality IMO is top notch. (chest vent gets held shut by the wind for example)

I personally would go with a 2 piece... you'll get more wear out of it... and it'll be more adaptable to larger temperature ranges, after all, you can always remove the pants and wear jeans when riding ( I usually wear knee and shin protection under my jeans though)

francois

I've had good luck with Tourmaster, I have a jacket that is around 20 years old that is still serviceable (though not pretty) I have friends who swear by Firstgear...

I really like the bmw and revit stuff, but I cant see spending that much on gear, just too expensive. The 1pc has some cool features that the jacket doesn't, like the built in balaclava, and the high neck guard, but it cant be worn as just a jacket. They both get almost all positive reviews, much better than similarly priced competitors

I've used the Joe Rocket Alter Ego stuff for the past few seasons and have been very happy with it. YMMV.

I love my BMW gear, it just sucks in hot weather. I need to get a better summer suit. It's finally getting cool enough to wear it again. It's unthinkable in summmer to wear it.

One of the things I'm looking for is its cold weather riding abilities, I really want something warm for the winter. I'm not expecting it to be 100% warm, but something that can go out on cold days with the suit, liner, and warm clothes underneath.

I also have no illusion that the 4 season riding gear is there, its either light for spring/summer/fall or heavy for fall/winter/spring. I have enough summer gear,

The BMW rallye pro suit fits this to a tee. I have not found the lowest temperature thats comfortable to ride in yet, my boots and gloves give out first. Actually I need to replace the boots because the gloves/moose paw things aren't a weak point anymore. My boots are first now. The gortex/fleece liner is unfuckingbelieveably good. What sucks though is it's also the rain liner. If it rains when it is warmer, I cant go with this liner because it's too damn hot. I keep a spare light rain suit for normal nonriding use in my top case for warmer months that I can slip on underneath the suit.

And thats all I saw from that

look into Klim... from what I hear their shit is awesome for the heat


though their Adventure JACKET is 1200... yeah... JACKET 1200... :bs:

probably going to end up with a first gear mesh suit before it's all said and done.

I like my first gear stuff, although I'm not real sure how it will be in the winter. I'll have to let you know, but you'll have already bought something by then. :lol:

http://www.revzilla.com/product/olym...one-piece-suit

My best friend has this suit and I've worn it quite a few times. The one-piece wasn't really a problem imo. Was nice to be able to wear dress clothes underneath to and from work or wherever. He's had it for 5ish years and it is still in great shape after tons of use.

I love my Aerostich, and would highly recommend it, but it's a bit out of the price range you are considering.

You're right Ebbs, to a point. I considered this as well when I got my Aerostich, but here's the problem. When you're on a tour, you're usually alread packed pretty full. Are you going to have ROOM to stick a pair of riding pants? Riding pants do take up a bit of space, and personally, I don't have that much room left once I consider space for trinkets and whatever I buy on the road.

Just something else to consider.

on my trips... when I've taken my pants off.. I just throw them under the bungee's on the outside of my luggage. they're usually covered in road grime and bug guts so I wouldn't pack them anyways.

plus they're easy to get to if I get caught in a torrential downpour

And right there is why I got a one piece Aerostich. I had a PVC suit on my first tour. By the time I got a little wet and stopped, the suit was a pain to put on. I didn't want to have to stop. When the rain starts now, I just smile and keep going. =)

ehh to be honest... I only take my pants off and ride in jeans if it's gonna be clear skys... the pants aren't THAT hot to ride in... and I'm in MS... where we get 105* rain storms...

but yeah I got ya... but it's nice when I stop at a restaurant I don't look like I'm stripping to get comfortable.

So I wound up purchasing a 2 piece suit:

http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/o...enture+jacket#

http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/o...pants+-+black#

http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/d...e.php?id=23697

http://www.motorcyclecloseouts.com/d...e.php?id=76427


I actually wanted to get the silver pants to match the jacket but they have been discontinued and are next to impossible to find in a size that would fit me, so i settled on the black. The price was right, $240 shipped, so I will see in a week or so how it is. from the reviews I have read teh combo seems pretty sturdy, with the only drawback being that it can get warm over 75F despite being advertised as a 4 season set. But like I said in my original post I have plenty of summer gear already.

Folks over at ADVrider generally had positive reviews of it

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293880

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/1...1002104738.jpg

This is what i wound up with. I prolly could have got medium pants, the large are a little long for me but all the online reviews said to get it one size large. The pants arent too bad, just really baggy. Jacket is perfect size, plenty of pockets, very warm with the liner in, still very warm without it, once I opened the shoulder vents at speed the air flows into the shoulders and down my back, this jacket is definately not a summer jacket, fall winter and spring it will definately work great for, and maybe cooler summer days, my bet is that 80 really is the max for this jacket.

Also wearing the new HJC helmet in this picture

nice!

Pretty much all gear this type is this way, you really need a mesh setup for summer.

I got a Joe rocket mesh jacket. I'm not really a fan of mesh, I had one tear off my body when I went down a while back.

my gear isn't all that hot for me... I wear it day in and out in MS

There are some quality pants jackets that hold up decently when you aren't running sportbike speeds and playing on/off pavement.

the pants could use some venting... but the ones I have are the winter ones

Thick jacket/pants would suck ass on a goat path ride on a 95+ degree day. I rode in my dirt pants a lot this summer with my mesh jacket. It wouldn't of done much on asphalt, but it was sure as hell nice once I got to the trails. The BMW shit is too hot in those temps.

yeah I mean if you were doing heavy trail riding you'd cook... but touring... you'll be warm but hydrate and you'll be fine.


I've got dirt gear I wear for the trail riding...

I took it on a ride this past sunday, which was in the upper 50's in the morning and upper 40's and raining in the evening. The combo did great! the jacket and pants didnt let any water in (well teh jacket did a little, more on that later). Wearing just a T-shirt and jeansd I was comfortable at highway speeds with no chills or cold feeling at all, and thats without the liners in. On the way home the weather took a turn for the worse, heavy rain and 40's. i wound up putting on a fleece shirt I had brought with me and was still comfortable at highway speed, at least until my wrists and neck started to get damp. I'll take the blame for that as my gloves were to blame for my wrists, the water just saoked right through them and made the fleece sleeves damp. I'm pretty confident that if I had the removable neck thingy attached my neck would have been 100% dry too. In total I did almost 200 miles in heavy rain (north jersey to south of baltimore, took me 5 hours and I started to get a cold feeling in my wrists about 20 miles north of baltimore, 4 hours after I started to ride.

The jacket fits perfect, and has plenty of adjustments on it to fit correctly around the waist and the very bottom of the jacket. There are 7 exterior pockets (almost too many, I lost my money at one toll because I forgot which pocket it was in), and the interior has another 3 pockets. All of the jacket pockets are waterproof too with teh waist pokets having a fold over portion below the velcro so water would have to get inside a zipper, go up inside the pocket almost an inch before the inside gets wet. the two large chest pockets are just fold over velcro. With that, none of my pockets even got damp. There are more pockets on the liner too. The jacket could use some more external vents, which would probably sacrifice its waterproof abilities, and the ones it does have do 'OK'. They don't actually let air hit you directly just circulate inside the jacket, but there is still a waterproof liner between you and fresh air. I say OK because you can feel the air blowing, but it does minimal cooling at best. I would say that this is definately a 3 season jacket, and summer is not one of those seasons. But for the price? The jacket is 100% waterproof, the only reason my wrists got wet is because my waterprrof gloves aren't nearly as waterproof as they used to be. My hand became soak by hour 2 and the moisture started working its way up my fleece shirt around hour 4, and the neck thing attachment would have prevented any water from dripping off my helmet into the collar.

The pants are slightly large for me and without the liners in them they are too big, with the liners in them they are the right size. I could probably have easily gotten away with a medium even though every review says buy a size larger than you would normally. The full length zippers on the pants didnt let any water in them at all, and even the pockets are water proof. There are 2 vents on the pants, one on each thigh that let air in, same as the jacket, and if you really want to let fresh air in it would probably be more beneficial to open the side zippers from the top and expose your pants to the air rather than the vents.

The only real negative I could find (other than the vents) is that the pants and jacket dont have a full zipper around them, just an 8" zipper in back. I am not a fan of those at all, the only thing they do is make it a chore to take a shit. A full length zipper would have been much better to justifiy removing the whole suit to go to the crapper, I don't think I will ever zip them together.

Overall I would highly recommend this combo. For the price you get many features of much more expensive and high end suits. It definately is not an areostich or a bmw set, but at 1/4 the price would you really expect it to be? From the feel and look of the material I would expect this set to last me 5 years of fairly heavy riding, not saying that its cheap, but that would be a reasonable happy point to replace it. Expect this combo to only be good for the cooler months between september and may (in the northeast).

Warm to hot = 2pc. Cold = 1pc.

I can really bring the body stink so a 1pc on a summer adventure would not be a wise choice for me. A 1pc + the runs = a chance of mess forecast.