Living with it -Motor Bike Gear Review
January 8th 2008 08:50
The thing with riding motorbikes is the amount of gear that you accumulate over the years. some of it good, average and just bad. So after a few bike reviews, I thought it might be worth passing on my comments in regards to living with the gear.
First the helmet, this is what keeps your head together when you come off and you will sooner or later, so always buy the best you can afford, throwing out your dads old one from the 70s.
I currently use a KBC SR-1, its not a bad weight, the venting actually works quite well and wind noise is acceptable too. But its best to try a few different types on as going for a long ride with a lid that gives you a headache or just painful isn't fun and its distracting.
Next is the jacket and a well worn biker jacket almost becomes part of the family. For summer I use my trusty Alpinestars. This is a closer fit with shoulder, elbow armour and extra padding on the back. The arms are shaped for comfort and even on a cooler day such as when I took the Triumph to Hanmer, I only had a tee shirt underneath. Very good quality construction with only a bit of wear around one of the pockets. A fave piece of kit.
Again with buying a leather jacket, always buy the best you can afford, taking time to look at the leather quality, kangeroo is top notch followed by cow hide. Look at how the jacket is made, 'Is it sturdy and able to withstand a roll along the road?'
If you have the money, a one piece suit could be an option but think about when and where you are going to use it.
Summer is here and you always see people riding bikes in shorts, tee shirts and even flip flops/jandels!! You have to be a real muppet to do this as I've attended RTA's in the UK and its not nice to deal with or for the rider either.
Unless its a real short ride to the shop, I generally in summer wear my leather bike pants. Unsure of the brand but these are well constructed with thigh & knee armour, shin padding and detachable sliders. So one of the benefits of a seperate jacket and pants is being able to take your jacket off when its hot. The only fault with these is the zip to attach the rear of my jacket to is different so something to check if buying pants after a jacket purchase.
For around town riding, I find that as a light weight boot, all leather Hi-Tec Magnum boots are the biz, good ankle support and grip although the soles do wear down pretty quickly.
For longer rides or when its wet, I find these Italian Davos boots not too bad, good hard wearing sole, waterproofing isn't 100% but does a good job. The only improvement I would like to see is some more thicker leather where you change gear.
Gloves are something I always wear too although you see heaps of riders on large, expensive machines and hardly any protective gear on. These are a brand called Helsapor and are thinsulate lined although after you have been wearing them for a while, I have found that when you pull your hands out. The lining sticks to your hand and comes out with it, so a real pain trying to place it back into the glove.
No idea what brand these are now but they are pretty good to use, and get better with age. They even have nylon rain covers to go over the gloves when it rains.
These are my ultra light weight summer gloves, ex Luftwaffe pilots gloves and bought them for 10 pounds when I was 18 from an army surplus store. Great for zipping into town and leaving under the seat.
When it gets colder and wetter, then an armoured fabric jacket is a very good choice, this one has good elbow, shoulder and back protection and as with leather jackets, good quality construction is important. Budget to mid level prices will have average waterproofing but its still better than getting your leathers wet.
Fabric over trousers, not as good as leather obviously but with knee and thigh protection, still good to wear over jeans when its wet or cold.
A useful piece of kit that i got for Christmas is the Buff, this is a polyester microfibre multifunctional headwear although I found it is a great summer neck and chin warmer.
Very, very useful!
Lastly an old transport police jacket I picked up somewhere, quite old and has no armour protection but good to wear under my winter jacket when its really cold.
Its taken a while to collect this gear but if you buy quality then it should last you some time and when you are unlucky enough to take a tumble, then you will be glad to be wearing it.
First the helmet, this is what keeps your head together when you come off and you will sooner or later, so always buy the best you can afford, throwing out your dads old one from the 70s.
Next is the jacket and a well worn biker jacket almost becomes part of the family. For summer I use my trusty Alpinestars. This is a closer fit with shoulder, elbow armour and extra padding on the back. The arms are shaped for comfort and even on a cooler day such as when I took the Triumph to Hanmer, I only had a tee shirt underneath. Very good quality construction with only a bit of wear around one of the pockets. A fave piece of kit.
Again with buying a leather jacket, always buy the best you can afford, taking time to look at the leather quality, kangeroo is top notch followed by cow hide. Look at how the jacket is made, 'Is it sturdy and able to withstand a roll along the road?'
Summer is here and you always see people riding bikes in shorts, tee shirts and even flip flops/jandels!! You have to be a real muppet to do this as I've attended RTA's in the UK and its not nice to deal with or for the rider either.
Unless its a real short ride to the shop, I generally in summer wear my leather bike pants. Unsure of the brand but these are well constructed with thigh & knee armour, shin padding and detachable sliders. So one of the benefits of a seperate jacket and pants is being able to take your jacket off when its hot. The only fault with these is the zip to attach the rear of my jacket to is different so something to check if buying pants after a jacket purchase.
For around town riding, I find that as a light weight boot, all leather Hi-Tec Magnum boots are the biz, good ankle support and grip although the soles do wear down pretty quickly.
For longer rides or when its wet, I find these Italian Davos boots not too bad, good hard wearing sole, waterproofing isn't 100% but does a good job. The only improvement I would like to see is some more thicker leather where you change gear.
Gloves are something I always wear too although you see heaps of riders on large, expensive machines and hardly any protective gear on. These are a brand called Helsapor and are thinsulate lined although after you have been wearing them for a while, I have found that when you pull your hands out. The lining sticks to your hand and comes out with it, so a real pain trying to place it back into the glove.
No idea what brand these are now but they are pretty good to use, and get better with age. They even have nylon rain covers to go over the gloves when it rains.
These are my ultra light weight summer gloves, ex Luftwaffe pilots gloves and bought them for 10 pounds when I was 18 from an army surplus store. Great for zipping into town and leaving under the seat.
When it gets colder and wetter, then an armoured fabric jacket is a very good choice, this one has good elbow, shoulder and back protection and as with leather jackets, good quality construction is important. Budget to mid level prices will have average waterproofing but its still better than getting your leathers wet.
Fabric over trousers, not as good as leather obviously but with knee and thigh protection, still good to wear over jeans when its wet or cold.
A useful piece of kit that i got for Christmas is the Buff, this is a polyester microfibre multifunctional headwear although I found it is a great summer neck and chin warmer.
Very, very useful!
Lastly an old transport police jacket I picked up somewhere, quite old and has no armour protection but good to wear under my winter jacket when its really cold.
Its taken a while to collect this gear but if you buy quality then it should last you some time and when you are unlucky enough to take a tumble, then you will be glad to be wearing it.
| 50 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
