I have been getting more & more back into motos after a long hiatus, but have been exclusively buying and selling local bikes in foriegn countries. Enfields in India/Pakistan, a Hotian 150cc in Tibet, an nx 400 falcon in Patagonia.

I have been mostly wearing lot's of fleece, down & gortex. Not the best level of protection, but better than just trekking pants. I carry this stuff for trekking and seem to need it whether I am in the tropics or mountains.

I am starting to feel like I rather have a set of riding gear, but can't carry several sets for different conditions. I plan on doing some even longer rides and would like to only have a single set of gear for conditions ranging from 100+ F to well below freezing. The modular gear seems repetitive and inferior to the high tech backpacking gear I already carry.

What do you think about this strategy? Getting a high vented summer suit and layering under it with poly pro & fleece and over it with gortex and down as it get colder. Will the summer suits accomodate layering? Would you go for larger & wear down under the suit when it's cold or go smaller & layer the down & fleece outside the suit?

What about back protection? Is it best to have it intergrated into the suit or is a separate back brace a better way to go?


Advice?

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India Himal, 3mo,2x; Kazak/Krygyz/Tajik, 3 mo; Kashi-Lhasa, China 219! 6 wk; Nepal, 4 days/trekked 55; Santiago-Ushuia-Cusco, 7 mo; Peru, 3 mo; Chile-Medellin 3 mo; Medillin-Arica, 3 mo

Its not the world's best protection, but if you find that your current kit meets all your needs, except that of crash protection why not get something like this, or this?

I would be more inclined to trust the Knox, personally...

PS Back protectors: intergrated lighter and less bother, but do not cover as much of the spine. Personally, I try and go for a BP that runs from as low to as high up my back as possible.

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

I too have recently pondered the armoured summer vented jacket as a base for a do-everything clothing system. Especially after my Trip to Turkey, encountering as I did 40+ deg C in Turkey, close to zero in the Dolomites, torrential rain in Italy and Austria.

I like down. It's soft, light, comfy and warm without being clammy. I have a Mountain Equipment down jacket which is super-warm yet packs really small. But I've ruled it out for m/c wear. Even with the best kit, riding for hours in rain risks leaks. And a down jacket, once wet on a cold and wet bike tour, is an expensive and useless encumbrance. I will still use a down sleeping bag mind, my tent is waterproof and I can easly keep the bag wrapped up and dry while riding.

As for a goretex outer, I am afraid I long ago lost faith in "breathable but 100% waterproof" clothing. I have gone over to cheap plastic waterproofs. 0% breathable but 100% waterproof. I can live with the lack of the breathability that is so important to hill-walkers etc who are generating heat through exercise. I on the other hand am not hill-walking; I'm sitting on my bike, I'm not generating much heat. But 80 mph motorcycling for hours in the rain places demands on waterproofing that breathable kit can't cope with.

The only real downside of wearing the waterproof layer outside the armoured vented summer jacket is that if you come off, you'll tear the waterproof layer. This could be significant if you're touring for miles on slippery mud, where you expect to come off frequently. But I tour mostly on tarmac. Sometimes fairly dodgy tarmac it has to be said, but I don't expect to be regularly falling off and tearing outer clothing. But if I were to be falling off regularly and regularly tearing outer clothing, I'd rather be tearing a £10 plastic jacket than a £100/£200 goretex jacket.

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Seek Truth

15 countries in 40 days. Tanks, crashes, minefields and Kalashnikovs

As a sidecarist I have less worries about crash protection, but I also came to the conclusion that modern bike gear was over priced and under specced. My developments so far can be seen here if it helps:

https://sites.google.com/site/threew...laces/clothing

I basically got fed up of getting soaked from the inside then the outside because Goretex/nylon combo's are one trick ponies and need to be clean to work. At the same time I was reading about the RAF Everest and long range flights of the 1920's/30's and the work being done to look at what Mallory and Irvine used.

For a solo rider in a cold/dry/off road climate, I'd say MX armour and climbing gear is going to be better than £400 jackets designed for the Autobahn on a Sunday afternoon. If nothing else climbers gear has collars that work outside of a Milan fashion show.

Andy

Yes some kit is overpriced and label based, but a lot is very good in my opinion.

I must say that I have one of those nylon/goretex combos and it has only leaked once or twice in really heavy, day-long, rain. Every other day this winter and previous ones have been perfectly comfortable. I have worn IXS clothing for about 7-8 years now and that translates as only 2 jackets.

I'm not questioning that other kit formats will work, nor that some brands are just for the image-conscious, but there is good M/C kit out there, even if you just land on it by chance. Plus the jacket only cost me £250!

"Only", but you know what I mean...

BTW, I too feel a little less vulnerable on a sidecar, but I get the feeling this is a false sense of security. Sure, low-siding a bike is less likely and that is the image we have when off roading on a solo, but high-siding (or flipping) the chair or getting nailed by a blind cretin in a car are just as big a risk and also the more dangerous of possible motorcycle cock-ups, IMO...

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

Even though it is expensive and fits the Ewan&Charlie cliché, I love my BMW Rallye 2 Pro suit.

I have been wearing it daily during the last 2 years, everything from snowy winter trips in the Alps (-15C with a heated jacket liner) to commuting in Madrid summer heat (45C). It holds up well to spills because the removable Gore-tex liner is inside, has great built-in NP protectors, tons of vents, pockets and other well thought out details (camelbag pocket, removable fanny pack, etc).

To me it was worth the €700 I bought it for on Ebay (new).

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Currently on a RTW ride:
https://www.facebook.com/AroundTheWorldWithLukasM

I used:
Olympia Moto Sports - GT Air All Seasons Transition Jacket
jacket

Olympia Moto Sports - Men’s Airglide 2 Mesh Tech Over Pant
pants

As my primary gear and just supplemented with local gear along the trip. Since I started off super hot in the summer in Texas/Central America, I just had the above gear with nerdy synthetic shirts. They wored perfectly and are some of the cheapest riding gear you can buy in the US!

I started off with proper rain gear too, but ditched the jacked because the liner that came with the olympia gear was good enough to not need an additional liner. I kept the pants though.

When it got cold (high altitudes of South America and Ushuaia), I augmented my riding gear with locally acquired stuff and by always wearing rain gear. By the time I made it to Ushuaia, I was wearing long sleeved shirt, alpaca pullover or hoodie, rain liner for jacket, and riding jacket. On my legs long thermal undies, riding pants, and rain pants.

Just remember, the locals have to stay warm too (or cool)... so you can find whatever you need locally. Just give it away when you're done. Buying a couple of coats along the way in a long trip is better than hauling it across a desert when you don't need it.

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http://davegtravels.com - RTW on a DRZ
All the way south - Texas to Tierra del Fuego in '08-'09