Hi All,
I'm trying to budget for a bike plus some protective gear for commuting over the winter in Ireland and then doing some touring in Europe and possibly farther next summer

• My budget is 450 Euro for jacket and pants.
• I'm 2 metres tall, can anyone reccomend me a brand that does trousers with at least 36" inside leg?
• I'd like to buy a long rally style jacket, have done a bit of cycling and rain creping in between jacket and pants is no fun.
• I already own a gore tex jacket pants for mountaineering and gore tex bib for sailing, is it possible to buy a decent non gore tex jacket&pants with armour and use the gore tex I have when it starts raining?
• Can anyone reccomend a good quality, non gore tex long jacket as I can't afford any of the top gore tex brands?

Thanks
Ronan

It may help you to know - and I am not recommending their clothing or gear as i have virtually no experience of it save for a pair of lightweight summer trousers, However for sizes like very tall or long limbed people BMW can order from there scandinavian sized range which are cut and designed for very tall slim people with longer arm/leg lengths.
I tend not to wear waterproof clothing(eg gortex or lined suits) but prefer Cordura type that are fully vented showerproof at best and use a lightweight nylon type overjacket / trousers it means when you get off the bike after serious weather you strip off the nylon and your dry so if your camping or even walking into a cafe/ hotel whatever your not a squidgy soaking puddle. this usually means your warmer also as waterproof goretex suits become heavy and cold when wet. Its far easier to dry a nylon or lightweight overjacket than a soaked set of wet gortex type bike gear. Also means the bike gear is cheaper as the company dont have design in and guarantee water tightness. I actualy use bmw summer pants very comfy on off the bike - medium level of protection, and a hein Gericke jacket that has several vents in a cordura style desert jacket cant remember what its called but its from the tuareg range. cost about £130.00 i would say it gives a medium level of protection both the pants and jacket have armour etc. but are light comfortable and great in warm weather and better than some other more expensive gear in seriously cold weather with a nylon oversuit.