Hi,
seems like spring is finally coming, but at least here in middle Germany and pretty cold, almost too cold to bike, but just almost. In the end I couldn't resist and had a go at it on my KTM. The bike performed well, the new Heidenau K60s gripped and everything was great. Everything but me it seemed, since I almost froze my various bodyparts off without going into detail here.

It got me thinking about finally investing into some proper cold weather riding jacket, instead of adding more and more layers under my snug fit summer stuff until I look like the Michelin man with blue lips.

Browsing through the new Hein Gericke catalogue I found this one:


Another shot:


Source

Now I know that High Viz colors are not for everybody, personally I think if the color's too strong, you're just too weak and from a security standpoint it makes utter sense. For travelling I would choose differently, but commuting is a totally different animal.

At least on paper (haven't tried one yet) this jacket looks good:

• Waterproof Gore-Tex Liner
• Removable thick collar
• SasTec protectors, including a back protector
• safety stitching (whatever that mean)
• supposed to be very warm

Since I have both an enduro and a sports bike I need something that fits both and I think this might be where this jacket lacks, like most 3/4 jackets do (they either ride up too high or press against the tank). It also seems to be missing a connecting zipper for pants.

I think I pop down to the next store and try one in the next couple of days and report back. If anybody has any experiences with this thing, I'm more than curious to hear them.

Cheers,
buebo

__________________
Projekt Balkan
www.buebo.de - Der tägliche Wahnsinn

Hi buebo, I had the regular cruise jacket and pants combo and wasn't really that impressed with it, first thing that went was the zip on collar, it got in the way and made head movement difficult so off it came, then the back protector got ditched, it is basically several bits of different sized foam pad glued together and I found it uncomfortable so out it came, riding in British weather in Winter it was good, It kept me very warm and the inner goretex lining kept me dry but the outer layer absorbed a lot of water so if you are using it every day during a wet spell you would need drying facilities or to proof the fabric, in Summer though it was just too hot, the vents made very little difference so I had to buy another set of kit.
Putting it back on again in the Autumn I had a slow speed off on a very wet and muddy back road, the material wore through very easily even though I only slid a very short distance both the jacket and pants where history, the armour also fell to pieces where it got knocked and as it is only cheap armour I wouldn't want to trust it to anything more than a very low speed tumble.
As this is the top of the HG range and not a cheap bit of kit I was very disappointed at how it performed and that one slow speed slide wrote it off.

Well, this puts a bit of a damper on my enthusiasm. I think I'll have a look at it anyway but looking back in history I had quite mixed experiences with Hein Gericke products. I thought this (considering the price) must be top-notch.

You reports seem to prove me wrong

Maybe Rev'it is the way to go then...

__________________
Projekt Balkan
www.buebo.de - Der tägliche Wahnsinn

Thats the route I ended up going down, I bought a revit cayene jacket and pants, the cost is a little more but the difference in quality is very noticeable.

Rest assured, it wont save you and you might die looking like a nerd

John

__________________
Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

I had the full Hg cruise set, the zip on the trousers bib went within 2 weeks, they got soaked through real quick even in light rain.
They were warm enough for cool temps, but in winter you would still need a fleece, thermals under that. On really cold day when its -5 or colder you will will still end up utterly frozen.
The lining on the inside is not exactly the best thermal stuff i have come accross.

ive been a HG customer since i started riding 12yrs ago and ive seen it go a bit more downhill every year. i picked up this years catalogue yesterday and had a look round the store and was dissappointed. features, choice and quality seem to be going down but prices are the opposite, even though none of it is made in germany anymore its phillipines, malaysia, vietnam etc.

and thats another problem ive got with most of their jackets now, they only go up to XXL which used to be ok for the german made stuff 10yrs ago, but a little vietnamese guy has no concept of what size and shape a 120KG rugby playing european might be. just scaling up the body doesnt cut it, £1100 is ridiculous for a suit in which i cant get my forearms down the sleeves, or do up the fancy neck fasteners, and have it all hang out like britney spears when i put my arms over my head.
time to look for a different brand methinks

__________________
dave

I have a bit HG stuff;

The Tuareg rally suit, It's very good, but a couple of years old and starting to look it, but it doesn't leak and its reasonably warm (it's not really designed for sub zero stuff anyway), but the lining fastners have pretty much all broken and the jacket zip lost it's tag. My wife repaired the lining and I use a paper clip in the zip (with a little bit of solder to stop int opening up), other than that the kit is good and does what I need it to.

Master V Jacket, this is brilliant, it's very warm (can easily ride for 30 miutes in -5c with just a T-Shirt on), waterproof and doesn't show it's age at all. It's completely un-usable in the summer though.

Before moving to HG, I had both Frank Thomas and Belstaf. Frank Thomas I found to be very uncomfortable and leaked at the neck and the cuffs, it lasted one winter! The Belstaf gear was just a pain, although this was the second set of gear I'd had from Belstaff, the first being very good indeed, the second again leaked at the neck (the fornt of the neck) and when you stopped, the cuff design was such that the entire covering of a wet arm would run down ito the glove - not nice!

When the Tuareg stuff started to fall apart I was happy to repair it, and the repairs are holding well, so I still have very servicable equipment.

The Master V jacket is like new! and I've been offered a swap for a new daylight cruise jacket pictured in the OP. This was from the manager in the HG shop! From this I'm deducing that quality, design or standards have slipped a little.

I think that motorcycle equipment is very subjective, as much to do with the shape of the purchaser as the quality of the garment. It's always best to look around and try stuf on for fit (remember to take your lid with you and any other stuff you ride in so you get a better feel for it). Quality is slipping all over the place as the accountants have started to design kit.

In a past life I worked in car safety - one point to note (I saw this on one of the early posts), safety equipment is supposed to self sacrifice during an accident, the energy has to go somewhere. I think the measure of it's performance is whether it saved you injury, not the condition of the garment afterwards. This is just a general point, and in no way whatsoever a critisisim of Tonto's post as overlanders need kit that will survive multiple acidents, but manufacturers are building to other standards that what we require. It's just something to bear in mind.

As you appear willing to spend a significant sum on your clothing I can recommed Rukka clothing from personal experience. The detachable liners are a real benefit in winter weather (I ride all year), the quality of manufacture is very good (I have never suffered any ingress of water) and it all comes with a five year guarantee.

I'm just back from my next HG dealer and from the first look on the daylight cruise. To be honest the jacket looked fine for me, but I'm somehow missing the features that set it apart from the rest of the clothing world.

Considering it is significantly more expensive then say a Rev'it Cayenne Pro (which get's great reviews and is available with a bright orange colour scheme fitting my KTM) it seems a bit too ordinary.

Not meaning to bash HG by the way, I have some HG Enduro boots and they do hold up great to the constant abuse they been through. They are now 4 or 5 years old, still waterproof and do breath and all that for about 100€...

Rukka... I had a look at their stuff a couple of years ago but it was almost crazy expensive back then, something like 800€ for a jacket alone. I would be willing to stretch my budget but this would be a little too much. Tthey do have quite a reputation though and I am indeed willing to spend a bit on my biking clothing, after all it's it has to cope with most the world throws at me and be comfortable for long miles.

Hmmm.... I guess I have to keep on looking...

Thanks for all the input!

__________________
Projekt Balkan
www.buebo.de - Der tägliche Wahnsinn

exactly what HG was not so long ago, but theyve lost their way a bit it seems.

im not bashing them, im just saying they dont cater for what i want any more. i use their rallye gore boots and they are excellent, i was going to buy another pair when it comes time but theyve gone up to nearly £200, simply not worth it.

__________________
dave

Last year I invested in a gortex Biker jacket. The best Ive ever had,with removable fleece zipped breathing vents and velcro pockets with zips . Never been wet or cold in it . I couldnt afford the matching trousers at the time, but this year bought HG gortex kecks. The jacket with usual armour on back and elbows cost £240 but this year is over £400. This will last me for many years to come , I hope. Just shows buy cheap and replace more often. To be honest the outer pockets can become damp in heavy rain so I dont keep phone or wallet there.

The search has come to an end I believe. I rode over to my next, independent motorcycle stuff dealer and basically tried on a couple of things, amongst other stuff Rukka, Stadler and Held.

Stadler (a German brand) was nice, they offer a jacket that had some kind of outer zip in vest, black on one side, bright yellow on the other. Unfortunately most of their stuff was 3/4 length (which does not work on my sportsbike) or just didn't fit me.

Held (another german brand) was nice as well. They do offer a jacket which is pretty similar to the Rev'it Cayenne Pro, seems to have good ventilation and (I love that one) has actually magnetic closures, meaning they don't break and don't wear out. The pants were on backorder for the next four weeks though and I'm in the market for a combination soon...

Prices were significantly lower than Rukka or Stadler as well, seemed quite a good deal and would be worth a look...

In the end I pretty much settled on a Rukka Kalahari:



(Not my pic obviously)

Rukka is not exactly the cheapest option on the market obviously but it's not much of a difference to most other 'premium brands' (whatever that means) and quality seems great, they do also offer a 5 year warranty in which you apparently even get a replacement jacket as long as yours is getting repaired.

They had to order my pants in (apparently my legs are too short for the rest of my body ) so it's not 100% yet but I reckon by the end of next week I'm a fresh Rukka owner.

A propper review is in the pipeline.

__________________
Projekt Balkan
www.buebo.de - Der tägliche Wahnsinn

looks good, but its still £1100/1200!!

__________________
dave

Unfortunately it indeed is that expensive and I know that you could probably buy a bike that could take you rtw with that money.

In the end I'm not going rtw for the next couple of years though, but do quite a bit of commuting and I'm tired of never knowing if I'll arrive wet, dry, frozen, sweaty or fine at the office, grocers or wherever.

So let me put it this way, instead of buying cheap and buying often - which didn't work too well for me in the past - I've now bough expensive and hope to keep it for the next couple of years (say about 15 minimum ).

The again you can spend upwards of 2k€ on a Rukka Suit as well, so I got off easy

__________________
Projekt Balkan
www.buebo.de - Der tägliche Wahnsinn