Quote:

Originally Posted by caleype Do Sandstorm/Gecko have a decent range of other bike gear - my European style bike leathers are not very practical for UAE temperatures! Peter

As Dirk says, Peter, the choice is pretty limited. They have some nice stuff but not much choice and the prices are on the high side.

I tried on the Fox helmets in Sandstorm and then got my friend to bring the right size from the States for about $50 less. I know they have to make a profit here and have shipping costs but there is also no sales tax so I don't think prices need to be as high as they often are here.

I also bought a nearly new BMW Rallye Suit for an excellent price on UK eBay this week and had it brought out by a colleague so there are ways to get gear at better prices.

I'm not sure if it's the same one (Motorcycle 2000 in Dune Centre) but there's a bike clothing shop on the roundabout at the end of Al Diyaffah street, opposite the Rydges Plaza Hotel.

While you're strolling down Diyaffah street, look out for the "Eye & Gynae Clinic". You never know when you'll need their professional expertise.
Stephan
Gecko: N25 06.640 E55 13.600
Sandstorm: N25 09.195 E55 14.075
Motorcycle City: N25 11.093 E55 21.207

Gecko gets a very positive review from Touratech's Nick Plumb here. They have serviced my bikes for fair prices and supporting 20 bikes in the rally speaks for their professionalism.

The same article also highlights what a good experience the Desert Challenge is for any budding Dakar riders. Worth thinking about as a good introduction to heat and sand.
Stephan

I ended up getting a cracking lightweight mesh jacket and gloves when I was back in the UK. I'll post the details of the jacket when I get home tonight in case any one is interested, but it was pretty good value (the jacket was just over GBP80) and so far has done the job superbly. Now I just need to find a decent open faced helmet and I'll be sorted!
Peter

Are you home yet? As getting pretty warm here in Dubai so was wondering what the kit was...

Hey there,
Apologies for not getting back sooner - I was on my honeymoon! Anyway I bought a Segura lightweight mesh jacket and a set of lightweight mesh Truimph gloves. I got them both in London. I am sure you can get something similiar here, but I have to admit I didn't have a hughe maount of success!
Peter

I'm already here in UAE, in Abu Dhabi. Thinking about riding my old CBR600 out here for occasional use as its gathering dust there in the UK. (still fires up first time when I'm home though!) At the moment i'm nursing the thought of a road trip late summer early winter road trip, as much for the experience as anything else. Did all go well with the registration process, or was it a nightmare sufficient to call off the whole idea and buy a locally registered bike?

Hi there Sparks59
All went well with the process in the end. The shipping company who brought the bike over got the bike through customs and provided me with the customs documents. I did have to pay an import duty, but it seemed to be calculated on the basis of what I told them it should be (I gave them AED1000 for a bike which is worth considerably sufficient for the import duty to rightly be far more than that!) . Once I'd got these docs I just went straight to the RTA here in Dubai, together with the insurance I had had to buy here and the RTA processed it without too much effort - I had to buy a Dubai plate, but it wasn't much (I forget the actual price now) and they even fitted it to the bike there and then!
The Dubai Red Tape Guide says that you need to get export plates to both officially drive around in the UAE before you get your UAE plates (I rode around for a couple of weeks on my UK plates with no problems) and to get the UAE plates at the RTA (I was never asked for them by anyone!) - the Red Tape Guide is useful, but after my experience I wouldn't stress too much about what it says.
So all in all it's definately worth it if you can somehow cover the cost of shipping it over to the UAE in the first place!
Now I just to repair my bike after trashing it the other week riding around Hatta Pools (with these guys - www.UAEride.com • Index page)!
Peter