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Grinding gear

Today I have a little spare time where I’m not battling chronic exhaustion so I thought I’d blog a little bit about my equipment.
Everything I’m using was thought through and there is a reason for everything, even if they weren’t the best choices in the world.
My Jacket is a BMW Boulder, otherwise known as the poor-mans Touring jacket. Poor BMW equals expensive to everyone else and this jacket retailed at £300. It’s recently been replaced with the Boulder 2 which is a little bit different so some dealers still have the older ones. I was lucky enough to have an offer accepted on Ebay and got mine new from an over-stocked dealer for £150 which is a fair price. It’s got a tough outer nylon shell that’s fairly water resistant and a goretex inner liner. It’s a summer jacket really but so far I’ve dealt with 10 to 40 degrees and it’s never been uncomfortable. It’s just about roomy enough for a fleece inner and I have a waterproof jacket to throw over the top (army surplus breathable plastic suit). The armour is top notch and it has protection at the shoulders, elbows and back. It’s keeping me warm, cool and dry and is not restricting me at all. The main zip has snapped and the others are a bit fiddly but otherwise top notch gear and a great investment.
Trousers are Wolf Titanium Outlast. Not the greatest choice but they retail at £180 and I got them for £110, the limit of what I wanted to pay. They are a cut above most and I was impressed with the quality of construction when I looked at them. They look different somehow and more durable. They have an internal waterproof/breathable membrane like Goretex but without the cost and a winter lining. I’m running with the lining zipped in because otherwise they stick to you like glue. The lining is very thin anyway and I’m not hot in them. I was impressed from day one, there is no wind through them but they don’t get hot. The only snag is the sizes are generous and they are a bit big but that’s probably a benefit in keeping me cool and I’ve grown to like the way they fit now. Only other issue is that you struggle to take a leak.
Boots and gloves are easier choices. Boots are £20 Karrimore walking boots on sale in Bromley. They are doing the job, they give good ankle protection and are cool and comfortable... price also was spot on. Gloves are some old winter gloves that didn’t fit properly and I wore them once when my main gloves were wet through. The linings stuck and pulled out. I cut them out and now they fit brilliantly and are making good summer gloves. Price was cheap.
My Helmet is an Osbe adventure. Now it’s a good looking and well-made lid with Kevlar/carbon construction I got it cheap at £100 but it’s very noisy and the peak does nothing whatsoever. It’s starting to look tired now and I fancy an upgrade but touring kicks the crap out of your equipment and I’m dubious to spend out on a new lid when this one is decent enough. I don’t need the level of protection this one gives and replacing it with similar would be a waste of money. On a bike that does 70mph I’d be better off with a polycarbonate helmet that was just a bit more comfortable. I may change it out. I saw a very trick looking led on a German GS and it wasn’t something I had heard of. I will look into that when I’m in the land of big, ugly sausages and bigger, uglier women.
The rest of my gear is strapped or bolted to the bike. My sat nav is a Garmin Zumo 500. It’s the same as the 550 for less money and is exactly the same other than not having radio data updates which only work in the US. It’s water and shock proof (tested and proved) but European travel is limited. Granted it’s my own fault for not reading the instructions but I assumed it would just be a case of putting in the post code and getting navigation to the place, just like in the UK but in fact it’s much more tricky and the navigation is basic. Now I’ve turned off all the gadgets it’s like a useful modern compass and it’s telling me my KPH too which is a nice touch. It’s still better than a TOMTOM. I doubt later models are more advanced. I’m guessing for the sort of navigation I wanted I need to download new maps and pay for the privilege. I will find a way to do that without paying.
Luggage is Dirtbagz throwovers. They’re throwovers but they’re good quality. They’re heavy duty nylon and they have an inner rubberised coating so they’re even more durable and waterproof. They have heatproof panelling to avoid exhaust heating and plates to hold some degree of shape. They also come with metal support bars to rest on. Those bars are tough and have saved the bike from damage when she was kicked over in London by some unknown bastard. The bags seem excellent but I’m running a bungie around them too to support the weight, just in case. No trouble so far. I wanted metal so i could lock them but the alloy rear subframe doesn’t lend itself to the extra weight and boxes can be dangerous in a spill, especially off-road so this was a better solution all round, (cheaper too).
Upgrades to the bike were more costly. The first and biggest improvement came from a Wilburs rear shock. The showa standard unit is a piece of crap. They frequenlly pack up and bottom out, stressing the allow swing-arm. The Wilburs comes with a 5 year warranty and transformed the way the bike handles. They set them up for you and I’m a generously built guy in the first instance. Additionally I frequently carry a Pillion. My other-half weighs about as much as what happens when you dispose of a heavy curry the morning after a night out but I specified the weight of the luggage too. This all means it’s just a guess and it still handles brilliantly on or off road. I wanted to bring the front up to spec too so eventually went with Hagon progressive springs. I know some people think you have to swap out the forks but those people have more money than sense. I’m at home on a bike. I can push a sports bike to 180mph or throw a GS about off-road but I would never see the benefit of completely rebuilding the front end. I’m just not that good and outside of competition riders nor are most of us. The Hagons do the job. I noticed some difference. Not the same as swapping out the rear shock but some improvement nonetheless. I notice it more bumping it over stuff and I’m really glad to have these upgrades here now that the bike is loaded with heavy gear and two up. I wanted Hyperpro but coulnd’t get them in time. The ones I bought appear to be the same spec and were the same price. I doubt I would have seen much difference either way.
Other big changes were a new exhaust, K&N filter and Iridium plugs. All this freed up a little extra power and she has noticeably more snap than before. I didn’t do it for this reason, I did these changes for fuel economy and saving weight and I’ve seen a benefit in both areas. Exhaust is a GPR. Acceptable quality and one of only a few road legal cans you can get for these. The engine is a lean-burn type and runs hot so you can’t just stuff these full of metal wire, it will burn through it so this is a fairly high quality item but still heavy at roughly half the standard weight. It also doesn’t have a CAT which makes her able to breath.
The major weakness of the design of the bike, from my perspective is the small tank. It hold 9.5 litres in total, 3.5 of those in reserve. That still regularly delivers about 110 miles range without reserve. I fitted a 5 litre acerbic endure tank to the front. It’s meant to be bolted to the forks of competition endure bikes but I made a bracket that held the weight to a load bearing structure on the frame. The tank fits just under the exhaust at the front, right down on the ground. This means the extra weight is in exactly the right place to keep the handling sharp. The downside is the danger of damage in this spot. My answer to that is that these tanks are built to withstand a truck driving over them. Secondly if there is damage to them I only lose the front tank and keep on going with my main supply. No huge loss. It’s fitted to the breather at the back so the vacuum feeds the fuel directly, just the same as the costly X-tank which holds weight too high and in a weak place and upsets my luggage plans. The X-tank is over £500. Mine was fitted and functional for £70 and has boosted my range to around 200 miles before reserve.