New Riding Gear & Luggage

[jonathan180iq]

I spent the better part of this past winter and so far this year wearing my heavy leather armored jacket with winter gloves. Now, however, since Spring has sprung, I decided that it was time for some new riding gear. I also upgraded a few bits of hardware in hopes of increasing my carrying capacity, thanks to Ebay.

First, as far as protective clothing goes, I have, as mentioned above, a great leather jacket which keeps me dry and warm in the winter. I also have two helmets. A simple black HJC and a nicer Simpson race helmet which is painted an expensive yellow. I use the latter as my summer helmet. I also own (used to own) a Joe Rocket mesh riding jacket. While this jacket offers some protection from impact, it offers little in the way of roadrash protection. I don't have a good pair of riding gloves. So, that was a necessity.

I decided to upgrade to a textile style jacket with a perforated interior lining for summer riding while maintaining the leather for cooler weather. Textile jackets don't offer the same slide protection as leather jackets, but they are far superior to mesh jackets in all categories while offering more breathability than leather, unless you want to spend big money. The jacket that I bought also comes with a removable interior liner that offers insulation and it's waterproof, incase I need it colder/rainy conditions. I also picked up a pair of flashy summer riding gloves. While they are mesh and realtively weak, they are also very affordable and a lot better than sliding on bare hands.


I went with the Yellow/Black jacket to match my helmet and be a little more visibile.


Again, yellow/black for visibility and coherence.

Now, onto my new luggage. Those who keep up with the forum know that I've been working on wiring extra brake lights into the rear of my trunk. While doing so, I was enlightened at how crappily the trunk was holding up to the elements and decided to upgrage that area as well. I knew that I wanted a Givi style box that had space for brake lights and enough room to lock my helmet. So, I went with this Givi knock-off from Ebay.


It's a tougher ABS plastic than my previous box and has plenty of space for a long LED brake light strip to be mounted under the red panel on the back. It's also lockable and removable. Something that my previous box lacked. If you seach for LEd brake lights on Youtube, you can see what these boxes look like with LED strips mounted inside of them. I'll get the info posted here, once I get it accomplished.

Finally, now that I'm carrying a rainsuit and a nicer tool set on the bike, I needed to upgrade my overall carrying capacity. I got a great deal on a set of leather saddlebags with a waterproof interior liner. They are small enough to not require saddlebag supports but large enough for everything that I need them for. If you're interested, I can recommend an Ebay seller that offers a BEST OFFER option on all of their auctions and they usually are very reasonable in the prices that they accept. I got both the jacket and saddlebags from the same seller for a combined $15 off of the asking prices.



I plan on reviewing each of these products as they arrive on my doorstep and I'll post pictures of the real things once they get here.

Peace,
Jonathan

[LilNinja77]

I'm the opposite on when to wear each kind of jacket.........at least it's been my experience that the leather should be the warm-weather jacket and the textile should be the cool-weather jacket. Even a very large and thick leather jacket won't be nearly as warm as a thin insulated textile jacket. Or, you could say even a thin textile jacket won't be nearly as cool as a thick leather jacket in the summer. What model jacket is that? I own a Tour Master Transition (textile), a Fieldsheer (textile, model unknown, was given to me and then I gave it to a friend), a Joe Rocket Speedmaster 5.0 (expensive leather), and PowerTripp DTP (leather)..........My Tour Master WITHOUT the liner is much warmer than either leather jacket WITH the liner. Textile jackets keep the wind out much better as well, which is the key to staying warm. Textile doesn't breathe nearly as well as leather though, which is why they get so dang hot in the warmer months.........or why they keep you so warm in the winter, alternatively.

Crash protection definitely is the leather's big upper-hand, particularly the abrasion resistance, but I'm perfectly comfortable with a textile jacket while riding on the street. IMHO the only place a mesh jacket should be worn is in a parking lot, those things are such a farse. If I ever get to the point where I consider wearing one while riding, I'll just wear nothing......no difference in the event of a real-world crash. Obviously this is just my opinion, riding is all about risk-acceptance. A few of my riding buddies sometimes wear mesh jackets, and if a rock or bug hits them in the arm while riding they always say "ouch" when we stop............to me that should say it all.

Hope you enjoy your new gear, it always feels like Christmas when new cycle stuff gets delivered!
Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

While I can understand your rationale on which jacket should be worn when, the reason why I got this new gear, espeically the jacket, is because my leather jacket in already too hot and it's not even summer yet. Plain and simple. What you're referring to must depend on what jacket your wearing and who it's made by. The one that I have is from a no-name European company. There are no air vents and the leather is nice and thick. It also has a thick interior liner that isn't removable.

The Mesh jacket had to go, mostly because of the reasons you just stated. And, while I don't expect the textile jacket to be as breathable as the mesh jacket, it has to be better than my leather jacket because it has air vents in the elbow bends and under the armpits.

The jacket that I'm getting is a knock-off brand called Himalaya Motor Bike Wear. It was cheap and looks to be of good enough quality. Like I said, I'll review it closely once I actually get it.

[LilNinja77]

Oh, yeah the way you describe the leather jacket I imagine it would get pretty hot (particularly the no vent part!) I think that's my favorite part of my Joe Rocket jacket, it's all thick perforated leather; so even though it's very heavy-duty it breathes wonderfully......not the greatest thing in the rain though :tongue: Besides, I got it in bright red, so it's VERY visible while riding. Normally I'd wear my fluorescent vest, but with that jacket on I don't even bother.

Hope you like the jacket, and hope it keeps you a bit cooler in the heat than your leather one does. Definitely the most annoying thing about ATGATT, but better to have sweat than blood IMO.
Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

I have received everything except for the jacket, as of today. (6-5-08)

The gloves are great summer riding gloves and offer top-of-the-hand protection but little else. There is no padding or protection in the palms. The quality is mid grade, but that's what I paid for. I guess there is a reason that the seller never showed a photo of the palms. I'm a little upset about that but I'll just have to live with it for now. Overall grade C+. Useable but not ideal.




The rear top box is certainly a step up from what I had before. As noted above, it's a Givi knock-off with quick release base mount. The quality of the plastic is great. It's nice and thick and has already stood up to a good bashing. While installing the rear mount and trying to get the quick release latch to connect, I knocked the bike over and the top box went with it. It smahed into the ground and nary made a scratch. The bike was unhurt as well, since the new barend mirrors kept the tank off the grount. No harm no foul. Anyway, after two days of riding, the rubber plate mounts keep the box quiet while riding, which is something that can't be said for my last trunk. Also, the locking mechanism is very smart. It's a simple latch which keeps the lid closed. To close the box, it has to be locked. This is also true for removing the quick release. So, hypothetically, if a thief wanted to run off with my box and all of its contents, it would be impossible.

You cannot activate the quick release without first unlocking the lid.
My previous box also locked but would have easily broken free of the 4 little bolts, which ran through the plastic and into the mount, with one swift yank.
Overall grade: Considering their bang for the buck factor, I give them an A-. Compared to top of the line top cases they would still get a B.







The saddlebags, sad to say, are simply way too big for this bike. I'm sending them back. They were advertised as small sport saddlebags. Only on one of those 1500cc cruisers would these things be considered small. They dwarfed the rear of my bike and even when I adjusted the straps to their smallest point, would have melted on the exhaust pipe flapped around all day on the left side. So, they are gone. They were pretty decent quality for $45. They were made by Himalaya Motor Bike Gear.
Overall, N/A

[samato]

Thanks for all the info/reviews. I'm currently trying to figure out what gear and luggage to buy so your posts are very helpful.

I'd like to know if you have noticed any difference in the handling of your bike since installing the trunk. Does the added weight (especially when it's loaded) affect stability? Do you experience noticeably more wind drag?

I currently have no luggage on my bike but definitely need some.

[jonathan180iq]

The beauty of the top box is that it keeps the bike lean and, in doing so, keeps it aerodynamic. I can tell no difference with the box on or off. Also, filled with groceries or carrying whatever I happen to need to take somehwere, It makes no difference in handling. I don't think I would ever be able to put enough stuff in it to unstabalize the balance of the bike.

It comfortably fits my largest helmet and there is still place on the sides for gloves or whatever else. It's about 3-4 finger widths leftover. I'll try and get you a photo of the top open tomorrow.

If you want, I can post a link to the Ebay auction with this exact box. It's the cheapest Givi knock-off around and it's the same quality as the others. I rode with it in the rain today and was pleased to learn that it is weather tight.

[jonathan180iq]

I got the jacket a few days ago and I am more than pleased to report that the quality of the jacket was more that I expected. It's actually a very think canvas material in the yellow sections. The black parts are actually a heavy textile mesh. This works well for keeping me cool. It was 94 today and I barely batted an eye.

It has adjustable elbow sections and removable armor throughout. The hands also widen or tighten to allow for different kinds of gloves to be used.
Inisde, there is a thermal chest liner and a what equates to a dry-tech liner. Both of these can be removed. I got rained on today and didn't have my dry liner so I can't report on how well it works. I can already tell you that the thermal line will work just fine in the winter. First of all, when coupled with the dry-liner, there won't really be any way that cold air can get in. However, I obviously can't report on that yet. Did I mention that it was 96 today?

This jacket is made in Pakistan. The quality of everything, down the to zippers and stitching, would make this jacket much more expensive if it had a big name brand on it.
I got it for $65 shipped.

[LilNinja77]

That looks nice It has the appearance of a much more expensive jacket, sounds like you found a nice deal. Hopefully you won't have to test out its' durability in a crash. I don't say that as being doubtful of the quality, but out of the hope that none of us will have to test any of our gear that way
Ride safe

[patrick_777]

Great looking gear, jonathan. Very "Kill Bill"-ish.