Protective Gear - Best Bang for the Bucks

[kudzu]

My brother-in-law decided to return to riding after a hiatus of decades and bought a Honda VTX 1300C. For several reasons, a cruiser is probably right for him. As soon as my wife (his sister) heard what he was doing, she told him in no uncertain terms to get MSF training and buy good protective gear. I'm so proud of her!

 

He is not going to spend $1,000+ for a high-end riding suit. So, what would you recommend that would provide a good level of protection, thermal comfort over a temperature range skewed toward the warmer side, as economically as possible?

 

Thanks, all!

[SCOTTinNJ]

www.newenough.com

www.motorcycle-superstore.com

www.motorcyclecloseouts.com

[jimswms]

aerostich roadcrafters can be had pretty cheap on ebay. that would get him covered head to toe!

[H C Edwards]

I like my First Gear stuff, most of it bought at motorcyclecloseouts.com. Scott gave a link above. I've been wearing the Trekker jacket for 2 or 3 years, along with HT overpants. I like First Gear's products because they are relatively inexpensive, and do what I want.

Both of the above are waterproof without having to add liners. But both will be too hot for him in summer. I can only stand the Trekker up to about 80.

[eaglemike]

Bang for the buck is probably the Fieldsherr (sp?) stuff. I've looked at some, great features for the price. I actually have a 2-piece set of leathers from them I still dream of fitting back into. Their sizes tend to run on the quite small side, in my experience.

 

All that being said, though, my current stuff is First Gear, or Hein Gericke. Good quality, and can often be found on sale. The Ht air overpants (included liner) are good for almost any conditions. For an all condition jacket, I have the Kiliminjaro Air (included liner), but I don't think it has the cruiser look.... They do have some "more cruiser look" stuff, tho. I've been extremely happy with newenough.com. They are the bomb.

 

all the best,

 

Mike

[Bill_Walker]

If he's doing the cruiser thing, then probably the best you can hope for is to get him into a decent off-brand leather jacket and Draggin' Jeans, with boots & gloves. He's likely to view anything more protective than that as too uncool looking. The San Diego Leather Jacket Factory has OK-looking, made in Pakistan jackets for not much money. You may have someplace like this closer to you. When I got back into biking, my wife, via my bro-in-law, bought me the earlier version of this jacket, which worked well for me for quite a while. My current choice, if I was into this sort of thing, would be to blow an extra $10 and get this jacket instead, which at least has some sort of armor and extra padding, though it lacks the zip-in Thinsulate liner for cooler weather.

[Jerry Johnston]

I agree with Bill, if he's a cruiser rider he's not going to wear anything that makes him look like a BMW rider. I'd have him stop by all the local bike shops and see what's on sale. He wil be able to try things on and be perswaded by his sister's comments, "Wow that really looks good on you!" or what ever.

[kudzu]

Taking the liberty of updating my own thread, here.

 

Though he bought a cruiser, he is quite intelligent, conservative and safety-conscious. And, he marches to his own drummer. He bought a quality full-face helmet before he even bought the bike and I think will readily buy into ATTGAT. At this point, he's just not going to spend the kind of money we have come take for granted for a 'stich or a set of Vanson's or one of the BMW suits. Who knows, one of these days, I may get him on a Beemer!

[subvet]

ditto e-bay or other on-line sites....I picked up a still stiff like-new 2 piece Roadcrafter for $400.

I don't have enough knowledge of other brands to recommend but I can tell you that when I lived in South Carolina, the best money I spent on riding apparel was on UnderArmour. Almost anything you wear is going to be hot in the summer...good under-clothes will make a world of difference.....even made leathers tolerable.

My .02 worth

[ArbyNav]

My two cents worth: Look at comfort and protection, then what to do when it rains. By comfort I mean likelihood to put it on and wear it, and comfortable while wearing. I know a lot of people are big on leather and it has incredible abrasion, but in the summer here (southeastern Virginia, near the ocean), I don't see anybody wearing it, and it may not (depending on the jacket) take rain kindly. I say a textile three season, although for SC you want a two season (hot and less hot). Okay, it does get cool. I'd look in this price order (lower to higher), all stuff I've seen YMMV: Joe Rocket Alter Ego (great value for price, but pants are too hot in summer), Rev'It - big line of jackets, all look good, I'd buy a convertible jacket and then possibly get mesh pants for summer and solid pants for colder wx. The Cayenne jacket is their top of the line and getting rave reviews, but I'm not so sure how it'd do in really hot wx. Finally, BMW - great quality and protection, however huge price jump and their gear for hot wx may require more than one outfit. Also, careful on red colored BMW stuff - several threads are on Rallye suits going to orange, although I think I've seen some of that on Aerostich suits too.

 

Also - get comfortable footgear - it may require two sets of boots. I like the Oxtar boots (own a set) and the BMW summer foot gear - the Airflow looks great, I have the street sneaker and it's very comfortable.

 

Have fun and enjoy the riding

 

Arby