New Klim gear

[markgoodrich]

Klim has some new gear out, most of it aimed at road/touring/sport touring riders. I think RevZilla may have some of the stuff online already with their videos.

 

Adventure Rally Jacket and Pants have been redesigned.

 

Apex and Apex Air jackets are new, RevZilla guy says the Apex is a true four season jacket....

 

Voyage Air pant is mesh, I didn't see a Voyage pant, RevZilla recommends the Torrent pant for use with the Apex jacket for four season use...it's an "overpant."

 

Don't try to view the Klim site in Chrome, it is gibberish, use FF or IE.

 

Who's gonna be the first to complain about the high price?

 

 

[lkraus]

No problem here viewing http://www.klim.com/ in the current version of Chrome. Don't care for their menu system, but it works. Revzilla provides better descriptions, I think.

 

I don't much care for Klim prices, but I could accept them if it were not for their overuse of the Klim name and logos on the exteriors. I'm not willing pay such a high price and work as an unpaid walking advertisement for Klim and Goretex. I dislike labels on all clothing, so I run into this deterrent on most all motorcycle gear, but Klim seems particularly garish. It's a shame, because their stuff otherwise looks to be quality gear.

[LBump]

No problem here viewing http://www.klim.com/ in the current version of Chrome. Don't care for their menu system, but it works. Revzilla provides better descriptions, I think.

 

I don't much care for Klim prices, but I could accept them if it were not for their overuse of the Klim name and logos on the exteriors. I'm not willing pay such a high price and work as an unpaid walking advertisement for Klim and Goretex. I dislike labels on all clothing, so I run into this deterrent on most all motorcycle gear, but Klim seems particularly garish. It's a shame, because their stuff otherwise looks to be quality gear.

 

+1

[markgoodrich]

Well, you should both be happy with their new stuff, then, as the logos are much more muted. Look at the Apex on RevZilla.

[Skywagon]

Just looked....at $1700-1800 why would anyone think it is expensive

[SinNH]

Just looked....at $1700-1800 why would anyone think it is expensive

Yikes.

I had a Klim jacket years ago for use on my sled, well made and warm. Made in Sweden back then I believe, now everything comes from china, no markup at all.

[moshe_levy]

Motoport. Made in California.

 

-MKL

[mickeym3]

Just looked....at $1700-1800 why would anyone think it is expensive

 

If you're buying $6 cup of coffee at Starbucks (your usual track) then it probably sounds pretty reasonable. Geez Louise....

[Francis]

+1 on Motoport in California

[bgf50]

So like many of you, I knew of Klim but basically didn't pay much attention to them because of the price.

I now own Klim pants and jacket and they are significantly more comfortable than anything I have owned in 30 years of riding.

This is how it came about.

I took BMW off road course in August of last year. I ended up hurting my foot on last exercise of last day. I was wearing Alpinestar Toucan boots which are very good but not full on motocross boots. When I got home, I bought the BMW rally pro boots which are substantial. I found that none of my pants (olympia, first gear) would fit over the boots. I started searching for pants that would fit over boot. I stopped at Bob's BMW and tried on maybe 10 pair of pants ( olympia, first gear, rev it, bmw, Klim, etc.) and only 2 pair fit over boots. Bmw Rally and Klim Overland. I generally like the Olympia gear and almost bought some mail order. I'm glad I didn't. I find it odd that what they advertise as their most aggressive off road gear has pants that won't fit over real off road boots. The Klim pants were cheaper and more comfortable than BMW pants. I also thought the armor was better but even more importantly they are Gore Tex pants. So they are waterproof. The BMW pants come with a Gore Tex liner which I always thought was stupid. Who is going to stop and take off their pants to put on a waterproof liner when it starts to rain. Also even if you stay dry, your pants are soaked, heavy, and cold.

My dealer then had a Klim sale in November and I bought a Lattitude Jacket (also Gore Tex) for 20% off. It is the most comfortable jacket I have owned and I now no longer have to pack a rain suit so I have more cargo space.

I'm selling both of my First Gear Kilimanjaro jackets and starting to save for a Klim Badlands jacket for off road.

I always made fun of the Klim gear because it was so expensive but now I love it!

[RPG]

Just looked....at $1700-1800 why would anyone think it is expensive

 

Yeah, I'm always shocked when I look at the pricing of Klim gear. And I thought BMW gear was expensive.....

 

RPG

[marcopolo]

Just looked....at $1700-1800 why would anyone think it is expensive

 

Yeah, I'm always shocked when I look at the pricing of Klim gear. And I thought BMW gear was expensive.....

 

RPG

 

I think the latest, and greatest jacket/pants combo from Klim is around $2500! Makes the BMW stuff seem rather cheap by comparison.

[markgoodrich]

These threads are like oil threads...you always know where they will end up going. I have never understood the complaints about high prices for safety gear. It's a personal choice, and in my view, an important one. One of our inmates fell into a Land Rover recently while wearing minimal gear. His injuries were relatively minor (just seven or eight busted vertebrae and a couple ribs. Oh, and some road rash), but the ambulance ride LESS THAN A MILE to the hospital was THOUSANDS of DOLLARS. Never mind the pile-on by the hospital and docs. I see expensive gear as a bargain. I see bargain gear as a step above a t-shirt and flip flops. But that's just me. I posted this because I thought perhaps some of us would find the information useful...Klim came out with some road clothing....

[realshelby]

Mark, that is just the thing about expensive gear. It can be the cheapest investment you will ever make.

 

But, I am not enough of a sucker to believe that price alone denotes the very best protection.

 

KLIM gear is the most expensive I have seen. Yet their background is snowmobile gear, off road gear for motorcycles, and yes they have what is supposed to be road gear for motorcycles. But I see little to no claims about just how good it holds up during a 70 mph get-off. It may test to be the very best available, but I don't hear much about that. After looking at some KLIM gear ( brought about by your post ) my opinion is that it does not have the armor coverage and what appears to be the quality of armor my Motoport gear has. Will the fabric hold up during a slide down the road? Probably. But I have both Aerostich suits and Motoport suits that have a very good track record of holding up and protecting the rider. I also do NOT believe there is a 4 season suit, at least while living in Houston, that really works as good as any gear in a certain climate. It seems that KLIM gear is know to be waterproof and well vented. But is that on naked bikes? I think it would be like my other non-mesh gear. I start wanting out of it by 80 degrees!

[Bud]

These threads are like oil threads...you always know where they will end up going. I have never understood the complaints about high prices for safety gear. It's a personal choice, and in my view, an important one. One of our inmates fell into a Land Rover recently while wearing minimal gear. His injuries were relatively minor (just seven or eight busted vertebrae and a couple ribs. Oh, and some road rash), but the ambulance ride LESS THAN A MILE to the hospital was THOUSANDS of DOLLARS. Never mind the pile-on by the hospital and docs. I see expensive gear as a bargain. I see bargain gear as a step above a t-shirt and flip flops. But that's just me. I posted this because I thought perhaps some of us would find the information useful...Klim came out with some road clothing....

 

Spot on Mark!

 

As riders, we all take steps to manage/minimize risks to our personal safety.

 

I had a spirited discussion with a friend/State Farm agent a couple of weeks ago. Telling me how motorcycles are death machines and no one should ride them because they are so dangerous.

 

I'm confident that no member of this forum discounts the dangers of riding. We do what we can to mitigate those dangers: Gear, training, equipment, mental preparation, not drinking and riding, choosing our riding companions carefully, accepting constructive criticism from riders who are better than we are, encouraging new riders to gear up etc, etc, etc.

 

In one of my first posts on BMWST, I was informed that I should budget a substantial amount of $ for gear. At that time I thought "How can I afford it after buying a Beemer, but the advice was well intentioned and correct.

 

Will it save my life? I don't know for sure. But I do know that I'm better protected and hopefully a little bit better rider. I know for a fact that riding is a very mental activity and we have to be constantly aware of those around us as they are not award of us.

 

Amortized over it's useful life, good gear isn't that expensive. Most likely will spend more on tires (arguably safety gear as well) during the same amount of time but we don't often hear riders here complaining about good tires.

 

As an aside, I recently spent time in Haiti. Our church supports a school there. Tuition is equal to $34.07 US a year. Nancy and I easily spend that much on a supper out at a restaurant. Helped me put things in perspective.