Ideas for riding gear?

[ancosta]

After season #1, I managed to walk away with my JR Alter Ego jacket & Ballistic pants unscathed.

While I like the versatility of the JR jacket in that it's good from about 55-95 degrees with the 3 layer approach, I am really not into the power-ranger appearance. Also, I plan on doing some more track days, and I question if the JR gear is up to task given the rear-only zipper attachment to the pants, plus the fact that there is like 4x the volume of zipper since it's a 3-way jacket.

I always ride with a jacket, and a lot of the time I am riding to the office, out to dinner, errands, etc. Thus the whole JR "boy racer" theme doesn't always flow so well. When going on full day street rides or my weekly Providence-Boston run, I wear full gear.

That said, I am more interested in function rather than appearance - I want to to minimize the risk for being injured, but if I am going boy racer, it should be because it affords the best protection & comfort vs. looks cool.

To me, the track-days and agressive street riding suggests a leather 1-piece suit, and the casual day to day riding suggests a decent textile setup.

Since I don't have thousands to throw around, I am at a bit of a loss here...not sure if I should shell out boku bucks for a Vanson 2-piece, do an Alpinestars/Icon/Teknic 2-piece leather, or just get a more low-key JR jacket.

What brand is the 'vanson' of textile gear? From what I hear it is aerostitch, but didn't know if I should be looking at others...

[joberly]

Aerostitch is a good name, and the Sport Touring guys swear by the stuff. They aren't into wearing power ranger outfits so that should tell you that they are more low-key style gear, and perform quite well from what I've heard. I had a Fieldsheer 2 piece mesh and it's a 1 crash setup. 2 piece leathers are great... for hard rides and track days use both pieces, for casual rides you may just want the top...... I'm not certain but I believe Aerostitch's aren't cheap either (not sure what your budget is) Check out the TourMaster line of gear, they have some of their stuff at NewEnough and that seems like quality stuff with the styling you want!

[OreoGaborio]

probably still too "boy racer" for ya, but i got my A*s GPU 2-piece for pretty cheap... i think like 575 shipped. i'll have to look through my emails & see where i got it from though. i think it was some forum member discount from Cal Sportbike.

for commuting i usually just wear the jacket



or u could go for this jacket... pretty nice lookin, not too flashy

http://www.newenough.com/alpinestars...acket_page.htm

[cbrf41999]

Personally I like this guys racing socks!!!

[RandyO]

aerostich not power ranger gear?

[richw]

Go to Brokton Cycle

Check out all there close outs

You can try on stuff

Cheap if you get a fit

[ancosta]

Thanks for the good ideas...how is the A* quality overall? I have some GPS boots from them, and they've been OK so far.

The GPU 2-pc suit and the spinner jacket are on my short list, curious if the spinner jacket has a full zipper to the pants or only a half zipper like my JR stuff.

Yes I do have to agree you can get pretty power ranger with Aerostitch. Its more of a sprokets look but yeah with a squirt gun and a mirrored helmet you could freak out small children pretty well.

Aerostitch says that their gear is about as good as leather at street speeds, e.g. <100mph, which I find interesting.

[OreoGaborio]

doesn't look like the spinner jacket has a pants zipper... but the gpu suit has a FULL ziparound... only about a 3" gap in front. The jacket is a LITTLE shorter than a regular jacket when you wear it w/o the pants, but from what i've heard it's a couple inches longer than most other jackets included in a 2-piece.

and for what it's worth, i've worn my GPU jacket w/ a work shirt underneath, long pants & my SMX boots to work w/ a backpack on.... and when you're sittin in the tunnel in boston on 93 just after the Zaikim bridge u want a cool jacket... i was sweatin my balls off, but it has pretty good ventilation... the one in the pic has alot less ventilation than the new one, i think that's last years or the year before cuz now they are perf all down the front pannel.

only downside to that is it doesn't have a zip-in liner, so if you want to be warmer ya gotta wear somethin else underneath... no biggie for me though, i hvae a couple fleese shirts that are pretty form fitting that i can cram under there

[Idiotboy]

Maybe check with Superdave, he's got some killer deals on IXS stuff.

[ancosta]

Originally posted by Idiotboy
Maybe check with Superdave, he's got some killer deals on IXS stuff.

IXS = good?

[Honclfibr]

I was very happy with my purchases last year. What I bought was a BMW 1-piece suit for commuting, it's their "Summer suit" so it has lots of zipperable vents which I like as well as soft armor in the usual spots, I can throw it over my work clothes, slap on my boots, throw my shoes in the tankbag, and be out the door in two minutes. Another two when I get to work and you'd never know I was riding except for my helmet hair Picked the suit up off ebay for $200, would have liked to buy an aerostich but I couldn't find one in my size used and I didn't feel like shelling out 850 for a new one quite yet (though I well may at some point, they're NICE, ask randyo and stoinkythepig about theirs).

Then I got a teknic chicane two piece track suit from newenough on closeout for 229, it's the low end suit which will probably not survive a crash but it should allow *me* to survive a crash and that's what I bought it for.

So for under 450 shipped you get the best of both worlds, leather for the track and textile for the street. From the kind of riding you do I really dont' think you'd be happy with an either/or situation, leather suits are NOT suitable for commuting, and textile suits are NOT suitable for track riding. Aggressive street riding, well that's up to you, I'm pretty slow so I figure the textile suit will do for me, I think the comfort of wearing a textile suit on an all day ride makes me safer than sweating my ass off in a tight, immobile leather suit. Dress for the crash, but don't dress *so* you crash

[stoinkythepig]

I love my Aerostich suit. Not cheap though. First Gear stuff seems well made and not so flashy.

[Ken C]

I have Cycleport (formerly Motoport) jacket and pants. They're nicer than Aerostitch IMHO, but just barely.

My wife has IXS stuff from Dave at Motoport and loves them.

If you're going to do more track days, invest in leather for sure. If you are a regular size, I bought my Vanson race one-piece off the used rack for cheap money.

[Double"D"]

Originally posted by Ken C
If you are a regular size, I bought my Vanson race one-piece off the used rack for cheap money.

I agree Vanson has some nice used suits...and you can try them on.

[benVFR]

I love my Dainese suit, I was going to get an Aerostich but I wanted something I could try on. The Dainese stuff seemed the best constructed.

It was just as expensive as Aerostich though. I think it is slightly less dorky, and slightly better in horrible weather, but it is more difficult to put on since you can't wear regular pants under the pants I got.

If you want convenience that gives you no excuse not to wear the pants you can't beat the aerostich one-piece.

If you are going to be seriously attending a lot of track days AND riding your bike every day you can't get what you want without getting two suits.

A track oriented leather suit can get the job done for a Sunday sport ride, but you will be absolutely miserable trying to wear it for commuting, errands, or touring. Think ease of getting it on and off, pockets to stick all the stuff you need on the street in, and how well it works in the rain.

I made the mistake of wearing my leathers on a weekend trip last summer. It sucked with the typical new england weather. Either get wet and freeze, or put the raingear on and roast, and if the temp dropped much I was just fucked either way. And on top of that my leathers have one pocket that barely holds a wallet and keys. I would never wear that suit around town or commuting unless I had too.

If you're only doing 2-3 trackdays a year but putting 10,000 street miles a year on your bike(s) you are probably way better off getting a top quality textile suit. They are good enough for that much track use and AFAIK you can even get knee pucks for the aerostich suit.