If you want a cheap, simple, lightweight waterproof jacket which folds up very small and which can be put on over leathers if it comes on to rain, may I suggest the Regatta. It's underrated. MENS REGATTA LIGHTWEIGHT BREATHABLE WATERPROOF JACKET IN A BAG XSMALL - XXXL | eBay
thats far too sensible. i would prefer to look like a touring monster hence the desire to retain a bit of leather action if poss
I've been using A* suit for years. But wasn't happy with the replacement I bought. I feel they have dumbed down. The finish was pretty poor. But we get a mega discount through work so its at bargain prices. However I've used Bering and furygan gloves and think they are both excellent! The fit of the Furygan is superb for me.
Icebreaker Merino under layers - or anything made of merino wool Synthetic fibres don't come close Cool in summer warm in winter don't hold odour and don't chaff. . Also gel cooling vests for when it gets extra toasty and you want to still wear leathers
Been wondering which Merino layers to get to go with my textiles to take the chill out of them when its wet. A lot I've seen are wool/synthetic mix. I see the Icebreaker gear is 100% Merino.
Pure Merino is a real pain to clean. Forget about machine washing, they'll go horribly out of shape in no time.
Reviving a dead thread, but Revit is also up there in quality, but not as main stream as astars and dainese. I'm very happy with their tornado jacket and pants. Flow air beautifully when it's warm and pretty warm and water tight once you install the liners...
Merino is no good when it's hot or at the track. I've several 100% merino good quality base layer sets and only use them when it's cold now, have been using the synthetic Under Armour brand for hot/track usage which is way better than merino for keeping you cool, taking the sweat away, and drying very quickly.
I shopped about for ages before choosing a new suit and honestly was very disappointed with the alpinestars suits and I'm talking the top end stuff as well £1000+ they just didn't feel a quality item. Very impressed with Held. I'd say better than most out there.
I have to say as well that although I'm very happy with my supertech R boots I'm not overly thrilled with my Gp pro gloves.. I may go for Held titans next and a set of Daytona boots (lets face it you can't really beat them)
100% with you there, am so totally done with dainese/a* fashion crap. Got loads of known brands suits that must put up on eBay sometime, never heard of Held until about 3 years ago, now all the suits I wear are made by them as are the gloves (several pairs of Held Titans) and they are almost bombproof - especially the Mk 1 Titan gloves... more offs than I'd care to admit to is all the proof I need. Yeah I've just ordered Daytona Sec. Evo 3s and may upgrade to the GP but will wait until they arrive to choose, I bought the A* SuperTech R boots as I really didn't wanna spend Daytona money; first time out in them I break my ankle at my foot in several places, they are just a cheap imitation really and don't offer the protection they appear to, sorry to say it as I have 2 pairs. I've got a pair of used Daytona Security Evo 3 GP boots but unfortunately they are just slightly too tight on my right foot due to a toe injury (non bike related for a change) and they really are the bo**ox in terms of serious protection. I've crashed enough, and crashed hard enough, to be able to confidently say that breaking bones, especially multiple bones in the same incident is enough to put "how much?" costs into real perspective; how about being bed-bound for a month? How much is it worth to you to avoid that? For me it is worth more than the approx. £800 difference between SuperTech Rs and Evo GPs, just as my fingers and hands are worth more to me than the £50 difference between A* best gloves and real protection like the Held Titans. Problem is many of us don't look at it like that until AFTER we've had a shit-ton of pain AND our gear is in the bin because it exploded like an old banana skin. It's no fun getting older with multiple old war wounds as any of the old dogs will tell you. Buy the best protection you can afford people, you'll forget about the cost eventually (maybe) but you'll know that if you do get injured you've given yourselves the best chance and it would've been much worse in mediocre gear (which is, unfortunately, most of it). How much are you worth? /Sermon
I will definitely be taking a look at Held, to replaced my deeply tatty and well-used Dianese suit. The 5012 Slade 1-piece in black is currently the front-runner.
I have large hands with long fingers and the Held Titan (size 12) didn't fit me because the middle finger of the glove was too short so the whole glove just stood off my hand. By comparison the Alpinestar GP Tech (XXXL) fits very well. I'm not a fan of the plastic cuff protection but the rest of the glove being a mixture of cow and kangaroo leather with kevlar lining looks very well made. Certainly better made than the pair of Fives I bought last year. Andy
I'm really impressed with Wolf kangaroo leathers (ended up with two sets) Someone mentioned Daytona boots, they are superb. I've had a pair of evo's for 10 years. Very expensive though.
Agree with you here. A couple of years back I was glove shopping and trying out all the top brands. Settled on a pair of A* gloves at £200 odd. Salesman told me to try the £150 revit gloves before I actually buy. Wow! Comfy from the off and very well made. I'm trying Knox handroid at the mo and stilll think the revit gloves were the best I've owned.