Morning all, I’m currently half way through my DAS course and really enjoying it. I’m thinking it’s about time I started buying my own kit, so does anyone have any good or bad reviews on beginner/ mid budget priced kit. My riding will be recreational short weekend trips to the coast etc, so no 1 piece race leather suggestions please.

Cheers flip

flip, my mate has just quit riding as he is 60+, I have just sold his Hayabusa and his kit is next. Good Alpinestars and Hein Gerick in vgc….

Helmet, gloves, jacket and trousers, armoured jeans, waterproofs… and I know its not crashed as I have ridden with him for years…

Interested?

Rickm, could be intetested, would obviously need to try for size, don’t suppose you’re anywhere near Norfolk?

Have a look at richa textiles. The adventure trousers work great for me. As for the jacket, I went for a furygan, but the richa rix2 was high on my list too – consider ones with a back protector (most midrange ones do) . Gloves – make sure they are waterproof, maybe invest in summer and winter ones.

If your riding is anything like some of those who post on here then I suggest a Cloak of invincibility 😉

You won’t go far wrong with Hein Gericke kit, they sell everything from basic thru to bling.

And remember, its the bits that stick out that hit the road/vehicle first – so ensure knees/elbows/hands/feet/head are all protected.

Probably best as a starter would be a zip-together textile 2 piece with pull-out thermal layer, decent full length boots and tourer-type gloves – all waterproof. Helmet fit is more important than anything.

And if you ride a lot, you’ll find that just like MTBing you assemble a large amount of kit for all weathers.

Simply just buy the best you can afford, ain’t nothing wrong with second hand (not lid) as most bikers are aware of the importance of looking after their kit. I had some top hein gericke kit but got some alpinestars smx kit and it was in a different league as far as comfort was concerned. As for safety the heine G proved itself, I had a car pull out on me at 60mph on my week old gsxr 600 just picked up from its very first service turning it into a custom streetfighter 😀 which resulted in me bouncing along an a road and the leathers were fine.

Definitely get yourself some Heine G, always done the trick for me, lots in the range on their website

Another vote for HG kit, also been happy with my sidi black rain boots (+10 years use) other bits that are handy; silk balaclava for winter, a buff and the HG lobster mitts for when it’s cold – don’t forget earplugs

As for crash helemts, the way I fitted mine was to start with the cheapest and try each one on in turn going up in proce until you find the brand that fits right.

My Dad was paying for my first lid at the time, and was pretty confident that it wouldn’t be too expensive as his head fits lazer/grex well. Turns out the best fit for me is Shoei…

Cheers for the info, definatley going to look at the textile kit. Anyone use the RST kit, looks stylish and well priced. Helmet wise, the ‘ shark vision’ was a good fit with the largest field if view, which gave me a bit mote confidence re: blind spots.

Anyone use the RST kit, looks stylish and well priced.

And these are two boxes that you’d only want to ‘tick’ after checking is it actually any good…

Also while some kit is very expensive, don’t under-estimate its ‘value’:

http://www.thebikerstore.co.uk/products/Daytona-Road-Star-Gore%252dTex-Boots.html?gclid=COzemurWvrECFSsntAodploApw

These boots have lasted me over 10 years and the best part of 100k miles – still protective and waterproof.

Gloves are another area where its worth paying:

http://www.thebikerstore.co.uk/products/Rukka-Argosaurus-Gore%252dTex-Gloves-Black.html

Totally waterproof and used through winter with only heated grips as a backup.

Big money, but worth it IMO.

See what fits best with armour in the right places etc then look at the brands. Hein Gericke was always good for me. Don’t try and buy all the same brand as guaranteed the gloves of another brand will fit much better

What sort of size are you? I used to be a motorcycle instructor and have some rukka textile gore-tex stuff that I really must get around to selling.

Rukka, mail order from Germany. Bestist innit….

re helmets, just make sure you get some advice from a decent shop – what you think might feel a good fit, might not be.

i.e. I found arai helmets really comfy, but the chap in the shop demonstrated how it wasn’t a great fit – shoei on the other hand fits perfect.

also with helmets, try and get one with a pinlock, they make a world of difference for me (no steaming up!)

Mix and match has worked for me : carrerra leather jacket, forcfield back ,elbow and shoulder protectors. Tcx race boots, spidi gloves and joffama/ halvarssons armoured jeans. Rst kit works well, look at bsb and other race series where lots of riders use their leathers. Always try before you buy, dont forget to sit on a bike as you are trying the gear, it is a bit different from standing in a shop.

Rst kit works well, look at bsb and other race series where lots of riders use their leathers.

Don’t confuse a label with a product…

The old method was to be sponsored, by say Frank Thomas, and have the badges sewn onto Crowtree’s.

Well, I’ve got through some kit in my time. There’s very little wrong with budget/mid range jackets and trousers, Frank Thomas, RST etc, and gloves even (Although I’m still struggling to fid the perfect waterproof glove….

But if you’re gonna ride a bit more than occasionally, it really, really REALLY is worth lobbing some wedge at helmets and boots IME.

I got through 3-4 pairs of ‘cheap’ boots (£100+ in reality, some of it £200 in a sale down to £100, so good kit) before I realised they were all crap and went and paid £230 for some Daytona Road Star GTX. Those actual Daytonas are now about 6-8 years old, still utterly 100% waterproof in torrential rain for hours on end. They are comfy enough to walk round in all day and being as they are real leather (Not that ‘lorica’ tat) they are actually breathable and my feet don’t really sweat even in hot weather. They are so good I would have no hesitation AT ALL lumping up the £300+ they have now gone up to. In fact I did just that for Mrs PP. They are also resole-able and I imagine I’ll get at least 10 years out of them. Worth every single penny.

Helmets
You might find a cheaper lid that’s comfy, and that’s great. But I’ve only ever had Arais and Shoeis because most other lids feel like they are padded with breeze blocks on me. Third best I’ve ever tried on was Suomy to be fair though.
A good lid is nice and light (Which is a massive help) fits snugly, and is quiet.
Snug fit because otherwise they rattle round on your head like an upturned bucket, and quiet is obvious. Shoeis are slightly quieter due to the visor design. The Pinlock visor demister supplied with a Shoei is also worth having
Don’t be put off by a helmet that’s not a ‘race lid’ either. Mrs PP has just bought a Shoei Qwest and they are labelled as a touring lid, but they are lighter, quieter and cheaper than the top spec race lids, and in black it looks ace with a black visor!

if you’re a 43, I’ve got some of those Daytona Road Start GTX boots in the cupboard as well. Not been used for more than a few rides since I had them resoled.

Look for good quality tough zips – I dont know how you can tell if they will last, but they are ALWAYS the first thing that will fail on tectiles+boots! My textiles trousers dont have any functioning zips, my jacket outer zip is regularly failing and my boot zip has gone once (repaired). YKK should be good, but mine are that!

I keep telling myself to spend more on textiles. I use them everyday, yet they cost 1/2 price of my leathers, which I use very rarely. Saying that, Mine are 6/7 years old now, so they’ve had a good innings (about £300 Spyke Jacket+J+S Trousers combined).

Goretex boots are waterproof and nice and warm for winter. Gloves, depends on how your hands suffer really. I have summer+winter. My winter ones are electric as my hands suffer really badly in the cold. Great when they worked – now only one works! I’ve had heated grips and goretex gloves before and they werent warm enough.

Teknics make very good textiles, not as good as my Rukka stuff but then it’s about 1/3d as much. Way better than the other equivalents at the price IME.

Frank Thomas you need to be careful with, some of their stuff is alright but a lot is not. I’ve had 3 pairs of their gloves, all awful. I ended up with nothing but Spada gloves, their winter Force WP2 is fantastic.

Helmets as with pushirons is mostly about fit but quality does help- my HJC fitted perfectly, for 2 months, then it slackened up and became both loose and horribly uncomfortable. My Arais both kept their shape for life.

(actually, my first Arai in particular was a bargain- a Condor, so the cheapest one they do, but I wore it forever, then crashed it pretty hard on a trackday and assumed it was dead. Replaced it with a fancier model and on a whim sent the old one in for testing- and it came back approved as still safe, and with new linings and strap fitted, and even touch up paint on the scrapes. You don’t get that anywhere else)

if you’re a 43, I’ve got some of those Daytona Road Start GTX boots in the cupboard as well. Not been used for more than a few rides since I had them resoled.

I’m a 44 🙁

Otherwise, someone should really rip his arm off for those! 🙂

I believe next months Ride mag has their yearly “what kit” supplement stuff in it, failing that RST gets a good name

I ended up with nothing but Spada gloves, their winter Force WP2 is fantastic.

We both got some Spada Enforcers on a recommendation, which look like the next model up from those from the pics.
Actually the best winter gloves I’ve ever had by quite some margin. Stiff and bulky at first, but they do bed in a bit. £60. Top value. 🙂

Oh, in general, some of your MTB kit will be ace on a motorbike too.

Merino base layers are great, buffs for your neck and chin, even winter tights under bike trousers! 🙂

if you decide on textile stuff then i can recommend hein gericke stuff. i got the cheapest goretex stuff they had (don’t get non goretx or equv, being wet is miserable) and it has remained completely waterproof, even on a 700+ mile round trip to the IOM in the pissing rain.

Ok what poddy says is good. And I will had as well that the most important is hand head and foot. So make sure you try plenty of helmet for your head. And DO NOT EVER buy them online. You don’t know how long the helmet has been stored in what condition and more important, how badly it had travelled.
Further more, if you’re on a budget look for the “ugly” stuff for two reason, it’s not fashionnable but it usually works great and then it is indeed a bit cheaper. Waterproofness of shoes can be done with sealskins (torrential galibier approved) or even bin bags. For the torso/legs, a 30-40 odd pounds plastic suit with waterproof seams is great too.

Flip.. Im in Edinburgh… want some pics of the kit and sizes… ?

Thanks for all the info/ views guys. Will pop into HG and have a trying on session. Really just looking at fine weather kit at the moment, so don’t need to splash out on the goretex kit just yet, but may purchase a cheap one piece for our drought 😯 summer.
Well fitting and as comfortable as possible protection is my priority, as I felt so exposed, especially in town. Had looked at some spada boots and couldn’t believe how thin they were, almost like trainers without any protection.
Finally, why is most kit black. Surely this isn’t the easiest colour for others to see you in.

Thanks for all the info/ views guys. Will pop into HG and have a trying on session. Really just looking at fine weather kit at the moment, so don’t need to splash out on the goretex kit just yet, but may purchase a cheap one piece for our drought summer.

If only buying one set, just buy waterproof to start with.

I ride year round and have RST two piece leathers for summer cost me £260 for the lot 4 years ago. Its still going strong. Textiles for wet weather are spada again still going strong after 3 years.
Boots Rst, i replace them every two years. Gloves rst winter textile gloves and leather for summer. About £60.

Helmet Shark s700. Shark helmets fit me nicely. With helmets fit matters more so than make. So try them all agv,arai,shark and caberg. Find which you like within budget.

Get someone to hold the chin guard and your head should not be able to move around otherwise its too loose. Most bike shops will know this tho.

I got all my kit from Race leathers darwen and Rocket centre Blackburn.

BR +1

Forget leather and just get textiles. More practical, more comfortable in any weather, washable, more pockets. I don’t have any leathers any more, it’s just such a faff carting extra waterproofs round and stopping if it rains.

Have a look at Richa kit too if you can, its not as good as HG but is/can be bit cheaper, like onzadog Im an instructor and we use alot of it, and it lasts well considering the day in day out all weather punishment it gets. As everyone else has said, whatever you buy, the most important factor is fit. If it dont fit right, it cant do its job properly.

The gore tex textile stuff normally has a removable, washable liner. In the summer, leave the liner out for a cooler ride, that way you can get away with one set of kit. Plus, as said above, the textile stuff is washable.

Another top tip is a wicking balaclava. Keeps the helmet fresher and goes in the wash once a week. It’s not any more sweaty than not wearing one. Also, wear it inside out so the seam doesn’t leave an imprint in your forehead.

And DO NOT EVER buy them online. You don’t know how long the helmet has been stored in what condition and more important, how badly it had travelled.

How do you think they get from manufacturer to distributor to your local motorcycling shop? The ones I’ve bought in shops normally still have the courier label stuck on the box. And how do you know how well it was stored along that process? How do you know the helmet in the shop wasn’t in the window for the last year? Or been tried on by dozens of different people (and dropped when the sales assistant wasn’t looking)?

Anyway, back to clothing, most low-to-midrange textiles will do you fine. Most will have zip-close vents so in the summer you can take out the lining, open the vents and get some degree of breeze through. Get just big enough that you can get enough layers under for winter (although most people will have better mid layers than the thermal inner of the textiles, and less bulky too. Remember you’ll be sat on a bike – so you want longer sleeves and legs than normal.

You won’t go far wrong with Hein Gericke kit, they sell everything from basic thru to bling.
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Probably best as a starter would be a zip-together textile 2 piece with pull-out thermal layer.

Seconded. I commute 45-50 mins each way and wear HG all year. My local HG shop does special weekly deals, I got a 2 piece suit, waterproof with armour and back protector, for about 200 notes.

After months of being soaked and covered in grime and salt it needed cleaning and treating which you do in a washing machine – but it worked fine.

You might add a pair of dragon/draggin/whatever jeans for the sunny bimbles to the coast.

Finally, why is most kit black. Surely this isn’t the easiest colour for others to see you in.

From a motorists point of view, the frontal area of an oncoming bike, especially a sports bike, is such that any dayglo is practically invisible, it’s only on a bike where the rider is sat up where it might be useful. Having a headlight on, or LED DRL’s, makes a bike much more visible, IMHO. 😀