Riding Gear

Iceland is challenging terrain for you gear. Just the Alpine stars gloves survived that trip. The Thermoboy gloves weren’t waterproof from the start. The Held Touring gloves were waterproof as long the conditions stayed average. But after a few days with 8h driving in rain the liner unglued from the leather and came out every time. I see it as very accommodating that I got my money back without troubles in both cases. One reason why I didn’t hesitate to buy the air n’ dry, again a Held glove. The other reason was they fitted best. It’s the same thing with the replacement for the now outworn Alpinestars. The Klim Dakar Pro fitted best and hasn’t that useless hard protection. I hit the ground often but never on my knuckles. My old FLM Street Leathergloves are nice for on-road summer riding. The have slightly more protection than the Klim Dakar Pros. Mostly I keep them because they are too good to throw them away. The heated gloves are just useful for the extremes.  Wear below gloves are a bad compromise the handling is significant worse.

Waterproof or not Waterproof boots. Not waterproof with waterproof socks is safer and more modular. That’s why it’s my preferred setup now. The Waterproof boots do still a good job in daytripping and the average way to work. The Forma Dominator and the Alpinestars Tech 8 are expensive but the removable inner shoe has two significant advantages. You can wash it and dry it quite fast. Both are very useful if you use them for touring. Getting a wet enduro boot totally dry takes up to 2 days, if you don’t boost with some kitchen paper it can take even longer.

All the riding gear is for safty but some items are specialised on damping impacts. That’s why I also added the bicycle pant 😉 they damp the impact from the 640s vibrations. It helps but getting used to it helps more.

According to Helmets the most important fact for me is the possibility to wear googles but still having a visor in backup. The Hornet offers that since that time a couple of new helmets entered the market. I still keep an eye on the ultralight new carbon helmets to reduce the stress for my neck. Weight is also the argument for not having a sun visor. Mostly you don’t need it anyway. I’m currently not well informed about what is on the market because my Shoei is still in good shape. I can’t say that about my old Airoh warrior it saved my life after a failed jump in the western alps.  The neckroll had made that accident less painful. But I learned soon on Balkan Compact it hinders me looking back and that can make accidents much more painful.

A bit disappointing was the protection of my new Klim suit. I don’t understand why they sell it with lazy level 1 protection. It’s designed as light offroad suit but we are not taking about so much more weight. It’s not just critique in direction of klim it’s more directed to the whole business. Selling a Jacket and Pants with a complete Protection Package as option would make much more sense. There are many different solutions for the impact protection on the market and I don’t want to pay something I don’t need just because the press always criticise that the protection is not included! Luckily the Level 2 SAS-Tec Protection of my much cheaper Vanucci suit fitted into them. I prefer the SAS-Tec protection compared to the D30 anyway. I haven’t found information about the current D30 products but the old ones lost all impact tests against the SAS-Tec products I could find.

The Vanucci Okavango you see on most pictures was my first suit and it worn out and repaired so many times that I replaced it after Siberia. It’s one of these often sold all-purpose suits that are dominating the market. I used it in all these purposes and in combination with a good rain cover it’s at least possible. In the history you see the liners and protection separate and that for good reasons. The thermal liner is useless my woolpower underwear is much more effective comfortable and flexible to use. The membrane liner is good for reducing wind chill and protects from average rain up to 30 minutes. If a suit has space for all these liners it’s obvious that the protection can move. That’s why I made an experiment with a protective shirt during Iceland. The idea wasn’t thought very well. The protection didn’t fit into my jacket so it made me not very angry when I got my money back after the seams were broken after the trip. For the Alpide Belt I plan that setup again. This time the protection fits into my Overland suit too. That means I can choose between a breezy setup with jersey and protective shirt and a fully integrated suit. That all with nearly the same weight then the old suit with rain protection. I’m starting a comparable experiment with the Klim Tactical Pant with Alpide Belt the results will follow.

This chapter is about reducing windchill especially around your neck. My preferred buff scarf also prevents that my jacket is rubbing my neck. Not unimportant is the fact that it also keeps dust away from you neck. Just wash it after a day of dusty ride and you will be staggered. In combination with a fleex scarf on top it works god even in cold conditions. The windstopper collar is too much in combination with my woolpower turtle neck shirts. For extrem cold conditons the Balaclava does a great job. The Neopren half mask is more an optical gimmick for insulation it’s not very effective and the Velcro scratches. Everybody told me that a kidney belt is something essential. Every time I wear it I sweat horrible below that thing. During breaks I can choose by walking around with wet cloths or still with that thing. During Baltic Sea is started to take it off my clothes stayed dry and It doesn’t felt cold around my Kidneys. Keep in mind Baltic Sea was in Ocotober and it was cold. I asked my doctor who drives motorcycles too. He explained that there is just a high risk of consequences if you drive around in t- shirt or wet clothes. I’m not sure if I take it with me for the next trip.

Rainprotection is essential if you don’t use a fully integrated riding suit. The only suits I trust are the 2 or 3 layer laminated gore-tex suits. Currently I know just suits from Klim, Stadler/Touratech, Rukka and Held that are produce with that technology. In any other suit I wouldn’t drive without rain protection. I don’t remember the name of my first rain protection, I ruptured it during a drop on Eastern Adriatic Sea. The Held Rain I protection works good. But my favourite items in this chapter are the Seal Skinz. Wearing them is much more comfortable then wearing my waterproof boots. It’s also possible to walk into deeper water with them. And if it’s too much you have s small chance to get out before water flows in from above.