Top bike clothing makes ?
Discussion
Leathers are a personal choice. Crowtree are reputed to be the best, but thats probably down to them being mostly hand made to fit. And priced accordingly.
Gloves: anything with kevlar knuckles and long wrist coverage would be my recomendaion, followed by some overglove waterproof ones for wet riding.
Boots: wherever I go - and whenever I do track days;
everyone is wearing Sidi Vertebra II, including me.
smashed the wing off an escort with mine once-- still in one piece..
Gloves: anything with kevlar knuckles and long wrist coverage would be my recomendaion, followed by some overglove waterproof ones for wet riding.
Boots: wherever I go - and whenever I do track days;
everyone is wearing Sidi Vertebra II, including me.
smashed the wing off an escort with mine once-- still in one piece..
I've got some Spyke leathers which I've now crashed in 8 or 9 times. They've only been seriously damaged and in need of repair twice and I can't recommend them enough. A friend of mine crashed in some Arlen Ness leathers recently and the stitching went quite badly. I was quite surprised as they were said to have a good rep.
I'm using Sidi Vertebraes as well. Again, they've been through the same crashes and they're still pretty much in one piece with the exception of a toe slider nut that got ripped out in one crash. I broke my big toe when my foot hit the ground pretty hard on one crash, but other than that, I've been fine.
Gloves, I was using a pair of Swift (dynatecs I think) and they did about 5 crashes before the fingers and thumbs wore away. I'm now using Alpinestars GP plus gloves and they seem pretty good although the palms are wearing a little where they've slid along the road.
Crash helmets, I'm currently using an Arai Astro J and apart from it being much, much noisier than my old AGV it's a nice light helmet and seems to have done ok.
I'm using Sidi Vertebraes as well. Again, they've been through the same crashes and they're still pretty much in one piece with the exception of a toe slider nut that got ripped out in one crash. I broke my big toe when my foot hit the ground pretty hard on one crash, but other than that, I've been fine.
Gloves, I was using a pair of Swift (dynatecs I think) and they did about 5 crashes before the fingers and thumbs wore away. I'm now using Alpinestars GP plus gloves and they seem pretty good although the palms are wearing a little where they've slid along the road.
Crash helmets, I'm currently using an Arai Astro J and apart from it being much, much noisier than my old AGV it's a nice light helmet and seems to have done ok.
Bennyboy - your leathers give the game away mate, theyre a right state 
I wear Hein Gericke Tribal Evo 2-piece leathers. I bought them because they were all I could afford (£300) but they recently scored very highly in a Ride mag test, so quite chuffed.
Gloves - hein gericke ones, £70 - seem to be ok.
Boots - AlpineStars SMX Plus - comfy, seem to offer loads of protection. They squeek though, which is annoying.
Back protector - I went for a Knox KC2000 K1 in the end.
Helmet - AGV Demon V Top - £150. Its comfy and not too heavy.
Ive not crash tested any of this kit, so dont know how well it will cope.
Oh, and the best bit of kit ive bought cost 99p - a pair of earplugs.
I wear Hein Gericke Tribal Evo 2-piece leathers. I bought them because they were all I could afford (£300) but they recently scored very highly in a Ride mag test, so quite chuffed.
Gloves - hein gericke ones, £70 - seem to be ok.
Boots - AlpineStars SMX Plus - comfy, seem to offer loads of protection. They squeek though, which is annoying.
Back protector - I went for a Knox KC2000 K1 in the end.
Helmet - AGV Demon V Top - £150. Its comfy and not too heavy.
Ive not crash tested any of this kit, so dont know how well it will cope.
Oh, and the best bit of kit ive bought cost 99p - a pair of earplugs.
I fell off in a one piece Frank Thomas (£400 at the time - about 6 years ago)– needed a new collar (no idea how it ripped) and that was it. Rolled about 4/5 times – low side at around 50MPH, nothing broken.
Have been wearing a Dainese one piece for the past 2 years (£750). I believe fit is more important than make.
jj
Have been wearing a Dainese one piece for the past 2 years (£750). I believe fit is more important than make.
jj
Wayne, you can definately get the Vertebrae Race 11 in a Size 4 cos I tried some on the other day, so perhaps if you look around you may find them in a 3. Some shops (who are prepared to go the extra mile) will place a special order with the distributor to get them in from the manufacturer. If you're prepared to put up with the Sidi 'squeek' then they are good boots - I'm on my 2nd pair.
As for leathers - it's been said before, but get the best you can buy for your budget - never worth scrimping - especially on lids! and fit is just as important as quality.
Anna
As for leathers - it's been said before, but get the best you can buy for your budget - never worth scrimping - especially on lids! and fit is just as important as quality.
Anna
wayne_uk said:
I've got some Spyke leathers which I've now crashed in 8 or 9 times.
I'm racing this year and all the crashes (bar one) have been on the track. If you don't crash once in a while, you're not exploring the limits.
I've only crashed out of 2 races this year though. The rest have been in practice. As for the answer to the question... I take calculated risks. 
Boots? ... must be Sidi Raptor Evos ... very strong
... and they look sooo f**kin' cool on a road bike!
http://host113.ipowerweb.com/~metricbi/MBSS/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=&xm=on&product=SID_RAP
... and they look sooo f**kin' cool on a road bike!
http://host113.ipowerweb.com/~metricbi/MBSS/store/agora.cgi?cart_id=&xm=on&product=SID_RAP
wayne_uk said:
what race series you in benny? , ever race with the mro series ?
I raced in MRO once this year in a guest race. We were televised and everything!
However, I mostly race in the BMCRC championship in the minitwins class. More details can be had at www.bemsee.co.uk It's been tougher than I thought actually. There are some previous championship winners who have come across from other classes who are really quick and also some young lads who are going really well. e.g. Craig Polden, who was in the R6 cup last year and Matt Bond who's hoping to go R6 cup next year. Good luck to him too. He's going extremely quickly this year.
Fantastic!!
I have found that made to measure have been my best route when you consider all the factors - often women's kit is harder to produce 'off the peg' as we come in a wider variety of shapes & sizes - also as a more limited market for the manufacturers it is harder for them to produce an all round-ideal product in terms of fit AND style.
The made to measure option may seem expensive at first but when you consider the lifetime of a Crowtree/BKS suit - they far outweighs the lifetime of a Dainese/Similar suit. I recently sold a '96 BKS 2 peice suit that was virtually unmarked and had been used for around 80kmiles!! if you're careful with your colour design scheme then it will be an investment! check out the BKS online designer - it's wicked!
If you are talking pure destruction test performance then the only manufacturers that 'consistently'come top of the tests are BKS and Crowtree - Crowtree only beating BKS marginally on a price difference.
Both use the highest grade 1.5mm leather & most seams triple stitched. Next months RIDE mag is due to have a survey on all this so perhaps put it on your shopping list!
That's not to say that all the other stuff out there is bad - not at all - just that these two are a cut above the rest.
So there ya go - ya gets what ya pays for.
I have found that made to measure have been my best route when you consider all the factors - often women's kit is harder to produce 'off the peg' as we come in a wider variety of shapes & sizes - also as a more limited market for the manufacturers it is harder for them to produce an all round-ideal product in terms of fit AND style.
The made to measure option may seem expensive at first but when you consider the lifetime of a Crowtree/BKS suit - they far outweighs the lifetime of a Dainese/Similar suit. I recently sold a '96 BKS 2 peice suit that was virtually unmarked and had been used for around 80kmiles!! if you're careful with your colour design scheme then it will be an investment! check out the BKS online designer - it's wicked!
If you are talking pure destruction test performance then the only manufacturers that 'consistently'come top of the tests are BKS and Crowtree - Crowtree only beating BKS marginally on a price difference.
Both use the highest grade 1.5mm leather & most seams triple stitched. Next months RIDE mag is due to have a survey on all this so perhaps put it on your shopping list!
That's not to say that all the other stuff out there is bad - not at all - just that these two are a cut above the rest.
So there ya go - ya gets what ya pays for.
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