Brand preferences of gear?

Helmet - Arai Condor 18 months fits well
Leathers - Wolf ( British made ones) 7 months old now and very comfy.
Boots - Spada slipstream, not done very much wet riding in them but seemed to hold up. Comfy all day at race meets I have been too.
Gloves - Spada vortex summer glove. Good fit for me and only slight wear marks on inside of cuffs.
Spada predator all weather glove. A bit too toasty for me and loose a bit of feedback from throttle control.
Textiles - Spada Jacket and trousers, unworn since I bought my leathers.
RST kevlar jeans with forcefield knee inserts, again unworn since I bought my leathers.

And some forcefield technical underwear to keep me cooler. Worked well this year but it hasn't been too hot.

Good Stuff

All bought with my own money

Helmets - Arai. Can't fault them. I have a Condor and a Chaser, both about 4 years old and both still feel as good as when bought. I won't wear anything but Arai if I'm going fast.
Nitro F347-VN flip-front - good cheap helmet that I use when touring. The quality belies the price, it's certainly better than expected and held up ok to 2 years regular use.

Leathers - MJK. Pricey made to measure kit but worth every single hard earned penny. 2 piece is nine years old and still look like new after huge amounts of use. 1-piece made to measure has seen lots of trackday use and has held up well.

Back protectors - Knox. I have two - a Stowaway I use on road and a full race job I forget the name of for track use. I've crashed using both and I've felt my back take some big impacts. I still have a spine... they work.

Textiles - Hein Gericke Voyager 3 jacket and Voyager 2 trousers. Both Shelltex lined and lasted me 8 years of being thrown in corners, thrown up the road and generally not being looked after. Stayed 100% waterproof in the most horrendous rain. Zips went on the jacket cuffs so I decided that after that length of time I should buy new kit (see Bad below)

Held Gizmo jacket. It's ok as lightweight summer jackets go, but that's only if you ignore the fact Held call it waterproof... it's not... not at all.

Boots - Daytona RoadStar GTX (daily use) and Oxtar Sports Goretex (track). Daytonas are ten years old and been rebuilt once a year ago - still used daily and fantastic. Oxtars are four years old and get regular use. both feel great after many thousands of abused miles.

Alpinestars Tech 3 MX boots. Brilliant as bottom end MX gear goes. They ain't expensive and feel fairly pliable as off-road boots go. Can be used on a road bike as they have a little flex. I've crashed umpteen times in them off-road and only once had an injury, but that was when I landed from 12 foot after a highside on the road and broke an ankle - no boot was going to stop that happening.

Gloves - Held Galaxy (race), Held Baghira (summer), Lidl cheapies (waterproof), Hein Gericke 2 finger Pathans (winter). All are great and comfy. The Galaxy give so much confidence in their safety. Baghiras are just lovely to wear all day when it's hot. Lidl have surprised me with how excellent they are for 7 quid. Pathans have been the best winter gear I ever bought - 100% waterproof and toasty warm even in the coldest weather, and they cost me something like 30 quid... bargain.

Armour - Mine is Gericke Sport armour in my textiles. It's actually Astrosorb by Davis Odell made to their design. I've crashed in it a few times in the ten years since I started using it and I haven't broken a bone where it's been placed. My MJKs have a mixture of T-Pro, Astrosorb and some other stuff I can't name. It all works well and the fact I've walked away from most of my crashes (except those involving broken ankles) is a testament to how well it works.

Boxers - M+S. Comfy, don't bunch up and don't make you whiff like a gyppo's armpit after a day's riding in summer.

Bad stuff

Again, all bought with my own money

Textiles - Held Taigami jacket and Nelix trousers. The jacket is 18 months old - the velcros are all failing, the stitching on the neck tab is split, the button loops to hold the inner liner on one arm have failed, one of the pop studs to adjust the waist has gone walkabout, the inner liner is the waterproofing so you can't have a summer waterproof jacket - you're stuck with a thermal lining if it rains. It's an awful jacket and I wish I'd gone to Gericke and spent a few quid more, or just had new zips put in my old jacket.

The Nelix trousers are bulky, they also leak at the crotch if you're in rain for more than 2 hours. The stitching on the armour pockets at the knees has failed, so sometimes my foot goes into the pocket. Again I wish I'd bought new Gericke stuff.

None of the Held textiles I've got feel anywhere near as comfy or natural to wear as Gericke gear

Gloves - Held Touring HT. They look the dogs danglies but are actually rubbish. This is my third set because two sets let water in - when I got them Lidl had an offer on w/proof gloves so I got a pair the same day as a back up just in case... that was three years ago. The new Held ones failed a few days later and I wear the Lidl ones exclusively now.

Boots - Dainese KC2. Utter dog poo. I bought them for a trip to the south of France. Broke them in (so I thought) and then set off. By the time I got to Lyon my feet were cut to ribbons. Bad stitching inside was shredding my feet through my socks. I pulled into services and last I saw of them they were sticking out of a waste bin. £160 wasted on complete garbage - I did the rest of the trip in trainers

Boxers - Calvin Klein. They always end up wedged right up my ar5e crack... avoid.

Helmet - Shark RSR2, fits me perfectly, dead comfy and with my newly discovered ear plugs as quiet as a mouse (without earplugs its a tad noisey) Plus the quick release visor system is soooooo easy and idiot proof.
Leathers - Spada Predator, were cheap and comfy. Not the best fit, but good enough for now. And surprisingly waterproof, I rode 30miles in a downpoor and not a drop snook threw, not even the vents.
Textiles - Halvarssons Zen trousers, totally waterproof, warm, comfy, coolish in summer, the liners actually do make a difference.
Halvarssons Etna jacket, its a ladies one, but was the best fit, it doesn't zip to the trousers, but no waters ever leaked through, nor do I get any drafts.
Boots - TCX competitzione (sp) GTX, warm, cool, waterproof (i stood in my uncles pond for 5 minutes), crush proof (my dad ran over me foot in the car) The soles are still in one peice despite 30,000 miles and much walking.
Previously I had some Spada race ones, they were good apart from the soles were made of cheese, still not bad for the price though.
Gloves - Alpinestars GP pro, totally comfy, well made, mine don't even look used, as waterproof as a sponge, and as warm as fridge but, there my sunny weather gloves so I dont mind.
Held winter gloves, can't remember their name, but very, very warm and waterproof, lasted me all last winter, I only got cold hands when it was below 0. And have never, never leaked. Plus they still look brand new.
Hein Gericke sports Goretex, only done about 5000 miles in them so far, but are comfy, warm and waterproof and seem well made enough, no loose stiching as yet.
Back Protector - Alpinestars one, as it fit me the best and is comfy under all my jackets, feels like it'l do the job should it ever need to though.
Misc - Visor vison vee wipes, works wonders on my visors, and suits my lazy sense of cleaning.
Visor vison anti fog, works well enough if you keep a good layer on there. I think pinlocks are better but my helmet don't accomodate them.
CCC underwear, the thermal stuff, it works when its cold and even when its warm, wicks sweat well and dries in 5 minutes after a wash, also resists smelling very well indeed.

I think that's most things.

[gruntygiggles]

Only ones worth a mention are:-

Boots - Alpine Stars, plain black waterproof semi sports boots that are incredibly comfortable and offer loads of protection without looking like something out of NASA.
Leathers - Spyke two piece. Fits amazingly and is ridiculously comfortable. I tried many many sets of leathers on and these are a must if you are short with big boobs but still have a waist.
Textiles - J&S accessories two piece own brand. They're standard armor is better even than what was in the hein gericke set for 5 times the price. They have served me well for 4 years of pillion and own riding now and are so much better than I ever thought they would be.

Gloves, agree...they are what they are and none but my summer gloves have been any good. The summer gloves are leather Duchini and they have again served me well, but it has taken 3 years to stretch the leather enough that the left thumb doesn't cut off the circulation.

[Bibio]

just to add the best bit of biking gear (sorta) i have purchased this year has to be rain-x 2in1 blooody amazing stuff. spray on leave for 10 secs then wipe off and your done bugs and all. i used a cheep glasses cleaner spray bottle from asda as the rain-x one is a bit big and only has a jet spray.

Good:

Helmet - Arai Condor currently, although any Arai fits me well and Shoei XR-1100 is good fit too

Leathers - Dainese Trickster 2 piece (typicaly the most expensive suit fitted me best )

Boots - TCX competizione s in white and TCX S - Race gore-tex both fit me brilliantly

Gloves - Main ones i use out of my five pairs are Arlen Ness G6037 white, although keep trying on loads of Alpinestars which feel lovely

Back protector - Knox Aegis 7 plate, fits me best and i just preferred it to all the others, quite a bit of adjust ability curves to spine really well and lots of movment


Bad:

Leathers - Frank Thomas cheapo things from 3 years ago almost, says size 42 on the jacket but appears to be more like 48!

Arai chaser lid, defo have another arai.

Alpinestars two piece leathers, apart from a bit of stiching on a badge, they still look like new, again I'd buy again.

Alpinestars supermoto leather gloves, wore these a lot, off roading, in pouring rain, with winter liners in freezing temps, really comfortable.

Sidi vertigo goretex boots, very comfortable, never leaked a drop of water even going through fords when green laning, I can walk around for hours in these they fit so good, they do the sidi squeak though so have use silicone spray on them, 100% buy these again.

Coldkillas neck tube, very good quality and work well.

Ixon textile suit, these were my first bit of kit, cost £300 and I actually wore this doing my DAS, had an off in them too and there's not a mark on them, not a single stitch has gone, I wear this green laning as well and hose it down when I get home.




Btw, don't we have a section for this type of thing? Biking gear ?

Helmet - Shark S800. Cheap and they work. Roof is the best fit for me but couldn't find one last time round. Buy what fits you!
Leathers - Alpinestars One piece. Outstanding! Three crashes so far, fastest over a ton and they are hardly scuffed.
Boots - Sidi because 1) they fit like slipers (a size bigger) 2) I can't bust them
Gloves - Akiko race. Three crashes and going strong! Bought from a bargain bin at knockhill for £25. Bargain! But I'd spend money here and I'm looking for what comes out as best for crash protection.
Back protector - Force Field

Originally Posted by ChrisSV

crush proof (my dad ran over me foot in the car)
.

And if they hadn't been crush proof?

Originally Posted by specialone

Btw, don't we have a section for this type of thing? Biking gear ?

Well yes we do cleverclogs but is there one thread that combines all gear in one, and is actually fairly recent? Not that many people post in there anyway from what I gather.

[SoulKiss]

Helmet - Shoei XR1000 x2
Leathers - MSW(NZ) - made to measure, x2
Textiles - N/A Above leathers are waterproof enough
Boots - Sidi Canyons over 3 years old, still waterproof if scruffy
Gloves - Various all ok, current summer ones are A*